Project Knight

-Northern Afghanistan-

-February 13, 2009, 1205h local-

"So, need some help getting out?" Naruto asked, but it looks like he underestimated the terrorist's paranoia since shouting is coming from the other side of the door. "Come on. I need some answers quickly." He urged.

Tony's thinking on how to proceed. Usually, he would just get out of there, but his newly developed sense of morality that came when his daughter arrived in the world is messing with his brain.

He looked towards Yinsen and asked a question that will determine his decision.

"What do they want with me?" Tony asked.

Yinsen released a sigh and quickly formulated an answer. The voices outside are started getting louder, which added more pressure to the situation.

Frank decided he needs to prepare for any stupid decision the billionaire makes, so he took two metal rods and walked towards the side of the door. He readied himself to bash some skulls in.

"They are your most loyal customers. The Ten Rings want you to make them the Jericho. The only thing they can't buy from their source." Yinsen answered.

Tony got all that he needed from Yinsen.

"Get us out of here..." Tony told Naruto. "Bring us to the mansion. I need to pick up something."

Naruto suddenly became extremely giddy and dragged Tony and Yinsen towards Frank. Good thing, Tony had the presence of mind to carry the car battery powering his electromagnet.

"Come on, man. Grab on. We got to go." Naruto said while extending his free hand towards Frank.

When Frank hesitated, Naruto grabbed onto him, and the whole group disappeared. Just in time, too, since the door opened not long after.

-Stark Mansion, Malibu, Los Angeles-

-February 13, 2009, 0035h local-

The group appeared in Tony's underground garage. Frank managed to stay upright, even against the onslaught of disorientation. Tony and Yinsen, on the other hand, dropped to the floor with Yinsen being the worst off since his one shake away from barfing.

"Motherfucker. So that's how you do it..." Tony exclaimed. He always wondered how Naruto could get in and out of the mansion without triggering any security measure. In the end, he just gave up and just ordered JARVIS to report when he's spotted inside the house. "What is it? Quantum entanglement? Wormholes?" He asked genuinely curious on how Naruto does it. His scientific and analytical mind screaming at him to figure it out.

"That's a secret man..." Naruto answered cheekily, causing Tony to grumble. "Have you finished it?" Naruto asked.

"Not quite..." Tony replied while slowly getting up on his feet. He carried the car battery and hobbled over towards the work table. "You know it's been tossed at the back burner ever since Morgan came..." When he reached the desk, he double tapped the corner causing it to glow. "JARVIS. Pull up Project Knight and the arc reactor design." He ordered.

"Certainly, sir, and may I say it's good to see you somewhat okay..." JARVIS replied. The sudden appearance of another voice caused Frank to heighten his alert level but quickly calmed down when he saw Tony and Naruto remained calm. "Should I inform Ms. Potts of your arrival?" He asked.

"What time is it?" Tony asked no idea how long he's been out cold.

"It's currently a quarter to 1." JARVIS answered.

"I've only been out for around three hours. Fuck, getting blown up really messes with your head..." Tony mused to himself after quickly computing the time difference between LA and Afghanistan. "Don't wake them up. I'll tell them myself later."

"Of course, sir." JARVIS replied before the holo table turned on, showing the 3D plans for MK1 and the arc reactor.

Frank pulled Yinsen towards the chair near the table since the travel hit Yinsen hard.

"Where the hell are we?" Frank asked Naruto.

"LA. Specifically Tony's garage." Naruto answered.

Naruto's assertion surprised Frank, but his straightforward and military thinking save him a lot of headaches.

"Curtis thing?" Frank asked.

"Yup, Curtis thing." Naruto replied. Frank then filed away the whole thing as something he would no think about and think of as something he would never figure out.

"You got beer and food?" Frank asked Tony, who's busy flicking away stuff at the holo board and talking to the weird robot voice.

"Food can be found on the counter to your right, and the beverages are inside the refrigerator under it, Mr. Castle." JARVIS was the one who replied.

"Fuck. That's just weird..." Frank mumbled to himself while going to the counter. "Yoh! Yinsen! Want some?" He asks the still dizzy Yinsen as he was picking up some food.

"Just water." Yinsen replied.

Frank picked up a few things, but he made sure to get enough beer. When he got back to the table, he placed a water bottle in front of Yinsen and dumped the rest of what he got in front of him.

"Naruto! Beer?" Frank asked while lifting a can.

"Sure!" Frank tossed the can towards Naruto. He then opened it and took a swig out of it.

"What's he doing anyway?" Frank asked, gesturing towards Tony.

