####
Tony busied himself with research at the SHIELD facility for the coming days. Of course, he also made trips to various political interviews and some nights at May's place. But most of the days were spent researching the Tesseract.
Half of the lab turned into his personal space by the third day. Dozens of screens, and instruments made readings on the Tesseract. After studying the old records from WW2 that were obtained from Germany, it was clear that the thing could be used to charge energy weapons.
At that point, the possibility of creating a much stronger Arc Reactor seemed real. The last time he had a limited energy source was when he made 'Badassium' based reactor. This time, using the Tesseract, he believed the possibility was endless.
Sadly, that was where the problem lay. The Tesseract seemingly held infinite energy, so it was hard to know how it would react once being used. The German records were incomplete.
"Stark, I can't authorize this. You're talking about a black hole—I don't care if the odds are one in a trillion, I'm not signing off on it. This is Manhattan, for god's sake." Fury's tone was final, shutting down Tony's request for the experiment.
Tony sighed, glancing back at the sleek machines lined up for the test. "Look, are you sure about this? Because the second I take that office, I'm just gonna authorize myself anyway. By delaying me, you're just annoying the future President."
"Now that's plain blackmailing."
"Look, the odds are so tiny they might as well be zero. Honestly, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it—my bad," Tony replied, not willing to step down. He only had one day left with the Tesseract anyway. "But hey, here's a thought: let me handle this, and I owe you one. Anything. You name it."
"Anything?" Fury widened the only eye he had.
Tony felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. What the hell was Fury going to ask? "Sure, as long as it's not spying, romance, or using my Presidential powers for something wrong."
Fury smiled and raised his hand. "You got yourself a deal."
Did I sell my soul to the devil? It does feel like that.
Tony still shook his hand. "Empty the building. I can wait an hour at max."
"It's already empty, Stark."
"Tsk." Tony narrowed his eyes, already piecing it together. The one-eyed bastard planned it from the start. "I'm slashing your paycheck. Just wait."
"Enjoy." Fury chuckled and left with victory in his hands.
In the end, Tony shrugged and continued with the experiment. It was mostly identical to how he did it back in the California mansion. It was just the scale that had gotten bigger. With more professional tools, and a few Iron Guardians there to help him, he grabbed the crank and prepared to control the output of the Tesseract.
"Ready?" he asked, as Jarvis synchronized five Iron Guardians around him. "And remember, if the output goes above five, shut it down."
Zzzzzz~
Soon after, a loud hum started to resonate all around. It was so deep that the vibrations started shaking the very walls around them. It was extremely dangerous as the entire building could fall. But, this was SHIELD's base.
"Keep going!" Tony shouted and aimed the light beam generated towards the reactor base. He was sweating, the heat only rising with each second. The energy being released from the Tesseract started to melt the walls around them as the paint came off like a gooey liquid. "Fuck! Keep going!"
The Iron Guardians moved and aided Tony. In fact, Tony was already in his suit as it held temperature-controlling capabilities. Without those, he would have been toast.
"Just a little!"
Shhh~
"Sir, the output has reached four."
"Just a little!" Tony struck the Reactor Base at last and let it absorb the nigh-infinite energy of the Tesseract. "Get ready to cut it!"
Tony was greedy, however. Why make just one reactor when you can make two? As soon as he noticed the reactor base had reached the tipping point, he moved the energy beam to land it on other reactor bases. They weren't completely similar to the existing ones. In the end, they were his attempts to make it better.
"Out at four point five."
"Five more seconds!" Tony shouted. The vibrations had started to chip concrete from around the walls and the ceiling by then. He feared the building might collapse at that point. "Three… Two… One! Cut it!"
Woosh!
Jarvis controlled the Iron Guardians and immediately contained the diminishing energy beam from the Tesseract. It took a lot of time for all the instruments to cool down, though the Tesseract's energy had stopped oozing out.
It made Tony envious. He wanted to know what the cube was made of. What if he could make an Iron Man suit from it? Sadly, it was impossible to study the composition. He didn't want to either since whatever was inside it held enough power to destroy the entire planet.
"Jarvis, run the scans." Tony quickly walked closer to the three new Arc Reactors he had created. Their base was still 'Badassium' but there were some mechanical tweaks.
"Sir, based on my preliminary analysis, the second sample appears to be the most refined of the lot."
"This one?" Tony peered at the new Arc Reactor. It had a hint of green tint to its mostly blue shine. It hummed in itself, as if unstable. But Jarvis declared it was the most stable one. "What about the other ones?"
"They are also stable, but less efficient. It will require more analysis, Sir."
Tony rubbed his chin in silence. He weighed between just jamming one of them into his chest or waiting for a more detailed analysis. The last time it had worked.
It might cook my heart.
In the end, he scooped the three Arc Reactors and disassembled the entire mechanism. He made sure nobody could copy his experiment and prepared to leave.
"Jarvis, fire up the computers. I'm heading home."
####
White House,
There were a lot of sad faces in politics recently. Most of them were crowded in the same area often. Sometimes at the Capitol, at times in some gatherings, and on some occasions, White House itself.
It was one of those days. Right inside the Oval Office, on the couches sat a few powerful faces that had never looked that helpless in history. Be it a national calamity or a terrorist attack, nothing scared them more than one tech bro that had grown too big.
In front of the President sat the Chairman, Vice Chairman of both the parties, as well as the Speaker of the House. There were a few more, mainly the last two Presidents. The men had finished their terms but didn't seem too distant from politics.
