"Don't get closer." Maria Hill warned Tony. "It can manipulate machines."
Tony immediately stopped flying down. He had learned firsthand the dangers of the unknown after facing the mutants. He reckoned this was yet another mystery creature. "What is that thing?"
"We call it Ghost Rider. We don't know where it came from and what it wants, but it's definitely a creature from beyond our plane of existence," Maria explained, looking at the distant trail of fire. "We've been tracking it down for years now, but not much has changed."
"Plane of existence? You don't mean alien?" Tony asked back.
"I meant ghosts, Mr.Stark. The occult stuff."
"That's real too?!" Tony exclaimed in shock. "Are you messing with me?"
"I don't play around with work. There are cosmic demons, evil tomes, sorcerers, ghosts, and much more out there. I thought Shield gave you access to the database. You didn't look into it?"
Why didn't I?
"Didn't have time," Tony replied and looked back down at the road. The fire was now gone. "You know, these days just remind me how blissfully clueless people are."
Maria chuckled and looked at Tony's face, still held in his arms against his metal chest. "Well, the more you know."
Tony sighed and resumed his flight towards the fine restaurant he had booked for the night. At that point, he was thinking of just buying it since booking the whole place was a hassle. Of course, he didn't book the whole place just because he was rich. Instead, he booked it because of his political career. He finally knew that he needed to do some stuff low-key, well some anyway.
"There we go." He finally landed at the rooftop restaurant of a building tall enough that nobody from around could pry on them.
Maria looked around, finding the place empty. "You booked the whole place?"
Tony smirked. "Perks of being Tony Stark's date."
"Oh really? This is a date?" She asked back with a teasing smile.
Tony shrugged and got out of his suit before walking to a nice two-person table and sitting down. He was a gentleman, but he reckoned Maria wasn't the type to want a man to slide out the chair for her.
Soon enough, dinner was served and they chatted away for two hours. It was mostly Tony talking, asking her questions about her life since there wasn't much to be asked about him. Most things about him were an open book.
"So, what's going on between you and Natasha?"
Ah, she knows. There goes my chances of a fun night.
"Frenemies, I guess. Still not over you guys sniffing around my company. I mean, if I had gone all legal on you guys, Shield might've had to close up shop. Not that I'm one to hold a grudge or anything," Tony replied, taking the topic as far away from anything sexual as possible. "You guys are lucky that I'm not a loudmouth."
"Not a loudmouth? After making an enemy out of the entire bureaucracy?"
"Hey, that's different. They're corrupt bastards, so they get no love from me," Tony replied, relaxing as he just finished his wine. Then he looked at his watch. "What's the next plan? Getting drunk at my place?"
Maria smiled with a tease and got up from her seat. She walked around the table and leaned down a little. Before long, her lips landed a soft peck on Tony's cheek. "Sorry, but I'm gonna have to get back and file a report on Ghost Rider."
There goes the night.
Well, at least the dinner was nice. Maria wasn't bad company either.
"Need me to drop you off?"
"No, I called for a car. See you later." She waved and left right away, a little rushed even.
Tony sighed and waved at the staff to bring him some more drinks. So what if the girl was gone, the goal remained the same. So much had happened since morning that he just wanted to get drunk and relax.
He looked at the watch again and sighed. It was 9 in the evening. Still a few hours away from his usual sleep schedule. He weighed in the options—go home and work on something. Or find another place to stay. He did have a few in mind.
"Let's toss a coin."
Ting!
He caught the coin in his palm and opened his fist. It was heads, and that meant.
"May it is."
He got up right away and walked back towards his Iron Man suit. "Ah, I guess that kid will be more excited than May herself."
Before long, he jetted into the sky, destination Queens. After many upgrades, he had added the stealth features for such exact situations. Well, not for the exact situations, but similar.
With as much silence as possible, he arrived in front of the door and gently rang the bell. In all honesty, he'd have preferred if May lived somewhere better. But, he knew her enough to understand her. She was a proud woman and wouldn't accept anything that she hadn't earned.
Maybe I should increase her salary. She was still employed by him as his charity manager, after all.
Trrrr!
Click!
"Woah!"
"Hey, kid." Tony looked down at Peter. As always, the boy had a t-shirt on with an Iron Man print on it. Perks of being his charity manager, May received a lot of free merchandise.
Right then, May came from behind, donning a loose single-piece, flower print dress that went down to her knees. Above it all she wore an apron. "Mr. Stark?"
Tony waved his hand casually. "Yeah, I was in the neighborhood. Thought of 'discussing' more charity events."
"Oh." May blushed and fixed her round glasses up her nose. "Come in, I'd love to 'discuss' charity."
Hah, she gets it. Tony chuckled and walked into the small two-bedroom apartment.
After closing the door, he got out of the suit. He followed May's fantastic rear into the dining area and took a seat at the table so he could still look at her working in the kitchen.
But right beside him was Peter, a few books open in front of him. However, what surprised him was the subject. It was calculus and it was not some high school level math. One glace and he knew it was at least college freshmen year level.
"How old are you, kid?"
"I'm twelve," Peter declared. "No, I'll be twelve next month."
"You like calculus?"
"No, but it's not hard. School is boring," Peter muttered and continued to write in his notebook, solving questions. "Do you like calculus?"
"I live on it!"
Seeing Peter so engrossed in his study, Tony fell silent and looked inside the kitchen. As delectable as May was, he couldn't help but be amazed at the random encounter. From that charity kitchen to now, from meeting her to finding Peter, a boy who was definitely gifted with high intelligence.
"May, has Peter ever gotten tested for his IQ?" He asked randomly.
"Yeah, I think he did a few years back," May mumbled from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "It was high, something like two-thirty? Yeah, that sounds about right. They said he is gifted, but Peter... he turned down all those scholarships. Didn't want to be away from me, you know?"
Tony silently looked at the small kid beside him. Just a little bit, but he saw his own shadow in Peter. He remembered being forced to attend a boarding school at the age of 7. It was hell, as everyone there was older, and understanding people was a struggle. It was completely understandable why living with May was better.
How many more kids like him are out there?
"Yeah, it's better this way," he replied and flipped out his phone. He quick-dialed Pepper since an idea had taken root in his head. "How's my CEO doing?"
"Still sore," Pepper barked from the other side. "I'm at the office, did something happen?"
"Pep, I want to hold a year-long world talent search examination. Based on IQ and a few regular subjects. Totally free, because who doesn't love free stuff? Top kids get flown to the States with their parents. If the parents are qualified, great—they get jobs. If not, we train them up. Meanwhile, the kids? Stark Foundation School. We nurture them and future-proof them. No guarantees they'll all work for us, but hey, they'll benefit the country in the end." Tony explained his simple idea. "This is one good thing America got going, Pepper. We can cherry-pick talents from across the world and make them ours."
Pepper became silent for a while. With the company expanding like a Kraken with infinite tentacles, it was getting hard to find exceptional people to fill positions. It was a great idea to foster such talents themselves.
"Tony, are you suggesting as the company's Executive Chairman or the President?"
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