The Monaco Race and My Precious Drone Collection

During the MCU's Iron Man 2 timeline, I killed time by dropping by Tony's place whenever I felt like it and hitting the casino for some games. These days Tony was getting dragged to congressional hearings, fighting tooth and nail to keep his Iron Man suit from being confiscated.

"What do you think of that Hammer guy who showed up at the hearing?"

"The bastard runs a defense contracting business but makes his money through bribes and political games instead of actual weapon performance. Pathetic and sleazy as hell."

I laughed at Tony's cold assessment and warned him with a dead-serious expression.

"People like that are capable of doing anything to steal someone else's success, aren't they? Be careful. He might swipe your suit and crank out some cheap knockoff."

"Security's airtight from the start, buddy. And even if Hammer did get his hands on my suit, the guy doesn't have the talent to build even a cheap replica in under ten years."

"If that's how you see it, then whatever..."

I'd given him a heads-up, so he'd probably stay on guard. But wasn't it Rhodey who took the suit and handed it over to Hammer for weapon modifications? Guess there was no stopping that part. For ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now I'd have to let the original story play out to a certain extent.

"By the way, Tony. Does that juice actually taste any good?"

I asked while eyeing the sickly green drink he seemed glued to lately.

"It's not about the taste. I'm drinking it to stay healthy. A kid like you wouldn't get it."

Wasn't that the palladium-neutralizing drink? The way the veins around his collarbone stood out when he tilted his head back to drink confirmed the palladium poisoning had advanced quite a bit.

"I'll head out now, Tony."

"Already? Pepper's coming over. She said she didn't get to greet you properly last time and wants to see you."

"Yeah. I should congratulate her on becoming CEO anyway."

I was sipping beer and watching Tony spar with Happy in the underground boxing ring when Pepper came down after arriving.

"Nice to see you, Pepper. First time since back then."

"Nice to see you too, Jin. I hear you've been spending a lot of time with Tony lately?"

"Yeah. After he handed the CEO seat to you, it looks like I'm the only one left to hang out with the newly unemployed guy. Oh! Congratulations on becoming CEO, Pepper."

"Thank you, Jin."

Ding-dong!

"Expecting someone else?"

"It must be my new secretary," Potts said as she sat down.

A new beauty had entered the scene, and Tony, Happy, and even I stared at her in stunned silence. Tony tried his usual pickup line.

"Sweetheart. What's your name?"

"Natalie Rushman."

"Do you know how to box?"

"A little..."

"Then get up here!"

And so Natalie—no, Natasha Romanoff—stepped into the ring while an excited Happy began teaching her. Even if it was Happy times ten versus Natasha, I still felt like Happy would lose.

Meanwhile Tony was busy googling the name he'd just heard. I sneaked a glance at Natasha's photoshoot beside him. Wow… Natasha noona… magnificent as always.

After killing time like that I headed home. A few days later Tony called.

"Jin! I'm heading to Monaco for the race. You in?"

"Nah. I just got home. I'm tired so I'll sit this one out."

I hung up, opened the door, and said,

"So what brings you here?"

Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., was waiting for me after I came back from school.

Nick Fury looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"How did you know I was waiting?"

"My senses are pretty sharp. I could feel someone inside the house."

"Impressive ability. I came because I have something to ask you. You remember the incident a few months ago when Tony fought in the Iron Man suit, right? It wasn't released to the public, but satellite footage caught a man destroying a massive Iron suit and saving Tony. And not long after, an Asian student suddenly became friends with Tony Stark? Don't you think that's strange? What's your take?"

I smirked at his roundabout attempt to fish for information and decided to provoke him.

"You already know everything, so stop beating around the bush. Nick Fury!"

Startled, he shot up and pointed his gun at me.

Click!

"What the fuck!! How do you know my name? Who the hell are you?"

"Ahahahahahahaha!!"

Seeing him blurt out "what the fuck" the moment he panicked made me burst out laughing. Nick glared at me like I was crazy, tightening his grip on the pistol.

Time to stop messing with him. Hehe.

"I'm definitely suspicious, but I'm not your enemy. If I were..."

Pop!

I vanished and reappeared beside him, chopping his wrist to snatch the gun and point it back at him.

"I'd take the gun like this and shoot you."

I smiled and handed the pistol back. Nick accepted it with a sour face, still wary, and slowly sat back down.

"Fine. Assuming you're not an enemy, I'll make the offer. Interested in joining our team?"

"Team? Who else is on it besides Natasha and Barton?"

"You really know how to keep surprising me. Are you a goddamn spy from another country?"

"Not a spy, not an enemy, so relax. I just have decent information sources. So, who else besides those two?"

"For now it's just them. But there are others with special abilities. I'm planning to recruit them."

"People with special abilities, huh… I can think of a few candidates. I'll hold off for now. I don't exactly trust you all that much yet either."

Nick Fury nodded, told me to contact Natasha if I changed my mind, and left.

After he was gone I grabbed some food, killed more time, then used the fruit's power to teleport through a mirror I'd secretly registered on Tony's private jet.

Bang!

"Surprise!"

Tony, Happy, Pepper, and Natasha noona all jumped when I burst out of the bathroom shouting.

"What the—when did you even get on board??"

"It's a secret. I'm thirsty, so beer please."

I sat down. When I turned my head, Natasha noona was staring at me with suspicious eyes… Still insanely sexy. I'd love to make a move, but it was probably too soon.