The meeting had gone beyond the allotted time of one hour. At that point, the President shrugged annoyedly. "What can we do? We tried everything in our power. We tried character assassination—but here's the thing: no media outlets' gonna touch him. It's a capitalist system, and they go where the money flows. Unless you're all ready to outbid Tony Stark, nothing will change."
When it came to money, everyone turned into a chicken.
"This will set a wrong precedent! What if he launches a party after winning? He's likely going to do it. A lot of Senators and Reps are being reached out by his team." One of the Chairmen voiced.
The President shrugged. "Look, once again, this is a free country. It's his money, and he has every right to spend it how he sees fit. Now, the fact that people are rallying behind him? That says more about how they feel about us than anything else. Maybe we need to start asking ourselves some hard questions about why that is. And let's be clear—he's made every interest group his enemy. If he still wins, he rightfully deserves it."
"It will be hell if he's able to form a third party that can actually win."
"I understand why you're all gathered here today, and I want to be clear: my answer is still no. I won't reenter the race only to risk losing and tarnishing my name." The President stood, moving back to his table, where he picked up a file. "However, regarding the assassination attempts against him... I'm more interested in that. Who did it?"
When he brought up that topic, nobody looked at him.
"I know you folks didn't order it. But I know that you all are aware of who did it. Take my advice, make friends with him, and get ready to clean your dirty sheets. If he's going to do what he said he would, nobody is safe."
####
Stark Tower,
A month had gone by ever since Tony made the new Arc Reactor. He had already fitted it in his chest by now, and it was truly a marvel to have. He had to upgrade the Destroyer Armor to handle more energy output.
Faster, stronger, and deadlier—What a time to be alive, he reckoned.
Quite literally so as he sat on the couch, reclined back. In his hands was a sheet of paper with a few questions, and between his legs was the fantastic fan of his—Christine Everhart. Her blonde head bobbed rapidly as he bucked into her, one hand pressing her face down just as he unloaded himself right down her choking throat.
It was a heavenly place to be. Her tight, gulping throat squeezed him dry, downing every speck of his release. She didn't let a single drop leak out and continued to suckle him until not a trace of his load was left. Just her spit and a glistening clean cock.
"Ummh…" Christine finally stood up and fell on Tony's lap. Her skirt was missing after the thorough fucking he had gifted her. Her blazer was thrown aside, and her shirt buttons were undone with those fantastic, pink-tipped breasts teasing him.
Tony captured her on his lap and continued to read. Having exhaustively relished her, he was fully focused on reading the questions that were going to be asked that night at a public interview.
"Hm, the questions sound too easy. They'll call you 'bought and paid'." Tony warned her.
Christine giggled and wiggled her ass to tease his flaccid cock squeezed between her warm asscheeks. "Bought and paid? Then they have no idea what else I've been gifted."
Tony liked her for this exact reason. He knew that she was aware that whatever they had was only ever going to remain a 'friends with benefits' deal. She knew it, and he knew it—He was one horny guy, and she was one greedy woman.
Besides, he was good-looking. So, getting to bang Tony fucking Stark, and also receiving professional benefits from him was a fun deal to have.
"Add a few hard-hitter questions," Tony advised her.
"About the Stark Industries' violent past?"
"Sure, I'll throw Dad under the bus. Or make a sob story?" Tony muttered. "Add a few about international conflicts too."
Tony added the last one because of what was in the news that day. Right in front of him was the TV, and the news of a massacre of eight hundred people in a town in Burkina Faso was being run.
"I can end all this, but now is not the time. But I do have a gift for the country," Tony muttered, feeling his phone vibrate at that very moment. He casually caressed Christine's silky long legs before answering the call from Fury. "So, is the world ending?"
"Stark, how quickly can you make it to Germany?"
Tony thought about it for a second. In truth, he was just busy fondling Christine's soft breasts, making her bite her lips and suppress a moan. "Depends on the occasion."
"The Tesseract has been stolen. Shield's base was attacked by Loki. Satellites have located him in Stuttgart."
"Loki?" Tony frowned, trying to remember where the hell he heard that name before.
"Thor's brother, as per the mythology," Fury answered first.
"How serious is it?"
"Consider this an Alien invasion, Stark. Loki is the God of Mischief—his track record isn't sunflowers and rainbows. The Tesseract packs enough energy to wipe this planet off the map, so whatever scheme he's cooking up, it's bound to be a disaster."
"Alright, send me the coordinates." Tony sighed and ended the call. He looked at the beauty on his lap. The plan was to go for round two, but it seemed the 'gods' were against it. "Sorry. Gonna have to postpone the interview."
He quickly put her aside and got up. Tucking his willy in, he smelled his armpits to make sure he didn't need a shower.
"Jarvis, fire it up!"
With that, AC/DC's Back In Black started blasting throughout the mansion. Tony's new Destroyer Armor Mark II also walked over to him and opened up.
"What happened?" Christine asked him, rushing to tidy herself.
Can't leave her with nothing.
Tony suited up fully and opened the visor. "Three words. It can be breaking news if you're quick enough—Stuttgart, Aliens, Gods."
"What?!"
Tony didn't add anything and jetted off right from the massive living room, a large glass panel on the side was opened up by Jarvis for him.
Right behind him, five latest Iron Guardians Mark III followed.
______________________
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