A glass of whiskey was placed heavily in front of Tony.
"Don't stare at it. It won't kill you," Max said.
Caroline added, "Unless you only drink it once. After all, toxicity aside, it's all about dosage..."
Tony leaned back in his chair, his face displaying a struggle of complex emotions, as if he were not gazing at an ordinary glass of whiskey but at his own tombstone. The cheap alcohol scent had already invaded his nostrils, and he found himself explaining to himself: I'm not avoiding anything; I just want a drink.
"Damn it, I finally managed to get rid of this." He shooed away the two sisters who were just spectators, muttering to himself. Tony was starting to miss Pepper, not that he hadn't done so in the past half month, but he needed her now more than alcohol. Thinking of his Pepper Potts, he picked up the glass and began to take deep breaths.
For a whole month, he had pretended that everything was fine. Or rather, he had begun to pretend that everything was normal, except for Natasha and Pepper, no one would notice anything wrong. The latter almost healed him, if it weren't for this mess.
Then he met Baia, a green-eyed girl full of secrets. She helped him retrieve his armor, which at least eased the situation somewhat. But Tony still felt like a dehydrated fish, without the Avengers, without Stark Industries, and with no one needing Iron Man, he had no place in this world.
Whether it was a parallel world or another universe, Tony had probably figured out the technological level of this world. With enough funds, he might find a way home in a few months.
Iron Man could handle everything himself; he never relied on anyone. But now, Tony began to indulge in his longing. He started to think about the nights of drinking followed by Pepper's scolding, the big boy known as the good neighbor of New York, and his little clumsy hands and the AI with a knack for British humor. These things gave him hope.
He glanced at the glass drifting into emptiness again, then placed it back on the table, muttering a word, and then got up and left.
Fortunately, Baia had already paid for the drinks in advance, and the bar tab could be deducted from the tips; otherwise, Max would have to stop him.
Back at his residence, Tony began to check the surveillance cameras near the "Winter Docks" apartment in Manhattan, and had Friday compare the crack data provided by Baia earlier, and indeed found many clues. At the same time, he hacked into the local police system and discovered that a month ago, there had been unidentified disappearances in the Manhattan area, but the number of missing persons had remained at a level that would not attract too much attention.
Cunning species, for them, New York was like a hunting ground, and everyone was an unsuspecting lamb.
Friday marked out the "Danger Zone" based on the locations of the population's disappearances, and after filtering out the noise, found that the center of the incidents was the "Winter Docks," and the energy frequency in the apartment building coincided with the data of the so-called "cracks."
In other words, there was a crack in the universe in the "Winter Docks" apartment building, and these creatures ran out from there.
Baia seemed to have experience in dealing with creatures from other universes, including himself.
But now he had angered her.
Despite her anger, on the one hand, she found that Tony's emotions had been somewhat unstable since returning to New York, and she couldn't really leave him alone here. On the other hand, she couldn't just abandon the main task. Moreover, New York was currently in crisis, and Baia couldn't just sit idly by and fly to Gotham to escape.
After much thought, Baia didn't tell Tim about the weeping angels for the time being. Batman and the Robins had no superpowers; they relied heavily on reconnaissance and combat skills. Facing creatures like the weeping angels, close combat was too dangerous.
With so little information available to Baia at the moment, she couldn't figure out a plan for the time being. While she worried, she registered Stark Industries.
While the only two directors of the company were in a cold war, Stark Industries was quietly established.
The company's accounts only had forty thousand dollars, half of which was left by Tony, and the other half was the money Baia had saved up recently. They couldn't even pay next month's salary. With this money, they still needed to rent a venue, hire employees, continue product development, contact cooperative manufacturers for production, and invest in advertising and other miscellaneous matters.
But at least now Baia didn't have to worry about these things. She had just hired a Chief Technology Officer from the Wharton School of Business with five thousand dollars from this forty thousand. She just had to think of a way.
Poor Caroline, still unaware of the kind of empty shell company she's taken over. Baia bit her nails, feeling stuck.
System: What should we do now? You have a big temper, but what if he rushes in alone and something happens?
Baia was already anxious, but hearing the system's words made her angry: "If he wants to go, let him go. I can't fly, I can't stop him. If he wants to follow, he won't be welcomed!"
She said that, but she regretted leaving Tony alone.
Tony analyzed the data and began to modify his armor. Although he didn't have many tools on hand, some slight modifications were possible. He was working on a short-term external expansion shield, and Friday's sweet voice rang out.
"BOSS, congratulations, Stark Industries has been established."
