Tony Stark's Disappearance

"Hey, Saitama, Tony Stark has disappeared." Skye hurried over to him, looking excited.

"Oh!" Saitama replied calmly.

"Uh, why are you reacting like that? I mean, Tony Stark was attacked and has disappeared."

"Huh? What does his disappearance have to do with me? How am I supposed to react?" Saitama blinked.

"Well, our first bit of capital came from trading Tony Stark's business card. So it does have something to do with us, at least a little."

"Wait, wait, wait. You mean that Tony Stark?" Saitama's eyes widened.

"That's right, it really was him. He's so unlucky—he was attacked and then disappeared. I wonder who captured him. I guess it was probably some kind of terrorist group. I wonder if they'll extort Stark Industries and demand a huge ransom. I mean, this is Tony Stark we're talking about. His business card alone was worth that much. A living person would be worth even more." Skye couldn't help sighing.

"Worth a lot?" Saitama blinked.

"Of course. He owns Stark Industries. I wouldn't call him the richest man in the world, but he's definitely one of the wealthiest people on the planet. I wonder if he'll make it out alive. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"One of the wealthiest people?" Saitama's eyes grew wider and wider.

"That's right. But it doesn't have much to do with us. We're just a bunch of poor people."

"Hey, hey, hey, if we rescued Tony Stark, do you think we'd get a lot of money?" Saitama's eyes lit up. When it came to money, he could be pretty fixated.

"Well, if we managed to rescue Tony Stark, I think we could ask him for a hundred million dollars and he probably wouldn't even blink. Saitama, are you thinking of going to save him?" Skye suddenly froze, then immediately turned to look at Saitama, whose eyes were shining.

"Isn't saving people just a normal thing for a hero to do?" Saitama answered earnestly.

"...That's true. But lots and lots of people want to save Tony Stark because he's worth so much. Saving someone isn't that easy, though. Tony Stark disappeared in the Middle East, and the Middle East is huge and barren, with terrorists everywhere. Finding him would be harder than reaching the sky." Skye shook her head. She didn't think searching for Tony Stark would be easy at all. In her view, an ordinary person wouldn't just fail to find him—they'd probably end up needing to be rescued themselves.

"Well, maybe it won't be that hard." Saitama thought for a moment, then shook his head as he spoke.

"Not that hard? You—uh, okay. Do you have any other special abilities?" Skye had been about to object, but then she remembered how extraordinary Saitama was and perked up. Maybe he had some other skill she didn't know about. If he had some unusual ability to find people, perhaps he really could locate Tony Stark.

"Any other special abilities?" Saitama furrowed his brow and thought hard. After a moment, he shook his head. "No."

Skye couldn't help rolling her eyes. "If you don't, then forget it. I admit you're strong, but things over there are completely different."

"Different?" Saitama looked confused.

"Of course. Very different. You can go around fighting crime here in New York, and you even got mixed up with Kingpin. Fine, it seems like you and the others scared him off. But things in the Middle East are completely different. It's chaotic there. You could walk around for a whole day and night without seeing a single person. And if you don't have enough food, you might starve to death. The terrorists there are especially dangerous, too. They don't just use guns that aren't all that powerful, like the people in New York. They even fire missiles. Apparently, the convoy escorting Tony Stark was hit by a missile." Skye described it vividly.

"Terrorists? Missiles? Sounds pretty powerful," Saitama asked woodenly.

"Of course they're powerful. So just stay here in New York." Skye shook her head.

"No, I'm going to the Middle East." Saitama's eyes shone as he spoke.

"Hey, hey, rescuing Tony Stark might earn you a whole lot of money, but you can't risk your life just for that!" Skye hurriedly tried to dissuade him.

"No, I want to go to the Middle East because there are some really powerful terrorists there. I wonder if I'll get to have a proper fight if I run into them." Saitama clenched his fist, his face alight with anticipation and excitement.

"..." Skye stared at Saitama, speechless. She thought there was something wrong with his head. Who wanted to have a proper fight with terrorists? Saitama really must have snuck out of a mental hospital.

"Hey, Skye. Where is the Middle East? How far is it from here?" Saitama ignored what she thought and eagerly asked her.

"You really want to go to the Middle East?" Skye asked, caught between laughter and tears.

"Of course. It's been ages since I've had a proper fight. Every time I run into a monster, it only takes one punch. And since coming to New York, I haven't even met any particularly strong monsters. It's just so boring." Saitama earnestly described his misery.

"Heh." Skye gave a dry laugh and rolled her eyes, not taking him seriously at all.

Maybe Saitama was strong. He and Daredevil had even managed to make Kingpin back down. But Kingpin and terrorists were completely different things.

In Skye's view, Kingpin was just the boss of a criminal underworld. He was merely a gang leader, and nowhere near the same level as terrorists. Well, that was what a lot of people thought. In reality, if this weren't the Marvel Universe, that idea wouldn't be wrong at all.

"Skye, tell me where the Middle East is. I'll be back soon, really soon." Saitama pleaded with her.

"Fine. If you want to know where the Middle East is, that's easy. I'll find you a map." Skye didn't believe for a second that Saitama could make it to the Middle East. He'd need a passport, a plane ticket, and so on. It would be quite a hassle. Given the way Saitama acted, and how little money he had, there was no way he could get there.

Skye found a map and pointed things out. "This is the United States, and this is New York, the city we're in now. As for the Middle East, well, Tony Stark disappeared somewhere around here. So if you want to rescue him, first you need to leave New York, leave the United States, cross the Atlantic Ocean, and then head over here."

"Hmm, it doesn't seem very close." Saitama rubbed his chin and measured the distance on the map. He'd run all over New York, so he knew the city's geography pretty well. He compared New York's size on the map, then gauged the distance from New York to the Middle East.

Watching Saitama take it so seriously, Skye couldn't help rolling her eyes.