Tony Stark's private laboratory.
Wiping away sweat nervously, Happy and Pepper watched the government agents bustle about.
As the others failed to get any results, the two couldn't help but feel worried.
Nearby, Black Widow Natasha had changed back into her combat gear. She stared at the footage JARVIS had brought up, her expression grave.
In the footage, Tony opened a video file and watched it over and over.
He seemed to be analyzing something as he watched.
The first ten minutes were perfectly normal. But when the timestamp reached 11:07, it was as if a frame had suddenly been plucked from the surveillance footage. Mr. Stark abruptly vanished from view, and no one knew where he had gone.
No one knew what had happened, much less how he had disappeared.
Even after racking their brains and reviewing the footage again and again, they couldn't find any trace of how he had vanished.
"Paranormal activity?!"
[Emotional value from Natasha Romanoff +333]
The only thing worth being glad about was that none of the earlier footage showing the hanged victims had appeared on the computer screen left at the scene.
"Happy, can we find Tony? Could something have happened to him?"
Clapping a hand over her mouth, eyes red, Pepper looked so scared she was about to burst into tears.
"It'll be all right. Tony's always been lucky. He'll pull through this, too!"
Patting Pepper on the shoulder, Happy Hogan spoke with conviction. He believed a genius like Tony wouldn't die so easily.
"So there's got to be a way!"
[Emotional value from Pepper Potts +303]
[Emotional value from Happy Hogan +300]
Hearing them, Natasha tilted her head. She felt she ought to say something.
She turned around, about to offer them a few words of comfort, when Coulson hurried in with a disheveled-looking man.
"Who's this?"
She gestured with her eyes.
"John Constantine. He claims to be a master of magic. His nickname is the Hellblazer."
Coulson seemed unsure how to explain, so he could only repeat what the man had told him.
Seeing that Natasha wasn't convinced, Coulson gave a rueful smile.
"He says he can help us find the missing Tony."
Him?
It wasn't that Natasha didn't trust him.
It was just that this man called Constantine looked more like a charlatan, a con artist, than any kind of detective!
"Coulson, are you sure he can do it?"
Forgive her for being less than tactful, but deep down, that was exactly what Natasha thought.
"Heh."
John Constantine chuckled softly and calmly tapped the ash from his cigarette.
Blowing out a puff of smoke, he pointed at the busy agents and drawled,
"You could search like this for a hundred years and you still wouldn't find Tony Stark!"
"Oh? So you're saying you can find him?"
Whatever she thought, Natasha's instincts as an agent made her probe him.
"Of course."
Constantine rummaged in his trench coat pocket and, to everyone's astonishment, pulled out a compass.
No one knew what he did, but the compass needle began spinning rapidly before settling on a single direction.
"What's that?"
Pepper and Happy came over as well.
Like Coulson and Natasha, they were completely baffled. They couldn't make heads or tails of what he was doing.
"Found him."
Constantine looked at the compass, utterly confident.
[Emotional value from Pepper Potts +288]
[Emotional value from Happy Hogan +299]
[Emotional value from Phil Coulson +307]
[Emotional value from Natasha Romanoff +311]
Huh? He'd found him just like that? How?
All thanks to that thing? That wasn't scientific!
They exchanged bewildered looks. If Pepper hadn't looked so distraught, Happy would've sworn on his life that he'd use his little fists to chuck the con man in front of him out the door.
ヽ(#`Д)┌┛〃 You expect me to believe that? You're insulting my intelligence!!
"Um, Mr. Constantine..."
Coulson's eye twitched. He was starting to doubt his own judgment.
Maybe bringing Constantine here had been a mistake!
Knowing they didn't believe him, Constantine turned in the direction the needle pointed and headed for the door.
"Believe it or not, that's up to you. It may not be scientific, but it's magic."
Though doubtful and with no other way to look for Tony, they had no choice but to follow him.
Following Constantine, they took a few turns and soon arrived at an underground storage room.
Happy shot Constantine a glare, pulled out his employee badge, and swiped it to open the door.
The door swung open, the lights came on, and they filed inside.
The room was plain to see. Aside from some boxes and odds and ends stacked in a corner, there were only a few lonely rows of computers on the desks.
Tony wasn't here!
"Ha! I knew it. You're a fraud!"
Happy rolled up his sleeves, his anger rising as he prepared to throw a punch.
Pepper, Natasha, and Coulson all looked disappointed as well.
Only Constantine remained unruffled. He walked over to a computer desk in the far-right row and lightly tapped a spot on the keyboard with one finger.
Tap.
"..."
Happy froze in place. He watched the computer screen light up again, with Tony's image appearing on it, frantically shouting toward them.
[Emotional value from Pepper Potts +399]
[Emotional value from Happy Hogan +371]
[Emotional value from Phil Coulson +357]
[Emotional value from Natasha Romanoff +366]
"Stark..."
The moment Pepper Potts saw Tony, she hurried over.
"Tony, can you see me? Can you hear me?"
She carefully slapped both hands against the computer screen, but no matter how loudly she called out, her voice couldn't reach him.
Unbelievable. They'd actually found Tony Stark!
The joy on Coulson's face had barely begun to fade when a rope dropped down and looped around Tony Stark's neck.
Tony struggled with all his might, yanking at the rope with both hands, his face turning red as his legs kicked wildly.
But it was no use!
As the rope kept pulling him upward, Tony's body rose along with it, unwillingly. His feet were about to leave the ground, his eyes rolled back, and he was about to be hanged right before their eyes.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Pepper and Happy shouted as they pounded on the computer, despair in their eyes.
"Move!"
His roguish smile gone, Constantine swept his coat aside and strode forward.
He chanted an incomprehensible incantation and raised his left hand. The ember on his cigarette traced a magic circle in the air at high speed.
The instant he pushed past Pepper and Happy and pressed his hand against the computer screen—
Whoosh!
He vanished before their very eyes.
A glint flashed in Natasha's eyes as she rushed forward and reached out.
But nothing happened to her arm. It was stopped by the cold television screen.
Coulson's gaze shifted, fixing firmly on the computer screen.
There, beside Tony, Constantine's figure was slowly taking shape.
[Emotional value from Phil Coulson +378]
[Emotional value from Natasha Romanoff +407]
[Emotional value from Happy Hogan +399]
[Emotional value from Pepper Potts +425]
[Emotional value from Tony Stark +511]
Before you continue