Marvel: Stories

"Truth is, the game was rigged from the start."

-Fallout: New Vegas

…

"Tony Stark. Visionary. Genius. American patriot. Even from an early age, the son of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. At age four, he built his first circuit board. At age six, his first engine. And at 17, he graduated summa cum laude from MIT. Then, the passing of a titan. Howard Stark's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane, steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder, until, at age 21, the prodigal son returns and is anointed the new CEO of Stark Industries. With the keys to the kingdom, Tony ushers in a new era for his father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robotics, and satellite targeting. Today, Tony Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe." The crowd applauds as the introduction comes to an end. James Rhodes comes to the stage with the reward in his hand.

"As liaison to Stark Industries, I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot. He is my friend and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Mr. Tony Stark." As he finishes speaking music starts playing behind him accompanied by another applause from the crowd but there wasn't even a shadow of our today's star. "Tony?"

He examines the crowd awkwardly hoping to locate his friend and this is just some stupid prank of his at least that would mean he is here. In the end, Obadiah Stane Tony is supposed uncle comes to the stage with a smile and takes the award. "Thank you, Colonel."

"Thanks for the save," Rhodes whispers to him before taking off from the stage in search of his friend while Obediah remains there with a smile. "This is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is wonderful. Well, I'm not Tony Stark." The crowd laughs at his little joke. "But if I were Tony, I would tell you how honored I feel and what a joy it is to receive this very prestigious award. Tony, you know...The best thing about Tony is also the worst thing. He's always working."

The screen turns black as Edward turns off the TV with a bored look on his face. "So? What's it, old man? There is still time left in our agreement right?" He spins his chair around and faces Obadiah who looks clearly unhappy as he clinches his fist as if trying to remember the feeling of something he was holding.

"You promised me glory."

"Prosthetic limb and neuralink design allowed Stark Industries to successfully step into the medical field and secure bunch of deals with the military." He looks at Obadiah in annoyance. "If you can't even make proper use of that then you can only blame yourself."

His words obviously angered Obadiah but he held himself back he isn't an idiot you won't go far in this side of business if you were an idiot. He knows if he gets rid of Tony as he planned then this young man in front of him will be a golden goose that will replace Tony. "I need more... something that's more militaristic than simple prosthetic tools."

Edward stares at Obadiah silently for a few seconds before taking out his laptop then plugging in a flash drive and pretending to put some files into it. He then hands it over to Obadiah with pure annoyance on his face. "I saw some of Stark Industries firearm designs not gonna lie they are pretty good. But there are still many areas it is lacking so I made some improvements to the designs made by Tony. Now what to do with that is up to your own capabilities."

[-50 SP]

Obadiah nods his head with a cold expression before turning around and heading to the exit before he leaves glances at him and reminds him coldly. "You better have something good prepared for me if you are going to keep acting like this."

'Look how quickly his attitude is changing when talking with me. Are you sure this guy doesn't have something like a mood disorder?'

[+3000 SP]

'Wow, having a business tycoon as my partner is surely amazing for every little thing you can earn SP because of their influence.'

[Host you sure you wanna side with a villain like him? That will die pretty soon? He might drag you down with you.]

'You really think he will be able to?'

[Not really but still that will be something annoying to deal with.]

'Don't worry I have a countermeasure for that. Besides, who knows maybe with my support he might not die and continue life even getting promoted from one-time villain to reoccurring one.'

[That would be for the best when there is a connection between different stories it tends to give birth to an even greater story.]

Edward lets out a small yawn as he leans against his chair. "Perhaps I shouldn't have started with selling [Cyberpunk] technology but [T'au] technology? They do have more fantasy sci-fi elements than dark dystopian [Cyberpunk] ones."

[Well, [Cyberpunk] is great for the early stage isn't it? Besides aren't [T'au] props are little too expensive for current you?]

'You got a point. Now let me plan on how to contact Hammer Industries so I can sell them [Fallout] technologies. After all, what will scream more American Army than giant robots armed with mini-nukes.'

[By the way, what are you gonna do with [Hagrid] and [Flying Motorbike]?]

'Oh, that? That's for a foreshadowing or Easter egg whatever you wanna call it.'

[Really?]

