"'I am Iron Man'. Nice opening line," a voice smooth as velvet and cold as ice drifted from the shadows. "But do you think you're the only superhero in the world?"
Tony Stark froze. His heart skipped a beat.
"Jarvis, lights!" Tony commanded, his voice sharp.
The living room flooded with light. Standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, with his back to Tony, was a figure in a long black trench coat.
The figure turned slowly. Bald head. Eye patch. Scowl.
"Egghead?" Tony blurted out.
He couldn't help it. It was exactly as Lucas had described in the diary. A shiny, black, angry egg.
Nick Fury's dramatic entrance deflated instantly.
He had rehearsed this. The mysterious shadow. The cool turn. The impactful line.
And Stark had ruined it with one word.
Egghead?
Seriously?
Fury wanted to scream. He wanted to throw a chair. He wanted to call in a helicarrier strike.
But then he realized... this was from the diary. Stark had a copy.
"Damn security system," Tony muttered, recovering quickly.
First Obadiah stole his tech. Now this guy breaks into his house. His mansion was as secure as a wet paper bag.
"How did you get past Jarvis?" Tony demanded, eyeing the intruder warily. "If you're here to kill me, you'll have to wait in line. The list is getting long."
"Relax, Stark," Fury said, walking towards the minibar. "I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to talk."
"Who are you?" Tony asked, his hand inching towards a hidden repulsor gauntlet under the table.
"Nick Fury," the man replied. "Director of SHIELD. You might have read about me. In the diary."
"Ah," Tony said, relaxing slightly. "So the diary isn't exclusive. Good to know my privacy is being violated on multiple levels."
"It confirms you have a copy," Fury noted. "Which saves me a lot of explanation."
"I know who you are," Tony said, pouring himself a drink to calm his nerves. "SHIELD. Strategic Homeland... something something. Lucas mentioned you."
"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," Fury corrected, pouring himself a generous glass of Tony's best cognac without asking. "And yes, we're the good guys. Mostly."
"World peace, huh?" Tony scoffed. "I had Jarvis scan for you. Nothing. You're ghosts."
"We're not ghosts," Fury took a sip, savoring the expensive liquor. "We're the people who handle the things you don't know exist. The things that go bump in the night. The things that aren't on Google."
"You searched the surface web," Fury explained. "The real world... the deep world... is our playground. Many agencies you think are independent? They report to us. They just don't know it."
Tony watched Fury drink his cognac. The audacity of this man. Breaking in. Drinking his booze. Acting like he owned the place.
It was... impressive.
"So you run the world from the shadows," Tony summarized. "You impersonate the FBI, the CIA, and get away with it. Cute."
"But tell me, Director," Tony's voice hardened. "How did you get in here? I don't like uninvited guests. And I don't like people who think they can walk all over me just because they have a fancy badge."
"I have a suit of armor that can level a city block," Tony warned. "What do you have? A stick?"
Fury smirked. He reached into his coat.
Tony flinched.
Fury pulled out... a file.
"I have this," Fury said, tossing the file on the table. "The Avengers Initiative."
"And I have something else," Fury added, his one eye fixing Tony with a stare that could melt steel.
"I know about Lucas Chen. I know about the future. And I know that without us... you're going to die."
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