Chapter 164: Theo and Gwen’s adventure in Stark Expo. 2010 CE

[Stark Mansion]

Tony Stark was sitting in front of his computer with a tense face. A cold sweat was running down his forehead, and his eyes were filled with regret. He was on a call with someone, he thought it was Agent Coulson, but turns out, it was Ivan Vanko, the one who attacked him back in Monaco.

“Trace him.” Tony said to his AI, JARVIS, while muting his mic.

“Right away sir.” said JARVIS with his robotic voice.

Vanko chuckled from the phone. “Now, the true history of Stark name will be written.”

“JARVIS… where is he?” Tony questioned nervously.

“Accessing the Oracle grid… Eastern Seaboard…”

“What your father did to my family over 40 years, I will do to you in 40 minutes.” Vanko Threatened. “I will ruin your reputation permanently, break your bonds with other people, make your remaining family hate you.”

“Sounds good, let’s get together and hash it out.” said Tony sarcastically.

“Tri-State area.” confirmed JARVIS. “Manhattan and outlying boroughs.”

“I hope you’re ready,” said Vanko. “Tonight, fathers and mothers will lose their children. All because of you.”

Vanko then hung up his phone, making Tony even more nervous.

“JARVIS?” Tony questioned.

“Call trace incomplete.”

“Shit…” Tony wiped his face anxiously, but then, he connected the dots on what Vanko just said. “Jarvis, where’s uncle Smith right now?”

“He is in his home sire, watching TV with his wife.”

“Theo?”

“He is at the Stark Expo with his friend, Gwen Stacy.”

Tony clicked his tongue as he thought of a way to get there. He turned towards the newly built arc reactor core, and sait. “Jarvis, I think it’s time we run some tests on the new toy.”

—

As Theo walked with Gwen in Stark Expo with ice cream in hand, they saw a small speck of light on the dark sky above, it was Tony Stark in his Iron man suit.

“What’s uncle Tony doing?” Helios murmured suspiciously as he licked his ice cream.

“Uncle Tony? You mean Tony Stark?” Gwen questioned. “Is he here?”

Helios pointed at the sky. “There.”

“Cool…” Gwen murmured.

Helios then saw Tony fly towards the main pavilion, where Hammer Industries was giving a presentation, which made him suspicious.

“Gweny, I think we should go home now…”

“What? Why? Curfew is still in two hours…”

“I’m tired.” Helios lied.

“You’re tired?” Gwen frowned. “But–”

The main pavilion’s windows suddenly shattered as sounds of guns echoed throughout the expo, scaring all the guests.

A lot of gasps and screams quickly spread throughout the place, they saw Tony flying towards the air, followed by many drones that were shooting bullets at him.

“Oh my god!” a woman shouted, dropping her food and running towards the exit.

Helios turned to Gwen, who looked nervous at the sight. “Come on Gweny, we need to run!”

“Huh?” Gwen questioned in panic, but Helios quickly pulled her towards the exit of the place.

Drones then came out of the main pavilion on foot as people started to run from there also, they had missiles on their shoulders. They suddenly nailed themselves to the ground, and launched hte missiles towards the entrance, blocking the area.

Helios, who was running to the exit, felt the wave of the force of the explosion, making him turn towards Gwen and protect her using his back. He summoned a hidden construct from his back, protecting him from the blast.

They rolled on the ground as people tried to recover from the blast, he sat up, and looked at Gwen.

“Gweny, Gweny! You alright?!” Helios shouted as he slapped Gwen’s face a couple of times.

“Huh? Y-Yeah…” Gwen stuttered. “T-Theo, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know…” Helios murmured as he helped Gwen stand up. He looked towards the Drone, who was looking at him for some reason.

—

Justin Hammer was discussing what the hell is going on with the operator and his men backstage, he looked like he was panicking, but tried to stay calm.

“He locked us out of the mainframe.” said an operator in the back stage.

“What do you mean ‘he locked us out of the mainframe’?!” a woman suddenly rushed towards them, it was Pepper Potts and another woman.

Hammer groaned as he heard the voice. “Please, please, just go away, I’ve got this handled.”

“Have you now?!” Pepper questioned again.

