Chapter 574 - Precious Smile

A/N: Credits to the Iron Man 2 for the scene since most of the dialogues are copied straight. And, in between, I don't mean any disrespect to any country or s.e.x.u.a.l orientation. I know, you guys know this by now but I still felt that I should put a notice beforehand. Of course, I have nothing against vegan guys too.

***

Justin Hammer stood up with the intention of destroying Stark with his opening statement despite the opponent's reputation for a glib tongue. Unbuttoning the coat of his suit, Justin took a deep breath and began, "Anthony Stark has forged a sword with untold possibilities, and yet, he insists it's a shield." Justin looked at the full room, his words slightly moving for the gathered men and women as the live debate aired through the nation. "Truly," Hammer continued, looking at Tony with a mocking grin, "I would like to feel protected as he asks to trust him as we cower behind him." Gripping the mic tightly, Hammer raised his other hand in a surrender, "I wish I felt confident, Anthony. I really do." He spoke, "Would love to leave the door unlocked as I leave my house. But this ain't Canada!" Hammer emphasized, "We live in a world of great threats. Threats that Mr. Stark would not be able to foresee." Taking a light breather, he nodded towards the crowd and looked at the councilmen on their seats in front of him, "Thank you. God bless Iron Man. God bless America."

Under a thin layer of applause, amongst which the minority of the councilmen contributed, Hammer sat into his seat. Meanwhile, Nik looked at Mary's hand flicking about and easily writing down most of the information alongside a few whispers she caught from the crowd of startling stature. "Woah, that explains so many things..." Nik muttered while gazing at her hands as Mary smiled. A little embarrassed and shy by earning 'that' kind of a compliment in such a serious environment. Although, now she did wish that Nik increased the intensity of the ongoing training. However, she would only admit of her having fun when they actually do it. The toys, now, were an empty pleasure.

"Hey," Nik whispered, "I can help you with a few spicy details. Those two," pointing at two men. One black and one white, both in a decorated Marine's outfit, "they are planning a s.e.x swing for themselves. Bored by their wives who forced them in a vegan diet."

"Being vegan doesn't mean that they will plan a s.e.x swing for themselves."

"Oh, right, they are homos.e.x.u.a.ls with a massive boner in their pants as we speak," Nik snickered before pointing at an old lady sitting next to a rather bulky man in the prime of his life. "These two are not what they look like. The s.e.xy woman," gesturing at the clearly wretched being with his chin, "She is also undergoing training. I smell leather beneath her clothes while the guy, well," looking at Mary, he whispered with a pained expression, "His willy is nilly," Nik gestured with his index and middle finger smacking against each other akin a pair of scissors. Meanwhile, Mary thought of leather. 'Damn, now I want that kinda play, too...' She groaned internally while jotting stuff down in a less explicit manner.

"That was well said, Mr. Hammer." The man sitting in the middle with a plate— Sen. Stern— in front of him spoke up, "The committee would now like to invite Col. James Rhodes to the chambers," the words instantly pulled surprised and audible gasps from the reporters in the back, including Mary as Nik looked at her with a surprise and instantly took the chance to increase the intensity of the vibration wreaking havoc within her anus. "Ghhm!" Glaringly, she exclaimed. Partly excited by her body getting toyed with and partly by the fact that she, alongside other reporters could smell a drama. "James is known to be one of the closest personalities to Tony aside from the myriad actresses and supposed love interests." She held Nik's hands with excitement filling her gaze, "And don't you dare increase the intensity. The voice will catch attention!" She warned with a contradictory grin as Nik shrugged. He wasn't planning on listening to Mary either way.

As a young man with a dark complexion walked in, Tony stood with an amazed expression and walked towards the guy with an outstretched arm. "Rhodey?" Tony exclaimed in surprise while keeping his voice lowered. Not enough for Nik, though as he began giving Mary the details she kept bugging Nik with. "Hey, buddy. Didn't expect to see you here." Tony whispered as James shook Tony's hand while they smiled for the camera before Rhodes looked at him with a slightly annoyed expression, already knowing how much he would have to listen for this kind of situation from the 'superhero' himself. With a soft groan, James replied, "Look, it's me. I'm here. Deal with it and move on."

"I-I just—" Before Tony could say anything, James coughed softly, "Drop it!"

"Alright, I'll drop it..." Tony rolled his eyes and walked back to his seat while Rhodey sat with Justin Hammer. As the chamber settled down, Senator Stern continued, "For the record, Colonel, can you read page 50 paragraph four from the report you compiled for the Weaponized Suit Defence Program?"

"You requesting of me to read a specific section from the entire report that—"

"Yes, sir," the senator cut James Rhodes short as the man looked down for a moment.

"It was my understanding that I would be testifying on a comprehensive basis detailing the overall effects of the suit."

"I understand but a lot of things were changed today," Senator replied with a smile. If it wasn't sure before, now the Senator made sure of his intentions of getting at Stark Industries tech quite clear as Rhodey took a moment of consideration before nodding and flipping the page of the report present on the table beforehand.

