Chapter 32: C32 Iron Man Arrives
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Outside of a cave, deep in the desert of Afghanistan, an iron robot fires flames from its hands, burning everyone and everything in the vicinity.
[Insert picture of MCU original Ironman suit]
Armed men and women, alongside tons of crates filled with Stark Industries weaponry and explosives were catching fire at an alarming rate.
The people surrounding the walking metal man fired bullet after bullet, yet not a single projectile could penetrate its thick iron shell.
Soon enough, the spreading fire burned through the explosive crates, causing explosions to go off one by one.
*boom bang boom bang*
Tapping a button on its wrist, the metal robot shoots into the air merely seconds before a large mushroom cloud explosion happens, killing everyone in the area.
Shooting out of the top of that mushroom cloud, the robot soars through the air before slowly losing altitude and crashing into a sandy hill, which definitely softened the impact.
As the sand cleared, metal was strewn about everywhere, and inside the center of that mess was Tony Stark. Pieces of what was thought to be a robot were still attached to him like an advanced type of metal armor.
*inhale exhale...*
Tony breathes heavily as he just lays in the mess of sand and metal parts, catching his breath with a tired and worn-out look on his face.
He's gone through hell for the past three months. First, he was kidnapped by terrorists armed with his own weaponry. Then he found out that he had shrapnel moving toward his heart, which was somehow stopped by a magnet that was attached to a car battery.
After all of that, Tony was forced to make a Jericho Missile for his captors alongside his new friend Yinsen, who died just as they were going to escape together with the metal suit, which they built in secret.
Now, Tony just finished slaughtering dozens of people and is currently stuck in the middle of the desert with an arc reactor he built in a cave out of scraps stuck to his chest.
"I hate the desert..." Tony mutters as he starts to move a bit, checking his body for injuries.
Suddenly, a golden wisp of light appears in the middle of the air, catching Tony's attention out of the corner of his eye.
"What the..." Tony mutters as the wisp of golden light extends into a large circle. "Is this a mirage?"
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"Your mission is time-sensitive." Natasha hands over a folder as Peter walked into the warehouse.
"Is it another rescue?" Peter asks as he opens the folder and instantly sees a satellite picture of the original Ironman suit, standing outside of a cave in the desert. "What's this?"
"It's Tony Stark. He's making his escape from a terrorist group known as the ten rings..." Natasha gives a brief overview as Peter looks through the pictures, seeing the large explosion that soon filled the area and the spot where Tony landed soon after. "Our satellites are out of range now, but he should still be in that location. We need you to pick him up."
Peter was beyond excited. This is the best first meeting he could ask for, as Peter already planned to make contact with Tony Stark soon after his return.
"Alright, I've always wanted to meet Tony Stark anyway." Peter shrugs and walks towards the exit. "Get some medics in here. I'll be back in a few minutes."
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As the circle forms in front of Tony Stark's unbelieving eyes, an image appears in the center and Spider-Man steps through, setting foot on the uneven sands of Afghanistan.
"Yo!" Peter waves as the portal behind him closes.
"Did I hit my head on the landing?" Tony mutters as he inspects his head with his hands, looking for any bumps, dents, and/or blood.
"Yeah, sure I'm your imaginary friend." Peter jokes as he walks over and pulls Tony up to his feet.
"Holy sh*t!" Tony exclaims as he feels Peter pull him upwards. "You're real?!"
"Well, Yeah." Peter answers with a nod, enjoying this whole situation a bit too much.
"How did you do that?" Tony says, pointing to where the portal used to be. "I mean, it's... it's..."
"Magic?" Peter tries to finish his sentence.
"Impossible." Tony disregards Peter's answer and gives his own.
"Everything is impossible until you figure out how to do it." Peter shrugs.
"Okay, so how did you do it? Is it some sort of a quantum physics, dark matter, wormholes, or what?" Tony asks, completely forgetting he's stuck in a desert.
"How about I show you later. Just keep this to yourself and I'll take you home. Deal?" Peter offers.
