6

"The confession under the forbidden spell of subjugation in the other world astonished even Tony himself. He'd ordered him to repent of his crimes, and there were so many of them. From stealing candy from his classmates in high school to the alliance with the Ten Rings to kill Stark and forcing sex on young secretaries, that is, in fact, rape. Such an incident further collapsed Stark's stock price. Whereas before, they'd been dumped solely for fear of losing money, now there was the loss of reputation.

- Tony, the company's value has dropped fortyfold this week. A lot of employees are fleeing, and weapons factories are closing. I don't think the joke that I'll be the last CEO of Stark Industries is a joke anymore. I don't know what to do anymore! - Pepper exclaimed in a broken voice.

She looked very bad. Bags under her eyes, thickly smeared with foundation, capillaries bursting in her tired, red eyes, her face thin and gaunt.

- Pepper, I told you to calm down; I've got everything under control! - There was a pop in the phone receiver. - Oh shit, the output's too big again!

- What's going on with you, Tony?

- I'm just doing some crafts.

- Tony, are you out of your fucking mind?! I haven't slept more than four hours a day in a week, and you're making crafts? You know what? I'm leaving if you don't tell me how you will save this company! You hear me? Why do I have to--

- All right, come over.

- What?

- Come here, I said. I'll show you what I'm doing.

Disconnecting the line, Stark cast a Reparo repair spell on the cable running into a two-metre bagel in the hollowed-out garage floor. At its centre was a flattened spheroid. At the moment, he was adjusting the energy output from the magical antimatter reactor, which was located in the expanded space of the spheroid, and outside was already his arc reactor, only enlarged. Tony's exoskeleton and other projects required a lot of energy to synthesise real adamantium and vibranium, not temporary ones like before. The good thing about vibranium is that it doesn't need to be aged for hundreds of years in accelerated time, but only about seven. The problem was the sheer amount of energy needed to maintain the time acceleration charms, as in this world, the costs of space and time charms were ten times higher for some unknown reason. It was as if Tony was intruding into someone else's fiefdom. So even a 2×2×2 metre cube required an amount of energy that only an antimatter reactor could produce. But since it gives out mana through the adamantium wire and electricity, Stark decided to power the whole house from it. What good would it do? The only problem was setting the power output. This is the fourth time he's rebuilt the cable. He could make all the wiring out of adamantium, but that would burn up all the appliances and fuses. And so, the power comes on and--

- Eureka! Jarvis put on some upbeat music!

- Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans, Way back up in the woods among the evergreens...

- Johnny B. Goode? A timeless classic, I approve. Even though I'm not making a time machine... It works, though.

Stark waited for the red light to change to green as he approached the cube. So it's just an indication inside the already isolated separate space during time acceleration. Finally, the doors opened automatically.

- Ugh, it smells like something rotten for ages. Jarvis, remind me to install air purification charms or an air extraction system.

- It's in your diary, Mr Stark," a male electronic voice replied.

Once inside, Stark rolled out the Delorean. If he was going to make the first flying car, it should be a Delorean! All the more, he has three of them, and one is not a pity. And rolling out was easy for him; his body had already completely changed, becoming athletic as if from a picture in a fashion magazine. However, for the same reason, his once loose shorts were now tight, and his T-shirts didn't fit at all, so he was topless. The result of his hand was only a vibration that travelled through the car. He could punch through walls now; he'd already tried it - he had to cover the hole with a painting. And that's without using martial arts! The windows are also made of transparent vibranium, with the help of protean technology and a bit of magic, which showed how to make metal transparent. To do this, it has to solidify quickly to have an amorphous molecular lattice. Busy checking all the systems, Stark didn't notice Pepper coming to the garage. The girl had permission to enter whenever and wherever she wanted, except when he forbade it.

- And what was it you wanted to show me, Tony? The Delorean? I've seen it before, about five years ago," the girl noticed the man's figure: "And where did you get so fit?