'Really. First I wanted to buy [TARDIS] but damn was it expensive.'

[Of course it will be! It's [TARDIS] we are speaking about! The reliable partner of THE Doctor!]

'Jeez, calm down will you.' He lets out another yawn as his consciousness slowly drifts away. "I'll be right back…"

[Why did you even buy [Bloodborne] and [PlayStation 4] if you were going to rage quit the middle of the game anyway?]

…

"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how Dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves." Tony gives a signal to fire and the missile launcher positions itself before firing the Jericho missile. As it flies in the air its shell bursts open launching dozens of small missiles and they hit the mountain range. "For your consideration, the Jericho." As he spreads his hands shockwave from the explosion passes by him.

As he leaves the cliff and heads to the area where supplies are located army generals follow after him. He opens the cooler filled with alcohol and takes a glass of whiskey. "I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more." He lifts the glass to the sky before drinking it in one gulp. "To peace!"

His phone rings as he takes it out and sees the caller is Obadiah. "Tony." As soon video chat starts Obadiah greets him Tony places his empty cup on one of the supply carts. "Obie, what are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went. How'd it go?"

"It went great. Looks like it's gonna be an early Christmas."

"Hey! Way to go, my boy! I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

As Tony walks towards the military vehicle. "Why aren't you wearing those pajamas I got you?"

"Good night, Tony." He said in annoyance as Tony hung the call up before getting in the vehicle.

"Hey, Tony." Rhodes comes up to the vehicle he was in, Tony playfully raises his hand. "I'm sorry, this is the "fun-vee." The "hum-drum-vee" is back there."

Rhodes knows his friend is playful nature so didn't pay much attention to his little joke. "Nice job." Tony smirks at him and says before tapping on the vehicle to signal it's time to move. "See you back at base."

And I'm sure you guys know what happens next the attack and Tony Stark is captured.

…

The video of Tony is on a chair surrounded by armed terrorists who seem like the leader starts speaking a language Edward is unfamiliar with. "Looks like your little scheme to take Tony out of the picture has backfired."

Obadiah was furious as he kept clicking on the back of his pen. "Those rascals! I told them word by word! Kill Tony Fucking Stark!!" He smashes his pen on the table.

"How is the weapon designs I give you?" Obadiah glares at him with anger in his eyes. "What? I wanna know the results you know?"

"Military especially curious about your EMP grenades. Perhaps they will want us to create more weapons focused on EMP."

"With a simple small lump of iron, you can completely isolate the enemy camp and cut all their escape routes. Well, isolation is one of the oldest tactics of humanity after all."

"Yeah, something like that." Obadiah massages his forehead as he thinks about the possibility that Tony might come back with Edward's weird antics. "Can you make a few weapons based on that?"

"Sure thing Obadiah and by the way here is the gift you have been asking for." He hands him another flash drive similar to the one he given him before. Obadiah takes it and directly connects to his laptop to see what's inside of it.

[Story Prop: Data Of Cyberpunk Minotaur

Rank: F

Price: 20

Effect: You can put it into any electric device capable of storing the data.

Summary: It contains designs and a guide to how to make Minotaur Mech shown in Cyberpunk 2077.

Note: You can reverse engineer many good things from this bad boy.]

"T-this is amazing." Obadiah checks the data another few times. "Hahaha! This is what I am talking about! Forget Tony! Forget about Stark! This! This is the future! You did it, my boy! You created something even Tony Stark couldn't able to!"

Edward doesn't pay much attention to Obadiah as he runs amok in his imagination only caring for the SP he earned by giving it to Obadiah. "So? Was the waiting worth it?"

"Of course it was. Don't worry I will reward you handsomely for it!" He takes the laptop and flash drive and leaves the room in a great mood already forgetting about Tony being alive.

[Are you sure it was okay to give it to him?]

'I'm not sure actually. There is a pretty good possibility of him winning his fight with Tony because of this.'

[Isn't that bad?]

'Nah, I can handle it. Now I need to create some foundations for my future operations.'

[Like?]

'Possibly recreating the whole Nier storyline.'

[You are simply just evil aren't you?]

'I never said I am not am I?'

[I truly pity whoever catches your interest.]

'You and me both.'