Author: Bear with me. Read the chapter until the end first.
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There are 5 stages of grief. A person's grief often follows the stages, others skip the process entirely. After all, every person mourns differently.
That night, a myriad number of reactions can be seen from various parts of the world.
9.00 p.m. in New Mexico.
"A nuclear bomb??" Tim Knight is shocked when he gets the news. Hiddle is solemn. The bomb was at the party Ryan went to. They tried to contact Ryan, but he is not picking up.
*Knock-knock* The Presidential Suite at a 5-star hotel is knocked by someone. Putting his guard up, Hiddle goes to check who the guest is.
He saw a black man with an eyepatch and a trenchcoat looking solemn. Hiddle invited him in, as he knows who the man is.
"What do you want, Fury?" Tim asked. He felt a little ominous about the sudden visit.
Fury sat opposite Tim. Hiddle is standing on Tim's left side.
The country is still clamoring about the nuclear explosion on the coastline at the time. A popular news channel is covering the incident.
The TV suddenly attracted all the people in the room's attention.
[Enemy Attack? Or a Military drill? Live from the coast of Atlantic City, Reporter Cindy Moon is on the scene]
The news anchor introduces the reporter who is wearing a black coat with white pants. She is holding a microphone in the background of the coastal area.
"Thank you frankly. Witnesses saw a black plane carrying what seems to be a nuclear bomb passing by the city to get to the North Atlantic Ocean. "
" The plane, which was moving at extreme speed, was recorded by an amateur videographer on the coast. Within seconds of the plane passing through, a large boom can be heard. "
The TV shows the recording of the black plane with something attached to it. A strong gust of wind can be seen when the plane passes. The video recorded the plane until the explosion.
" We have tracked down the sighting of the plane, which can be assumed it started its journey from Washington DC. We are still waiting for an official statement from the government about the incident. Back to you Anderson."
[ Thank you, Cindy. We are working hard to get you more information folks. Stay tuned! This is Anderson Cooper, Live from CNN news.]
Tim became solemn. He recognized the plane. Fury started to explain.
"At 7:15 Today, a nuclear bomb was turned on in Asano's Building. Your son managed to study and defuse the bomb safely."
"However… He realizes the possibility of a second bomb…"
Tim's eyes widened. His hand starts to shake. His face is sunken.' It…can't be' He desperately wishes for it. For it to not be true.
"He manages to arrive before the bomb exploded, but someone had sabotaged his effort. He had no choice but to bring the bomb to the ocean."
"Stop Fury." Tim stopped the report before it could continue any further.
He said in a shaky voice. "If you come here… to tell me…that my son… is… dead… Then I will kill you… where you sit…"
After a moment of silence, Fury continues.
"At 8.18 pm. The bomb exploded. So far, there is no sign of a survivor…"
*Slap* The moment Fury uttered those words, Tim stood up and swung his hand to Fury's face strongly. He hit Fury's face with the back of his palm.
"Take your nonsense and get out of here…" Tim said to Fury coldly.
Hiddle, who was at the side, gripped his hand strongly. His nail dug into his flesh, making blood drip from his fist.
The First Stage of Grief. DENIAL.
"My SON!..." Tim yelled. "He isn't dead. He couldn't be dead. GET OUT!" He yelled at Fury. Hiddle escorted the pirate out of the room.
Tim staggered. All of the strength in his knees is lost. He plopped down on the chair.
"I wanted you to become like your mother…but not like this… never like this…" Tim placed his hand over his eyes. A stream of tears fell down his cheeks.
1987 in Kursk. He lost his wife during the time Separatists in Russia had launched an ICBM in the United States. He and his best friend, who he no longer talked to, both lost their wives that day.
He no longer talks to his best friend as it is painful for them. Whenever they see each other's faces, they will remember that day.
When a child loses their parents, they are called an orphan. When a parent loses their partner, they are called a widow.
However, there isn't a word to describe a parent who has lost their child. The otherworldly destructive pain that eats at their very being, couldn't be described in a single word.
…
In the private airport of Knight Industry. Gwen just arrived from Philadelphia.
Helen and George Stacy welcomed her. Helen ran to Gwen with teary eyes and hugged her tight. They know what happened. Gwen too, knew what had happened.