“Yes I do!” Hammer answered with hostility. “In fact, if your guy hadn’t–”

“Hadn’t what, Mr. Smith?” Another voice suddenly interrupted Hammer’s voice. Hammer was about to lash out at the man who interrupted him, but once he turned, he found a 9 ft tall Gorilla towering over him, staring at him with angry eyes. It was Grodd.

“Y-Your majesty…” Hammer stuttered. “N-No I was just saying that, I-If Tony Stark hadn’t appeared, this wouldn’t have happened?”

“You blamed a man that is trying to help for your mistakes, Mr. Hammer?” Grodd questioned slowly. “This is your technology going rogue, it is hurting many people as of right now. If one of my subjects are hurt, Mr. Hammer, you will be brought to Zimera for trial, you can request a trial by combat, but I wouldn’t recommend that…”

Hammer gulped. “O-Of course not, your majesty…”

Grodd hummed as he walked towards Hammer, and stared him down. “Now, could you tell us who’s behind this? This is supposed to be my vacation Mr. Hammer, and you have ruined it, be glad that I am not punishing you more.”

“Y-Yes…” Hammer nodded vigorously in fear. “I-it’s Ivan Vanko… H-He’s at my facility…”

Grodd scoffed as he slammed Hammer towards the wall, knocking Hammer out. “Classic human greed…”

Meanwhile, Potts and Rushman were watching this rather shockingly, Grodd looked at Potts, which made her flinch, and spoke. “Miss Potts, you should call the local authorities.”

“Y-Yes… I’ll do that…” Potts stammered.

Grodd then turned to Rushman, which made her frown. “Miss Romanoff, I suggest you go to the Hammer facility now, unless you want us to deal with your country’s problem? Outside our jurisdiction…”

“That won’t be necessary, your majesty.” Romanoff sighed as her cover was blown so easily. “Rest assured, we will deal with it as soon as possible.”

“Then I’ll be waiting.” Grodd hummed. He looked outside, and saw a drone flying towards the pavilion. He grabbed a metal beam nearby from unfinished construction, and threw it to the drone, nailing it down to the ground.

—

Theo was running away from the drones with Gwen among the crowd as they tried to keep shooting them. Weirdly though, all the bullets seemed to have missed the people around them, only hitting the concrete. But that didn’t stop them from panicking at all.

“T-Theo, my leg!” Gwen complained.

“What’s wrong?” Helios questioned, only to see that Gwen’s ankle had been sprained. “Oh come on Gweny…”

“I’m sorry…” Gwen started to sob like a KID SHE WAS.

“Hey don’t cry, here, climb to my back.” Helios quickly carried her to his back, and ran again. Gwen was hugging him tightly, closing her eyes because of fear. Louds booms and sounds of gunshots were around them, and honestly, Helios was used to it from the winter training…

It all seemed like they were going to escape, but then, drones started to arrive in front of them, making the adults turn around and run, not caring about the children who were also running with them.

The drones were staring at two people, one, they were staring at Helios, and two, they were staring at a kid with an iron man helmet.

“Targets confirmed.” the drones announced.

The gun barrels of the drones started to warm up, Helios was about to run, but the kid beside him didn’t move, instead, the kid raised his hand, and tried to pose like Iron Man.

“ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?” Helios shouted to the kid, which made him snap back to reality.

Helios was about to pull the kid from the line of fire, but it was too late. Helios, in a panic, covered himself with a warhammer style power armour with Gwen inside the armour, which made her shriek in confusion and fear, and he faced the drone, soaking the bullets for Gwen and the kid.

The bullets bounced off, so it was safe.

Suddenly, Tony Stark landed in front of them, and he decimated the drones in front of him.

“Nice job buddy, I will tell your father about this.” he said casually.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!” Helios ‘accidentally’ cursed.

“Wow, those films are a bad influence on you.” said Tony. “I will also tell your parents about that too. See you later kid.”

Tony then flew off, leaving the scared Gwen, the pissed Helios, and the kid alone.

“Cool….” the kid from before murmured.

Helios just sighed, before his power armour turned into golden dust.

“Gweny… you alright?” Helios sighed.

Gwen just nodded weakly on his shoulder, afraid to see and just planted her face on Helios’s neck.

This is going to be a long night…