"And that concludes my report, Director."
"Thank you, Agent Romanoff; for now, stay where you are and continue to gather information; I will contact you when I have further instructions; consider it a vacation."
Fury ended the call and leaned back, letting out a sigh as he started massaging his temples.
The information Romanoff had brought back was groundbreaking and head-splitting.
The fact that King Arthur is a woman is valuable information. Operating under the false impression that they were dealing with a man was dangerous.
After all, the two sexes did think differently. It might not be much, but when it ca to situations like this, even small things could have massive impacts.
The fact that this female King Arthur was also a self-proclaid Goddess who seed to think differently from humans quickly complicated matters and was the main reason for his headache.
The fact that she apparently possessed the Holy Grail, an artifact able to fulfill wishes, ranked a close second.
His main thoughts lingered around the connection between the Grail and her powers. Did she have the Grail due to her power, or did she have the power due to the Grail?
While Romanoff's report had given so answers, it had also given rise to more questions still.
*Knock knock*
"Yes?"
"Sir." Said Coulson as he opened the door. "There has been a developnt."
-----
The private jet humd as it descended toward the Stark Industries airstrip. Outside the window, the sprawling California coastline stretched endlessly.
Its familiar beauty lost on Tony Stark as he leaned back in his seat, nursing the glass of whiskey in his hand. The ice clinked softly, matching the rhythm of his swirling thoughts.
He had been gone for three months, kidnapped by terrorists, held captive in a cave, and forced to build weapons.
He'd survived through wit and desperation, building the Mark I suit of armor that had carried him out of that hellhole. He was free now—free, but different. The arc reactor embedded in his chest was proof of that.
However, the change to his body was hardly the only change he had experienced. He had been enlightened, and the world almost seed to have lost much of its brightness, much of its joy.
A weight had been placed on his shoulders now, and he could no longer just engage in the entertainnt he had once so enjoyed.
As the plane touched down and rolled to a stop, Tony finished his drink in one smooth gulp.
Pepper Potts waited at the base of the stairs, her breath catching when she saw him. Her heels clicked against the pavent as she hurried toward him, barely able to keep her emotions in check.
"Tony," she breathed, her voice trembling. "I was going to go to the hospital, but you said you were fine, so…"
Tony looked at her, eyes tired but warm. "I'm fine."
She shook her head, tears threatening to spill. "You're not fine."
"I know," he admitted softly.
Pepper took another step closer, as if afraid he'd vanish again. "Let get you so help."
Tony gently placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "I don't need a hospital," he said, managing a small smile. "I just need a cheeseburger… and a press conference."
Pepper blinked, the absurdity of the request nearly making her laugh. But she understood Tony better than anyone. "Fine," she whispered, brushing away a tear. "Burger first. Press conference second."
Hours later, Tony stood in front of a crowded room at Stark Industries, the sll of freshly eaten fast food still clinging to him. The assembled reporters murmured amongst themselves, wondering what the recently returned genius had to say. Obadiah Stane stood off to the side, his face unreadable.
Tony approached the podium, his gaze sweeping over the room, catching Pepper's reassuring nod near the back.
"I've been gone for a while," Tony began, his voice carrying a weight that silenced the crowd. "And during that ti, I did a lot of thinking. About what we do here at Stark Industries, and about the impact we've had on the world."
The room tensed as Tony continued, each word deliberate.
"I realized sothing. We've been building weapons—powerful, destructive weapons—and selling them to people who don't always have the best intentions. And as much as I'd like to say I was blind to it, I wasn't. I ignored it."
A reporter raised a hand, but Tony pushed on.
"That changes today. Effective imdiately, Stark Industries will no longer manufacture weapons."
Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd. Obadiah shifted uncomfortably, whispering sothing to a nearby aide.
Tony didn't stick around to answer their questions. He stepped back, leaving the chaos behind him as Pepper followed him into the corridor.
