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LA
–Tony Stark–
Come on, not this.
"You know, Pepper, when I made you CEO, I thought I was taken off their list by default," He did not NOT whine to Pepper as she had all but dragged him out of his lab and forced him to come to the office to attend some sort of important meeting. He had even given it in writing a few months back that Pepper Potts represented him in all its entirety, even for shareholder meetings. That made sure that he did not have to leave his lab to attend some useless meeting where the agenda for the meeting had already been voted on before the meeting and only the formal voting was left to be done. He thought that those dull meetings were behind him but apparently, he thought differently. When he had been told by Pepper to prepare for an outing, he had gotten excited, thinking that it was some sort of impromptu date but apparently, it was some sort of meeting at the office. The same office space where his ex-father figure had hatched multiple plans to kill him.
Suffice it to say, he was not a fan of the current campus and would have ordered a whole other one built on the other side of the state if he had to come daily to the office but thankfully, being a majority shareholder meant that he had certain rights which he could exercise. Which is why he couldn't understand why he was being dragged by Pepper to....
"Wait, that is not where the boardroom is. I thought we were going to the board meeting?" He couldn't help but question Pepper who was busy talking with her PA.
"Hmm? Oh no, this is not a board meeting. This is something that you would have flown away to avoid," Pepper replied. That was when he realised why Pepper currently had him in her ironclad grip.
He had a bad feeling about the meeting and he couldn't even ask Jarvis about it because apparently, his son had designated Pepper above him in terms of non-emergency commands because she was technically, Jarvis' "owner". Traitor.
"Nope. All kinds of nope. Who gave him entry?" He pointed at the suit and exclaimed loudly just at the door of the office.
The suit did that annoying thing where he maintained that same disarming smile as if he had not been insulted in broad daylight. God, he would love to someday visibly annoy this unflappable man. Alas, today was not the day.
"Nice to see you too, Mr.Stark," was the suit's response as the door closed behind them and Pepper pushed him into one of the nearby seats. She sat beside him and the suit sat in front of him with a file pushed towards him. He looked at the file with an eyebrow raised. The suit looked back at him. This went on for a full minute before Pepper sighed a sigh full of resignation and lifted the file and started reading through it.
He was sitting close enough to Pepper that he could feel her tensing up for a brief second before things went back to normal. Internally, he ruminated about the range of topics that could make Pepper tense up.
"What is this, Phil?"
What? He looked at Pepper with wide eyes. She was on a first name basis with the suit?!
"This, Ms.Potts is all we have on the person Mr.Stark met the day before yesterday,"
"Jarvis, remind me to hack SHIELD and delete their databases once I reach home, will you?" He said out loud.
"Affirmative, sir. Geo sensitive reminder set," Jarvis piped up from the speakers they had installed into Pepper's office.
"None of that, Tony. We both know that they cannot not keep you under constant surveillance," Pepper swatted him on the arm and said in resignation.
"Who we meet and what we do in said meeting is none of your concern, Phil. I hope you realise that you are violating Tony's rights when you conduct surveillance without a warrant," Pepper said sternly.
"Ms.Potts, please forgive me but if the person you are meeting turns out to be an enhanced individual, it becomes our duty. We are specially trained for these situations. Now, this person has no digital footprint whatsoever which raised some alarm balls of their own but the real kicker was the photos we have in that file there. This person is enhanced in some way and I am sure, Mr.Stark, you understand our caution because of the person associated with the colour green. I am sure you know of another such person who has green skin and has powers," Phil reminded him.
He winced internally. Bringing in the Hulk angle complicated things. There was currently a standing arrest warrant for Banner and nearly all spy agencies in the world were actively looking for him. If he so wished, he could have found him within a week at best but he was sure that if that happened, somebody else might find it and that was the last thing he wanted. Bruce Banner was a science bro and he did not deserve to be hunted like some rabid animal when it was the Army and General Ross that was at fault. He had hoped that they would not make that connection at all but if it had come to that, he would have to do something to stop them from arresting Jack.
He sighed openly and said something that was sure to bring about a visit from Old One-eyed himself, "I am only doing this because you brought this on but that kid is under my protection. If you want to get to him, tell Fury to come to me. I'm sure we can come to an agreement and if push comes to shove, I am sure that apprehending an individual of such calibre will be very difficult for you. He might even be fleeing as we speak," He supplied helpfully and was rewarded with the widening eyes of Phil in front of him who immediately stood up and began taking out his phone to check in on his agents who were presumably, on watch duty for Jack.
"Calm down, Agent," He said and waved Phil down, "Nothing like that has happened. I am going to officially employ him. His powers are very useful and while I am sure that you would want nothing more than to induct him into your ranks, I have something else in mind for him. Look, he could be an Avengers candidate and as such, I want to talk face-to-face with your Director. Now, if you guys will excuse me, I have to go meet my friend," He said and stood up.
"Jarvis?"
"Mr.Sullivan has been accounted for and has barricaded himself in his bedroom once he was informed of a potential ambush. He has used his powers to barricade himself and as such, I believe he will be fine until we reach him,"
Attaboy.
Now, he had to explain this situation to Jack and hope that he did not run away.
Just as he was about to enter his car, "Sir?" Jarvis' voice reached through the car speakers.
"What? Did something happen?"
Instead of telling him, Jarvis activated the car's infotainment centre and showed him something that made his blood boil. Apparently, Phil had not taken the news about Jack being in his care well and had ordered his stooges to assault Jack's room and ambush him. Evidently, they were trying to capture him rather than kill him but that was of no relief since it was still unknown if Jack could transform like Bruce in which case, he had to be there pronto.