"Finishing a project that's been in the back burner for too long..." Naruto answered with a shrug, but he noticed Frank's confused expression, so he continued. "You three can't suddenly appear stateside when you should've been kidnapped. That'll send warning bells to everyone, and a whole bunch of investigation would occur. That's why I was just going to leave you guys in the middle of the desert so that the search party could find you guys..." Frank understood Naruto's reasoning. The military would be all over up Naruto's ass the moment they find out that someone can get in and out of any situation quickly. "But Tony wanted to get back here, so he probably wants to fight his way out of the hole." He finished.

"He's going to fight his way out? He'll turn tail as soon as the first bullet is fired." Frank retorted skeptically.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that..." Naruto replied. "He helped me take down the mob in Vegas, you know."

Frank remembered the news about that one, but hearing Naruto's involved made the whole thing make more sense.

"He's not a fighter or a soldier..." Frank said, pointing out the obvious. "He won't be able to take down all those terrorists." He offered his opinion.

"You can join too if you want..." Naruto retorted. "Give a kid a nuke, and he can change the tides of war. Same concept here." He said, subtly referring to himself.

Frank couldn't exactly deny Naruto's statement. But it begs the question, what is Stark making.

Tony has been working on the Knight in between the Jericho and JARVIS. It came to him after the situation in Vegas. Being left in the sidelines through the whole ordeal left a bad taste in his mouth, so he started on the project right after he returned to LA. It just slowly get sidelined as he began to work on JARVIS and when Morgan arrived.

He has 90% of the things done, but the remaining 10% are the crucial mechanics and electronics that need to be streamlined through continuous testing. That's why he's removing a lot of part design to make the fabrication time shorter.

The arc reactor is the problem. Tony needs to redesign the whole thing so that it could function as an electromagnet as well as a high output electric source to power the Knight.

"Run the simulations." Tony ordered when he was satisfied enough with the modifications he made. The end result of his changes is an ugly behemoth that just wants to make him puke, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Yes, sir. Running it now... Simulation finished. The prototype reactor would produce 1 gigajoule per second. The suit, on the other hand, would only handle ten minutes of rigorous use." JARVIS reported.

"That's a lot shorter than I thought..." Tony said to himself. "How long would the fabrication take?"

"6 hours, sir. However, the arc reactor needs more precise hands." JARVIS replied.

"I should've known it will never be that easy..." Tony complained with a shake of his head. He walked over to Yinsen and tugged him by the collar. "Wakey. Wakey. You're going to help me upgrade this..." He said while tapping his chest. Yinsen had no choice but to agree. Tony then looked towards Naruto and Frank. "You two are helping too."

"Hahaha. No way, man. I need to check with my girlfriend first. I just left her in the apartment with our roommate." Naruto replied quickly before getting roped in.

"Why the hell do you still have a room here if you got an apartment?" Tony asked with an incredulous look.

"I like the view." Naruto answered with a shrug.

"Wait. Is that roommate of yours the same chick that's been joining your threesome?" Tony asked with overflowing curiosity. Even the always serious and loyal Frank Castle perked up hearing Tony's question.

"Yep. I just told you. I left them in the apartment on the bed." Naruto replied, not seeing anything wrong with his answer.

"I just want you to know. I fucking hate you right now..." Tony stated with conviction. Yinsen and Frank silently agreed with Tony's assertion. Tony released a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Just go already. Be back by 8." He said.

"Sure thing. Anything I need to bring back?" Naruto asked.

"Nah. Got everything here." Tony answered.

"Bring me something I can use to shoot people." Frank amended.

Tony let out a snort and walked towards an empty wall. This drew everyone's attention. He placed his palm relatively high up the wall. After a few moments, the wall split open, revealing a small armory.

"Believe me, Frank. I got everything." Tony reiterated with a victorious grin.

Frank checked the loadout, and he has no choice but to be impressed.

"I think we're going to get along just fine." Frank stated.

"You better not let Pepper know about this." Naruto warned before suddenly disappearing.

"Do we really need to go back using that?" Tony asked, which caused Yinsen to turn green all over again.

-Natasha's Safehouse, New York-

-February 13, 2009, 0400h local-

Naruto appeared inside the living room, and he immediately went towards the bedroom while making sure he doesn't wake up Jessica. When he got inside, he noticed that Jessica is the only person on the bed. He looked around and saw light coming out from under the door of the bathroom.

Naruto approached the door and knocked.

"Naruto?" Natasha asked from the other side of the door.

"Yes. It's me, Hime." Naruto answered.

