Shout!
Alaric raised his hand and caught the folding fan that returned to his hand as if it were alive.
"Look, it's over."
"Oooh…"
Potts stared blankly at Alaric and just nodded; she was shocked and didn't know what to say.
It was the first time she had seen something so incredible.
Tony's suit was still technology, although advanced, and given the fact that Tony was a genius, Potts could accept that.
But this?
From everything she had seen, it looked like… magic.
Could magic really be that deadly? Potts was doubtful and confused.
"Help me hand this over to Tony and tell him to pay as soon as possible," said Alaric calmly.
He pulled out a small piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Potts; on it was a series of numbers, his bank card number.
Potts automatically took it and looked down.
But when she looked up again, Alaric, who had been standing in front of her just a moment ago, had completely disappeared.
"Mister Mage?" she called cautiously, looking around.
She was a little scared.
In the past twenty-four hours she had survived horrors and stress she couldn't have imagined.
And now this mysterious man had vanished before her eyes without a trace.
Was he… a ghost?
Boom!
"Potts!"
Tony landed right in front of her.
"Ahhh!!"
Potts jumped back, startled by his sudden arrival.
"Potts, are you okay?!" Tony asked, opening the mask of his armor, his face full of concern.
"Ugh! I'm fine!"
Potts instinctively patted her chest, and when she saw Tony in front of her, she finally relaxed.
"You're not hurt, are you?!"
"No, I'm fine. And what about that Mister Mage?" Tony immediately asked.
"He… I suppose he left," said Potts uncertainly.
"By the way, he gave me this and told me to tell you not to forget to pay."
Potts handed him the note.
"I understand," Tony replied, nodding.
He didn't dare forget about it; he didn't want one day, while walking down the street, some mysterious creature to stand behind him and ask for the debt.
That thought wasn't pleasant at all.
Admittedly, he had to acknowledge: if it hadn't been for the help of that strange mage, it would have been difficult for him to survive last night's battle.
It was worth every dollar spent.
---
The next day.
Tony held a big press conference.
Behind the stage, Potts was adjusting his tie.
"Just stick to the plan," she whispered to him. "As for Obadiah, we'll say he went on a business trip and died in an accident."
"And the battle that happened last night we'll attribute to your bodyguard. You weren't present at the scene."
Coulson, who was standing to the side, coolly laid out the details of the plan.
"I understand," Tony nodded.
"Also," added Coulson, "do you have any information about the mysterious man who took care of Obadiah?"
"I only know he's a mage… or something like that. I don't know more than that," Tony said honestly.
He had no intention of mentioning Alaric's methods or their arrangement.
In fact, last night after the battle, he had tried to transfer the agreed amount to him and managed to find out basic information about him, his name and address, through the card number that Alaric had left.
But Tony felt he wasn't obliged to share that information with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
Besides, the whole Coulson team seemed suspicious and mysterious to him, so he decided to keep what he knew to himself.
"I understand," said Coulson and didn't ask any more questions.
He wrote something down in his notebook and stepped aside, ready to continue the investigation on his own.
The conference then officially began, and Tony said the sentence before the assembled journalists that would go down in history:
"I am Iron Man."
Thus officially began the era of superheroes in the Marvel universe.
---
Alaric, however, had completely different concerns that morning.
He woke up early, went to the bank, and checked the balance on his account.
"Ten million and one thousand dollars…" he muttered, looking at the numbers on the screen.
"So, the Ancient One left me an extra ten thousand?"
He shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I earned ten million last night anyway. And that's after the state took its tax."
He looked once more at the balance on his account and sighed.
He couldn't understand what the Ancient One had in mind when leaving him that amount. Was it some kind of support or a test?
Although ten thousand dollars wasn't a huge sum, it was enough to make his life easier for the coming months.
The problem was that Alaric wasn't a particularly frugal man.
While living in Kamar-Taj, he didn't have luxuries, so he was modest, but now, in the heart of New York, he had no intention of continuing to live ascetically.
After checking his account, he immediately went shopping.
He bought basic household supplies.
Then clothes and shoes, because he couldn't keep wearing the same old things.
He also bought a new mobile phone and got a new SIM card.
The old phone that Wade had given him was too outdated, so he decided to return it.
Finally, he could afford the luxury he had long wanted: a coffee machine and enough supplies of coffee and milk tea.
By the afternoon, he returned home, satisfied with his shopping and even managed to tour the neighborhood to get familiar with the surroundings.
---
Late in the evening.
Alaric sat on the sofa, reading a book and occasionally sipping freshly brewed coffee.
On the table beside him sat his new phone.
For a long time, it was quiet, until it rang.
He glanced at the screen and recognized the number.
Wade.
Although Wade's million was no longer needed, Alaric had made a promise and had no intention of breaking it.
If he could, he would help Wade find Francis.
"Wade?" he answered.
"Damn it! They took Vanessa!!" Wade's panicked voice came from the other end of the line.