"Deal!" Tony instantly accepts.
"Alright, follow me." Peter says as he waves his hand, creating another portal.
Tony's mind broke at that moment. Making a portal is theoretically possible with the right technology, but Spider-Man didn't seem to have any sort of tech with him.
"Come on." Peter says, pushing Tony through the portal.
"Agh!" Tony grunts as he falls through the portal and into the warehouse, where Peter received this mission.
Standing in front of them is Natasha, who just called in for medics and was waiting to hear back from Peter. She was shocked that Peter would so easily reveal the form of transportation he's been hiding until now.
"Don't think I don't know about your little lie. If you're going to learn about it from satellite images, then I might as well show you." Peter says as he lifts Tony off the floor and sets him on his feet.
"I-I..." Natasha didn't know what to say.
She was told by Shield that the satellites were out of range before giving Peter the mission, but that doesn't mean she didn't know it was a lie from the start. Natasha is an expert in lies and deception, so she knew that Fury was lying to her.
Fury wasn't sure that Natasha would betray Peter, as they'd spent a lot of time together and he wasn't her average victim. She's used to betraying foreign dignitaries, spies, Nobles, politicians, and just all-around bad people. Not kindhearted superheroes.
Fury simply decided for her and told the lie himself. He wanted to use this moment to get pictures of how Spider-Man gets around. It was the perfect moment that Shield was waiting for.
Peter always accepts rescue missions, and thankfully, this one was urgent and in a wide-open desert, where he couldn't hide his portal.
Natasha felt bad for not warning Peter but she had to as it's her job. Though that doesn't stop the horrible feeling of betraying someone you spent months teaching and befriending from rearing its ugly head.
Though she's used to that feeling and it would ease soon enough.
"Is this some sort of couples spat?" Tony asks jokingly, trying his best to shoo away the bad atmosphere.
"No, just a friendly one." Peter comments as he turns to Tony. "Are you hurt anywhere? Medics should be here soon."
"I'm definitely bruised and scraped up, but other than that I'm fine." Tony says as he knocks on his arc reactor. "This thing is keeping me alive."
"How is it doing that?" Natasha asks.
"It's powering a magnet underneath that's holding back shrapnel from entering my heart." Tony says proudly.
"Wow, is that a mini-arc reactor? Like the big one your dad made to power Stark Industries Headquarters?" Peter pretends to figure it out.
"Yes, are you a fan or something?" Tony asks hopefully.
He wanted the man that can make portals with his mind to be his or his father's fan. That way he would be more willing to teach him how it's done.
"Not really, I'm just a bit of a nerd." Peter shrugs uncaringly.
Deep inside, Peter is a bit of a fanboy for Tony Stark, just like everyone else in his past life, but he wouldn't reveal that to the man himself.
Soon enough, medics came rolling in and gave Tony a thorough check-up, which he hated every second of. Once it was finally finished, Tony stood up and walked to the exit. The medics actually wanted him to go to a hospital, but Tony refused.
"Where are you going?" Natasha asks.
"I need some good old fashion American fast food!" Tony announces grandly with his arms wide open. "Cheeseburgers, French fries, chicken nuggets, milkshakes! I want it all!"
"Wait here and I'll bring a car around for you." Natasha catches up to Tony and blocks the doorway. "You can't just walk around New York City like this. You've been missing for three months. People will swarm like locusts."
"So that's where we are? Fine, but hurry up." Tony says hurriedly. "I've eaten nothing but scraps for too long and I'm starving."
Without a word, Natasha walks off to get a car. Peter wasn't sure if she had a car, as he's never seen one before.
'Is she going to steal one?' Peter thought as Tony turns to him.
"Are you tagging along, Web-Head?" Tony asks.
"Web-Head?" Peter asks back.
"Yeah, you like it?"
"Sure, it's actually the name of my Gmail account..."
A/N: 1539 words
[DONT FORGET MY STONES! And I'll gamble it all away on Stake.com. I heckin love GAMBA!]