Chapter 1 - Iron Man gets a multiple-choice question

‘The truth is … I am Iron Man!’ A smile grew on Tony’s face as he vividly recalled memories of his most recent press conference, feeling smug. Coupled with the stocks he obtained by taking advantage of the previous downturn of Stark Industries caused by his uncle Obadiah, he had become a well-deserved major shareholder of Stark Industries. Unlike being just a major shareholder like last time, he now held complete authority over the company.

This time, he cut-off ties with Obadiah beforehand as it was a necessary precaution to avoid certain incidents like the past as with the shut down of the weapons manufacturing division, where all the shareholders jumped at him for the mishap. Now within Stark Industries, no one could even question his decision.

“I am Iron Man?” A sudden casual voice broke his chain of thought. “Do you think you are the only superhero to exist in this world?”

Tony looked towards the source before asking the obvious question. “Who are you?” His heart suddenly sank as alarm bells started ringing in his mind.

“Nick Fury, the head of S.H.I.E.L.D!” The intruder replied.

The one-eyed captain smiled as he continued, “I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Project.”

“Avengers? Sounds like a boy band.”

Stark shrugged his shoulders before replying.

“Looks like there is a need to revamp my security systems.”

Tony was extremely on edge with having an unknown person with an eye-patch who had broken into his house.

The FBI? Or was it the CIA’s subordinate intelligence agency?

It was the fact that these organizations did not possess any danger towards his life before but now he would have to immediately work on setting up appropriate defensive measures towards them.

After all, it made sense that a super-rich man would possess an arsenal at home!

In order to cover their own safety!

“No need to be nervous!”

Nick read through his subtle movements professionally and chuckled a little before replying, “Don’t worry, I’m not a bad guy Mr. Stark.”

“Bad guys don’t have ‘bad guy’ written over their face, but you could have, you know, paid a formal visit.” Tony rebuffed directly.

“There will be a formal visit someday, but not today.” To which Nick Fury replied.

Tony rolled his eyes as he was now sure that the man in front of him was not a threat to him while he asked, “Okay anyways, what about that boy band you were telling me about before?”

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, also known as S.H.I.E.L.D and I am the director.” Nick Fury introduced himself.

“Forget it, let’s just call it S.H.I.E.L.D. So what’s the difference between this S.H.I.E.L.D. and the FBI or CIA?” Tony asked while walking towards the living room bar and pouring himself a glass of whiskey.

Nick Fury casually followed him to the bar and helped himself with his own glass of whiskey.

“The FBI and CIA are both intelligence operative organizations established by the United States.”

He spontaneously paused and drank his entire cup in one go, then continued.

“While we are employed by the five powers of the United Nation to handle cases they can’t handle. For example, supernatural events.”

Even though this was their first meeting, the two felt an odd bond between each other, as if they were old friends who hadn’t shared a drink for a while.

However, Nick Fury knew he was still on the surface of this relationship. To gain Tony Stark’s trust was not so easy, this was also the case with most rich people in the country, not to mention Tony Stark’s superior intellect.

“So like I asked before, Iron Man. Do you think you’re the only superhero in this world? There are people with all sorts of powers, which I’m sure you’ve heard of as well. Werewolves, vampires, and all kinds of beings, they’re everywhere.”

Tony Stark’s expression turned grave, as a country with numerous rich people, he was at the level where he had general access to a lot of classified information.

He knew deep down that such information existed, but he simply did not pay enough attention to it regularly, he always felt that it was another world from him.

Acknowledging Tony’s silence, Nick continued. “In order to deal with all kinds of criminals with supernatural powers, I decided to create a team of superheroes that can deal with these villains at ease. How about it, are you interested?”

“Not interested, you can’t afford to hire me.” Tony Stark shook his head in denial. He was yet to experience the baptism from those things in his latter days. Tony Stark was far from a team player and even if vampires and werewolves were to exist, could they fire a photon cannon from their palm?

Nick took a deep breath and was about to continue with his speech when a mechanical voice sounded in his ear.

[Question one, when facing the overlord of the universe, Thanos, who was the person that Doctor Strange had to hand over the Time Stone to protect?] [A. Tony Stark     ] [B. Nick Fury       ] [C. Black Widow ] [D. Hawkeye       ] [Please answer.]

Both were stunned as suddenly in front of them appeared a holographic projection of the question.

Dazzled, Nick Fury looked at the question in front of him and asked, “This is your what? brand new holographic projection?”

“Jarvis, is this you?”

Tony ignored the one-eyed director as he frowned slightly and questioned.

He had already developed interactive holographic projection technology, but it wouldn’t start automatically.

[Sir, this is not my doing!]

The voice of artificial intelligence Jarvis sounded from the living room.

Tony jumped into action. “Initiate the comprehensive detection system, check if it’s been breached!”

Tony Stark was in a complete state of shock and suspected a third party, he had created Jarvis on his own and refused to believe that someone could invade or tamper with it. As for Nick Fury, he could have bypassed the physical security, but Tony doubted he could bypass Jarvis’s firewalls.

Someone else got their hands on brand new holographic projection technology and used it in front of his very eyes. Even with his pride, he had to admit that Jarvis’s firewall might have been breached by an unknown third party.

[Comprehensive check complete, no sign of an outside intrusion has been detected.]

Tony froze as Jarvis’s definitive voice rang out once more. “Jarvis cut off all power supply to the villa!” He instructed.

[Yes, sir-]

The lights suddenly cut off along with Jarvis’s voice, and yet the holographic lines stood in front of them as if nothing had happened, seemingly stronger than before. He couldn’t even spot a source to it, the text appeared in front of the two from thin air.

“Not a prank?”

Tony suddenly went silent.

Nick Fury calmed down obviously, this was not a joke from Tony Stark. It was the work of a mysterious unidentifiable power.

As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D, he was exposed to these ordeals daily. So accepting the fact was not a challenge for him, not anymore.