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10 PM.
For the first ti since inheriting Stark Industries, Tony Stark stayed this late for the first ti in his office. He had his feet propped up on his desk, his shiny, latest StarkPad prototype lying in his lap. The nightview of Pacific stretched endlessly beyond his panel-less window, but for once, the billion-dollar view couldn’t pull his attention away from the screen.
"Boss." Pepper Potts arrived in the doorway with two mugs of coffee. "I did my full shift, but you’re still here. Who possessed you?"
"Pepper, co here."
The urgency in his voice made Pepper set down the folders imdiately and cross to his desk. It wasn’t everyday Tony Stark let go of his dramatic speaking manner.
"What am I looking at?"
"Evolution happening in real ti. Or the apocalypse. Haven’t decided on a na yet." Tony turned the tablet toward her. "This has been all over the internet for days, even reaching Europe, Japan, and many other places."
The video was paused on a night view of Upper Manhattan.
"What’s so special—" Pepper paused when she spotted two figures in the footage. Her hand flew to her mouth. "That’s not—this is CGI."
"It’s real." Tony’s voice carried a genuine fascination. "Wait. It gets so much better. Or worse. Depends on your perspective."
She narrowed her eyes. A male with a skull covered in ghostly blue fire. A man with flowing white hair and an unusual helt around his head. The battle that broke out between these two changed the city’s landscape. They were flying. They were controlling cars and turning them into tal balls. They defied every known law of physics.
The destruction seed like it would happen in movies. Then it was changed like soone reversed the footage.
"Jesus Christ," Pepper whispered.
"Apparently not available for comnt." Tony paused the video again and zood in on the ghosty skull. "He is Skullfire. Rember the incidents happening in Manhattan recently."
"Nope. I’m busy running your company."
"Good girl Pep. Here, take a look at this."
Tony showed her footage and articles, even more live evidence about how these new superpowered beings had changed everything in Manhattan.
"Wow," Pepper murmured. "I had no clue this was happening out there."
" neither, Pep. I should spend more ti on social dia and television." Tony swiped back to the battle footage. "I still don’t have an answer on how this works."
"Could it be fake? So big conspiracy?"
"There is too much evidence to prove they’re not CGI. No hologram projectors involved either. Plus, look at the way the bystanders react in older footage—that’s real terror, Pep. You can’t fake that kind of reaction." He paused, lowering his voice. "If it was fake, they’d need the entire Hollywood budget to pull it off."
Pepper dragged a guest chair over and sat beside him. "Do you think the military will look to weaponize them?"
"They can’t, but they’ll absolutely try."
"Tony, if they succeed, we should stop manufacturing weapons."
Pepper had never been comfortable with Stark Industries’ heavy reliance on military contracts. She wanted them to move away from being a major weapons manufacturer.
Tony shook his head. "We should one-up then and sell a recipe to control these heroes."
Pepper furrowed her brows. "Tony—"
"It’s fifty-fifty, Pep. Take your pick if I’m lying or not." He shifted the footage to the friendly masked vigilante. "This one calls herself Ghost Spider. She’s been operating for weeks now. Mostly stopping muggings, car thefts, dealing with alien symbiotes, and generally just helping people. Very neighborhood-friendly in a way."
"Did you just say aliens?"
Tony grinned. "I thought she was just a rich kid with a lot of investnt into a bio-suit." He showed the footage of Ghost Spider fighting black alien-like creatures. "Apparently she wasn’t."
Pepper crossed her arms, pouting. "Where are you going with this?"
"She was the first, Pep." Tony aggressively swiped back and forth between the different footages. "Phoenix, Silver Sable, Black Cat, White Tiger, Colossus, Emma Frost the White Queen, Skullfire, his bride—now we have a whole damn zoo of them. It’s like—"
"Like Ghost Spider triggered sothing," Pepper interrupted, catching onto his thoughts like the clever woman she was. "She was a catalyst."
"Exactly." Tony grinned. "She went public first. And that forced other enhanced individuals to reveal themselves. Or maybe soone saw her fighting those creatures and decided to step in with bigger guns. The madness continued from there. This Skullfire guy is linked to all of them. According to these social dia detectives, he is romantically involved with half the won on that list."
"Huh?" Pepper blinked, caught off-guard by the last part. "What a lunatic. They should gang up and beat him until he chooses one of them or just leave him. Scum playboy needs to get their attitude checked."
Tony raised an eyebrow. Why was Pepper looking directly at him while grilling Skullfire?
He quickly pushed that uncomfortable question aside. "Pep, we’re watching a paradigm shift in human history. It’s not too late to be a part of this."
"Money can’t buy superpowers, Tony. Didn’t they teach you that in college?"
"I don’t want that power. I do, obviously, but not like that." Tony’s eyes glead with that dangerous combination of genius and ego. "Sowhere in this chaos is science, Pepper. Principles I don’t understand, applications that could revolutionize everything. From military operations to—"
"To making weapons," Pepper finished quietly. "No, you aren’t going to create so superpower-giving serum for the governnt. I won’t let you."
"I an, I want to understand how the world actually works." Tony handed her the tablet. "That’s why I need data. Pep, find everything available on Ghost Spider and who our skull-headed gentleman might be under the flas. While you’re doing that, arrange a formal eting with Emma Frost and Silver Sable. I want to be face-to-face with them in a boardroom."
He wanted to understand how invisibility worked, the source of those flas, how a man could manipulate tal, how they could fly at such a speed, and the reason this Skullfire could reverse ti like it was nothing. He wanted to dissect it all.