-----
Back at the Mansion.
Tony dropped onto the couch in his sprawling living room, exhaling as the tension of the day finally lifted. The arc reactor humd faintly beneath his shirt, a constant reminder of what had happened in that cave.
Pepper entered the room with her tablet in hand. "So, that was subtle."
He smirked. "You know —never one for small gestures."
She set the tablet down and sat across from him. "Tony, there's sothing you need to know."
He arched a brow. "What now? Did the board already decide to stage a coup?"
Pepper shook her head, her expression serious. "The world's changed while you were gone. And I don't just an the markets reacting to you shutting down the weapons division."
Tony sat up, curiosity sparking in his eyes. "How bad is it?"
"It's not just bad. It's different." She tapped a few buttons on the tablet, and the large screen mounted on the wall flickered to life, displaying news clips, headlines, and international updates.
"Albion Rises: King Arthuria Pendragon Declares a New Era for Britain."
"Calot Reborn: Magic and Myth Return to the Modern World."
"Global Markets Reeling After Britain's Economic Transformation."
Tony leaned forward, rubbing his chin as he watched footage of armored knights patrolling the streets of London, news anchors analyzing Calot's sudden rise, and images of politicians scrambling to adapt to the new reality.
Tony was shocked by what he saw. He faintly rembered sothing about Calot popping up before his kidnapping. But honestly, after what he had gone through, he had forgotten most of it.
Tony leaned back, running a hand through his hair as the screen continued flashing images of Calot's resurgence. "Okay, hold up. Calot. As in knights, swords, and round tables? That Calot?"
Pepper nodded, her expression as serious as ever. "Yes. And it's not just a PR stunt or a historical reenactnt. It's real, Tony. Arthur Pendragon—or Arthuria, as they're calling him—is leading what used to be the United Kingdom."
Tony squinted at the na. "Arthuria? A king with a fancy na, huh?"
Pepper hesitated, carefully choosing her words. "It's complicated. No one knows much about him—or them—but people are convinced he's the real deal."
"And the world just… let this happen?" Tony asked, gesturing toward the TV where footage showed armored knights patrolling alongside modern police officers in London.
Pepper sighed. "Not exactly. The UK attempted to shut them down with military force… but it didn't work out. One of the knights, just one, Mordred, was able to take on the entire force they sent: tanks, helicopters, missiles, everything, and it did nothing.
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Damn, that sure sounds pretty impressive, and downright impossible."
Pepper tapped the tablet, pulling up footage of the military disaster involving Mordred. Tanks exploded, helicopters fell from the sky, and a wave of crimson light decimated the battlefield.
"See for yourself." she said. "Just one of their knights destroyed an entire military brigade without breaking a sweat. It's like mixing mythology with a Michael Bay movie."
Tony whistled, leaning back against the couch. "And here I thought dealing with terrorists was bad enough."
Pepper paused for a mont but finally decided to continue despite her thoughts on the matter; she knew he would find out soon enough anyway. "That isn't even the worst of it."
Tony sat up straighter, his curiosity piqued. "Worse than that? What, do they have dragons flying around now?"
Pepper watched Tony carefully as she swiped across the tablet, pulling up classified footage. "Judge for yourself if this is worse than dragons or not."
The video feed ca to life. A US naval fleet—destroyers, aircraft carriers, and submarines—cut through the ocean under the clear blue sky. Then, without warning, a pillar of light appeared out of nowhere, shattering the calm. When the light disappeared, the fleet was gone.
Tony stared, his jaw tightening. "What the hell is that?"
Pepper's voice was grim. "That's Arthuria Pendragon. The king of Albion himself, this is one of two attacks, no warning, no sign of it. just suddenly, untold devastation. And if he did this from within Calot, which is believed, he could also hit both Paris and Berlin."
He exhaled slowly, the weight of what he was seeing settling over him. He knew his weapons; he knew what made them truly powerful. The best weapons were the ones you couldn't defend against.