"Wait a minute. I'm getting out in a sec..." Natasha replied. Naruto walked back towards the bed and sat on it. A few moments later, Natasha got out of the bathroom wearing her full combat suit. "Good thing you came by. I need a ride." She said while checking her gear and walking out of the bedroom.

"Why and where?" Naruto inquired, following Natasha out.

"Fury got the report about Stark's kidnapping. He wants everyone to report in." Natasha replied, wearing her boots.

"Can I come?" Naruto asked with puppy dog eyes. "I'll be invisible, I promise." He added.

Natasha thought about how much security protocols she's going to break, but no one can resist that particular look. It's at the same level as Lila's begging face. She has no idea how it was possible, but it's there.

"Alright. Come on." Natasha agreed exasperatedly, although she's laughing inside.

"Yey." Naruto let out a small childish cheer before holding Natasha's hand. He looked at Natasha and waited for her signal before disappearing.

-Triskelion, Washington DC-

-February 13, 2009, 0420h local-

The pair appeared at Natasha's office. Natasha took a few seconds to recollect herself. A whole lot of improvement compared to her first experience with it.

"You're going to watch only. Don't do anything. I don't want Fury to have an aneurysm." Natasha ordered.

Naruto just nodded before doing a single hand sign and slowly disappearing from her view. When she can't see him anymore, she walked out of the room and headed straight to the meeting room sent to her by Fury.

It took a few minutes of going around the building, but Natasha eventually reached her destination. She went straight in without knocking. She saw a large group of people already inside, including Phil and Clint, which she immediately went too.

"Any news?" Natasha asked as soon as she sat down. Of course, she could just ask Naruto, but it would only make it a lot harder to lie if she knows anything beforehand.

"Around 10 am local, Tony Stark's convoy from Bagram Air Base to Kabul had been ambushed. Everyone's dead but accounted for except for two passengers—Tony Stark and an Unidentified Tech. All signs point toward inside job but no proof as of yet except for three things. Somehow, all choppers are either in use or out of commission. Then, the convoy is guarded by rookies. Not one of them experienced the sand for more than three months. Finally, no patrols were near the ambush point even though the road from Kabul and Bagram should be secured..." Phil answered with a surprising amount of detail. "That's all I know, though." He added.

"I think it's more than enough." Clint joked.

Fury entered the room with authority a few minutes later with Hill right behind him. The small chattering inside immediately died down. He walked towards the podium and eyed everyone.

"As you have heard, Tony Stark's convoy has been ambushed while on it's way to Kabul. Preliminary reports indicate that they took Tony Stark and someone pretending to be a maintenance officer for the Jericho missile. The tech is now identified as Sergeant Frank Castle. Force Recon." Fury summarized.

"Force Recon? Why's he posing as a tech?" Clint asked.

"We have no idea what he is doing there. What we do know is that he's supposed to on vacation after coming home from his tour in Afghanistan. We only identified him through facial recognition..." Fury replied. Natasha had an idea of how Castle got roped in, but she won't say it now. "Search parties had already been sent with no results. That's where we come in. I want all of you to find any chatter of this happening. Look into the Bagram itself for any sign of an inside job. I also want you to look into Sergeant Castle himself. Coulson, you're going to Obadiah Stane to assess the possibility of Stark making a deal to save his hide. Do the same thing with Virginia Potts too. Barton, you're going to Afghanistan with a strike team on you. Make sure to bring a medic in case something went awry. Romanoff, work your contacts to find anything at all." He ordered. Natasha's order, of course, is a cover for her to extract information on Naruto. Fury already accepted the fact that Naruto just knows a lot more than he is letting on.

Fury was about to shout at everyone to move when somebody knocked on the door. Fury gestured for one of the people close to the door to open it, revealing an agent carrying a package. The man went inside and handed it over to Fury.

Natasha wanted to facepalm hard when she saw it. She specifically told Naruto not to do anything.

"Sir. A package was delivered in the reception addressed to you. We scanned it three times to make sure it's clean." The agent reported.

Fury opened the package and saw a piece of paper inside instead of the usual file folder. He picked it up and read it.

'Don't worry. I got it, Baldy #1.'

Maria Hill took a peek at the paper and choked herself to stop her laughter.

Fury dropped the paper inside the box and glared at everyone inside the room.

"What are you waiting for? Christmas? Go!" Fury shouted, sending most of the people inside the room to scurry away. When all personnel not in the know are out of the room, he stared at Natasha. "I'm going to kill your fucking boyfriend." He promised.