"Since he does not report to any definable branch of the government," James looked at Tony, "Iron Man presents a threat to the nation and her interests." Before the senator could take the conversation, the man continued, "I did, however, summarize the benefits of such a personnal with a high-grade technology—"

"That's enough, Colon—"

"— and how the Iron Man could even provide a service—"

"That's— that's—"

"— to the nation while upholding the law itself."

"That's quite alright, Colonel." The senator pulled a forced smile as Tiny cleared his throat and leaned forward, getting closer to the microphone, "I'll think about the Secretary of Defence if you ask me nicely. However, we would have to shift a few hours here and there."

His words instantly diffusing the situation as quite a few from the audience chuckled. "Can we see the images attached alongside your report?" Senator inquired while Rhodey drank from the glass before sighing. "I think that it is quite premature to demonstrate such images."

"I would still like to see them," Senator Stern smiled as the colonel nodded and gestured towards one of the two screens present, "Show the images." He stated as the screen was brought to life while the colonel reported, "The images that are going to be presented are the attempts of creating manned copies of the Iron Man suit. These operations are corroborated by our allies and local intelligence—" As the man continued, Tony furrowed in confusion and took out a see-through device with codes running through the screen. The size of it was barely bigger than a cellphone as he tapped on it a few times before aiming the transparent screen towards the display.

"Alright, let's see what is going on for real, eh?" He smiled as a black dialogue box with running codes appeared on the screen, startling the crowd and the councilmen when the video feedback of a giant robot appeared. "Right, this is North Korea!" Tony exclaimed as the robot unbalanced itself and fell, instantly launching a barrage of bullets onto the spectators with blood splattering on the screen. The crowd came to a stunning silence as Tony continued. "Iraq, Russia— Hey! That's you, Justin!"

Tony smiled, showing a video of Justin Hammer alongside a suit-wearing researcher. The suit of metal did look like the Iron Man suit but the moment Justin twisted his waist slightly, the suit twisted completely, alongside the man within. Now pale, Justin Hammer hurriedly stood up as the shouts from the video continued to ring. "Justin, smile for the video. That's a good job!"

The moment Justin pulled away from the chords, the senator spoke up with a stormy expression. "I think we all understand your point, Mr. Stark!"

"No! My point is, you can't have my technology. That's simple. It's working. I am your nuclear deterrent." Standing up, Tony looked back to the crowd, "I have successfully privatized world peace. You all are welcome—"

CRASH!

The ceiling fell on the councilmen with a ruthless crash as many lost their footing from impact. Amidst the cloud of dust, a man on a vicious looking hovering device descended with his entire body colored green. Yellow eyes looking around for a target and instantly locking on Tony!

---

"You all are—"

Before Tony completed, Nik's senses tingled. While he was slightly annoyed by the changes he accidentally overlooked, such as the said tingling of intuition, Nik decided to trust his body and hugged Mary instantly, pushing her down while forcing the guys in the preceding row to call out in annoyance when—

CRASH!

The crash of the ceiling brought the councilmen down alongside as Nik looked at Mary with a huge smile, "Guess, I was right— eh?" Accompanied with a terrible headache, she found herself lying on the cold floor right next to the reception as Nik whispered, "I trust that you have the sensibility of a mother and would definitely avoid troubles. Wait for me in the car?" Nik inquired as Mary nodded with a grunt before feeling Nik pecking her softly, which, in fact, did serve to relieve her by a bit due to the sudden rush of heat within her body. Standing up, Mary looked at amazement that Nik was gone. She had heard all this from Anna and even seen it in her 'consciousness' credits to Nik's abilities but seeing through her eyes was different. Looking around and finding that everybody already had their attention attracted by the explosion, she stood up when she almost lost her footing.

Accompanied by a stifled and e.r.o.t.i.c grunt, she glared towards the direction where Nik would have been as she felt the intensity of the vibration of the anal plug increasing once again. And even if now the sound of the vibrator was clear, nobody had the time to even focus on it as loud screams echoed through the upper floors of the hotel. Gritting her teeth, she started to slowly walk towards her car, making sure that she drove it away to a safe distance.

"Be sure to get back safely... or I won't be able to get back at you!" She grunted.

---

"Tony... Stark," Not minding the sweet symphony of terrorized shrieks around him, the Goblin stepped down from the hovercraft as it continued to stay in its place. The pale yellow eyes locked onto the coughing Tony Stark with his face dusted with broken concrete and a few cuts on his face. Beside him, Rhodey and Justin Hammer weren't in great condition themselves. "*Cough Cough* Listen, pal..." Tony grunted, dusting his arms while standing with an unsettled expression, "I love cosplay and all if only Brittany does it. No offense. You look cool though. Want me to sign an autograph on your chest?" He huffed with his hands within his pocket as his eyes continued to look around before he found his goggles near Rhodes, strangely, intact.