While Friday silently helped calculate energy parameters for her boss, she also looked into financing-related matters for Baia. She didn't dare mention the situation of the other to either person. Being an AI was really tough.
At the news, Tony felt a bit uneasy. After all, he was the one with the bad attitude. Despite driving everyone away, she was still helping him. "Miss Wayne has a good temper. If you apologize, there's a 90% chance she'll forgive you," Friday suggested at the right moment.
Tony felt heavy-hearted; apologizing was definitely one of the things he least wanted to do in his life, especially since he hadn't said anything particularly heavy-handed — she was pretty short but had a big temper.
After Friday made the suggestion, she didn't say anything more and silently took over the nearby surveillance cameras, monitoring the movements of the statues. Despite being unquestionably one of the world's top AIs, she couldn't discern which were the real statues and which were the hunters in disguise.
Friday wasn't sure if her observation would turn the weeping angels into stone statues, but after comparing the current and one-week-old street view satellite snapshots, she found an increase in stone statues on the streets.
This made Tony feel a sense of crisis; the angels weren't satisfied with just appearing in Manhattan. He quietly put on his modified armor, which had been completely altered after two major modifications. For convenience, he had restored the design of the suitcase before coming to New York and made it lightweight again.
He hoped that the external energy shield expansion could prevent direct contact with the angels in case of necessity.
Baia, staying in her room, felt a knock on the window. She looked up, "Who is it?"
"Me," Tony said.
For them, such concise dialogue wasn't common, and the atmosphere was somewhat tense. Baia opened the window, and Iron Man sat on her window sill. Without mentioning the events of the day, Tony projected the information he had obtained to Baia. "The 'Winter Docks' apartment is the angels' lair," Tony said. "We have to find a way to close that crack. Based on previous data, I've basically figured out the nature of these so-called cracks. Once enlarged, the energy will become unstable, and the space will quickly heal itself."
"If that's the angels' lair, it's too dangerous for us to go in," Baia said.
Tony's tone was calm, "Because you've never believed in me; you only believe in yourself and Batman. I said I could handle it, and Tony Stark never tells lies."
This time he didn't mock Baia; he just expressed his feelings. He had spent some time analyzing Baia's personality today. Fundamentally, she was not a cowardly person, otherwise, she wouldn't have dared to sneak into the STARLab laboratory with him. But she dared to do this not because she trusted him, but because she believed in her own abilities.
There was also a slight hint of being a control freak.
Baia lowered her head and began to consider the cost.
After a while, she looked at Tony, "Okay, this time I trust you."
"And..." and I'm sorry for my attitude towards you during the day. Tony hadn't been able to say this yet when he noticed the lights in the room starting to flicker.
This meant that the pursuers had arrived.
Baia and Tony exchanged a glance. "I need to change clothes and get some gear," Baia said.
"We'll go out through the window later," Iron Man jumped in and handed her a wristband. "If there's danger, press this button. I'll go check the corridor first; you better hurry."
He wasn't surprised that Baia had her own equipment.
System: Here's a suggestion, use fewer skills in front of the angels and rely more on equipment. Natural talents don't count.
Baia asked as she changed into the Sparrow's uniform, "Why?"
System: Because that would make you the Tang Monk meat in the eyes of the fairies.
Baia let out a soft hiss. As the lights flickered more frequently and finally emitted a sound of electrical breakdown, the room plunged into darkness, and the faintly fluorescent night-blue feathers of the Sparrow's Nightwing quietly unfolded.
The goggles of the Domino mask had night vision capabilities, which was crucial for her.
In the corridor, Tony was not surprised to see an angelic stone sculpture standing on each side of the staircase entrance. In the flickering dim light, their shadows twisted to resemble demons even more. He blinked and immediately noticed that the two masked sculptures that were just at the staircase had opened their claws, with grimaces showing blood-filled mouths and long fangs.
They appeared dangerously close to him.
"Oh, Friday, did you calculate their speed?" Despite being mentally prepared, he was still startled.
"The speed of the Weeping Angels' movement is approximately 16 meters per second, BOSS," Friday replied. "I strongly advise you not to remain in the same place."
"Got it." Tony said to the two terrifying stone statues, "Change careers, go play Blink."
Before the lights in the corridor completely went out, Baia saw the eternal blue glow on Iron Man's chest. Then, she was lifted up by Tony, and the two flew out of the window.
As the curtains fluttered in the wind, the next moment, the two Weeping Angels appeared at the window of Baia's room, their sharp claws reaching out of the window. The stone faces of the sculptures maintained a howling expression, resembling demons crawling out of hell.
"You're clueless," Tony said, "I can fly."