- Do you like it? A healthy diet and labour, even from such a handsome man as me, made me even more handsome! - Tony answered her with a play of his muscles.

Pepper looked sceptically at the fast food wrappers, but she couldn't help but appreciate the figure. "If you weren't such a womaniser, you'd be worth a fortune," she thought.

- But you're looking in the wrong place. Look at the car!

Tony sat behind the wheel and pressed the big red button. Every cool car has to have a BIG RED BUTTON. Otherwise, it sucks. The wheels turned, and the repulsors opened on their sides, whose principle of operation was ion-jet. His father had once developed the prototype seventy years ago, and Tony had refined it using modern and protean technology. But in such a way that they could be recreated in modern factories if necessary. They couldn't do without magic, but they could minimise it and disguise it as technology. Rolling and swaying, the repulsors started to work, lifting the car into the air, hovering at half a metre.

- What do you think? - Tony asked, flying up to Pepper and waggling his eyebrows. - Would you like to go for a ride?

- And how much battery life? Five miles? Tony, come on, your father didn't make it.

- I did. The battery lasts 250 to 500 miles, depending on wind, altitude and speed.

- Then... That's..." Pepper's calculator started working in her head, and she calculated the possible profit. - Tony, have you developed a new kind of battery?

- Bingo! And a new kind of reactor to boot! So, are you getting in, or do I have to go alone?

- I'm coming with you, or you'll get yourself killed. - Pepper got in the passenger seat and buckled up. Only then did she ask: "By the way, Tony, is this a trusted car?

- I called it a flyer. And no, I still need time to test it; it's a prototype!

- Tony," Miss Potts exclaimed in horror as the car soared through the open gate into the sky.

The car lay in a tight turn and began to fly over the ocean along the beach and celebrity homes. Pepper's initial fear passed, and, realising they would not fall, she even plucked up the courage to look out the window. Just a little, just a peek. Tony, on the other hand, could have been more wary. Not only was the car almost entirely made of vibranium and would absorb most of the kinetic impact, but he had a portkey ring. It's greedy, but it's enough for one jump with Pepper.

- Tony, what's going on with you lately? It's like you're not yourself, not the same person at all," Potts broke the silence.

- Attack, injury, captivity, loss of someone I'd started to consider a friend, murders..." Stark began to enumerate, curling his fingers on his free hand. - Is that enough? Oh, yes, and Obadiah's betrayal and the realisation that your weapons are being used by terrorists.

- I can't say I understand what you've been through. You should see a counsellor.

- And you don't feel sorry for yourself?

- For you? Tony, going to counselling is not a shameful thing; everybody does it, and--

- No, that's not what I'm talking about," interrupted Stark, smiling cheekily. - Don't you feel sorry for the psychologist?

- You arsehole," she foolishly punched the man in the arm. - 'Ouch, you're like you're made of iron!

- You'll know! Because you became a general and immediately decided that I could be beaten? Power corrupts, eh, Pepper?

- Do you judge by yourself? - she asked, squinting at me, rubbing her battered palm.

- Naturally! - Stark said, not the least bit embarrassed. - Oh, a burrito place. I love that!

When they landed in the car park, Tony, not the least embarrassed, got out and opened the door for Pepper. They might call him a womaniser, but no one had ever called him rude to girls. However, one thing followed the other. At that moment, a guy in a red 2007 Ford Mustang froze, his mouth hanging open, watching Delorean land. He looked like an ordinary young man in a plaid shirt, baseball cap and blue jeans. Determined to make a joke, Tony walked up to him and asked him with a completely serious look:

- Listen, kid, can you tell me what year it is?

- Um, 2010," the dazed boy stammered.

- Hmm, Pepper, we missed again. I told you the time loop wasn't set! Well, at least we'll have a burrito before mutant cows from outer space attack the planet," he took the girl under his arm and led her into the café.

