Chapter 12 – I Am Iron Man

"May I speak with you for a moment? I'm not a reporter. My name is Agent Phil Coulson from the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division." Coulson stated quickly because Tony Stark is intent on speaking on the press conference which Coulson wants to stop.

"That is quite the handful." Observed Tony.

"I know," agent Coulson smiled then added, "Were working on it."

Coulson tried his best to ask Tony Stark for a debriefing but Tony didn't listen and announced that Stark Industries will stop manufacturing weapons.

Arthur who was watching the news knew that Iron Man would soon make a move and fly off to Afghanistan to blow up the bad guys who have his weapons.

Arthur tried to follow the events as closely as he can. He flew beside Iron Man when he went to Afghanistan. Tony was not able to detect him while he is in invisible state. He secretly recorded the whole series of events and even took some selfies.

It was an exhilarating feeling to watch everything live but there are many boring parts and he had to wait for many hours until the next scene. Still, he was able to verify that Starks current technology is still not advanced enough to detect him. Arthur even casted the spell slip on one of the annoying paparazzi's that hounds the stark estate.

When Tony had his epic fight with Obadiah, Arthur was there and recorded the fight. Seeing their fight made him realize that his physical strength is nowhere near the level needed to intervene. His spells cannot penetrate the armor. This is really the era of heroes. An era where Arthur or Koro found that his superiority is diminishing day by day. Not that he cared that much about being the best. He still has access to a plethora of spells. He might not be one of the strong attackers but his importance to the team cannot be ignored. That is for when he finally decided to join the avengers.

When Iron Man overloaded the reactor, Arthur casted a few dozen protection spell on a phone he picked up from a random citizen. Then he made it levitate on top of the reactor. He wanted to see if he can protect it from the blast of energy that Iron Man is about to release from the reactor.

The next day, Phil Coulson gave Tony his alibi which he eventually ignored as he confidently declares his soon to be famous speech. "I am Iron Man."

The reporters erupt in a cacophony. But Tony Stark left them. Arthur hid behind as he wants Fury to say his line before he joins in and show them his army.

"I am Iron Man" Fury repeats Tony Stark's arrogant declaration. "Do you think you are the only superhero?" Fury stood after giving a question to Tony who have just returned home.

"Mr. Stark, there are many people like you. You just don't know them." Fury added before Stark can answer the question.

"Superhero?" Tony ponders the thought. He likes the idea of being a superhero. He looks at Fury and poses his own question. "Who are you?

"Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD." Fury walked closer and said, "I want to talk to you about something called The Avengers Initiative."

Chuckling, Arthur approached and asked, "Mind if I join in on that conversation?"

"M*th*rF*cker. General. I thought you retired. Why keep popping out of nowhere?" Fury was not furious, just a little annoyed. Arthur Black is too old for the spy business. He should just enjoy his retirement somewhere.

He is appearing out of nowhere? Mad that he stole your thunder? Tony thought to himself as he started to have a discussion with Fury and the old man that suddenly appeared.

After a little discussion, they went to Arthur Black's secret base in New York. From there he began explaining about the past. When he sneaked in the highly confidential experiment to create a super soldier. As he was explaining Fury started piecing together the whole picture. When Arthur showed them to the basement where hundreds of individuals are standing at attention. Fury couldn't believe his eyes.

Are all of them really as strong as Steve Rogers? Fury thought to himself. He listened to Arthur as he explained that these individuals were injected with the super soldier serum a year after captain America. Arthur gave them the serum when they were less than ten years old. Since then he has been giving them training but never gave them any missions. They all look to be in their early thirties. One of the effects of the serum. It slows down the aging process.

Arthur left as Fury and Tony Stark is in a heated discussion about the roles these people will take in the Avengers Initiative. Fury called agents Natasha Romanov, Clint, Phil Coulson, Melinda May and Bill Monroe. The first four would assess the capabilities of the army and Bill would try to heal Tony Stark.

"Hey Band-aid, on behalf of Stark Industries I would like to invite you to join our medical research team. The position is tentatively designated as special consultant and the initial annual salary is 1 million dollars. What do you think?" Stark asked Bill as soon as he saw the metal fragments fall on the ground.

Although it took an hour, Bill Monroe through continuous application of his healing spell was able to successfully remove the metal fragments inside Tony Stark. Seeing his skill, Stark wanted to steal him from SHIELD. Ig he guessed Fury's intentions right, then he plans to hide Bill Monroe and have him as a special medic for SHIELD. That would be doing a disservice.

Before Bill was able to answer, Black Widow moved and answered for him. "Bill is a SHIELD agent Tony. Would you really like to steal from FURY?"

"Whatever." Tony offhandedly said. "When you get tired of this agent thing. Stark Industries will welcome you."

Arthur knew that the experiment that would result in the birth of the hulk will be conducted around this time. He just prioritized watching the Iron Man movie live. That is much more exciting and as a fan of avenger, he loves robots more than big scary monsters.

He plans to meet the hulk but every time he thinks of fighting him, he chickens out. It is better to watch the Iron Man 2 movie live than to risk being squashed like a bug.

Bill wanted to make Tony place restrictions on his armor so that no one can just go and wear it or copy its technology. He started visiting Tony at his villa and Natasha Romanov whose duty is to observe Tony and guard Bill, naturally came along. Bill would often try to mess with the controls to wear an Iron Man armor for himself whenever he has the chance. Tony had to lock the armors so that Bill cannot use it. When Bill expressed the desire to take home a few parts and study it, Tony made changes to the armor so that no one can copy the technology.