In the middle of the night, Tony came home to find the place completely dark.
He instinctively called out to JARVIS.
"Welcome home, sir."
The familiar response put him a little more at ease, but the dark figure standing by the window put him on guard again. The figure was dark, especially dark, extremely dark.
"'I am Iron Man.' Do you think you're the only superhero in the world? You've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."
"Who are you?" Tony ignored the man's mysterious act and asked him outright who he was.
Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Tony looked at the man before him, who claimed to be the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. He had shown up at Tony's house for no apparent reason and was provoking him, and Tony felt a surge of irritation.
"Looks like I need to upgrade my home security. Otherwise, anyone can just waltz right in."
Nick Fury paid no attention to Tony's hostility and instead invited him to join his Avengers Initiative.
In the dark living room, Tony Stark stood at the edge of the soft light that had just come on, facing the dark figure by the window. In the faint light coming through the window, Nick Fury's single eye reflected an unquestionable sharpness.
"The Avengers?" Tony raised an eyebrow, his tone a mixture of suspicion and his trademark irreverence. "Sounds like a comic-book subscription club, or worse, a government-sponsored super-boy band. Director Fury, I'm not much of a team player."
Nick Fury took a few steps forward, emerging fully from the shadows. He was dressed in black leather, his expression as solemn as if it had been carved into granite.
"This isn't an invitation to a picnic, Stark. The threats facing the world are escalating, and the age of going it alone is coming to an end." He paused, his single eye fixed on Tony. "We need a core, a 'brain' that can bring us together technologically and tactically.
"We've studied you, Tony. Not just the Iron Man Armor, but the man inside it."
Tony didn't answer immediately. He walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink, the amber liquid swaying in the glass. Fury's words struck something deep inside him that he himself was unwilling to fully acknowledge: a vague awareness of a greater responsibility that had been growing ever since he returned from the cave, ever since he declared, "I am Iron Man."
"So you broke into my house in the middle of the night just to tell me I'm not that special after all? That I'm just a piece of some bigger puzzle?"
Tony took a sip of his drink and turned to face Fury. "That doesn't sound like a very appealing recruitment pitch."
"What I'm telling you is that you're more important than you imagine," Fury said, his voice low and penetrating. "But being important also means a bigger objective and a bigger target on your back. The universe is crowded, Mr. Stark, and it isn't friendly. There are some things one man in one suit of armor can't withstand."
Silence filled the air, broken only by the faint clink of ice in Tony's glass. He looked out at his brilliantly lit city and thought of the upcoming expo, the reactor in his chest, and the boundless, dark expanse of space that occasionally appeared in his nightmares.
"The proposal."
Tony finally spoke, his tone less hostile now, though still cautious. "Details, members, authority, who calls the shots-and most importantly, where does the budget come from? I don't want to pay out of my own pocket for uniforms for a bunch of super friends with unknown backgrounds."
An almost imperceptible curve touched the corner of Fury's mouth. "S.H.I.E.L.D. will provide all necessary support. As for the details..." He produced a secure document pouch bearing an eagle emblem from somewhere and placed it gently on Tony's polished table.
"It's all in here. Take your time reading it. You have plenty of time to consider it, but the world might not give you that much."
With that, Fury turned and walked toward the door. Before disappearing into the night, he looked back and left Tony with one last sentence: "Take a good look at that file, Stark. Then tell me whether you still think you can guard this door alone."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he vanished, as silently as he had arrived.
Tony stood where he was, his fingers rubbing against his glass. He glanced at the inconspicuous document pouch on the table, then at the spot outside the window where Fury had disappeared. Silence once again settled over the mansion, but the air was different now.
JARVIS's gentle voice sounded again. "Sir, would you like me to strengthen the security protocols to prevent similar intrusions?"
Tony was silent for a few seconds, his gaze falling on the file.
"Not for now, JARVIS." He walked toward the document, his tone complicated. "Get me some strong coffee first. Looks like I'll be working overtime tonight."
Rimuru knew nothing of this, nor could he have imagined that one of his actions had changed the plans for that night.
Nick Fury had originally intended to go see Rimuru as well, but Coulson's report had revealed Rimuru's new ability: a powerful ultrasonic wave that could penetrate thick armor and attack the pilot inside directly. This made Nick Fury raise his assessment of the danger Rimuru posed once again.
On the night Iron Man fought Iron Monger, Coulson had briefly come into contact with Rimuru. Rimuru had shown them no hostility or malice, but they could clearly sense that he was avoiding them. That was what puzzled them: he must have had his own reasons for behaving that way, and without knowing what he was avoiding, S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't dare approach him rashly.
While Nick Fury was scratching his head over Rimuru's file, Rimuru had troubles of his own. The manor's intelligent butler was currently JARVIS, but he couldn't rely on Tony for everything. As an independent, self-reliant person, he had to find a way to get an artificial intelligence of his own. But with current technology, no one besides Tony could create anything on JARVIS's level.
Damn it, I can't just rely on Great Sage to write one modeled after JARVIS, can I? How long would that take?
System: "If this world doesn't have one, you can go to another world. Why hang yourself from a single tree?"
What do you mean, go to another world? How?
System: "I can do it. I can take you through the barriers between worlds, into the worlds of other movies and TV shows."
Holy crap, why didn't you say so earlier? You had an ability like that and kept it hidden? Then can you send me back to my original world?
System: "No, I can't do that."
Why? Give me a perfect explanation.
System: "Going from your world to the Marvel Universe wasn't a simple matter of traveling between universes. It's like computer software: a new version can open files from an old version, but an old version can't open files from a new one. The Marvel Universe and your world are on different dimensional levels."
So?
System: "I can only go down, not up."
System, you ##¥, I ##¥·#...*
So what you're saying now is that you can send me to the world of any movie or TV show?
System: "In theory, yes. But worlds differ from one another, so after I send you over, there may be some subtle changes. Overall, it's not much of a problem right now."
All right, then. Let's go get an artificial intelligence. Skynet, Red Queen-they're all ready-made.
Come on, system, show me what you've got.
System: "Where to?"
Whatever. Any one of them will do.