"We may have to say goodbye."
While Tony Stark was downstairs completing the work his father had left behind, Phil Coulson quietly entered the workshop.
Tony didn’t even look up.
"Perfect timing. Grab that pipe and give me a hand."
Coulson stepped over without complaint. Together they wrestled the heavy energy conduit into place. Only after tightening the last connection did Tony register what the agent had said.
"...Wait. What do you mean, goodbye?"
"I’ve been reassigned."
Coulson carefully lowered the conduit onto its supports.
"They’ve given me another assignment."
Tony was silent for a moment.
Then he extended his hand.
"It was good working with you."
"You’re one of the good guys."
Coulson smiled warmly as they shook hands.
"The feeling is mutual, Mr. Stark."
With that, he left.
Tony’s experiment had reached its final stage.
Energy surged through the labyrinth of conduits, feeding the newly synthesized element suspended inside the reaction chamber.
The atom awakened.
A razor-thin blue beam erupted from the apparatus, carrying enough power to carve through steel.
Tony adjusted a series of valves with an oversized wrench.
The beam slowly pivoted.
Wherever it passed, furniture split cleanly apart.
Concrete walls glowed orange before bursting into flame.
Finally...
The beam settled upon the waiting Arc Reactor core.
Watching Tony perform an experiment capable of leveling half the house inside his own basement raised an interesting question.
Was this confidence?
Or insanity?
He had spent less than a day preparing an entirely new energy source.
If something went wrong...
The explosion would probably rival a tactical nuclear weapon.
Any goblin engineer from Azeroth would have witnessed the scene, fallen to their knees in admiration, and declared Tony Stark the undisputed patron saint of catastrophic overconfidence.
"Power output stable."
JARVIS calmly announced the results.
"The updated core is accepting the new element."
Tony let out a slow breath.
It worked.
The new Arc Reactor could finally replace the palladium-powered core embedded in his chest.
The poisoning...
The slow death...
It was over.
He didn’t celebrate.
He simply sat down, exhausted.
"I did it, Dad."
"I hope you’d be proud."
Coming so close to death had changed something inside him.
For perhaps the first time in years...
Tony Stark simply sat quietly with his thoughts.
Elsewhere, Justin Hammer was enjoying an afternoon on the golf course.
Life had never looked brighter.
Ivan’s army of remote-controlled Iron Soldiers would humiliate Tony Stark before the world.
Umbrella’s biological weapons promised lucrative military contracts.
With both projects succeeding, Hammer could finally replace Stark Industries as the world’s premier weapons manufacturer.
He was enthusiastically describing his glorious future to Senator Stern, the very politician who had orchestrated Tony’s congressional hearing, when his phone rang.
Ivan Vanko.
Justin blinked.
That was unusual.
Ever since Hammer had sprung the Russian engineer from prison, Ivan had treated him with little more than polite indifference.
He had even transformed Hammer’s armored suits into remote-controlled drones without bothering to ask permission.
Calling voluntarily?
That was new.
Excusing himself from Senator Stern, Hammer walked a safe distance away before answering.
"Ivan?"
A few seconds later...
His face turned purple.
"What do you mean they can only be demonstrated?"
On the other end of the line, Ivan remained perfectly calm.
Behind him, a mirror reflected his bare back.
Four rows of metallic neural ports had been surgically implanted along his spine.
Sarah’s technology had become reality.
"The drones are perfectly functional," Ivan replied.
"They simply can’t fly."
"They can’t fire their weapons."
Justin almost choked.
"And what exactly can they do?"
"They can salute."
Silence.
Wonderful.
Not only couldn’t they fight...
They apparently couldn’t even dance.
Children’s toys had a broader range of motion.
Justin abandoned golf immediately.
Within an hour he stormed into Hammer Industries accompanied by several enormous security guards.
Ivan sat calmly on the edge of his bed, utterly unfazed.
The contrast only made Justin feel less intimidating.
He paced back and forth before finally remembering why he’d come.
"I got you out of prison!"
"I gave you money."
"A laboratory."
"A place to live."
"Oh, and the bird."