"You don’t have to."
A soft, elegant voice drifted into the room just as the door of Tony’s office silently slid open.
Tony spun his chair around. He was montarily rendered breathless, utterly stunned by the striking beauty of the black-haired woman stepping into his sanctuary.
"Wait. Aren’t you Whitney Frost?"
He rembered her face from the magazines. Norman Osborn had announced a highly publicized engagent to her recently. But Osborn had tragically kicked the bucket before they could walk down the aisle. Tony had thoughts of calling her out for a date, then this happened.
"How did you get in here?" Pepper imdiately shifted into her fiercely protective secretary mode. "What in the world is security doing?"
"Relax, Miss Potts." Whitney showed a charismatic smile. "Mr. Stark. I’m here with an offer you can’t refuse."
Tony took his feet on the table and pushed his chair forward. The playboy charm instantly returned to his face. "Why don’t we take the discussion to the bedroom? We’ll chat, drink, chat with our bodies, and drink so more."
Whitney sat down, showing no reaction to his counter-offer . "Skullfire murdered my fiancé. Norman Osborn. His son, Harry, witnessed it."
Tony blinked. "Why are you telling ? You should—"
"Go to the NYPD and demand justice?" Whitney let out a bitter, hollow laugh. "It will never happen. Skullfire is above the law. No court can hold him accountable. Because of that monster... my child will grow up without a father."
"Oh. Wow."
Tony leaned back, completely blindsided. He had absolutely no idea how to deal with a grieving, pregnant beauty. He glanced over at Pepper, but she wasn’t helping either. She just had that deeply annoyed look on her face, the exact sa look she gave him whenever he brought a one-night stand through the lobby.
"Ms. Frost, honestly, you aren’t wrong," Tony said carefully, trying not to step on any mine. "If the power he has shown is real, nobody on earth can touch him. I don’t think I can help you with this."
Whitney looked at him with raw desperation. "I’ll offer you the formula for an enhancent serum. A complete formula to give anyone superhuman strength, speed, durability, and reaction ti. It’s priceless."
Tony narrowed his eyes. From what he rembered, his father had once worked on a similar project. "What’s your demand?"
"Tony!" Pepper spoke through clenched teeth. "Don’t trust her."
Whitney smiled softly. "All I ask in return... is for you to protect from Skullfire."
Tony raised his eyebrows. Before he could ask another question, the air in the office changed. A shower of orange sparks spun into a massive burning circle. Tony drew in a sharp breath. He had seen the circle before.
A man stepped casually through the portal. He had seen the terrifying, ghostly blue flas too many tis on his StarkPad tonight to mistake him for anyone else. But Tony had certainly never expected the apocalypse to step out of a magic doorway in his own office.
Following closely behind him was Ghost Spider, dressed in her sleek black-and-white suit, her masked eyes narrowing as she stepped onto the plush carpet. "Where is this?"
Skullfire looked around the lavish office, spotting Tony, and then his burning gaze landed directly on the woman sitting in the guest chair. "What the hell is she doing in your office?"
So Skullfire was capable of feeling surprise.
Tony cleared his throat. "Guards, who allowed this holess lady in here? Take her away, ASAP."
Justice was a beautiful concept. Super-serums were great for profit margins and building rapport with the governnt. However, Tony Stark firmly preferred keeping his head attached to his shoulders. Opposing Skullfire directly was the fastest ticket to Hell. No way in hell he would risk his life for a stranger.
"Tony Stark!" Whitney shoved back her chair and stood up, shocked to see he would sell her out so easily. "Are you just going to let him take ?"
"Lady, I told you I can’t help you."
Whitney slamd her hand on the table. "You coward. How can you let this opportunity go?"
Skullfire looked at Whitney’s furious expression, and then back at Tony. "You’re a smart man."
"We Starks are known for our excellent, highly functional minds," Tony replied, standing up with a tight smile. The cold sweat trickling down his spine didn’t stop him from displaying his trademark courtesy. "Do you want coffee? Tea? I also have an incredibly expensive bottle of Macallan 1926 in the cabinet if you’re into Scotch."
Dante laughed. "Not today. My business is with her. Do you mind if I take her away?"
Tony spread his arms, zero hesitation in offering Whitney up on a silver platter. "Nope. Be my guest. She just barged into my office and started spouting utter nonsense."
The flas in his eyes flickered. "Oh? What kind of nonsense?"
Tony glanced at Pepper. She hadn’t spoken a single word since the portal opened. "She... uh. She said you killed Norman Osborn."
"Norman was controlling those symbiotes that attacked the city," Skullfire revealed calmly. "The law wouldn’t have punished him harshly, so I took the matter into my own hands."
"Ah. Well, that’s understandable then." Tony turned to Whitney, shaking his head in disappointnt. "You conveniently forgot to ntion that little detail to ."
Whitney was flabbergasted. "Tony—"
Thwip. A web blocked her mouth, courtesy of Ghost Spider. She fired a barrage of webbing, spinning around the beauty until she was cocooned from head to toe. Only a portion of her face was left open for breathing. Ghost Spider slung the struggling Whitney Frost over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Don’t take too long."
Those words were spoken softly and sweetly like they weren’t brazenly kidnapping soone in the presence of a billionaire playboy philanthropist. They truly acted as if they were entirely above the law.
They had the power for it.
After Ghost Spider stepped inside the portal, Skullfire turned back to face Tony. "No word about this to anyone."
Tony smiled charmingly. "ntion what? Pep and I’ve been here by ourselves all night."
***
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