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Canadian Wilderness
–Jack Sullivan–
He took in deep breaths as he tried to calm his hammering heart. He had taken one look at his rear and after seeing that Iron Man had stopped his pursuit and was instead retreating away, he had booked it even further because if there was one thing he knew about Tony Stark from his comics, that he was a man who did not do things half-heartedly. If he had started his pursuit of him for some reason, he was damn sure that Tony would not let him go without any significant reason. He continued to fly through the air and then even had the bad idea to dive into the water that had appeared below as well. Well, the good news was that his barriers held even under the crushing pressure of ocean water for who knows how deep he had been. The bad news was that it also meant that he had crossed the country he was in and had now wandered into some other equally remote snowy country.
Why did the universe hate him so much that it dropped him into an area that was so remote that even after flying for what seemed like hundreds or even maybe thousands of miles, he had yet to see any human establishments? On top of that, he somehow had the attention of Tony Stark on him now. He had no conceivable way of hiding his face and now that Tony Stark, arguably the smartest man with the smartest tech on the planet knows what he looked like, it was only a matter of time before his entire history was ferreted out and a manhunt was launched for him. Well, that would happen only if Tony went to the government with that information and he severely doubted that Pre-Chitauri Tony would do the responsible thing.
Instead, now that Tony has seen his powers in action, he would first search for him by himself. Not for any nefarious reasons but for his personal curiosity. It was only a matter of time before some camera somewhere spotted his face and Jarvis tracked him down, leading to Tony Stark himself appearing before him for some reason.
He probably should not have panicked so much but it was written in the Wheel of Fortune that the body he was currently inhabiting was someone who was fiercely loyal to HYDRA and he did not want to risk his face being outed as some sort of uber terrorist. He wanted to be alive, thank you very much. Nobody would believe him even if he could explain his circumstances and even if somebody in the government did believe his story, they were more likely to just disregard it in favour of focusing on the more exciting aspect of him, i.e., his powers.
Speaking of his powers, he examined the green barrier that had been covering his skin like a second skin ever since he had stopped himself from crashing into the snow and found that it was still the same colour even after hours of continuous high-intensity use. Well, he said high intensity but he did not feel winded even in the slightest. Somehow, despite running away from a chase from Iron Man, he was still fine and not feeling hungry, thirsty, or exhausted at all. Must be some sort of by-product from his super soldier physiology.
"Neat," He muttered to himself. At Least that was some silver lining on the dark cloud that was his days ever since had landed in this hot soup.
"What's neat?" Somebody said from far away in a metallic voice.
"Ah!" He would deny yelping and then falling on his ass to anybody that claimed so. In front of him, at the very edge of the clearing was some sort of hologram, projecting the face of Tony Stark. He instinctively summoned a shield in front of him and got ready to bolt at the slightest hint of action from Stark. In the meantime, he readied another armour around himself, buffing himself up from a defense perspective. Yet, as he waited for a minute or two for some sort of action from either Stark or for some weapon to hit him from his blindspot, nothing happened, resulting in quite an embarrassing silence in the clearing. That silence was broken by something falling down, creating a muted thudding sound. He immediately whirled around to face the unknown threat with a shield and a sword in his hand along with a larger version of armour around him that hid all his features only to freeze in embarrassment as he saw there was nothing in front of him aside from a broken tree branch.
His shoulders slumped as he heard Stark snort at his reaction, over exaggerated it might have been but he was hamstrung as it was. He dismissed the sword and shield and opened up the area around his face, turned around, and stomped towards the hologram. Stark watched with a raised eyebrow as he stomped towards the machine, leaving huge imprints in the ground due to the force with which he was walking.
Getting upright in Tony's holographic face, he hissed out, "WHAT.DO.YOU.WANT?" He had already been stressed throughout the time he had been in this death universe because let's face it, despite his bumbling about the universe being slightly better than other death verses, it was no sunshine and rainbows either. There was always some big bad out there who would threaten the earth and their lifestyle as he knew it. It had been less than a day since he had been thrust into his new life, with admittedly some cool powers that he could not fully understand. It had been one thing to land in some remote area off the map where he could take some time to regroup and experiment with his powers to better understand them so that he could plan his eventual introduction to civilization proper but it was a whole other thing to have someone who could easily kill him or destroy any chance of him having a somewhat normal life find him and then chase him for hundreds of miles. It was incredibly vexing for all of that to happen in a span of less than a day. At least, it gave him absolute confirmation that he was in the time period after Tony had been kidnapped by the Ten Rings. He was sure that there were some memories in his head which could help him better understand his situation but he simply didn't get the time to sort through them.
"Whoa, hey, kid. I am not your enemy. An enemy would not have helped you by spoofing your energy signature that you are blaring for anyone to sense, by the way. Greenland might not have a great science program or a great military but it is under NATO charter and the US is probably looking straight at your energy signature right now," Tony said to him as a chill ran down his spine. He looked at himself, the extra armoured plating he was standing in, and hurriedly dispelled everything or at least tried to. The thin layer of armour continued to cling to his skin.