"He won't die mum. He is tougher than the cockroaches. He won't die. " Gwen said to her mother, and that made her mother hug her even tighter. Her face is buried in her mother's chest.
"Yes…maybe he didn't…" Helen tries to conform to the delusion of her daughter. She knows there isn't a chance. But her daughter couldn't accept the reality.
George, who had labeled Ryan his son-in-law in his heart, even if he shows reluctance towards Ryan playfully on the outside, had a rare moment where his eyes were wet. He looks at the sky, to make sure the tears don't drop.
Second Stages of Grief. ANGER.
10.00 p.m.
[A respectable general who is involved with the explosion in the party at Asano's Building today has something he wants to say. Let's hear from him.]
A tabloid news channel is interviewing the victim at the party before this. This general is the same general before who pushes the reporter and curses the resident of New York to death.
"Asano had threatened the entire New York City. However, Tony Stark had made way for Ryan Knight to defuse the bomb. Do you know what he did? He gives the task to a waitress and he runs to safety! He had put all of our lives in danger!!"
General Killigan, who is a die-hard military faction, had always hated Ryan Knight. He decided to take this opportunity to smear Ryan's name even though he is the one who saved his pathetic life.
His hierarchy is a little low in the army that he didn't know his idiotic speech is heard by the fuming President of the United States.
He will beg and beg later on before he disappears forever. Shield couldn't control the news of the bomb. After the hostages run, they are scattered all over the place. People now know a little bit of what has happened.
All the people are hailing Tony Stark as the savior! Their Hero!
"Argghhhh" Yelena screams and she punches the television to pieces.
"Why did he do it himself? Why!!!" She screams in anger and frustration. She gritted her teeth until it was bloody.
She takes out her sword and teleports from the island. The black market that had to sell the materials to Asano will be torn apart tonight.
A trail of blood can be seen from all over the world. The victim's body is left in pieces. No one could escape and even if they did. They only had time to say their prayers before she found them.
The Oni is a synonym for Revenge. Hers is barely starting.
Near the forest of Rio De Janeiro.
"Stop Banner!" A military team who still isn't giving up on finding the Hulk finally found his trail.
Banner is running away to the depth of the jungle followed by the military convoy.
He stopped running and tried to catch his breath. "I'm sorry Ryan… I couldn't hold it in…" Banner mutters. Maybe part of him doesn't want to hold it in anymore.
He knew what had happened. Betty told her with teary eyes.
"You've come at the wrong time. I…was already… angry before you found me…" Banner said while his eyes turned green. The incarnation of wrath is let loose to grief.
"HULK SMASH!!!!"
…
Third Stages of Grief. Bargaining.
11.00 p.m. The president of the United States is reading the official statement to ease the public.
He told the story about what happened with some facts covered. Such as the waitress was an undercover agent. Asano works for a terrorist group that wants to destroy the United States.
He covered it up so that the public won't blame the Japanese people for the incident. He did it under the guidance of the director of Shield, Nick Fury.
Fury keeps his promise. Shield also had been searching for Ryan in the explosion, in case he is still alive, despite the extremely thin possibility.
The President told the truth about Ryan. "He had carried the bomb away from our country, saving millions of lives…in exchange for his."
May Parker is at home this time. She plopped down on the floor when she heard the news. The 11-year-old Peter Parker wakes up from bed because he heard the sound of someone falling. He peeks through the door and sees Aunt May kneeling on the ground with the chair fallen next to her.
"May. What happened?" He ran to May and tried to understand what was going on. He sees the news is covering something. The picture of Ryan and the caption of a hero is displayed there.
"Mr. Knight…" He figured out what had happened. The brother who had always played with him before when he followed May at work, is no longer there.
Many members of the public cried that night after the official statement. The one who had made a lot of change in the world is now gone.
On the Hidden Island.
Sive, Dotty, and Mia are near the new castle construction site. Many children are there, mourning for Ryan.
"If we don't want the castle anymore. Will he come back?" A kid asks.
"If only I was…older. I can… help him." Mia said while crying.
"Deer God could bring him back, right? He didn't die, right? He won't leave us…right?" Sive almost choked on her saliva. Her tears aren't stopping.
The Deer God is searching at the sea right now. That is how they know this thing is serious.
…
Fourth Stage of Grief. Depression.
