Inside the office, Potts found herself unconsciously edging away from Natasha.
She couldn't help it—"Red Room," "killing scientists," "stealing technology"—looking at Natasha's face, she realised this woman had been trained to get close to people like Tony. With her beauty, it would be easy for her to get near him… and kill him.
Natasha noticed the movement. Her jaw tightened.
"I work for S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said finally, her tone controlled but quieter than usual. "The Red Room… is my past. I'm here because I make sure people like him—" she flicked her eyes at Luthar "—don't get too close to you."
Luthar tilted his head, his mechadendrites curling lazily in the air like metal serpents.
"Protect her from me?" he asked, voice calm and oddly amused. "If I wanted her dead, you wouldn't be able to do anything."
Natasha forced herself to stay calm, though her pulse betrayed her.
"…If you know that much," she said carefully, "then tell me—where is the Red Room?"
Luthar's augmented eye glimmered faintly.
"Instead of telling you," he said, his voice humming like a servo, "I can take you to the Red Room. Once I return from my trip, I still need to pick them up."
Natasha's hand twitched, but she forced herself to stay still.
Before anyone could respond, the glass trembled with a faint vibration. A distant whine grew louder—then the windows lit up in a gold-red reflection.
Iron Man landed on the balcony with a heavy thud, repulsors whining as he straightened up.
The faceplate retracted, revealing Tony Stark's grim expression.
"Well," Tony said, glancing at the room, "looks like someone came without an invitation." His eyes narrowed at Luthar. "I need to tell you—you have to leave this place."
Luthar turned his head slowly, almost dismissively.
"Then give me what I need," he said. "I do not enjoy wasting my time in small places ."
Tony took a slow step forward, his armour plates clicking into a defensive posture.
"See, here's the thing," he said, voice dripping with forced casualness. "I don't negotiate with terrorists—even if they're from space. If you want to play a scary space priest? Do it somewhere else."
Luthar didn't flinch. His mechanical eye fixed on Tony with the weight of a predator sizing up prey. "I am not here to negotiate. I am here to collect what is owed. If you cannot deliver what I want, I don't mind doing it manually."
Natasha's eyes flicked between them, her stance loose but ready. She had faced gods, killers, and monsters—but Luthar was different. He didn't posture. He didn't bluff. He simply existed in the room, and it felt like standing at the edge of an engine's exhaust port—one wrong move, and everything would burn.
Pepper swallowed, her knuckles white against the desk. "Tony…" she whispered, almost inaudible.
For a long moment, only the faint whir of repulsors and augmetics filled the air. Then Luthar's mechadendrites retracted slightly, as if the predator had grown momentarily bored.
"Very well," he said finally, turning toward the balcony. His voice was cold and clinical. "By the time I come back from my trip, if I do not see my materials, I will not mind making your little company go bankrupt."
Without another word, Luthar stepped onto the balcony.
The Drop-Wing Skimmer decloaked in a shimmer of silver and shadow. Luthar stepped aboard, the vehicle lifting smoothly into the night sky. Within seconds, it was gone, leaving only the quiet hum of New York traffic below and a room that suddenly felt far too small.
Tony let out a slow breath, his face hard.
"…I hate that guy," he muttered.
Natasha's gaze lingered on the night sky where the Skimmer had disappeared.
"…You should," she said quietly. "But now we have a bigger problem. Giving him what he wants is dangerous… and not giving him is also dangerous."
She pulled out her phone and called Fury to inform him of the situation.
For a moment, the only sound in the office was Natasha speaking in clipped tones and the faint whine of Tony's armour powering down.
Pepper slowly sank into her chair, her hands still trembling slightly.
Tony lifted his helmet off, tossing it onto a nearby table. His face was drawn tight.
"That," he said flatly, " a terrorist pretending to be a priest."
Pepper's voice trembled as she finally found her words.
"How did you even… get involved with him when you know he is a terrorist?"
Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"It started in Afghanistan. I attacked him first." He gave a humorless laugh. "That went about as well as you'd expect. He captured me, and the only reason I'm here is because I agreed to his terms—materials worth twenty billion. Paid in full. That was supposed to be the end of it."
Pepper stared at him.
"Twenty billion? I need to remind you that's not the amount you have in your bank."
"I didn't have any choice, so I agreed that time," Tony said defensively, gesturing with his hands. "But then he started kidnapping people. Civilians. That's when I stepped in again. I thought… if I could stop him, maybe we could end this before he does something terrible." Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novelꞁire.net
"You attacked him again," Pepper said quietly.
Tony hesitated. "…Yeah. And I lost. Again. Then we have—Harlem, the Abomination, where he shows off his transformed zombies.
If that wasn't bad enough, now he has a very big spaceship.If I'm not wrong, he may have also stolen the technology of Pym Particles, because I don't see any other reason for that ship to appear and disappear."
Natasha crossed her arms, her face unreadable. "Then it's time you stop thinking small and start working with S.H.I.E.L.D. We can't handle this alone."
Pepper's hands gripped the arms of her chair. "I just… I can't believe we're in this mess. He threatened to—" She broke off, shaking her head. "I don't even want to think about what he wants to do with the Red Room."
Natasha didn't answer. Her face was carved from stone.
Tony exhaled, walking to the window. Below, New York glittered peacefully, completely unaware that a predator had flown over its skies tonight. "If S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to step in, they better step in fast," he muttered. "Before he builds enough force to overthrow everyone."
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