Chapter Twenty-One: Decision of A Lifetime
Okay so Panic found out that Ian only married her mom because he works for HYDRA and they wanted to use her brain to aid in their world domination strategy but now she's agreed to testify in court and has gotten Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, Harley Keener, Sam Wilson, and is trying to get Betty Ross to help her out as well. Plus, there's still one more person left... Guess and tell me who you think the last person is! Be sure to comment and follow this story.
Third Person POV:
The same man who sent the letter once again sits alone in pitch darkness watching young Panic Stark as she sits in the home of Bruce Banner's ex-girlfriend trying to get Betty to help her in stopping her stepfather. Since his child was good acquaintances with the young Stark he felt it was his duty to help her as much as he can at least until he puts his own plan in motion. That would come in all due time but for right now they have similar goals which is to stop the current threat of the Earth and obviously she didn't trust his note so instead he decided to retrieve the land purchase of the facility where Ian is holding the Avengers hostage.
Panic is a girl of smarts and facts so if she has more proof she's more inclined to believe what she see but he knew if she knew he was helping her she wouldn't trust him at all, not that he could truly blame her for thinking as such. He wasn't the most trustworthy person in the world. He saw her that day while he stood on the platform looking over the city.
Most people couldn't seem to be able to see the similarities between this alley cat and the billionaire Tony Stark but he could. In her eyes, the similarities was their eyes, she had his eyes and in them there was hope, defiance, and something else, something that he felt deep inside, something they both understood despite her young age he could feel her sadness, her misery, her living nightmares.
They were both screwed over and lied to more times then once and she understood just how cruel the word is and it made him wonder how a child as young as she could understand such a complex and incomprehensible truth unless she, herself had experienced such an event that made her thing and believe the way that she does and maybe that is why he feels somewhat connected to her.
Guessing her next move he sends all the purchase papers and evidence of Ian's location to Avengers Tower to where he was sure would be her next location after adding Banners ex-lover to the superhero squad she has going on. In the back reases of his mind he can feel child making a decision on what they need to do and though he might not like the idea of having his child help the heroes he'd rather his child do good then do bad, he didn't want his child to be bad like him.
The man let a truly wicked smile overtake his face then gave a loud laugh, ready for the games to begin.
Panic's POV:
We enter the room and when we do she closes the door behind us and leans back against the now locked door. Smiling at her with my usual charisma I say, "Stark, Panic Stark."
"Ah, like Tony Stark, the guy who owns that big building in New York City!" she says, stepping forward and sitting down on the couch beside Harley.
"The one and only. Now, I'm here because I need your help," I say, ignoring the was Harley is looking at Betty as if she's the hottest girl he's ever seen. He is a pre-teen boy after all, lets not forget that.
"What can I help you with?" she asks, tugging at her frilly blue skirt and avoiding eye contact with Harley who looks like he wants to touch her. Internally I sigh, rolling my eyes with disgust. I've never lusted after anyone, ever.
"The Avengers were kidnapped, you ex, Bruce Banner, he was taken as well."
Betty looks up at me, blue eyes going cold but I can see past the defensive anger, I can because I have my own defensive anger. "Bruce Banner and I broke up and besides the relationship wasn't that serious."
"You dated for five years and that's not serious."
She sights, defeated and lowers her gaze. "Alright fine, I loved him, still love him but he doesn't love me and even if he did, he's never stay with me because he's afraid I'll get hurt because of the Hulk."
"Maybe he'll change his mind and besides this is much bigger then just him, the whole world could be at stake, and I need as much help as I can get."
"I'll help okay, but I'm not going to be much help, I'm a cellular biologist."
Smiling I say, "I have an idea of what you can do, I'm still making the plan to stop this enemy but I've been busy fixing machines and recruiting allies to help me. I'll tell you what my idea is but first we'll need to get to Stark Towers, or I guess I should call it Avengers Tower now."
"What's your plan?" Harley eyes, finally tearing his eyes away from Betty.
"You'll see, now lets go, file out and get your asses in the car."
Betty gasps at my language and I just laugh. I've got a plan alright, one that is sure to work but I need to find out where Ian has taken them and what he's planning on doing with that machine and for all I know he may not even be using my machine.
Third Person POV (Different Location):
Ian sat behind his desk looking over all the theorems and mathematical equations for the machine. The original design was made by Panic herself but he took all the blueprints which she eventually burned and destroyed but luckily he'd scanned the blueprints and saved them on his personal H Drive on his computer so he could access the blueprints anywhere.
He had rebuilt the machine in a large rundown factory that used to be a steel mill but went out of bushiness in 2009 but before that was a house for someone he knew personally. No one knows where he is so that means Panic won't be able to stop him from successfully completing his plan assigned only recently by HYDRA. Tony Stark is convinced that his only child is dead and gone and his precious girlfriend knows the truth about Panic's childhood.
Pepper collapse on the bed and sobbed like he expected. She was weak but Panic was much more broken and he could tell from his last personal encounter, she was still afraid of him and he needed to use that to his advantage. A knock at the door draws Ian's attention and when he calls for the person to enter it's OS.
The man is bald with a gray beard and is dressed in a nice black suit. OS was once a 'friend' of Anthony Stark but all things change and since HYDRA killed Tony's father Howard Stark it only made sense that OS would be happy, until the day Tony turned twenty-one. He was killed in 2008 but recent events have brought him and a few other people back such as JS, RS, and a few other people but he's the only one who turned to HYDRA, as of right now that is.
"Obadiah Stane, it's good to see you again, how's everything with the Avengers?" Ian asks.
"They're fine, perfectly contained but it's about Panic Stark," he responds, face giving nothing away.
"What about her?"
"She's putting together a team."
"What kind of team?" Ian presses, desperate to get the information.
"A team of Avenger allies to help stop you, I don't have all the detail but she is trying to get people on her side."
Ian waves it off, he has the Avengers—the greatest superheroes on the planet—after all, no one she can scrounge up will be able to stop him, not without the Avengers who aren't getting away and Tony thinks she's dead so he won't help her. "No one she can get to help will be enough, don't even worry about it Obi, it'll be fine, just watch over the Avengers and HYDRA's mission will be completed in no time."
Obadiah nods before turning and silently exiting the room leaving Ian to his work while in his mind he wonders if there's a slight chance he should be concerned, Panic is smart after all. Nah!
Okay so maybe I should explain how Obadiah Stane is alive, if you read my other series "A Young Assassin" or its sequel "Black Mamba: Kiss of Death" the main character Vanya was trying to stop her enemy Ruark from using this machine and serum that revives people from the dead and well the machine she was near was a fake and he did revive all those people. So yeah, these two series's take place in the same universe so what happens in this story can have an impact on Vanya's series and her series can have an impact on this one. Hope that cleared a few things up! and I hope to update soon.