Tony leaned forward, rubbing his hands together as he processed the footage. "So at a ti where everyone is scared of a new unknown weapon and wants so response, I announce that I, as the best weapon maker, am stopping."
"Damn, this is worse than I thought." He cursed as he leaned back.
Pepper nodded. "Exactly. The world needs a response, so I doubt you can retire as calmly as you had expected."
Tony's fingers drumd against his thigh as he thought it through. With his eyes closed, he rembered the footage, the knight in silver and red. The bullets and missiles doing no damage. The way they moved, the speed, the agility.
The sheer firepower they displayed. He was already inspired by the armor he made inside that cursed cave. And now, he was seeing sothing like it.
Only his armor would be the height of technology, while this seed to be sothing else entirely. While he wasn't about to believe in magic, he also didn't know what to think.
But clearly, the armor he had in mind would be able to do what this knight did. The ultimate weapon is the ability to enforce peace. Or at least that was the idea. That unknown light weapon wasn't sothing he had considered.
Even still, this only reenforced his desire for making his armor, a weapon in his hand, one that couldn't be used for evil, couldn't be used wrong, because only he would be using it.
Pepper studied Tony carefully, her gaze softening when she saw the mix of exhaustion and determination swirling in his eyes. "You're thinking about building sothing again, aren't you?"
Tony smiled faintly, a glimr of his usual charm creeping through. "Co on, you know . I see sothing impossible, and I don't run from it—I run toward it."
Pepper sighed, brushing a hand through her hair. "Tony, you just shut down the weapons division today. If you go public with a new project right now, especially sothing related to military tech, it's going to send the wrong ssage."
"I'm not building a weapon for war, Pep. I'm building sothing to make sure I can stop the next one before it starts. You saw the footage. The world's walking on eggshells, and this Arthuria guy has shown us what happens when we step on one."
Pepper crossed her arms, pacing a few steps across the room. She was clearly trying to co up with sothing to say, yet dealing with Tony was never easy. "Fine!" She sighed. "Just be careful; the world has changed since you disappeared."
Tony leaned back into the couch, watching as Pepper turned to leave. "When has careful ever been my thing?" he teased, but his voice held a tinge of seriousness beneath the playful facade.
Pepper turned back to face him, her hand resting on the doorfra. "That's what worries ."
She left the room, leaving Tony alone with his thoughts and the faint hum of the arc reactor beneath his shirt. He picked up the tablet she had left behind and swiped through the news clips again, the headlines blaring at him:
"Calot Unstoppable: World Leaders Scramble for Diplomatic Solutions"
"Global Tensions Rise as Albion Asserts Power"
"How Can Technology Compete With the Power of Myths?"
Tony tapped the screen, bringing up footage of Arthuria's strike on the US fleet once more. He leaned forward, studying the sheer precision of the attack, the way the light pierced the ships as if they were made of paper.
"Magic, huh?" He scoffed. "Sure, why not. Might as well add that to the list of things trying to kill us."
He swiped to the next video—Mordred's massacre of the British military at the barricade. The way the knight had moved, the red lightning crackling around his blade, cutting through armor and tanks as if they were nothing.
Tony's mind buzzed with ideas. The cave in Afghanistan had forced him to build sothing crude but life-saving. But now? Now he had the resources, the ti, and most importantly, the motivation. He wasn't just protecting himself anymore—he was building sothing to protect everyone.
He stood, tossing the tablet onto the couch. "J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
The AI's smooth voice echoed through the room. "Yes, sir?"
"Prep the lab. We're starting a new project."
(End of Chapter)
Alright, so Stark showed up again, which ans this is finally the ti of Ironman 1, so he should co out soon, as for that, I won't go into what changes for him.
I won't go into too much focus on what changes for the world at large, I an countless things are happening, but it would be far too much to go over it all, so I'm focusing on Albion.
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