Chapter 61: The Stark Expo Incident (1)
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"Just because something works, doesn't mean it can't be improved."
- Shuri, (Black Panther)
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<(Omniscient POV)>
'An army of high-tech armor droids fitted to the brim with state-of-the-art weapons... This is so above my pay grade. How did these designs even get leaked? I thought Coulson and Maria were looking after Stark and his company.' Natasha Romanoff, aka, the Black Widow complained to no one as she muttered to herself while watching the scores of Iron Man armor replicas being displayed to the public.
"You seem worried about something? Care to tell me what?" Her current boss, Vanessa Carlysle, aka, Copycat asked offhandedly as she clapped for the various armor designs that Justin Hammer was revealing on the stage one by one.
Natasha or Natalie Rushman was the name she was currently using to infiltrate Meta International to find out its deepest secrets and get some dirt on the 'God' that according to intel was the true owner of the conglomerate. This was her biggest and most important mission from the time when she joined Shield. The organization had spent millions of dollars to prepare her for the mission.
From constructing shell companies, a very thoroughly made fake identity that might as well be real in the eyes of the government, an online social media identity, fake digital traces all over the internet, the most advanced micro-grade non-metal Thought Scrambler drilled into her skull to block any telepathic and mind control powers, nothing was spared to make her seem like an ordinary woman with sharp business acumen and a huge ambition to make a name for herself along with the smarts needed for it.
The plan was simple. She was to infiltrate one of the biggest, if not THE biggest company in the world as a talented employee and then slowly climb the ranks till she catches the eyes of either Atem who was the real mastermind of the company, or his rumored 'mistresses' who occupied the top management positions.
In fact, she had decided that she would act as a desperate gold digger trying to seduce her boss to quickly climb up the corporate ladder. The mission that was given to her by Shield was to do anything and everything that was required of her to get close to the 'patron god' of New Genosha and get as much info about him, his cult, his company, and his country as possible. Absolutely no mistakes were allowed.
Till now, Natasha had carried out her mission without any sort of hiccups. She had gotten a job at Meta International's investment arm, which was the most important part of the company, and had succeeded in grabbing the attention of many of the people that are rumored to be closely associated with Atem. Vanessa was one of them. Natasha had introduced herself to her as a mutant with the power to block out any sort of telepathic abilities which was actually a result of the advanced thought scrambler implanted inside her skull.
Now, she hadn't been trusted as much as she would have preferred. Still, the trust that she had earned with her hard work was enough to be promoted as a secretary for the blue-skinned metahuman who was appointed as the representative of Meta International in the Stark Expo.
"Huh? Nothing Ms. Carlysle, it's just amazing how much technology has evolved. I thought Tony Stark was the only one who could make stuff like this but it seems like this is soon going to be the industry norm... Shouldn't we be working on technology like this too to ensure we don't fall behind others, Miss Vanessa? It could be a great way to increase the company's security forces as well if we were able to get our hands on advanced weaponized armor like that." Natasha tried to dig in for some information.
"We don't need to develop or invest in such technology ourselves when we are Hammer's biggest investor. Plus, if we really wanted to, we could develop this technology a hundred times better than both Hammer and Tony." Vanessa revealed with a proud grin, looking very proud of the company that was directly founded by her lover himself.
However, before Natasha could try to glean further information from Vanessa, a voice interrupted their conversation. "That's amazing Miss. Vanessa. Maybe Meta International can improve these armors and sell them to New Genosha to strengthen its army." It was Kitty Pryde, one of the new interns who had joined the company as part of its talent exchange program with Arcane Academy to publicize hiring metahumans.
"Huh? But I don't think we need these armors defending us, Kitty. Atem and the X-men are more than enough to resist even global-scale alien invasions. Plus, our army might not be as famous as those of the rest of the world, but it doesn't mean that it is any less effective." This time, it was Kurt Wagner dressed in a big hoodie that covered almost all of his visible skin, who answered with a thoughtful look on his face. He was the second intern who was hired in the exchange and then brought here to take part in the Stark Expo.
"... I see. So, Neo Genosha is mainly protected by the X-men and Atem, is it? I thought that it would have one of the biggest and most powerful armies ever because of how it is a metahuman superpower and all. Sorry if I seem rude but I am really interested in the country. I heard that it is a haven for metahumans like us and since then, I have been wanting to visit there at least once." Natasha did her best to butter them up while even placing her hand seductively on Kurt's shoulder in a bid to encourage him to talk more. "Any more interesting facts you can tell me about Neo Genosha and its handsome protectors?" She asked much to the chagrin of Kitty.
"Y-Yeah, of course. Also, you are in luck since I know everything there is to know about the country because of how I travel so much." Kurt chuckled with a blush on his cheeks that was barely visible due to his oversized hoodie and blue skin. "You see Neo Gensoha is not even as close to what it was before. It has undergone a huge number of changes like..."
*YAY* A huge cheer suddenly erupted all over the place as hundreds of people began to rise from their seats in joy. The boring technology exhibition suddenly seemed to lighten up as people looked actually excited for once.
*BAM* Ironman flew in from the open sky and landed on the main stage in his classic superhero style.
'What the... why is he here?' Natasha wondered curiously. As much as she remembered, Fury had given him a timeout or something and placed him under Coultson's care as a sort of rehabilitation while sending Hill to the new Stark Industries CEO as her secretary to make sure that the Ironman armor technology doesn't fall into the wrong hands or could not be exploited by other organizations.
But Natasha unfortunately didn't have enough time to wonder about these questions as the moment, Stark's armor landed on the platform, almost all the armor that Hammer was showcasing was his own technology aimed their wrist-mounted weapon systems at the billionaire.
"Did Justine program some sort of shoot-on-sight program inside those armors to get rid of Tony Stark or something?" Vanessa asked with a frown on her face.
He wouldn't be that much of an idiot, would he? He wouldn't try to destroy everything he had ever built just for some petty revenge, right? But then, Justine Hammer was always sort of an idiot, so Vanessa couldn't be sure.
Tony on the other hand had already figured that the armors were primarily targeting him and thus without wasting too much time, tried to fly away after whispering a few words to the War Machine who too had started visibly malfunctioning.
The droid armors, however, didn't wait for him to escape and instead started shooting their missiles at him to stop his flight.
*BOOM*
A few explosions rang out that barely missed the crows but were still successful in creating chaos as people hurried to run out of the area, causing a stampede.
"Everyone, evacuate." The army officials and the Stark guards yelled as they tried to quickly vacate the facility. But the army of armors weren't going to just stand still. As half of the armors followed after Tony, the other half began to target the crowd instead and all hell broke loose.
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(A/N: Sorry for the delay in this chapter, guys. I am currently suffering from a heavy fever and a splitting headache🤒. By the way, just a heads up, updates will be a little irregular this week until I heal up... Oh, a piece of advice, never have a cup of boiling coffee after eating two cups of ice cream... Quickest way to hell🙂)
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