Chapter 287: Stark Infiltrations

Chapter 287: Stark Infiltrations

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

--------------- Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

3rd March 2013, New York City

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

Peter gave me a curious look, "Have you spoken to any of them after the invasion?"

"Yes, but not really. It was mostly business, not social calls. Stark tracked me down a bit after we left, and we let each other know what we were doing so that we don't step on anyone's toes. Truthfully, we're not all that close, outside of Thor that is."

"What about Thor?"

I gave him a cheeky grin, "He's staying at my place."

The teenager choke on his own spit and I could tell that he wanted to ask a thousand questions at once. However, I didn't let him do it, "Would you look at that, we've arrived."

And I was correct, we had just arrived at the tallest building in the city. The kid must have been distracted by our conversation. Well, I wonder how Tony would react when I arrive at his tower unannounced. This was going to be fun

I have to say that the tower was an ugly building. Yes, I could appreciate that it was modern, eco-friendly, or whatever else the hippies would say. But the building just seemed too ostentatious for no reason. The fact that it was named 'Avengers Towers' while still being the headquarters of a tech industry just rubbed me the wrong way. I don't think the Avengers have ever taken a foot underneath the top ten floors of the building.

Truthfully, I think Stark just decided to do it as a marketing scheme. He's intertwining his company with the concept of the hero team, which is probably why Stark Industries Stock was rising. It might be helpful in the short term, but the moment Tony Stark messes up and he inevitably will because he's a human being with flaws in either his company or as an Avenger, then the other will be affected severely as well. It's always better to keep these things separated.

Shaking my head at the man's foolishness, I entered the building alongside Peter and waited in the security line. I could feel the teenager next to me vibrating in excitement. The security there has been very extensive, and far less tolerant than the ones in practically any other tech company.

There was an honest to God luggage scanning machine that looked far more advanced than anything like it on the planet. That's not mentioning some sort of body scanner that detects any illegal contents. Add in the fact that anyone entering needs an ID and fingerprint scanner to be allowed in, and I thought I was trying to get inside the Pentagon, not a tech company of all things.

I could understand why tech companies implement so much security; corporate espionage is very brutal when it comes to the industry, but damn, that was so over the top.

Sure, with the Avengers being a hot commodity even a year after the invasion, and hence, had groupies everywhere in the world, the tower would always be always bombarded by rabid fans trying to meet them. It's sad that it's the employees that suffer from it. I can't imagine waiting in line for so long just to go to my job.

Lucky for us, there was another line geared towards the daily public tours of the tower. It was very competitive and somewhat expensive. They didn't even come close to the tech side of the tower. It was like a museum, really, with memorabilia showcased around. I had no intention of visiting the exhibit, but it was the easy way in.

Most of all, it was a message of thanks and mourning for my 'sacrifice'. If I was dead, this would have been considered disrespectful. Stark really tried to commercialize my 'death'. There were figurines of me being sold in the gift store, and even posters of me stopping the nuke being on sale. If I was younger, I would have been angry, but now, I'm just disappointed.

I looked at the kid's excited expression and spoke up, "Alright, everyone's busy. Let's get out of here."

I walked towards a blind zone from the cameras. There wasn't anything of importance there, but I cast a small light illusion turning me and the kid invisible, and I walked towards the elevator. It wasn't connected to Stark's office, but with the proper access card, you could go up to the employee section of the building. It was mostly used by the tour guides and such, but the employee section was also connected to the research and development department and thus Stark's office.

Of course, you needed an ID card to enter. It seems that JARVIS didn't consciously monitor the comings and goings of employees all the time. It was logical, in a way. Stark had to limit any virtual intelligence from self-replicating or forking since it could get out of Stark's control. JARVIS was probably busy with a bigger project elsewhere.

All I needed to make the elevator think was that it had gotten a request to go up from the employee lounge and were golden. With a flick of my fingers, I turned my clothes and Peter's into the tour guides' uniform. Of course, I made sure that the elevator camera was looped and showed an empty elevator being summoned.

Once we arrived at the lounge we walked towards the bathroom and changed clothes to that of the various engineers that we saw in the lounge. I have to say that the kid was awed by my skills. I was a bit proud of my skills as a thief. I was right, this was a lot more fun than just teleporting in.

I swiped an ID card from one of the engineers and I put an illusion on the picture. I conjured a copy to Peter, and we entered another elevator. I scanned my card, and we went up to the Research and Development Department.

The moment we arrived; I knew that this part of the building was different. While the rest of the building was plain, modern, and organized, this section was chaotic with dozens of scientists constantly running around the place, working on some extremely advanced projects. State-of-the-art labs filled with cutting-edge technology to advanced manufacturing facilities could be seen everywhere around us.

Seeing the kid look so excited got me to help him visit every nook and cranny of the place. No one batted an eyelash at us. There were so many people working under deadlines that they just didn't care about anyone observing them as long as they were not interrupted. Alright, I might have cheated a little and got people to ignore us with my telepathy, but it was still too easy to do.

In the end, I had to drag the reluctant teenager to come with me to Stark's office. Funnily enough, the way there was very easy to find. Apparently, the man had a private elevator directly to his office to get involved in any project he fancies. He also tended to use JARVIS to summon scientists under his employ so that he would talk to them.

Believe it or not, while Stark gave up the position of CEO, he was still the CTO of the company and thus involved in the ongoing projects of his company. I controlled the elevator and entered it alongside the kid.

It took a few seconds for the door to open up and we found ourselves at the billionaire's office and I just sat on the couch and mine and Peter's clothes returned to normal. I looped the camera, showing an empty office and conjured a cup of tea. JARVIS should have noticed my intrusion and warned the billionaire of my presence.

I pointed the fidgeting spider themed hero to sit down. The kid was nervous. He did just break into his personal hero's office after all.

His mutterings about his future doom almost made me burst into laughter. When Stark slammed the door open in an iron man suit, the kid jumped away in fear. The armored hero pointed his repulsor at me, "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?"

I continued sipping my tea and raised an eyebrow. I could see the recognition and fear settle on his features as he realized who he tried to shoot, "Hello, Anthony Stark. Did you miss me?"

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

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