"My Lord the mission was successful, we have confirmed that Tony Stark is the recent vigilante that calls himself Ultron."
A masked figure knelt in a dimly lit room with green light before a man whose appearance was shielded by the shadows.
But what stood out the most was the giant hydra symbol etched in the walls behind the man sitting on the throne-like chair.
"Understood. Now, we shall move on to the next step. It appears our plans will need to be sped up now that they have caught on to us."
"Yes, My Lord. I will act on it right away."
The man said nothing for a while and then asked, "Do you have anything else to say?"
"Yes My Lord. I needed to report to you concerning The Viper. She had meet a group of mutants of unknown origin on her way back from Russia."
"I see, so what?"
"We'll, My Lord, she hopes that your eminence might show up, claiming that you will be interested in what she found."
"Hmm, you can leave."
"Yes, My Lord."
------------
Tony Stark sat before the board of directors in Stark Industries. It has been a while since he attended the board meeting.
But after many troubles from the company's investors and queries from the company's leading figures he had to show up personally.
After all, his life is more than just being a 'Superhero' and even though he wants to walk that life, he can't ignore this side of himself too.
Ever since he announced Stark Industry's shut down of their weapon's manufacturing sector, the company's evaluation took a big hit.
Although most times all he wanted to do was to dedicate his time into research and development of technology he is still after all the CEO of Stark Industries and Stark Industries is his money generator.
"So are we agreed on this now, gentlemen?" Tony asked calmly.
The Board was still shocked by his display of the new technology.
But to Tony this was just a mere play toy.
He didn't want to release this particular technology as he is more than anyone aware of how easily it is for this world to use any random breakthrough in technology to launch a new Villain.
Especially since this technology was once used by a certain Villain.
Mysterio.
Yes, what he released was the holographic technology.
It is not as advanced as the one he uses himself but it is enough to bring the company's stock back on track and will even push the company's revenue up a bit.
'But this is still far from my goal. I want to dominate the tech market all over the world. But I can't push out all my cards at once,' Tony thought to himself.
After a bit more words he left the room with his personal assistant in tow.
Virginia Potts didn't know she was wearing a smile as she followed Tony to his ride.
She was more happy than most seeing the genius inventor back once more shocking the board as he had done in time past.
Every voice that once spoke against his actions were very silent now.
It wasn't until Tony turned to her that she snapped out of her daydream, "Pepper? You okay?"
"Um yes, yes. I am."
"Really? You looked like you got lost in La La land for a bit. Anyway have you gotten any leads on the assignment I gave?"
"Oh, that. Yes, but I have not been able to contact them as the person in question has been said to shy away from the public eye for years now."
"It's alright, take your time."
"By the way Pepper, you might need an assistant very soon too."
*Thud*
Tony closed the door and the Happy drove off the car leaving a slightly confused Pepper.
'What does he mean I might need an assistant?' she wondered but as she couldn't guess what he meant she let it be and left to attend to her work.
"I guess we will be making the headlines again."
-----------------------
New York City.
Secret Underground Base.
"So you're telling me Grant Ward is an undercover Hydra agent?"
Clint Barton was surprised.
Being told to abandon his mission in Russia and coming here he was prepared for a very important tasks.
This was due to the importance of his previous mission and hence anything that would have him abort that mission must be very urgent.
But what he didn't expect was that the situation exceeded all of his expectations.
"But if even Shield has been infiltrated so deeply doesn't that mean that they have managed to climb up very important positions in the government and possibly the military?" James Rhodes asked worriedly.
Fury sighed, "Indeed it has."
"Then this means..."
"Oh, I'm not late to the meeting am I?"
Tony walked in with a smile looking at the faces of those gathered here he was struck with a realization.
James Rhodes, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Nick Fury, Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter, Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Sam Wilson, and lastly the one that surprised Tony a bit.
Daisy Johnson.
Tony finally realized that truly, a new life has begun.
°°°°°°°°°°°°
Finally we have come to the end of Volume 1!
A/N: Your support is very helpful to me so please, If you can, support me on Patreon and get early access to chapters, visit the site below (just remove the - symbol that comes after 'pa'):
www.patreon.com/marvelstark
This volume was really just about Tony settling down in his new life. Now that he realizes that he is about to face the true characters of the Marvel Universe, he will need to up his game.
After all.
Tony always learns from his mistakes. At least of the mistakes he had seen in the comics in his past life.
Volume Two coming soon!