บท 20: Tony Stark
Chapter 20
At the entrance to the conference, the three of them went through various checks before they were let inside. As soon as he was inside, Xavier tossed the bots at the ceiling so fast that no one could have seen anything other than his shoulder twitching.
There were at least a hundred different news reporters that were already waiting inside, with double that still waiting outside. Luckily the Daily Bugle had secured a front row spot for MJ, as they saw this as a very good opportunity as far as news coverage goes. The only reason MJ was chosen to report on this was because she had been very reliable the past few months when it came to both her generation and at keeping the older people entertained with her articles.
"Come on guys, our area's over here." She said, dragging the boys so as to not lose them in the crowd of journalists. Once they were in their spot, Peter started to unpack the small camera that he had been allowed to bring into the conference. Of course this was provided by the Bugul and it had a small gyro system built in.. (For those who don't know, that means that it will automatically stabilize itself and keep the video level)
In the meantime, Xavier was monitoring the bots. He had programmed them to be able to navigate themselves, as well as some minor problem solving built in- Though that was a work in progress. But the bots could navigate anywhere with a goal in mind. That included being able to stealthily crawl into the folds of Stark's clothes and hide there until either he was alone or wouldn't notice them crawling out.
'I think I've out done myself, being able to make these on my own. I didn't even use any of the blueprints from the system!' Xavier was obviously proud of his invention. Even if it wasn't his original idea, but he had enough of those cooking in the back of his mind that he felt justified. Off into a corner, Xavier could swear that he saw Agent Coulson waiting to speak with Pepper.
Soon enough Tony strolled into the news conference, a sling holding one of his arms. In the other was a bag of Mcdonalds which he had most likely bought before arriving. He had Happy and Pepper tailing him, as well as a team of guards following in from behind. Instead of standing at the podium, he sat down with his back resting against it. Once everyone had settled down, Tony spoke up.
"Hey would it be all right if everyone just sat down?" He said, apparently too lazy to look up at everyone while he sat down. "Sit down. That way everyone can see me and I can…" He left the end of the sentence silent, expecting everyone to understand.
Slowly, everyone began to sit down in confusion, but knowing that Stark had always been a bit of a character they followed along. Tony gave a short introduction into his speech by talking about his dad. How he had never gotten the chance to say goodbye, and although Xavier never remembered his parents other than small tidbits, he felt as if he could relate with that.
"I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend and protect them." He said, getting serious. "And I saw that, I had become a part of a system that had zero accountability…" At this point, a few brave journalists called out to Tony to ask a question. He chose a young looking man.
"What happened over there?" He asked.
"I-I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer to the world than just… making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing in Stark Industries." Tony said, getting up to stand at the podium.
Of course all the reporters jumped up and began to speak over each other to ask questions while Tony was led out of the conference. Not before the two tiny bots could latch onto his clothes though. One hiding in his pocket and the other at the edges of his suit coat in the back.
After a few moments of chaos, Obadiah Stane, his right hand man and his uncle, led the press conference. He answered as many of the questions as he could, but he genuinely seemed to be surprised about Tony's announcement. Meanwhile, Xavier was focused on making sure his bots weren't found. He had made these with stealth in mind, so they wouldn't even activate a metal detector.
The operation went off without a hitch, him approving of his new spider bots. 'Now I can move onto other projects. A new weapon for me and web based gadgets for Peter since he has web shooters.' He thought to himself on the way home. Uncle Ben had picked up the group a few blocks away to avoid the traffic- if only that was possible in New York.
===
Later that night, Cindy came over to watch some movies with Xavier. The two hadn't had any time to spend some time alone and Xavier practically jumped at the chance. Xavier put on some old horror movies since that was her favorite type of movie. They pulled an all-nighter, with Cindy falling asleep halfway into the second movie.
Seeing this, Xavier slowly shifted away from her and got up. He tucked her in the bed with care enough to make sure she didn't wake. After making sure she was asleep and comfortable, he slid open the window and went out on his nightly patrol.
Swinging through the city, Xavier thought about his shadow abilities. 'In what little time that I could, I somehow managed to improve the spider limbs at least.' Xavier had at least fixed the structural problems, so the limbs would move smoother now.
Just as he had finished his patrol and was about to return home, his police radar started going off.
"This is unit 112, I've got a suspicious character near the bank on 5th. Looks like they're wearing some kind of weird get up… Is that a tail?" Hearing this, Xavier landed on the nearest building to look for the bank the officer reported. As soon as he found it, he marked it on his hud and set off as fast as possible for how tired he still was.
'If I'm right, and I hope I'm not, this sounds like Scorpion. I don't know what kind of toxin he'd be using in this universe. He never showed up in Andrew's movies, I didn't expect him.' Adrenaline was beginning to run through his system, waking his tired body up once again. '... Should I call Peter?'
Xavier was closing in on the bank fast. 'No. I can do this alone. At the very least I have some extra limbs, just wish I had that weapon prototype ready.' As that thought crossed his mind, he got into view of the bank.
The NYPD were already in contact with whoever was inside, a blockade set up a few blocks around the bank. Landing on the ground next to an officer, Xavier spoke up. "Hey, what's going on?"
"Ah!" The officer was startled, then he seemed to realize who was in front of him. "U-Uh it's some kind of man with an exoskeleton. He's strong enough to smash the bank's doors down and his armor is bulletproof. What's more dangerous is his tail- He's using some kind of poison, and hit a few officers who tried to tackle him. They've been down for a while and we don't know what toxin he used." With every word, the officer's composure returned to his voice, though he looked genuinely scared.
"Lead me to the officers who were stung. Maybe I can see what's wrong." He was led over to the back of the assault line to see four officers laying on the ground in front of him. The first thing he did was to take a vial out of his inventory and collect some of the toxin from the wound.
Looking over at the officer, he was extremely pale. He was rolling back and forth in pain from the sting and he seemed to be hallucinating. He was trying to speak, but his mouth was numb so it came out slurred. Over the next minute, the officer in front of him began to stiffen up and stopped moving all together. "Pufferfish? That seems to be most likely."
Turning to the medic on scene he relayed his thoughts, and he seemed to appreciate the help. "Allright, I'm going in to stop him. Tell your guys to hold their fire while I'm in there." Xavier rushed off before they could get another word in.
"Time for my first villain fight." The Parker grin spread across his face as he slingshotted himself through the doors.
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