Tony's return

After a long journey, Tony finally returned to the Big Apple.

The transport plane's cargo door slowly opened. Pepper and Happy were waiting anxiously outside.

"Uh, thanks, guys. Or should I be thanking your master?" Tony rambled as he waved to Pepper, completely ignoring Happy beside her.

The two Shadow Ninjas walked straight down, carrying Tony outside in his hammock.

"Hey, Luke, could you let me down?" Tony called to Luke, unable to get any leverage in the hammock.

"Oh." Luke had already gotten out of his hammock and was standing nearby.

A Shadow Ninja appeared and lifted Tony out.

"Thanks, buddy. Say, are you the one from last time? Why the bridal carry?"

Tony patted the Shadow Ninja as he was carried over to Pepper.

"Seriously, Luke, could you have him put me down?"

Looking embarrassed, Tony called to Luke.

Luke had the ninja put Tony down, letting him stand in front of Pepper.

After easing the mood a little, Tony looked at Pepper.

"Your eyes are red. Been crying over your long-missing boss?"

"They're tears of joy. I hate job hunting."

"Then your vacation's over."

Tony and Pepper got into the car. Happy was already in the driver's seat, while Luke appeared in the passenger seat.

"Mind if I hitch a ride?"

"Yes." "Of course not."

Tony and Pepper spoke at the same time.

"Hey, Tony, don't be like that. He saved you."

"Uh, actually, I could have escaped on my own. Of course, I might have had to walk a while before a plane came to rescue me."

"Don't mind him, Luke. That's just how Tony is."

"Mm, fine. You know me best."

"You're welcome."

Watching the inexplicable atmosphere spring up between the two in the back seat, Luke glanced at Happy.

"Are they always like this?"

"Usually."

"All right, let's put all this behind us. Potts, there's just one thing I want to do right now. Of course, two cheeseburgers would make it even better. One just isn't enough."

"Tony, you just escaped. You need to go to the hospital first."

"No, I've been held captive for three months. I've been thinking about..."

"Absolutely not, Tony. You just escaped!"

Pepper turned her head away in disappointment.

"I think he wants you to arrange a press conference for him. He kept talking about it on the plane," Luke said, looking back.

Pepper looked at Tony skeptically.

"Exactly. That's what I meant, not whatever you're thinking."

Potts shook her head, feeling that the change in Tony really was...

Well, she made one call after another, having people prepare a press conference at Stark Industries and get Tony two cheeseburgers while they were at it.

Happy started the car at just the right moment and drove toward Stark Industries.

"By the way, Tony, would that prosthetic of yours disappear in that explosion?"

Luke remembered something, wondering whether Iron Monger would still appear.

"I don't know, but it should be completely destroyed. Why?" Tony thought it over. The materials used in that armor were fairly poor, so it should have melted in the aftermath of the explosion, unless the explosion had only lasted an instant.

"That's good, then," Luke said casually.

Tony had already completed his transformation. He only needed a catalyst to fully embark on the path of a superhero, so it didn't matter whether Iron Monger existed.

The car continued on and soon arrived at Stark Industries.

Pepper opened the door first, with Tony following behind her. A crowd stood at the entrance to Stark Industries, all senior executives. Even Obadiah was there.

Looking at the welcoming crowd, Luke wickedly thought that if a bomb went off here, Stark Industries, which hadn't fallen into chaos even when Tony went missing, really would descend into complete chaos.

But it was only a thought. Luke had no intention of acting on it.

Looking at the delighted Obadiah, Luke considered how to let Tony know he was the culprit. Without Iron Monger, enough evidence would be all it took to send Obadiah to prison to pick up the soap.

Tony took the two cheeseburgers and tossed one to Luke.

Luke caught the flying burger.

"All right, we're even," Tony said with a smile.

Luke unwrapped it and took a bite of this million-dollar burger.

"Not bad."

"Of course. It's from my favorite place."

After exchanging a few words with Luke, Tony turned and headed into Stark Industries.

Their exchange also drew Obadiah's attention to Luke. His sources were better than Potts's, and he knew this was the culprit who had ruined his wonderful plan.

But Obadiah showed none of it, smiling as he spoke to Luke.

"Thank you, Mr. Luke. You have no idea how worried I was about Stark. He's my best friend's son!"

"No problem, sir. It was my duty," Luke said.

With no desire to continue the conversation, Luke walked past Obadiah and into Stark Industries.

The first thing he saw was the enormous particle accelerator. It supplied Stark Industries with clean energy, but its construction cost was extremely high. People within Stark Industries had deemed it commercially unviable.

But things were different now. Tony had successfully improved it in that cave, making it not only smaller and cheaper, but also more powerful.

After looking at what would become Stark Industries' flagship product, Luke went to the press conference.

Coulson appeared beside him. "You found him."

Luke nodded. "Yes. That little mountain area was pretty hard to find. I spent ages looking."

"Your phone signal stayed in the Big Apple, then suddenly appeared over there, and then you found Tony right away." Coulson paused. "The director is waiting for your report."

"All right. Looks like it's time to formally meet that Egghead," Luke said helplessly.

Coulson nodded and headed toward Potts, presumably to discuss something. Meanwhile, after reminiscing about his father for a while, Tony announced in front of the assembled reporters that he was shutting down Stark Industries' weapons division.

The reporters instantly erupted, all pushing forward. Sensing something was wrong, Obadiah hurried up to pull Tony away, trying to get the situation under control.

Ignoring Coulson, who had just started talking to her, Potts went to Tony and led him away from the turmoil.

"Well, looks like I'll have to wait a while before I can talk to them." Coulson came over to Luke.

Luke looked at the photos on his camera and nodded in satisfaction.

"Looks like you'll be waiting alone. I'm heading out." Luke waved to Coulson, then found a restroom, drew a portal, and went straight back to his little dump.

The five Shadow Ninjas were still leisurely playing games. Luke checked their ranking. They were already first on the entire server.

"This feels like an idle game," Luke said, then uploaded the photos he had just taken to his blog.

The previously quiet blog instantly exploded with activity. The news hadn't reported it yet, so the public still didn't know Tony Stark had returned.

That's the kind of traffic Tony brings. Luke nodded, then drew a circle and arrived a short distance from the Triskelion.

As he walked toward the Triskelion, Luke thought about how to deal with that two-faced Fury.

S.H.I.E.L.D. detected Luke and soon sent an agent in a car to pick him up.