Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒
𝐋𝐎𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒, 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐀
TONY
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
Four hiding places. Four corners of the world.
Tony had strategized a textbook lockdown on all offices, not formally announcing his arrival on any of the facilities instead, performing a full-throttle evacuation. The crowds seemed to move out like a well-oiled machine, slow but steady. He couldn't help but doubt that he wasn't being active enough. Maybe Los Angeles wasn't the first place to visit but something told him it was—it was the newly opened headquarters and celebrating its first anniversary this year.
'JARVIS, stream progress monitors to the suit,' he ordered as he soared above the familiar assemblage of skyscrapers in LA. He watched the civilians all as equals, sauntering out the front like armies of ants and safely being escorted to the nearest exits. He spared himself a moment of gratitude before hovering a safe distance away from the atrium. 'And get Maria on the line while you're at it.'
'Certainly, sir. Scans initiating. Contacting Maria Hill.'
Before her name even popped on his screen, her voice rang through like an alarm. 'Mr. Stark. We're monitoring the four faculties for repulsor pulses or uncanny energy signatures—'
'It's not going to work like that,' he mused. He narrowed his gaze on some struggling families, scantily asking for direction but only being shoved back to the exit as if to fulfil the highest orders first. 'How come there are no first response teams on-site? And where in the hell is Miss Potts—'
'Evac looks smooth in Tokyo and still got a red-light in Long Island. Cleaning up in Spain still in progress.'
'SHIELD's enroute in position?'
'Underway, sir,' she said curtly. 'We have an evaluated ETA in—'
He heard her shocked gasp, a short clacking of fingers over a keyboard. He heard scrambled orders to a nearby agent, Tony's senses clambering to heightened anxiety. He tried escaping the choking thoughts, striving to withstand the loud heaves that were leaving his mouth.
'JARVIS, talk to me, buddy.'
'It's Valencia, sir,' his AI replied in the most solemn tone possible. It was too late, they were dead in his name - they were dead because of Stane. Because of him. 'There was a cellular burst over the city to a newspaper company. SHIELD debrief teams are falling in.'