"I no longer am amused by your existence," The Goblin grinned, "Remember my name. It's Goblin!"

"Way to go with choosing a deranged fantastical name, Norman," Tony acted weekly and tried to help Rhody up while simultaneously grabbing his glasses. "What? You know?" Goblin roared, his large hand instantly clutching on Tony's chest and pulling him up while Rhody fell down again, coughing blood this time with his pupils dilated.

"You went missing with a secret organization up your ass, your data on super serum almost destroyed, and your chief accountant attacked by a yellow monster! Grow up! Of course, I know how to connect dots, Goblin!" Tony chuckled sarcastically when his bout of amus.e.m.e.nt was brought to a painful grunt as his hands holding the glasses finally moved with similar codes running on the glass surface of the shades. "Grrr! This distraction proved fruitful after all. I'll have your tech, Tony. You've done great until now."

Smiling, Tony continued, "Oh, come on! Not your smile, Norman. You had a dreamy one! The girls loved it! Candy loved it!" He grunted again when the Goblin suddenly looked sideways, finding a leg of the chair stabbing towards his forehead. "Who?!" Goblin roared with the wooden weapon crackling into splinters due to sheer speed achieved in such a tiny distance but still unable to break through the skin of the monster. Before Goblin could look around, he heard a playful whisper.

"Peekaboo!" With two fingertips right in front of his eyes, Goblin's entire vision was covered by the tip of fingers, making him unable to see the assaulter as the fingers poked into his eyes, making the Goblin grunt in the sting as Tony cheered, "Nice one—"

"Die!"

In anger and losing the slightest bit of his mental faculties, Goblin threw Tony towards the wall, intent on killing with this single strike when suddenly, Tony vanished into thin air and reappeared above Goblin, slamming right into the monster and tumbling both of them down with pain spreading through their body. Both of them.

Letting out a deep breath and raising a small cloud of dust, the Goblin looked up, finding a masked man sitting in front of him on a chair with a wide grin on his face. "Hey, so you called yourself Goblin, right? Don't listen to the billionaire. It's better than Norman and so what if you lost your dreamy smile. Your angry snarl is quite dreamy, too. Many would agree." Nik chuckled, observing the twitch of Goblin's shoulder and shifting towards Rhody as the bulging green arm destroyed the expensive chair into sharp splinters by astounding force. "Can you stand up?" Nik patted Rhodey's cheek before sighing. He'll wait for the ambulance instead of granting life energy here and there. It was pointless. The colonel would survive regardless and spending his reserves aside from the direct confrontation wasn't his plan.

"Ugh... a little help here?" Tony groaned as Nik made his way towards Justin, who looked considerably better than the remaining two. "Hey, hey!" Slapping his cheeks lightly, Nik brought Hammer back to focus before pointing at Rhodey and Tony. "Help one of them up and get out of here!"

"O-ok!"

Not willing to stay the slightest bit longer, Hammer painfully grabbed James Rhodes and made out of the empty room as Goblin felt his head still ringing. The side effects were worse now that he was actually going through a real battle and this only served to get the most optimum serum for himself. "Gwehehehe! Tony, you'll make a good subject!" Goblin grinned, making Tony groan, "Ugh, somebody, break his teeth!"

"And you!" Slowly standing up, the Goblin turned to lock onto Nik only to find him disappeared again as he felt a little numb. Once again falling, Nik twisted his body while jumping down. His boots already ruined with the harsh kick he let loose on top of the Goblin's head. Before falling completely unconscious, however, the green monster took out a remote and pressed the button, which instantly triggered the machine guns loaded on the edges of the slanting hoverboard, inducing him to use Shift on himself and Tony once again. This time, with two unattached points of shifting, one being Tony and the other himself, Nik found the burden slightly increased but that still gave him a direction to improve.

"Gwah!" Shouting, Tony arched his body in pain, "My head! It's a coup!" He grunted before laying flat on the floor near the exit of the hotel as Nik looked up, finding a hovercraft breaking through the glass dome of the building and leaving with a bulky body. "Stop whining," Nik looked at Tony, "Or joking. Both of them, in fact."

"You joked!" Tony snapped as Nik started walking towards the exit, "Yeah. I get to. I saved your ass, after all, Mr. Iron Man. By the way, do you take commissions to make personal Iron Man suits?"

"Ow!" Coughing, Tony slowly sat up, his face covered with darkened dust due to the blood from the cuts, "Do you think I am in need of commissions? Still, stop by my home and I'll fix you with something. You just saved me after all."

"Sure, I guess." Nik waved at the man before shifting away as Tony, who saw the masked man disappearing sighed in relief as he whispered, "Jarvis, did you get that? Do we have enough vocal data to run the search on the mystery comedian?"

"Negative, I am afraid so." Jarvis' voice leaked through the goggles in Tony's hands.

*Crinkle*

Looking back at the shattered glass falling down, Tony sighed, "And the ambulance?"

"On its way, sir."

"To-do list, add a portable Iron Man suit."

"Of course, sir."