"They are not on their way, are they?" He asked Stark, pleadingly. He could not deal with another attack on his person right now. His powers might hold on but there was no guarantee that they would not just hound him till exhaustion and then swoop in once he passed out.
Stark shook his head, "No. I have stopped anyone from reading your energy signature but even my reach is not infinite. Somebody is bound to stumble on you and that will no doubt spell trouble for you considering your status as a runaway. There is also the curious case of you not existing in the system which is a bit peculiar considering the day and age,"
His palms suddenly felt clammy as Stark stumbled on his lack of information in the digital world. He was about to come up with some excuse before Stark himself butted in.
"Of course, something must have happened for that to be the case and I won't pry much. Just answer my question: Did you destroy the base in Canada?" Stark asked him with an air of deathly seriousness.
He gulped for some reason and tried to think of his situation earlier. The moment he had been thrust here, he was in a world of pain. The pain made him unable to even think of something like destroying the base. He was also not sure if his awakening destroyed the base or if the experiment itself released such energy that destroyed it. In the end, he was sure that he consciously did not destroy the base so he answered with..
"No, I did not destroy any base. I didn't even know where I was until you told me just now. Why did you think I destroyed some base in Canada?" He questioned Stark back about it. Maybe, there were some clues in the base that led Stark to him. If so, he might have to go back and destroy them or at least, ask Stark to do so. He was also not sure how to go forward from here. If Stark himself could point something out, he would be incredibly grateful but he didn't know if the current Stark could be trusted as much as the Stark that would have matured incredibly because of the things he had gone through in the span of five years.
Stark looked at him with an unnerving intensity for a moment longer than he would have been comfortable with and then, as if a switch had been flipped, went back to his relaxed stance and shook his head, "I guess you were not conscious then. There was a base in Canada where I found an energy signature identical to yours. The base was built by a government agency that has been very spooked by my arrival and has been clamoring for me to leave their airspace and I have left. I don't know what happened to you or if your situation was out of your control or not but I do have an offer for you,"
His fists clenched at his sides as Stark finally came out with his reason for being here. He would have to think about it thoroughly because dealing with a man like Stark was incredibly difficult even for seasoned politicians, let alone him, a shut-in introvert who spent more than half his day staring at multiple screens.
"What do you want?" He bit out tersely.
"I want you to come to work for me. In exchange, I will provide you with an identity, paperwork, food, shelter, and a handsome salary. In exchange, I want you to work on your skills and then, once you are proficient enough, work as a bodyguard for my girlfriend."
He blinked in confusion. It took him more than a second to realise that Stark was somehow giving him a way out. A way out of months of running, of hiding because he did not have official paperwork or any money to survive or bribe someone to create an identity for him. It was incredibly one-sided and in exchange, all he would have to do was protect Pepper Potts, the future CEO of Stark Industries.
So, he relaxed and then nodded, "Okay. I will work for you BUT if you try and experiment on me, I will leave immediately. Deal?"
Tony pouted, honest to god, he actually pouted at that, "But come on! What about only non-invasive experiments?"
He paused at that. He actually felt better now that Stark had something to gain in exchange as well. It would be incredibly suspicious if Stark was offering him something from just the goodness of his heart. He supposed he could give Stark that much, for now.
"No cloning? Nothing involving my DNA or Blood?" He pressed Stark who gained a thoughtful look on his face at that condition.
"Fine..Deal. Now follow this beacon. It will take you to the nearest jet which will bring you to LA. We will meet once you have had some food and rest along with proper clothing. Also, let me introduce you to Jarvis–"
A "Hello" piped up from the speaker in a distinctly rich British voice. Guess that was Jarvis then.
"--who will be your point of contact. If you need something, just call for him and he will try to solve it and if not, then forward it to me. Now, I am sure you can fly at Mach speeds but for the sake of both of us, go slow and follow this beacon. Try not to create extra flashy constructs. That would just expand your residual energy signature and make things more difficult for you. Alright? See you in LA," Stark quipped and the hologram shut down after him. The hologram shutting down revealed a small rectangle-sized box that began floating with the distinct whine of repulsor technology.
"Ready when you are, sir," Jarvis said from the beacon as it gained a bit more height.
He sighed and looked at himself. Really, looked at himself. He had nothing to his name. At this point, even his clothing had torn away, leaving just his pants in a semi-decent condition to protect his modesty. At this point, he would give anything for the modern amenities that he would have given up in a heartbeat in his old life, for literally a moment of true peace.
"Yeah, let's go," He sighed and lifted his body carefully using the barrier and then slowly followed the beacon. He just hoped that he did not come to regret this decision. Being on the side of good guys and helping defeat villains, becoming a hero, was every boy's dream and he supposed he owed it to his starry-eyed younger self before he was crushed by the corporate world, to at least try to enjoy as he lived out the dream of all children.
Word Count - 2381
Next - Face to Face with Stark and future Plans
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