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….
Nothing leaks from his company, the second Iron Man movie is proof of that! And if you recall how his special ops turn out...
Damn, come to think of it... If you recall how masterfully this guy stole Vanko in canon, and then organized his work to the point where he himself didn't know about the start of mass production of battle droids and Arc Reactors at his own manufacturing facilities, almost at the head office, no less, and even after his arrest managed to withhold even half a page of technical documentation on those projects... He alone is cooler than all of S.H.I.E.L.D. combined when it comes to espionage and counter-espionage!
In short, I left Stark a "note" with my advice on HR policy and a comparative analysis of the professional qualities of Hammer and Fury.
Obviously, without mentioning the events of the movie, but I tried my best. Naturally, Tony will never follow it, but even just rubbing that arrogant black guy's nose in it is of some use.
After finishing that, I also managed to dig into Tony's project on synthesizing the element invented by his dad, and scribbled a couple of comments "in the margins" warning against the most destructive experiments.
And yes, the substance turned out to be a radioactive isotope of Vibranium. I'll have to experiment with that sometime too... Anyway, I managed to do all that, and then Stark and his wife arrived, and I hurried to catch them in a dark corner:
"Tony, Mrs. Stark! Congratulations! Now that he's in safe hands, the world can sleep peacefully!" I gesticulated actively with a glass of bourbon; fortunately, with a drop of magic, spilling the liquid became impossible.
"Loki!" the billionaire smiled. "You graced us with your presence after all."
"How could I miss the initiation of my High Priest onto the Almost True Path?"
"Almost?" he raised an eyebrow.
"We-e-ell, just so you know, all this Christian nonsense with monogamy is not highly approved by me," the newly minted Mrs. Stark looked at me... not very kindly, "but it's a matter of taste, maybe there really is something to it, and I'll even support you... I mean, step on the same rake... ahem... Let's drop this topic and limit ourselves to the fact that I blessed you, okay?"
"A-alright," Tony chuckled, throwing a proud, happy look at Pepper. He was proud, understandably, precisely of her and my reaction to her. "A personal blessing from a God must be cool."
"But not as cool as a personal space yacht..." I started, but then felt a tug on the hem of my coat.
The moment I turned around, the girl fixed me with a reproachful stare, her cheeks slightly puffed out in obvious dissatisfaction.
"What's wrong? I poured you a cocktail," I said, unable to understand the source of her complaints.
She glanced down at the glass, then back at me, her expression growing even more dubious. Taking another cautious sip, she grimaced and tilted her head as if questioning my sanity.
"What do you mean, it tastes bad? That was an excellent strawberry cocktail."
Her eyes narrowed. Without a word, she extended the glass toward me and pointed accusingly at its contents, silently demanding that I taste it myself.
"Okay, okay, you'll get your cocoa, bring the glass," I surrendered.
The girl instantly perked up and ran to the bar, to get the abandoned container with the "yucky stuff".
"And this is?.." Pepper uncertainly waved her hand at the back of the only child at the event, who, completely unembarrassed by anyone, had already climbed onto a bar stool, pulled the barely touched cocktail toward her, and started climbing back down.
"And this is..." I repeat her gesture. "A child. A very powerful child! She knows how to force me to read her bedtime stories! A unique and inimitable talent! No one else can do that."
"…!" the subject of discussion materialized nearby, showing me her burden.
"And persuade me to make her cocoa," I continue the thought, shrugging and casting transforming charms on the contents of the tall glass. "Also, for some reason, I always take her with me... I don't know why, but she's interested," I justify myself to the couple, who were staring wide-eyed at the transformation of the cocktail into a brown liquid and how Laura greedily attached herself to it.
"Um..." Stark chewed his lips. "You said something about a spaceship!"
"Yeah, catch," I smirked and... threw him a keychain, like the ones used in car alarms. Or electronic ignition keys.
"Are you joking?" the engineer caught the gift.
"I always keep my promises," I let out the characteristic Loki smile, already anticipating Stark's face, "so push the button and look at your new toy over there," I point in the right direction. "I parked the jalopy on the helipad."
"Hmm..." he pushed the button, studying the spot with burning eyes, a-a-a-nd...
Beep-beep! the "alarm" responded, removing the first layer of illusions.
"Wh-what is that?!" Stark stared at the "yacht" with a mixture of shock, horror, and something akin to religious awe.
"That's a pepelatz from the Kin-dza-dza galaxy! In our galaxy, only I have one like it, and now you do too."
"Is this a joke?" oh, he looks like he's going to be sick.
"Yes," a snap of the fingers, after which the illusion of a rusty barrel with a propeller disappears, replaced by a normal spaceship, "but watch the movie! It's good."
"Phew," the inventor exhaled, "what jokes you have..."
"Well," I put my hands on my hips and proudly puffed out my chest. "Noblesse oblige..." I looked over the yacht, which vaguely resembled the Nubian from Star Wars, only smaller: a little over 30 meters long and 15 wide, a streamlined hull gleaming with an adamantium coating.
Funny, an ordinary, even shabby yacht after my "modification" became quite comparable to a flight of full-fledged dreadnoughts or something like that for the rest of the galaxy.
"I hope you won't run off to explore the 'interesting gadget' right in the middle of our wedding, darling?" the already happy wife inquired very politely of her beloved, smiling sweetly.
"P-Pepper... no, of course not!" No matter how obsessed Stark was, the instinct of self-preservation was inherent to this individual too.
"And instead of our wedding night, also no..."
"Naturally." Yes, definitely inherent. He definitely didn't appoint Maria because of family circumstances, one hundred percent!
"Well okay, I delivered the gift, admired your faces, walked the fuzzy little one glaring at me threateningly," I ruffle Laura's hair, who in response raised her gaze to my face but didn't tear herself away from the process of draining the glass, "and now, as a respectable God, I am obliged to pillage your wine cellar... Because that's something that will make sense!.. And also it's in the name of Intrigue!"
"My cellar is entirely at your disposal!" the magnate saluted with his glass, glancing sideways at the spaceship.
Soon the music started playing, and Stark had no time for any gods, he led his wife to dance. I, meanwhile, proceeded to execute my plan of action. And also replenishing the combat hamster's cocoa supplies…
….
The celebration of the beginning of a new milestone in the history of a billionaire, inventor, and philanthropist came to an end, and Laura and I safely returned to Xavier's mansion, stopping by Heimdall on the way and getting a report from him on the movements in Jotunheim and the collection of information about Thanos's planets.
The chief guardian of Asgard's borders had already calmed down a bit and even seemed to begin to embrace the idea of helping the Jotuns; at least, the idea of setting some bastards on other bastards no longer caused him such strong rejection that it jammed his facial muscles.
He tried not to show it, but there were notes slipping into his appearance hinting that he had seen something in the Mad Titan's domain that he definitely did not like.
In short, things were moving on this front, and even Thor seemed to be doing okay; at least, no problems requiring my personal involvement arose.
One way or another, the mutant school greeted us with a delicious dinner of fried potatoes and sausages, carefully prepared by Yuriko, and then life returned to its usual rut.
In the sense that I selflessly returned to my sinister experiments in the basement and telling the kids heartbreaking tales about the life of European savages.
For some reason, I really loved telling heartbreaking tales specifically about the life of European savages, I simply couldn't help myself. But I observed the bounds of decency, yes. They were strict about that here.
…
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
[P] [A] [T] [R] [E] [O] [N]
[email protected]/Yggdrasil_Loki