"Jarvis!" He exclaimed as the tires of the car rushed as it rocketed out of the parking lot and right into the street. Righting the car, he immediately pulled up the most direct route and cursed out loud for LA traffic as it showed a minimum of 1 hour before he could reach the hotel, even with Jarvis conveniently hacking into the traffic system or rather, him nudging some things in place because Jarvis had always been there.
"Mark VIII suit inbound. It will meet you halfway sir," Jarvis intoned even as he watched with increasing anxiety as Jack's face showed signs of anxiety and panic, even though his barriers held against everything the agents could throw at it. He could see police at the entrance of the hotel, barricading it against entry and Jarvis had logs of at least 2 police helicopters enroute.
Shit, this was going bad fast. He had to reach the hotel soon to at least try and reduce some of the fallout from this event otherwise it would become too hot for even him to touch. Already, the President was not in a forgiving mood regarding the Hulk incident. This might just set him off. Jack was strong but even he would not survive a prolonged confrontation with the US military. The only reason Banner was able to evade them for so long was probably due to some third party's intervention, most likely Old One-eyed's help. Fury could be counted on in the difficult times, his organisation, however?
Well, the result was clear. The suits had resorted to bombs and bullets now. Whatever Jack had done to his room created an extremely strong barrier that even the weapons that the agents had pulled out, that looked suspiciously like energy weapons like his repulsor arrays, failed to breach them.
"Oh thank god," He exclaimed as he swerved his car to the side and stopped, just in time for the suit to land in front of him and open up from behind. He jumped into the suit and rocketed away to the hotel where Jack was staying. Jack had not been lifting his phone for some reason and when Jarvis had overridden it, he had just thrown it to the ground. He had a feeling that Jack was about to flee and in his opinion, that would be a very bad thing to do at this point. Even if he was arrested, there was no charge that they could make it stick on him, aside from illegal immigration but that was something that did not carry that strict of a penalty, especially if the party was a minor. On the other hand, the calls that Jarvis had intercepted were very much worrying.
Just as the hotel was in viewing distance, he got a call from the President at the worst possible time. He could have let it go to voicemail but he did not want his company's stock to tank and sour his relationship with the White House.
"Mr.President," He greeted POTUS and slowed down the speed of the suit since he was sure what it was going to be about. Multiple inbound bogies from the nearest military base meant that the President's stance about this was clear.
"I want you to help the military subdue this criminal and if not, eliminate him, Stark," He said that and just hung up.
He just floated mid-air at that moment and then, rocketed straight to the hotel. Jack had broken the bulletproof double-reinforced glass of his bedroom and was now floating in the air.
"Shit, just stay there, Jack," He heard the roar of the engines as multiple birds were now nearing the area around Jack. The President clearly did not want this one to get away and had sent some pretty heavy-handed insurance. He could also see Phil's face that was one of panic as he rushed out of Stark Industries HQ with his phone constantly buzzing. So, maybe Phil did not have a hand in informing them?
Soon, he had to slow down as he came to a halt right at the end of the street, in direct line of sight of Jack. Jack's neck snapped towards him as he looked at the Jets circling above, the police gathering below and the agents swarming the hotel room.
A bad feeling pooled in his gut as he saw Jack dispel all the barriers save for the one that protected his body. His arrival had stopped the shooting on Jack but the energy readings he was getting from Jack had him point both his repulsor arrays at Jack.
"Stop!" he shouted through the external speakers, hoping Jack would listen but the energy buildup continued to happen as Jack's skin gained an even darker green hue to it. Jack then looked straight at him and the next moment, Jack was gone, leaving behind a sonic boom that shattered all the windows around the block.
"Sir, above!" Jarvis' words helped him locate Jack. He had rocketed straight up at speeds exceeding Mach 10. He smiled under the mask as the Jets began pursuit even as it was clear they had no chance of ever reaching him. There was no manned aircraft on the planet that could catch up to those speeds.
He ignored the calls from the White House and from the police nearby and just went back home. He might have to lay low but searching for Jack should not be too difficult, especially with his energy signature already in their database, safe and secure.
"Sir, Mr.Sullivan's energy signature has disappeared,"
What? He looked at the feed which showed a bogey going extremely fast, straight up, and then instead of stopping or turning, Jack just disappeared from the radar. The speed with which he was going, he would need a lot of power and that power would leave traces. The only reason Jack would disappear from the sensors was if he completely deactivated his powers but doing so at that height could only mean certain death.
"Ah, so troublesome. Should have just left him in Canada," He lamented but stopped as he realised Jack probably would have gotten in the same mess anyway.
_____xx____
Jack had chosen that way of leaving precisely because he wanted to leave an impression. He was sure that had he chosen to fight his way out, they would have figured out a way to label him as a terrorist. They might still do that but at least this time, he would have no casualty figure to his name.
It was exhilarating. Using up so much of his powers. He had chosen to pour all the energy he could muster up into his barriers and then use that energy to just push. He pushed himself straight up. He couldn't even see what had happened before he found himself looking at the curvature of the planet.
So majestic and beautiful was the sight that he lost sight of what was ahead of him until his powers alerted him to something as his barrier jerked a bit to the side. Evidently, even that was not enough as he saw the orange sparks of the portal closing before he could come to a halt.
He looked around, ready for an attack of some sort but none came. Instead, he looked at the smiling figure of the Ancient One, floating placidly in front of him with a disarming smile on her face.
"Hello, Otherworlder. Come, we have a lot to talk about," She said and then gestured behind him. He peeked back to see a portal already opened.
He sighed in resignation. It seemed he had no other way then.
"Lead the way," He nodded to her.
Word Count - 2611
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