Chương 66

The guards never even saw him. One moment they were standing. The next several parts of their bodies were struck with needles and that was followed by cameras getting frozen. Electronic locks became useless once ice clogged their mechanisms. By the time Haku entered the main workshop, Justin Hammer was in the middle of one of his dramatic spe"... And together we're going to show Stark what real innovation loo—" Hammer and Vanko stopped. Both stared like chicken in headlights.

Haku stared back, or rather the visor just gave a deadpan look of white, black and reflected light. The silence was awkward.

"You again." Vanko growled.

"Hello." Justin immediately pointed.

"SECURITY!" Nobody came. Haku pointed toward the hallway.

"They're asleep." Hammer looked horrified.

"What do you mean asleep?!"

"I hit them."

"You WHAT?!" Meanwhile Vanko was already moving. He grabbed a metal rod and charged forward. It lasted less than five seconds. Several senbon struck his arms. Another struck his leg. Vanko immediately collapsed face-first into the floor. Hammer looked between Vanko and Haku. Then wisely raised both hands.

"I would like to emphasize that I am cooperating."

"Good choice."

"I am a very cooperative person." Haku ignored him and pulled out his phone. There was only one person he wanted to call. The line connected almost immediately.

"Hello?" Rei answered.

"I found the angry Russian." A brief pause followed.

"... You found Vanko?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"He was hiding with Justin Hammer." Another pause and then Rei just sighed at the end.

"Of course he was."

"I think this is becoming bigger than a revenge plot."

"Yeah, I know what it is. I will be there in a second." Rei replied and just like he said, Rei appeared. Hammer could not believe his eyes when he saw someone just appear out of nowhere. He almost made a run for it, but then Haku raised his needles from between his fingers and pointed at him. He was beyond scared now. The faceless "woman" was fine but this guy, who he had never seen before appear out of nowhere. What was hell is this?

"Oh my! Justin Hammer and Ivan Vanko. Two classic villains at the same time. Haku, you have outdone yourself." Rei was happy that Haku had the mind to keep track of Vanko. Rei never cared for certain plots as that would be useless. In fact he still didn't care, but reckless endangerment of people was not something that could be taken lightly. So it was better to just stop this guy in the tracks. The world believed he died, so let's keep it that way.

"Who are you?" Hammer asked.

"Someone who is rapidly losing patience." Rei replied. His smile remained pleasant but for some reason that only made Hammer more nervous. The teenager walked forward and before Hammer could say another word— Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. SMACK. A slap landed across his face. Hammer stumbled.

"What the—" SMACK. A second slap followed immediately.

"Justin Hammer. Illegal weapons development. Harboring a terrorist. Assisting a man who attacked civilians. Attempting to compete with Tony Stark and somehow making yourself look incompetent while doing it. Quite the résumé." Hammer opened his mouth and then closed it. Then wisely stayed silent. Rei flicked his wrist and a contract appeared. Hammer stared.

"... Where did that come from?" Not important."

"What is important is that you sign it." Hammer read the first few lines and immediately paled.

"No." Haku's needles appeared between his fingers. Rei's smile widened. Hammer looked at one and then the other. Then at the unconscious Vanko.

"... Can I negotiate?"

"No."

"... Can I ask questions?"

"No."

"... Can I have a lawyer?"

"No." Hammer looked like a man who had just realized life wasn't fair. A minute later he signed. The moment the signature settled, Rei felt the connection establish itself. Not particularly impressive compared to some of his other contracts, but useful enough. Hammer immediately felt something change too.

"... That is deeply disturbing."

"Good." Rei then walked toward Vanko. The Russian looked up with a bloody grin after he was woken up, since the needles were taken out. He didn't understand why Hammer was being goody two shoes in front of this teenager, but he didn't care.

"So now you come to me."

"Sign the contract." Vanko read the whole thing and all this time, he had seen multiple things for the last few days and knew that this guy who had appeared out of nowhere had some kind of magic. Or at least that was what he believed. So he would rather die than sign with a demonic entity.

"No." Rei sighed. He threatened Vanko with everything. Nothing worked. Ivan Vanko simply refused. The man had already accepted death long ago. There wasn't much leverage left against someone like that.

"You really won't sign?"

"No." For several seconds neither moved. Then Rei simply nodded.

"Fair enough." A kunai flashed and Vanko fell silent, forever. He could have forced him with genjutsu too but this man didn't have much ability to provide Rei, so better just get rid of him.

"The world already thinks he's dead. Might as well keep the paperwork accurate." Rei didn't need Vanko's mind anyways. If he wanted something, Tony was there to help him, or he could just buy it. Vanko was just a nobody.

"You."

"Y-Yes?"

"Dispose of the body."

"What?"

"You own the facility. Figure it out."

"You just killed a man and your solution is for me to figure it out?"

"Correct." Rei didn't bother with it and left for home in New York. He had traveled to Haku's location. Now it was time to go back.

Tony of course knew none of it, nor he would have cared if he ever came to know. Haku didn't speak a word either. Tony had other fishes to fry and he was finally on the verge of giving up and going for the call to Rei to fix his problem. As he was gearing up for that call and admitting his failure, he and Haku at one point went out to have some food in the diner as he wanted to feel normal before the supposed call and the subsequent surgery.

But once he sat at the diner and ordered with Haku, selecting what to eat, Fury and Natasha showed up at the diner. Tony was instantly annoyed and more annoyed that Natasha turned out to be a spy.

"You broke my heart and this guy's" Tony said.

"From the looks of it, this guy here didn't seem surprised that she is one of us. So I guess your adopted son didn't tell you about her." Fury said and this made Tony turn his head and look at Haku.

"You knew?" Haku just shrugged his shoulders.

"Traitor." Haku didn't seem to be bothered at all. Instead he looked at the one eyed man and asked.

"Why are you here again? I told you to leave us alone. Tony might have patience, I don't." Fury didn't reply, instead he slipped off two files at both of them. On top of the file was written"Avengers Initiative" Both of them were confused but they still read through it. Tony's evaluation was "narcissism, self destruction, alcoholism at times and very stubborn." Haku's evaluation was "stoic, dangerous, protective and probably brought up by assassins and thus needs some mental therapy."

Haku reading his evaluation was a bit surprised. He didn't expect his evaluation from a government organization which he now came to know as inefficient was that good at evaluation. Tony, of course, out of competitive nature, peeked into Haku and seeing such high evaluation made his bad mood go sour and decided that this boy band wasn't worth his time.

"I refuse to join this kind of shady deals."

"And you think we have a choice? The world is bigger than you imagine. Haku here is the prime example. We need beings like you to defend humanity." Fury put his point.

"Don't talk about world being big. 10 bucks says I know better than you guys." Tony said and side eyed Haku. When he had learnt of another universe, he never believed that he was safe. Haku had told him that though he was a kekkei genkai, he wasn't high in the pecking order and even Zabuza wasn't that powerful as they failed in their coup too. So Tony knew that he was a nobody in the vast universe and this feeling of helplessness was something new to him.

All his life he had believed he was a genius and one of a kind and thus the world revolved around him. Now here came the reality and had pulled the rug off from under his feet. So he was obsessed with making better armor and would often take taijutsu lessons from Haku himself while also upgrading the armor and making anti-fire, anti-water, anti-wind... Fury's eyebrow raised when Tony gambled. That meant Haku's origins was definitely interesting for a man like Tony to be impressed and speak about seeing the world.

He was really curious about Haku. Was he an alien? That didn't seem like it as the hair collected said that he was human. 100%. Just a bit too beautiful for a boy.