- Aren't you afraid he'll tell everyone? - Potts whispered, shaking with laughter, as they moved away from the frozen guy.

- Do you think anyone would believe him? Well, even if they do, it's better," he grinned and led her inside.

The cafe was almost empty; it was the middle of the day. However, a bored waitress in a Mexican-inspired uniform immediately jumped up to them with a smile. She recognised the celebrity and almost swooped in, asking for an autograph. But when she met Miss Potts' hard stare, her smile faded.

- What can I get you?

- I'll have an orange juice and a salad," Pepper poked at the menu.

- And I'll have three of the biggest, spiciest burritos. Something that burns on the way in and burns on the way out! - Tony asked.

- It'll be ready in ten minutes," Pepper wrote down the order in her notebook and tore off a piece of paper.

- Tony, are you sure it's wise to show your design like this? Shouldn't you keep it a secret?

- Pepper, you're brilliant at running a company, but I'm better at PR. Instead of spending hundreds of millions on advertising, we'll create a lot of rumours and interest before the launch. By the way, I decided to organise the Stark Expo in three months. Just then, the negative news about our company will be forgotten.

- With what money? We're almost bankrupt!

- Don't worry about that. I've already arranged through Rhodes that our government will buy back two tonnes of vibranium at the bargain price of eight thousand dollars a gram.

- How did you get so much of it?

- I learnt how to, shall we say, synthesise it. But he said he found my father's stash. He was a bit of a bug that brought everything into the house, so they believed me.

- So that means you're gonna have 16 billion?

- We're gonna have it, Pepper, we're gonna have it. You're now the lucky owner of 15 per cent of Stark Industries. Congratulations.

- Couldn't you have said that in a more appropriate setting than a diner? And why fifteen? You promised me twenty?

- Twenty, if you'd believed me then," Stark snapped at her. - "And now you're just like, "You're drunk, you're drunk!" It's a shame because I've been sober for a fortnight.

- Wait, wait, you weren't kidding? - The red-haired girl's eyes bulged.

- What kind of joke is that? I've already mailed you a notarised share transfer document.

- Tony, why? - The girl asked, even more dumbfounded.

Even now, fifteen per cent of the shares is several billion dollars. And after Tony presents really revolutionary products, they will increase tenfold.

- Firstly, because I want it that way. Two, because you deserve it. Three, because you're my friend. Fourth, it's one thing to work for a salary but another to work for your own company. I know the difference," Stark told her, leaving out one more reason.

He was terrified that she'd leave for another company. She wasn't even the rare kind of loyal yet competent and professional person willing to put her heart and soul into her work. It was that he was too attached to her and could not imagine anyone else around but her. But of course, he won't talk about that.

- By the way, have you found a replacement for my assistant yet?

- I can do the job myself.

- No, no, no, that's not gonna work. I don't want you to get overworked. So find me an assistant, and yourself, as well as alternates.

- Is that a concern?! - Pepper exclaimed, pretending to be frightened, covering her mouth with her palm in shock as she accepted the salad and juice from the waitress.

- Oh my God, no, of course not," Stark recanted in horror, taking three burritos the size of an elbow and as thick as Miss Potts' arm. - It's so hard to find a good defector.

- Chew, then talk. How did you become a billionaire and a celebrity with manners like that?

- Because I'm handsome? Or because I'm a genius? It's not my manners that made me famous.

After a light snack, leaving a generous tip and an autograph for the waitress, they left the cafe. The girl who ran out after them, thinking they had made a mistake, saw a silver Delorean take off into the sky from the car park. On the other side, a guy who never left was staring at her dumbfounded, filming it on his phone camera.

- Did you see that too? - The waitress asked, coming closer and thinking she was already hallucinating.

- If you mean that Tony Stark flew away in a time machine, yeah. I saw the same thing," he continued, swallowing down the viscous saliva: - He also asked what year it was. He talked about mutant cows coming from outer space.

- Where do you think they're going now?

- Where to? Back to the future...