Chapter 41:
"So, you think he bought it?" Tony asked me.
"I'm not sure," I replied. "I could tell that he was highly interested in the parts about exploring other celestial bodies. His hatred for you was palpable though." If anything was going to tank the deal, it was that.
"Really?" Tony asked. "He didn't seem to hate me that much. I mean, all I did was leave him on a roof for one night during a party. It's not my fault the guy could absolutely not read the room and see I was with a woman."
"Weren't you always with a woman back then?" I said with a laugh.
Tony laughed as well. "I suppose you're right. I probably could have heard the guy out at least. Obviously, I should have because he somehow created his own company a few years later. And now it's leading the field in genetics. I don't know why he approached me though… I was an arms dealer specializing in robotics, not genetics," Tony explained. I always found that a bit strange as well. Tony is a genius, but he doesn't specialize in genetics. Then again, for some never-specified reason, Tony is a huge celebrity in this world. As an arms dealer, that always struck me as strange. I couldn't name one arms dealer back in my old life, let alone imagine one being more famous than the Kardashians. And that was before he publicly outed himself as Iron Man. "He was probably just a big fan of yours, and then you went and crushed his dreams…"
"Well then… let's hope I don't accidentally go and create my own Stain then..."
"Was that a My Hero Academia reference?" I asked with some surprise.
"Ha! Yeah, it was. I'm surprised you know what that even is. Does the other Earth have anime as well? Now that I think about it, you never really mentioned to us what the other Earth is like," he said. "I was just assuming it was basically a mirror copy of our own."
"It pretty much is. Surprisingly, history is almost exactly the same as well. I don't really have any idea why that is. That's a mystery for another time, I suppose," I said, to which Tony nodded. We continued to have speculative small talk for the next few minutes before Aldrich's secretary returned and told us to head back into the room.
We entered the room to find that the man's bodyguards were no longer standing next to him. Did he think we were going to attack him the first time? He hadn't even started that fake Mandarin nonsense yet, so it wasn't like we had any actual reason to.
"Tony and Miss Layla, thank you for waiting while I made my decision," Aldrich said as we walked over and took our seats across from him. "After that short deliberation, I've come to the unfortunate decision that I will not be able to help the two of you," Killian said with a fake frown. It seemed that his amnesty with Stark had won out over his greed. He wasn't going to get us that formula.
"Is that so?" I asked with a grimace. I guess we were going with plan B then. I'm sure Natasha would have fun robbing this place blind at least… I'd offer to help, but I'm not exactly one for subtlety.
"Are you sure we can't change your mind, Killian? Come on, man, just think about it! Space! The final frontier! Stark Industries and AIM leading the charge onto other planets!" Tony explained with genuine enthusiasm. Of course, the serum was actually for saving humanity, but that didn't discount the fact that we would actually be going to space as well. He had mentioned to me that he had already started preparing suits that could function out of the atmosphere. He had asked me if Angels could survive out there unassisted. I honestly wasn't sure. I did breathe instinctively, but that could just be my leftover instincts as a human. I found that when I intentionally held my breath, I didn't seem to struggle with the lack of air.
Aldrich shook his head. "Yes, I'm afraid that that's just how it is. You see, AIM has recently gotten a new investing partner, and well… they don't exactly like you two very much. Especially you, Layla. You've really gone and upset them it seems. What a shame…"
I tensed up when I heard that. What was he talking about? I get lots of people hating Tony, but they didn't like me as well? I felt my hackles raise as heavy footsteps could be heard approaching from the other side of the office. I stood up and immediately deployed my wings as a lightspear formed in my hand. My instincts were telling me a fight was coming.
"Whoa, Layla! What's going on!?" Tony exclaimed with wide eyes. I reached into my inventory and pulled out a metallic suitcase that I tossed to him. He caught it easily with a bit of surprise. It was his portable Iron Man suit. We'd stored it in my inventory so it wouldn't look like he was walking around with his super weapon at all times.
I didn't immediately answer Tony's question. "Who did you sell us out to?" I turned and leveled a glare at Aldrich Killian. In response, the man just gave us a smile and laughed.
"Sorry, babe, but this is just business after all. Wish we could have gotten to know each other better though." Aldrich added with a fake sigh as he blatantly checked me out and looked me up and down. I wanted to summon a lightspear and stab him right then and there. My time for that would be coming soon enough I supposed. The doors to his office were kicked in and a large man wearing a black face mask entered the doorway.
At this point, Tony was still in the process of his Iron Man suit forming over his body. His current generation suit still took at least 15 seconds to fully assemble itself over him. The man who had just kicked in the doorway wasn't going to give him the time to finish as he leveled what looked like a grenade launcher at Tony and me!
My eyes narrowed when I took in the most distinctive feature of the intruder. He had a bright silver metal arm! It was the Winter Soldier. At the same time, I could feel the temperature in the room rapidly increase. A rapid glance behind me showed that Aldrich was completely wrapped in flames as he was lunging for Tony! At the same time, the Winter Soldier rapidly fired his entire clip of grenades at us!
[Emergency Quest Issued! - Defeat the Winter Soldier and AIM!]
XXX
--------------------------------------------------
Read 10+ chapters in advance over on my Pat.reon.
Pat.reon.com/StarWaves (Remove the .)