*Klang* A liquor bottle falls to the ground. Tony Stark in his wheelchair had just finished another bottle.
He had to use the wheelchair for 3 months before his spinal injuries healed.
It is almost 24 hours since the bomb exploded. Tony didn't give up searching. Jarvis is still monitoring the sea. Shield had found something. A smartphone at the bottom of the sea.
"Tony. Go to sleep. You are injured." Pepper said. Her eyes are red, but she had to be strong for Tony.
The most vicious blow had landed on Tony. He is drinking non-stop. "The sin of my father. What a joke. " He mutters.
Pepper couldn't see him like this anymore. She also has to handle the questions from the press. To make matters worse, Tony is getting a medal from the President.
"It is not mine! I had nothing to do with it!" Tony said angrily to the President at that time. Now, he is overworking himself. He couldn't rest.
[...it wasn't his fault.] The recording from the incident is sent over to Tony. After Pepper leaves, he is alone in the apartment.
"It is my fault. Why did you say it wasn't? All of this happened… because of me." He is speaking to the empty room. He is drunk, in pain, and too tired right now. His eyes redden. He weeps when he is alone.
Suddenly he heard a voice coming from behind him.
"Cause it wasn't. It was not your fault" Ryan reassures him.
Tony's eyes widened. "I always know you will come back as a ghost to haunt me."
He feels like he is hallucinating. The drugs, the alcohol, finally caught up to him. Now, there is a ghost in his room. His state makes him speak the truth in his mind.
"It is my fault. If my father hadn't created the Atomic Bomb…"
"Then someone else will. There are a lot of people working on the Manhattan Project." Ryan cut him off instantly.
"My family is responsible for many destructions in the world. I tried to change my way. But the past catches up to me." Tony said with an angry tone. He's Not angry at Ryan's ghost, but at himself.
"Do you regret changing your way?" Ryan asks.
"No. Never," Tony replied sternly.
"Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one. When you get a different vantage point, it changes your perspective ... It allows us to see things that maybe we should have seen a long time ago. Maybe your past is a mistake. But it is a necessary mistake. Without it, you can't get to where you are right now. "
Ryan can guess what Tony is thinking. He won't stop being Iron Man. But he will destroy himself if his thinking is maintained this way. The self-blame is poisoning Tony.
"The past is the past. It's what you do right now that mattered."
Ryan's ghost finishes his speech. Tony holds his head down. "In the end, you died because of me. " Tony is still blaming himself.
Ryan is the one surprised this time. "Do you think I'm a ghost?"
"No? Maybe the result of my mind breaking down? I haven't figured out the specifics." Tony laughs a bit. Even if it's only a ghost, he wants to talk to Ryan. To ask for forgiveness.
"Ohh, I'm going to enjoy this," Ryan said excitedly. "Haaa" He blew warm air into his palm, like what children do before they hit someone.
*Slap* He slapped Tony in the face. Tony is extremely shocked that the ghost has a corporeal form.
"Still think I'm a ghost now?" He said while grinning.
"You…are still alive? How?" Tony said in a shaky voice.
"Batman has a backup plan on top of a backup plan. Do you think my plane doesn't have one?" Ryan said to Tony.
Here's how. Last night when Ryan flew the batplane into the ocean.
Before the explosion, he went to the back of the plane. "TaDa. Bat Submarine." He entered the small submarine and dropped down into the sea. His remote control is truly broken. He didn't make it up. He can apparate, but how can he explain it to the public later on?
"This distance should be enough from the blast. He dropped down with 5 seconds on the clock. However, he miscalculated something.
"The bomb blast zone is twice that of the New York City bomb." His submarine was pushed violently to the depth of the ocean because of the blast. He had to reinforce it with magic so that it wouldn't kill him.
After the submarine was violently thrashed in the ocean, he realized that he had been pushed 300 meters deep and 5 kilometers away from the blast zone. To make matters worse, the communication line on the helicopter is damaged. He is stuck on the bottom of the sea!
"If I am an ordinary person, I will freak out." He realizes his situation. He needs tools to fix the submarine.
At that time, he contacted Gwen and his father by summoning a new phone and a signal amplifier from his storage ring.
"Gwen, people will think I'm dead later on. Long story short, I brought a nuclear bomb to the ocean to detonate it there."
