Chapter 045

[Many military officials have gathered for today's Stark expo. It's rumoured that Hammer Industries are gonna reveal a product that will change the American military completely. It's been suspected that a deal between Justin Hammer and the US military has already been concluded. After Stark Industries left the weapons market, Hammer Industries has been in the forefront with massive deals with the military...]

Alex listened calmly to the radio as he tapped his desk, his mind hovering over many thoughts as he practised his breathing technique.

Today was the day that the events of Iron man 2 would happen. Drone attacks, people dying and Ivan Wanko blasting himself off in the end – That was the basic gist of the movie.

It had all gone smoothly in the movie with Tony Stark saving the day but in the background, many people have died.

Alex's plan was to stop as many casualties as he could.

For that, he had even asked help from his blind lawyer friend, Daredevil. Although Matt was never shown to be a part of the MCU canon, Alex can take his help in this world.

Especially after they have dealt with the Russian's together.

As Alex has provided him with more elven health potions after the fight, he was grateful to him and when it comes to saving people, Matt was never going to say no.

While he stopped his breathing technique, his phone suddenly rang. He picked it up and saw that it was Matt.

"Hey, are you already there?" He asked.

– Yeah, there's a lot of people here, most of them excited about what's going to be revealed.

"They won't be very excited when the event starts."

– Are you sure that something bad is going to happen? As the military officials are joining in, the security is top notch. They didn't even go easy with a blind guy.

Matt said the last sentence with a chuckle and Alex sighed inwardly. 

To hide his knowledge of the future, he was being really discreet about what's going to happen.

"I'm sure something is about to happen. And it won't be small. Ivan Wanko and Justin Hammer are working together, and both of them hate Tony Stark.

– Yeah, I looked into it a bit. It seems like Justin Hammer has a huge inferiority complex due to Tony Stark and Wanko, uh, I didn't find much on him aside from his nationality and stuff but he does hate Stark to an insane degree.

"Yeah, enough to try to kill him during the Monaco Grand Prix.

There was a silence on the phone for a moment as Alex guessed that Matt was hesitating to tell him something. In the end, a voice came out from the other side of the phone.

– I think Tony Stark is up to something too.

"What?"

– I searched through videos of him in the past week and his body movements have been unusual. They are very little that no one will really notice but I'm pretty sure… he's dying.

Although what Matt said was shocking, Alex was still calm.

"I don't know what is more shocking. A blind person searching through videos or Tony Stark dying."

– I did tell you.

"I know I know, sight is overrated. Look, I don't know about Tony Stark but I don't think he's gonna die easily, especially when the whole world, especially Shield is after him.

– Doesn't that mean it's way more likely for him to die?

"Nah, he's the type to preserve in adversities. Anyway, I will give you a message when I'm there. Just look around and enjoy the expo till then."

Alex cut the call after that and walked downstairs. 

Today, he didn't have to make an excuse as to where he was going as his parents themselves have given him the Stark expo passes.

* * *

"Finally! Jarvis, how are the results?"

Tony Stark asked, excitement visible in his eyes as he looked at the element he had created in front of him.

It was a new energy power source that would be a viable replacement of Palladium and it was also his father's legacy which Tony had finally discovered.

[Congratulations, sir. You have created a new element.]

A robotic voice resounded as Tony walked up to the element he had created. Carefully picking it up, he put it down on his arc reactor and it happily accepted it.

[The reactor has accepted the modified core. I can start doing diagnostics.]

"Sweet." He smiled, then took a look around the room, frowning at the state it was in.

"Jarvis, start cleaning up the mess. If Pepper saw this, she would say I'm going into my mad scientist mode."

[I will start the drones, sir.]

As Jarvis said that, Tony finally sat down and took a sigh of relief. Finally, he was out of the clutches of death. With the new element, he won't have to deal with the poisoning.

All thanks to the gift his father had left him…

[Sir, I'm getting a call from a blocked number.]

As he was in his thoughts, Jarvis suddenly spoke, confusing Tony as he looked at one of the holographic screens around him.

"Is it Coulson? Shield has been messing with me a lot these–"

– Hey Tony, how you doing? Thanks for the advice.

He stopped speaking as an unusual voice sounded out. It was unusual but definitely familiar. After all, the Russian accent has been in his mind for a couple of days now.

"What?"

– Your advice. I used it and it worked wonders. Thanks!

"You sound pretty sprightly for a guy who's so close to his death."

– You too, haha.

Tony muted the speaker and asked Jarvis to track the call. Not bothered by it, Ivan continued, never been so excited before.

– There are a lot I want to talk to you about. But I want to see your destruction first. You know, what your family did to mine in 40 years, I will do to you in 40 minutes.

"Lovely. Jarvis, are you tracking him?"

[Yes sir, I have tracked up to Tri state area.]

As Jarvis said that, the call was disconnected and the tracking process stopped. Tony frowned, realising he had missed his location.

"Any clues, Jarvis?"

[I'm checking for every possible he could be at. It won't take long to find probable locations.]

"Great. But I feel like I know what he's pointing at. Destruction in 40 minutes…" His words trailed off as he realised what Ivan was aiming at. "Jarvis, stop the test on the element. There's no time for it. Prepare the suit!"

[But sir, it will be risky–]

"I'm the best person to do the test on."

He said and picked up his arc reactor. Having no choice, he put it in his chest, power surging through him as the palladium poisoning around his chest started disappearing.

The last thing he knew was that his element tasted like coconut… and metal.