The battle was intense, but thanks to the anti-magic barrier, Shinji was able to escape back to Earth with the assistance of Thor. Loki was being sent back to Asgard to face charges stemming from the incident.
Board meetings were boring, Shinji concluded four days later. It was getting time for the yearly stockholders meeting that was to take place at the end of the month. The venue this year for the meeting was to take place at the Staples Center. Thankfully, it was mid summer, so there was no sports activity to be seen around. Normally, these sort of meetings would take place in New York, but Shinji would rather stay at Tony's old Malibu getaway spot right off PCH.
At the stockholders meeting, James Rhodes would formally give over control of Stark Enterprises to Shinji as CEO, as a full vote at the board meeting was held up over legal issues that needed to be taken up at the shareholder meeting. Thankfully there has been no sign of the Iron Hunter since leaving Manhattan for Tokyo-3 to assume control of their Asian branch. As the Vice President of Asian Affairs, Shinji would be responsible for most of the cutting edge tech that went out of Japan, China and Hong Kong.
The telephone ringing would change everything. "No calls," Rhodes blared out to the phone.
"Ah, but this is no ordinary call," a man said. "Is the Vice President of Asian Affairs in the building," he asked as if he knew the answer already.
"I am," Shinji replied.
"I am called many things, but you can call me The Great Teacher Mandarin" the man revealed himself. "Lesson number one. Heroes, there are no such thing."
Suddenly the floor gave way as missiles attacked the floor below the meeting room. There was a college tour going on at the time of the attack. As the rubble settled, Shinji stood up on shaking feet. He looked around to see that the rest of the board is dead along with most of the students that were on the floor to begin with.
Taking unsure steps, Shinji made his way down to the research labs. He was, in particular looking for his private lab that he set up in LA underneath the massive power supply that powers the factory. The police were going to be after him, but he don't care. Right now, he had two missile trails to pursue.
As he crawled into the lab, he spotted what he was after. This particular set of armor was considered ancient to some, but right now he needed the defense. It was the Hulkbuster Mk. 1. It was slated to be scrapped for security reasons, but now he was glad that he put it off and upgraded it instead.
As the armor slipped around him, TONY came online and said, "you can barely stand. Are you sure that you can stand the stresses of the Hulkbuster?"
"I need to know where those missiles came from," Shinji countered, "If it means that I become dead for a few hours, so be it."
Soon, the armor was ready and Shinji took flight. He flew to where the missiles ended up and said to TONY, "Start spectral scanning."
"Spectral scanning in progress." A few minutes later TONY came back online and said, "we have a hit, plotting course now." Not being told twice, Shinji flew off, following the spectral trail that they produced.
Soon he reached the docks. He maintained enough altitude so that he wasn't spotted by the goons, and the stealth coating on the armor prevented radar from detecting him.
"Incoming call from Asuka on NERV's secure line."
Muttering a slight curse, he instructed TONY to patch it through. "Baka Shinji, where are you," Asuka asked, "We just heard that the Stark LA headquarters just collapsed." Of course the news would have hit Japan by now. Anything having to do with the supposed "savior of humanity" would make international news instantly.
"Asuka," Shinji replied, "I need you to calm down. I'm in LA right now. I was at a board of directors meeting finalizing details for the annual Stark Enterprises shareholder meeting at the end of month. Now I am clear of the building, do you understand?" A quick yes allowed Shinji to continue, "Now I need you to go to access whatever computer that you can get a hold of and look into someone named 'The Mandarin'. Use maintenance code 'Joker-four-one'. Do you understand that?"
A quick yes got her to disconnect the call. "TONY," Shinji prepared to give the AI some instructions, "Grant Asuka Soryu level 3 access to the Stark mainframe requiring the passcode Joker-four-one at all times. Block access to any Stark related secrets including anything armor related, and restrict access to the Armory in Tokyo-3."
"Very well."
"Also patch a call through to Kitty Pride at the Xavier Institute."
"Calling now sir."
After a few rings, Jean Grey picked up the other end. "Iron Man, why are you calling at this late hour? Kitty has school in the morning."
"I'm sorry, but did you read the news lately?"
"No."
"Stark was attacked a few minutes ago by someone who claimed himself to be 'The Mandarin', and you didn't hear about it?"
"No. The institute is on lockdown after that shootout at your ascention party."
"Good times," Shinji remembered.
A click was heard at the other end of the line as the connection was terminated. "Well, sir," TONY suggested, "shall we get a move on?"
"No. I need to make a press appearance. Did we get an invite to the Fireman's ball tonight?"
"I have no record of such an invitation."
"Time to go and crash a party," Shinji thought as he flew off to his Malibu safe house.
Author's Notes and Ramblings
Well another chapter is in the books. Sorry for crapping out on the Shinji Thor and Loki fight, but I felt that it gave no relevance to the overall plot of the story. I will probably write the fight later as a side story, but it won't see an appearance in this story in a flashback or otherwise.
Also, that will probably be the last that you will hear of the X-Men in the story as I am hoping to bring this story to a close soon with the conclusion of this arc. I am sorry to say that I have no drive to write this story, but I am determined to bring it to conclusion.
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