Tony took Luke back on his private jet. Of course, he hadn't invited Luke; Luke had secretly hidden aboard his plane.
The flight attendant, who moonlighted as a dancer, prepared Tony's in-flight meal in the kitchen, making a few extra portions to send to the captain as well.
After taking a meal to Tony, the flight attendant turned and returned to the kitchen.
"Why am I one short? Did I make too few?" The flight attendant was a little puzzled, but she didn't dwell on it and decided to make another.
A shadow slipped quietly past her legs and made a few circuits of the sizable cabin. Sure enough, Tony didn't skimp on his own material comforts.
A big-screen TV, a luxury sound system, a retractable dance pole, and a pretty young flight attendant.
Luke looked around but didn't see Tony. He ventured farther inside and found Tony chatting with the female reporter he'd brought along, though it was the sort of chatting that involved holding each other.
Not wanting to get an eyeful, Luke returned to the cabin and took a nap. His handheld console was out of power anyway, leaving him with nothing to play.
They flew back to California, where Tony's mansion, Freedom City, was located.
10880 Malibu Port, ZIP code 90265.
Happy drove Tony and the reporter back to the mansion. Tony took her inside, ready for an interview in the villa.
"Happy, remember to bring in the luggage."
Happy gave him a thumbs-up and started unloading the luggage. As he opened the trunk, a shadow slipped out.
"Huh?" Happy seemed to have spotted something, but it was too dark for him to make anything out.
Luke looked at the mansion before him.
This mansion had certainly drawn plenty of attention in Iron Man.
An incredible design, all sorts of high-tech equipment, and a little base where you could do whatever you liked-it practically ticked every man's boxes.
Luke slipped inside the mansion. Tony was probably off with the reporter, rehearsing the lines he practiced in front of the mirror every day, so Luke looked around the other areas.
Since the villa had an AI butler like JARVIS, Luke didn't dare let his guard down and stayed in the shadows the entire time.
After a tour of the villa, Luke truly felt that it ticked all his boxes.
It would have been even better if that piano were replaced with a gaming console.
But this villa would be blown to pieces by three helicopters during Iron Man 3. Luke shook his head regretfully.
With the map unlocked and no interest in watching Tony battle the reporter, Luke went outside, drew a portal straight back to his little home in New York, set an alarm for four the next morning, and got ready for bed after watching the ads.
The Shadow Ninjas lost their ability to turn into shadows once they moved beyond a certain distance from him, even if he kept a portal open. That meant he couldn't leave any ninjas there to watch Tony. JARVIS was no pushover.
That range was currently twenty meters. It had started at five meters, so it was now four times as large.
Planning to head over early tomorrow, Luke replenished his Shadow Ninjas to three hundred, kept some energy for himself, and went straight to sleep.
Woken by the alarm the next day, Luke simply drew a circle to Tony's plane and waited inside, staying in a corner.
Rhodey arrived around ten to wait, but there was no telling how much longer Tony would take.
Luke watched Rhodey stand there for four hours like a wife waiting eternally for her husband, even eating lunch during the wait.
Luke shook his head. Tony, you've really squandered far too much of Rhodey's tenderness.
At two in the afternoon, Tony finally arrived at the airport.
After chatting with Rhodey for a bit, Tony led him onto the plane.
Watching Tony derail Rhodey with just a few words and get him into an impromptu rap, Luke wondered if this was that natural Black talent. He was clearly just talking over the music, yet Luke somehow felt like Rhodey was rapping.
The plane didn't reach the chaotic country until the following day. Tony partied all night, then got himself neatly dressed and stepped out of the cabin the next day.
To avoid losing track of Tony later, Luke followed them the whole way, watching Tony finish his business and climb into his happy little Humvee.
With just a few words in the vehicle, Tony hit it off with the soldiers and chatted happily with them.
Even Luke had to admit that Tony was easy to get along with when he wasn't being snarky, and his emotional intelligence was high too. But the score between him and Tony still stood at one to one. Until they settled who would win, there was no chance of them talking like this.
Just as Tony was posing for a photo with a soldier, a missile came flying in and blasted the vehicle ahead to pieces.
"Contact left!" the female driver shouted. She unbuckled her seat belt and charged out of the Humvee with her gun, only to be immediately gunned down.
Hiding in a corner, Luke shook his head, a little speechless. Contact on the left, and you still jump out of the driver's side? Who else would die if not you?
Seeing this, the soldier in the front passenger seat told the soldier beside Tony to protect him, then racked his gun and ran out.
He managed two steps before a sniper brought him down. The bullet passed through his body, shattered the glass, and flew into the vehicle.
Tony cried out in pain as he felt the bullet hit him, but his body armor protected him well.
Seeing two comrades go down, the young soldier beside him got carried away in the heat of the moment. He swore, opened the door, and jumped out-a textbook case of charging in one at a time to get picked off, without even throwing a smoke grenade.
"Wait, give me a gun!" Tony yelled at him, but the soldier turned back and shouted, "Stay inside!" He took two steps away before a grenade blasted him off his feet.
Steel pellets punched through the Humvee's body, letting light into its dark interior.
Lucky enough not to have been hit, Tony recovered his senses, looked at the holes in the vehicle, and scrambled out in panic.
He ran behind a rock on the chaotic battlefield and took out his satellite phone to call Rhodey for help, but the next second, a missile landed beside him.
Tony's heart jolted at the words "Stark Industries" on it, and he stood up, trying to get away.
But the next second, the missile exploded, blasting Tony through the air.
From his corner, Luke watched a group of terrorists carry the unconscious Tony away and silently followed them.
This journey would leave the world with one fewer arms dealer and one more superhero.
Before you continue