Chapter 16: Do You Think Iron Man is the Only Superhero?

Tony had no idea that Pepper was cursing him behind his back, calling him 'an unreasonable boss'. In fact, she didn't hold back in front of him either, but he didn't care or, perhaps, pretended not to hear her.

What could he do? He was born into a wealthy family.

Driving his sleek Audi, he returned to his luxurious New York mansion and headed into the underground chamber, where a red and gold suit of armor was stored. This was one of his achievements over the past two months—the Mark armor.

In fact, over these two months, he hadn't just been gathering evidence against Obadiah; he had also been developing the first generation of the armor, the Mark I, based on the suit he saw himself wearing in the future in the video from the diary.

Since he hadn't been kidnapped and had the video for guidance, the Mark I armor skipped the cave-built prototype and was, in reality, the Mark II.

"'The truth is, I am Iron Man.' Not a bad declaration, huh?"

Suddenly, a voice filled with mockery came from behind him.

"Who's there?" Tony turned around immediately, only to see an African American man with an eye patch and a leather jacket standing before him.

At that moment, Tony's alarm bells rang. This man had appeared in his secret office chamber without JARVIS raising any alerts.

"I am called Nick Fury." The man with the eyepatch shrugged nonchalantly. "You know, while AI is useful most of the time, it isn't foolproof. There are always gaps."

Tony glanced at Nick Fury and realized one thing: this person wasn't here to kill him. If he was, he would have attacked already.

At this moment, the only thought in Tony's mind was figuring out how Fury had gotten in and resolving to fix this security flaw next time. Although Fury wasn't here to kill him, this incident served as a wake-up call.

Obadiah had been able to get close to him easily, and now Nick Fury had done the same!

He wasn't wrong—he couldn't rely entirely on JARVIS.

In this short period, JARVIS had already made two critical errors in his eyes.

"It seems you're not here to kill me?" Tony said, trying to keep his voice steady.

As he spoke, he walked over to the champagne bottles, poured a glass, and handed it to Nick Fury.

"You're quite bold, just like your father." Nick Fury accepted the champagne bottle and spoke with a hint of admiration.

"Are you an old friend of my dad's? Even if you are, you didn't have to meet me this way," Tony sipped his champagne, trying to calm himself down.

"An old friend? Kind of. We knew each other," Nick Fury replied.

He had known Howard Stark, though when Howard died, Fury was only a mid-level agent in S.H.I.E.L.D., not yet its director. At that time, Howard Stark was already a senior figure in S.H.I.E.L.D., holding a significantly higher position.

"I've been watching your actions lately. You handled things well. If you hadn't dealt with Obadiah, we would have," Nick Fury said.

"You would've handled Obadiah? Who are you? Which agency do you represent? FBI? CIA? Or what?" Tony asked, curiosity and suspicion in his voice.

Nick Fury shrugged and replied, "I have credentials for all those agencies, but I belong to none. Here's my card."

He took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Tony.

"Director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, Nick Fury? What a long and weird name," Tony read the agency's name aloud. "Are you some kind of cult?"

He had never heard of it.

"You can call it S.H.I.E.L.D.," Nick Fury nodded. "That's the organization's shorthand. Rest assured, we're a legitimate agency, authorized by the United Nations' five permanent members. I could show you copies of the authorization documents if needed. Normally, you're not high enough clearance, but we can make an exception."

Nick Fury's expression then turned serious.

"Alright, back to the main point. Iron Man, do you think you're the only superhero in the world?" Nick Fury asked, looking at Tony with a penetrating gaze.

Hearing this, Tony suddenly looked up and stared intently at Nick Fury. He hadn't announced his Iron Man alias to the world yet. Although he had completed the Mark armor, he hadn't shown it publicly. The world knew nothing about Iron Man. How did this man know?

Then he saw Nick Fury pull out a "diary" from his coat pocket.

Tony's face darkened instantly when he saw that familiar diary. This was his most confidential item, a secret even Pepper didn't know about. Now this one-eyed man had it.

"How did you get that?" Tony demanded, his voice low and stern.

"As I said, there are gaps in your security. This diary just appeared in front of me, and I had to investigate. It's quite fascinating," Nick Fury replied calmly, flipping through the pages.

Tony's mind raced. If Fury had access to his diary, he might have access to all of Tony's plans and thoughts about the future. This was a breach of his most personal and professional life.

"Stealing isn't a good habit," Tony stared intently at Nick Fury.

"Stealing? This isn't yours," Nick Fury replied. "That one over there is yours."

Nick Fury pointed to a diary on the table. "Such an important thing, you can't put it away."

 Tony looked over and saw his diary there, which made him sigh in relief. But he was still puzzled about how Nick Fury had another one. If there were multiple copies, his secrets could be exposed to many people.

Tony tried to calm himself and said, "I didn't expect someone could break into my house and go zero-dollar shopping."

The term "zero-dollar shopping" was something he picked up from Marcus's diary. It was a kind of sarcasm, very sharp and poignant. He couldn't believe the US could become like that in the future. It wasn't entirely absent now, but not to the extent of legalizing theft.

"I didn't take your stuff," Nick Fury said. "To be honest, when this diary appeared in front of me, I was also surprised and stunned. I believe you felt the same way."

"No, I adapted quickly. After all, according to Marcus, I'm the main character," Tony smirked. "I'm not particularly inclined to welcome someone who broke into my house, so if you could, please tell me your real purpose. Why are you here?"

Now Tony wanted one thing: What's was Nick Fury's purpose since both of them possessed Marcus's copy diary?

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300 PS = 5 Bonus Chapters