We arrived in Monaco, did some sightseeing, and I even spotted Musk hyung greeting Tony. Maybe I should invest in Tesla right now? While we were drinking and watching the race, Pepper said Tony had disappeared. I started loosening up my body.

When Tony, who was racing, rounded the corner, a man in a suit walked out from the pile of wrecked cars. Tony tried to swerve, but the man swung what looked like an electric whip—

Whirr! BOOM!!!!

The whip sliced Tony's car clean in half, sending both car and driver flying. Tony managed to eject and was desperately dodging Ivan's relentless attacks when Happy, with me and Pepper in the car, rammed straight into the guy and pinned him against the fence.

"Won't this kill him?"

I knew he wouldn't die, but clichés had to be said.

Sure enough, Ivan woke up and kept smashing into the car, swinging his whip and slicing the door clean off in the process. Pepper tossed the bag through the opening. I'd been riding along watching until now, but I got out of the car to witness the iconic portable suit equipping scene in person.

"Scenes like this need to be seen live."

Tony shook his head at my comment, stepped on the bag's button, and the suitcase unfolded into the Iron Man armor, attaching itself to his body.

Once the transformation finished, Tony kicked the car aside and reached out to fire a repulsor at Ivan, but Ivan swung first.

Slash! Thud!

"Ugh!"

Screeech! Thud!

Watching Tony get smacked by the whip every time he tried to fire made me sigh.

"Sigh~ The portable suit only looks cool when it's equipping. Performance is garbage."

I closed in fast, wrapping the whip around my hand.

"Damn it, does Tekkai not block elemental attacks? This shit tingles like crazy."

While I held the whip, Tony finally landed the repulsor blast and ripped the arc reactor out of Ivan's chest after knocking him down. Ivan Vanko was safely arrested, we gave our statements as witnesses, and returned to New York.

A lot happened in the days after Monaco. Rhodey saw Tony drunk at a party in the suit causing chaos, fought him in a prototype silver Iron Man armor, then took it and ran. News reported that the prison had exploded and Ivan Vanko was dead.

Tony started personally remodeling the house to build a new arc reactor, so I headed to the expo early with Natasha noona. Partly to wait at the final battle location, but mostly to get closer to her.

Hammer danced ridiculously onto the stage and introduced the Hammer drones as America's new military force.

"Tsk… I wasn't planning to take any since I figured I wouldn't need them, but screw it. Three of each type it is!"

I licked my lips like a kid who'd found a new robot toy.

"You probably can't take them back to reality. And even if you could, stealing military drones would cause massive trouble lol."

War Machine made his entrance, saluting and performing, when—

Shwoooom! Thud!

"Wooooooah!!!"

Iron Man flew in from afar and landed on stage to thunderous cheers. At that moment, the War Machine and drones under Ivan's remote control turned their weapons toward him. Tony shot into the sky to lure them away while people fled in panic.

In the chaos ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I used my hacking skill to successfully take control of three Marine, three Navy, and three Army drones each. I disabled their self-destruct codes, gathered them in a less visible area behind the venue, and stored them in my inventory. Luckily the hacked drones registered as items and went in smoothly.

After helping some civilians I ran toward where Tony had fled.

I arrived in time, hacked three more Air Force drones, stashed them in my inventory, and pretended to fight hard. The heavy machine guns on War Machine's shoulders tore through enemy drones. Seeing Rhodey's suit made me greedy again, but I decided to hold back this time.

"Huh? Who's this kid?? How is he fighting combat drones bare-handed??"

"Nice to meet you, Colonel. I'm Jin, Tony's friend."

The moment I greeted him I spun around, leaping between enemy drones and using Finger Gun to precisely strike only their energy cores, destroying them with minimal collateral.

"Hehe~ Gotta ask Tony to repair these later and give them to me."

There were a lot of enemy drones, but thanks to my help we cleaned them up quickly. Then Natasha's comm came in. The big one was coming…

BOOOOOOM!!!!

A massive suit landed with a heavy thud. The helmet opened to reveal Ivan's face.

"Feels good to be back."

He crossed his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠arms then spread them, revealing even more powerful electric whips than before.

"Can't you pierce that with your finger? Or use that kick you showed us last time?"

"Hold on, I have a present for a guy like this… Let's finish it with Runaway Wife."

"What??"

Tony looked confused by the weapon name. War Machine's shoulder opened and a small missile roared to life before launching.

Ting. Clunk…

"....."

"......."

".........."

"Hammer tech, huh? Sigh~ Jin!"

"You guys are responsible too, so handle it yourselves. I've helped enough."

I walked up a nearby hill, pulled a beer from my inventory, and watched the show.

After a few exchanges that went nowhere, red lasers fired from the backs of Iron Man's hands.

"Oh! He hadn't used those yet??"

The lasers sliced through nearby trees and Ivan's suit alike, cutting it in half before it exploded.

Ivan's death must have triggered the self-destruct system. Warning tones blared from every remaining drone as red lights flashed. Tony flew off to save Pepper while War Machine and I evacuated the area and rescued civilians.

Once everything was over I asked Tony to repair the drones that hadn't self-destructed, but he refused. Stingy bastard. I thought about hacking Jarvis to mess with him, but twelve drones (three of each type) was enough to satisfy me. I went home.

The moment I got back I took the drones out one by one and displayed them. I was so happy I took a commemorative photo.

"Should I? I can only upload that from reality. I'll take photos with Tony, Natasha noona, and Pepper noona too and post them all at once!"

After promising to upload, I ended the stream.