That's why Gwen is not sad at all when she returns. She even disdains Ryan a little because he made her go through the grieving widow act. Her mother isn't letting her out of her sight at all. She did keep it a secret, as it involves the extraordinary. She knows all the details, and she is fine with it. As long as he did not get hurt and will still come back.
His father meeting with Fury? It was after he called his father.
"I will lay low for a day. Let Fury do his work. If he comes by, then slap him. Also, make sure you record a video of it." Ryan asks a favor from his father. So his father gives an Oscar-worthy performance.
Hiddle praised Tim who managed to bring out tears after Fury had left. Tim had made sure Fury saw those tears. "You will make a good actor sir."
"Will Ryan put me in one of his movies after this?" Tim said while laughing. Of course, his son will survive a nuclear explosion. There is no doubt in his mind that his son will do that.
On the island, when the kids are crying by the castle. Ryan walks to the back of the crowd to get some tools on the island. The kids are so focused on the castle that they didn't see him.
The elf is helping Ryan to monitor Shield's movement at the time in the blast zone. That's why he isn't there. The kids are very embarrassed when they know Ryan is behind them later on. It was only one hour after the blast at that time. Only Yelena, who had teleported out of the island, is oblivious.
It's a good thing Ryan had been considered dead. The government has made some irreversible decisions that will help the public under Ryan's name honor him.
"(Sigh) I know I shouldn't hastily take the quest."
He already finished the quest to avoid potential destruction and get the reward when Natasha had defused the bomb. It seems that his contribution to it isn't overlooked.
When he is carrying the bomb to the ocean, he took another one. It is exactly what he is doing at that time.
Quest No 17.
DamienWayne: Bring a nuclear bomb connected to a jet out of the city.
Bonus quest 1: Fake your own death for 24 hours. You can only tell your family and lover the truth.
Bonus quest 2: Fake your own death for 1 week. You can only tell your family and lover the truth
Bonus quest 3: Fake your own death for a year. You can only tell your family and lover the truth
Reward: 1 day of the hyperbolic time chamber.
BQ1: 2 days in the hyperbolic time chamber.
BQ2: 10 days in the hyperbolic time chamber.
BQ3: 30 days in the hyperbolic time chamber.
"I don't want to fake my death. But the situation left me no choice but to do it." He had another choice, but he had the perfect opportunity to do it. So why not? He needs time to fix the submarine anyway.
"It's only 24 hours. I'm sure things wouldn't get too crazy right?" He hoped. But things turn hectic almost instantly. He had to do a lot of personal apologizing when he got back.
When he fixes the submarine, he drives it back to New York. Fury notices him when he docked at the port almost instantly. He smiles at the sight of Ryan's revival.
"Go pick our hero up," Fury ordered. The agents who reported the sighting had wide smiles on their faces. "Yes sir!"
But they are too late. At that time Ryan docked, Hiddle was already waiting at the dock. "I will settle the account of your reckless behavior later on," Hiddle said calmly. It makes Ryan have goosebumps. He knows that the old butler is mad right now.
"You did well coming back alive Ryan," Hiddle said kindly. 'Be reckless all you want. But come back to us.' That is his only wish. His side wish is to knock some sense into the kid's head. Ryan will receive a 12-hour nagging session later on.
He is worried for Tony so he stops by after he meets Gwen and his father. Fury is trying to meet him, but he is making the shield director wait for a while. Friends and family first.
Tony hears Ryan's explanation. His mind cleared up from the alcohol and pain meds. He goes over and hugs Ryan who is still concocting his story.
"Hey, the doctor asks you to sit in the wheelchair. " Ryan scolded Tony who was standing up and hugging him.
"If there is ever a next time, you better make sure I'm dead before you sacrifice yourself. . You understand!"
Ryan let Tony do his things. But the hug went on for a long time. He is confused. It was then he heard a sound and realized the situation.
"Zzzzz" Tony is snoring. He is asleep. He finally got that weight from his shoulder.
He put Tony back in the wheelchair. While doing so, he injected healing magic into Tony's spine. It will make him heal in weeks rather than months.
"Now to face the consequences" Ryan mutters. The first one is waiting for him outside Tony's house in a black SUV while polishing his eyepatch. Next, the White House.
The last Stages of Grief. Acceptance. No one had achieved this stage.