Perspective of Pepper Potts (soon-to-be Stark)
"Again?!"
At the private beach not far from the seaside mansion in Malibu California.
This morning was peaceful. The sound of waves gently crashing on the sand. Until a loud shout broke the calm from the middle-aged man who sprang up from his beach chair the moment F.R.I.D.A.Y. his personal AI projected the current situation in New York on screen.
"What happened Tony?" The woman in a blue and white bikini lying next to him asked though her tone already hinted that whatever made this charming playboy shout and ruin his businessman image could only be one thing. . .
"New York!" The name of the city that stood as the heart of Stark Industry was spoken with a voice filled with worry fear and anger.
Fwoooosh—
"Sigh~ attacked again." Pepper Potts CEO of Stark Industry exhaled tiredly before glancing toward the luxurious mansion where a red-and-gold cylindrical object flew down from the sky and landed on the sand beside them. The mechanism unfolded like a mechanical wardrobe revealing large thruster modules that floated out to attach to Tony who was already wearing the latest Mark L armor. With just a touch of his finger to the new ARC reactor infused with Nanotech—developed in collaboration with Wakanda—the Nanite material instantly activated.
With just two blinks of an eye Tony was ready to fly from Malibu to stop the third Chitauri invasion on New York within 10 years. At the same time multiple screens appeared showing the operation of the Iron Legion the armored security force managed by T.A.D.A.S.H.I. the AI overseeing New York.
It was standard procedure for the Iron Legion to respond immediately whenever its algorithm detected enemies related to the Chitauri or other entities from S.H.I.E.L.D.HYDRA or hacked organizations listed in Tony's personal threat database—cases deemed beyond normal law enforcement capability.
Because every deployment consumed enormous energy even with the high-output ARC reactors. Energy efficiency mattered and those armored suits worth millions shouldn't be stealing police work.
Weapons powerful enough to blow up ten tanks or down F-15 squadrons or even dive underwater to plant microbombs on destroyers really shouldn't be used just to chase street thugs!!
As for the last dimensional gate over Queens that was a magical disaster far beyond Tony's understanding. He was still analyzing countermeasures though without much progress. All I could do was encourage him while dedicating myself to managing the Stark subsidiaries to keep the business running generating profit to fund research armor development and world-hero support operations.
"Be back by lunch okay?" I said half-jokingly knowing full well there was no way he'd finish solving New York's chaos that fast. Dinner would be optimistic enough.
"It'd be easier if New York didn't get invaded every week." Tony quipped before preparing to launch skyward with his massive foot boosters looking exactly like a new Iron Man action figure stand. I honestly couldn't tell if he designed those boosters first or got inspired by the toy later. "I'll have to reach the atmosphere and use the Earth's rotation and gravity to boost travel speed. Should get to New York in about an hour."
"Or easier still if Tony Stark would use my portal."
A mysterious male voice spoke as a golden portal slowly opened spiraling outward until forming a glowing oval.
"Unknown energy detected. Keyword match: magic 87.12%." F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice echoed as the mansion's defense system deployed dozens of floating metal capsules forming a perimeter in the sky aiming hundreds of ARC-powered laser turrets at the portal showing a view of Stark Tower's rooftop.
"Who are you? A sorcerer from our world handling the Queens gate or a mage from another realm trying to lure me into some illusionary hell?" Tony's tone sounded ready for a fight but after years with him I could tell he was scared. Of course he was. Magic—something he didn't understand at all. For someone who believed so deeply in science it was only natural he'd be paranoid about anything that defied physics chemistry or biology.
"I am the current Sorcerer Supreme of this world Stephen Strange." The voice introduced itself though the man didn't appear—only shifted the portal's view to show the catastrophe in New York where the Chitauri were blasting the city with purple lasers. "You don't need to trust me yet but trust your partner. Trust your teammate."
That strange statement made me frown then my eyes widened as I saw Thor who had been missing for some time unleashing blue lightning that vaporized hundreds of Chitauri around him their armor melting instantly—so different from 2012 when it took several hits just to bring one down.
"Ah! Stark!!" After finishing off the enemies the legendary Norse God of Thunder turned toward the portal shouting cheerfully. For some reason the image of an excited golden retriever wagging its tail furiously popped into my head. "Strange called you to join this party too huh? Haha! But no need I alone am enough!"
Not just me—Tony too blinked in surprise. Normally Thor would rally his comrades to battle but this time he didn't. It was. . . odd. Very odd.
Still Tony decided to fly through the portal after receiving a report that a young team recruit Peter Parker was injured—and his signal was coming from just below where Thor hovered midair like a true god no longer needing to spin his hammer to fly!
"Tony be careful!" I shouted as I saw him detach his foot boosters and soar straight into the portal.
"Wizard when this is over open that portal back and get me to lunch with Pepper in Malibu on time got it?"
His teasing voice echoed from the closing portal leaving me feeling happy relieved and anxious all at once—because I couldn't help but wonder. . .
Was that line a death flag like in those Hollywood movies I've seen?