He pointed dramatically at Ivan’s white cockatoo.
"And now you’re telling me my Iron Soldiers are expensive decorations?"
Ivan didn’t bother answering.
His silence only made Justin angrier.
"Fine."
"You don’t deserve any of it."
At Justin’s order, the guards rushed forward.
They stripped the room bare.
Shoes.
Tools.
Personal belongings.
Even the bird was confiscated.
Justin folded his arms.
"How does it feel to lose everything?"
Ivan almost sighed.
Idiot.
You honestly think that’s everything?
"No matter what," Justin declared, "you’re going to finish what I paid for."
He gestured toward two particularly intimidating guards.
"They’re your new babysitters."
"They’re much less patient than I am."
With that, he spun around and marched away.
The Stark Expo was only hours away.
No matter how disastrous Ivan’s news had been, Hammer couldn’t simply cancel.
He had already promised demonstrations to both the military and government officials.
Backing out now would destroy his credibility forever.
Fortunately...
He still possessed one ace.
Colonel James Rhodes’ stolen Mark II armor.
After stuffing it with enough weapons to qualify as a small arsenal, Hammer had transformed it into War Machine.
At least that would keep today’s disaster from becoming a complete catastrophe.
As for everything afterward...
He could only hope Umbrella’s biological weapons reached the market before his career collapsed.
"Hello, Tony."
Not long after installing the new Arc Reactor, Tony received a call from an unfamiliar number.
The voice itself meant nothing.
The Russian accent did.
"Ivan."
Tony immediately initiated a signal trace.
"So."
"You got out."
Ivan ignored the question.
"Forty years ago..."
"Your father destroyed my family."
"In forty minutes..."
"I’ll return the favor."
Revenge meant nothing if the victim never understood why he was dying.
Tony kept talking while JARVIS worked.
"We don’t have to do this."
"We can discuss what happened."
Ivan simply laughed.
His declaration delivered...
He disconnected.
Tony stared irritably at the failed tracking report.
Only a rough location had been obtained.
Then he noticed where the signal originated.
Near Hammer Industries.
His expression darkened.
Everything suddenly made sense.
Hammer’s army of Iron Soldiers.
Ivan’s disappearance.
Tonight’s Expo.
The drones weren’t Hammer’s triumph.
They were Ivan’s revenge.
And Justin Hammer was too foolish to realize he was carrying a lit bomb into the middle of a crowded convention.
Tony barely cared what happened to Hammer.
Pepper was another matter entirely.
She would be attending the Expo.
If Ivan attacked...
She would inevitably be caught in it.
Tony immediately grabbed another phone.
"If you’d still like to keep getting paid..."
"...it’s time to come back to work."
A lazy voice answered.
"Are you dying?"
Evenson.
Tony snorted.
"I’m healthier than I’ve been in months."
"I see."
"So Fury’s miracle cure worked."
Tony paused before realizing who Evenson meant.
"You’re talking about Director Fury?"
Calling the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. "that charcoal-faced guy" seemed wildly inappropriate.
Then again...
This was Evenson.
"Yes."
"It worked."
"So why are you calling me?"
"I thought my job was finished."
"There’s an event tonight."
"The Stark Expo."
"You want to invite me?"
Evenson chuckled.
"I don’t have a ticket."
"I want you to protect Pepper."
Tony’s tone became unusually serious.
"She’s important to me."
"I remember being hired as your health consultant."
"Not your security consultant."
The implication was obvious.
That sounded suspiciously like a request requiring hazard pay.
Tony answered without missing a beat.
"If anything happens to Pepper..."
"My mental health is going to suffer tremendously."
Evenson nearly laughed.
These people really are impossible.
First Nick Fury had expanded the definition of "health consultant" to include emergency life-saving interventions and bodyguard duties.
Now Tony wanted emotional support services that somehow involved protecting his girlfriend.
Neither of them had mentioned additional compensation.
After a brief pause, Tony relented.
"Fine."
"I’ll pay you double."
Evenson’s response came instantly.
"No problem, Boss."
"I’ll be there right away."
...
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