The heavy iron door was secured with multiple padlocks and guarded by two heavily armed terrorists. For a normal infiltrator, it would be a tactical nightmare. For a master of spatial magic, it was just a mild inconvenience.
Standing perfectly invisible under his Deathly Hallow cloak, Ethan visualized the space three feet on the other side of the door. He didn't even need a hand sign anymore. He just pulled from his Wizarding Core and stepped forward.
Crack.
The sound was muffled by the roar of the diesel generator outside, and Ethan phased straight through the solid iron.
He appeared in the suffocatingly hot, dimly lit cave. The air was thick with the smell of sulfur, stale sweat, and melting metal. He moved silently to a dark corner, keeping the silvery cloak wrapped tightly around himself, and watched.
There they were.
Ho Yinsen, the mild-mannered doctor, was frantically adjusting a mess of wires connected to a crude, glowing blue circle. The tragic guy who was destined to die just to give the billionaire some character development. Well, Ethan thought, leaning against the rocky wall, since I'm here⊠let's change some fate.
And then there was Tony Stark. He looked absolutely nothing like the slick, arrogant playboy on the magazine covers. He was covered in soot, drenched in sweat, and his eyes held a manic, desperate edge. He was currently dragging a massive, heavy piece of welded ironâthe crude chest plate of the Mark Iâonto an anvil.
It had been almost two months since Tony got kidnapped. Since the system task was initially just to "witness" the birth of Iron Man, Ethan hadn't intervened. He had just observed, staying hidden. It wasn't like he was roughing it, either. Because he knew the exact coordinates now, his daily commute consisted of sleeping in his luxury New York Sanctum, enjoying the high-speed internet, and then Apparating into the Afghan cave for a few hours a day to check on the progress.
And finally, it was coming to the final stage.
Clang, clang, clang!
Tony hammered away at the metal, then immediately spun around to tap furiously at a bulky, outdated computer terminal, writing the base code for the suit's rudimentary operating system.
Watching this, Ethan couldn't help but sigh. Tony truly was the biggest hack in the entire Marvel Universe. His innate skill set was ridiculous. Ethan remembered the Extremis arc from the moviesâMaya Hansen had spent more than ten years trying to perfect that formula, yet it couldn't compare to Tony drunkenly fixing her life's work on a napkin in one night. And that was right after they had finished sleeping together!
"Yinsen! Dismantle the Jericho missile's miniature warhead for me! Quick! I need the guidance chip inside!" Tony barked, his brain moving a million miles a minute.
The rhythm of the entire cave was entirely dictated by his frantic genius. Dr. Yinsen, though barely understanding the tech, immediately complied, running to the other side of the workbench.
Tony grabbed a piece of sheet metal and quickly drew a brand new circuit diagram on it with a piece of charcoal, muttering to himself. "Layered output, pulse boost... Damn it, just a little bit short..."
As he drew, he subconsciously reached out his empty hand and shouted, "Wrench! Give me a 12mm wrench!"
Yinsen was busy wrestling with the warhead casing at the other end of the cave and couldn't make it in time.
Just as Tony was about to impatiently drop the charcoal and go find it himself, a cool, heavy metal object accurately landed perfectly in his palm.
It was indeed a 12mm wrench.
Tony paused. He hadn't heard footsteps. He looked up.
Hovering completely unattached in mid-air was a human head, sporting a head of thick, perfectly styled dark hair and a kind, highly amused smile.
"I guessed you might need this," Ethan grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
Tony's heart literally tried to pop out of the glowing hole in his chest. He let out an undignified yelp, scrambling backward so fast he tripped over a stray pipe and fell hard onto his back, sliding across the dusty cave floor.
"Who?! What theâNo! What are you?!" Tony stammered, scrambling away from the floating head like a crab.
Hearing the commotion, Yinsen spun around. The doctor dropped his tools, his jaw hitting the floor as all the color drained from his face. He was too scared out of his wits to even scream.
Ethan didn't answer right away. Instead, he reached out a completely invisible hand, pulled his Stark-branded smartphone from his pocket, and pointed it at the terrified billionaire.
Flash!
"Nice," Ethan chuckled, looking at the screen. "I can definitely use this for blackmail later. It's a great souvenir."
With a fluid motion, Ethan grabbed the hood of the Invisibility Cloak and pulled it off, draping the silvery fabric over his arm. His entire body materialized into view. He was wearing his fitted charcoal t-shirt and designer jeans, looking entirely out of place in a terrorist torture cave.
"Hello, Mr. Stark. I am Ethan Williams. Nice to meet you," Ethan said, giving a polite, two-finger salute.
Seeing that the floating head was actually attached to a solid, human body, Tony finally stopped scrambling backward. He took a few deep breaths, his panic immediately giving way to his insatiable scientific curiosity. He narrowed his eyes at the silvery fabric in Ethan's hand.
"What is that?" Tony demanded, getting to his feet and brushing the dirt off his pants. "Some kind of high-tech optical camouflage? Are you using retro-reflective metamaterials to bend light across the visible spectrum? How are you powering it without a massive thermal signature?"
Ethan just laughed at the rapid-fire tech jargon. "Not exactly."
"Quickly, go invisible again!" Yinsen suddenly hissed, rushing forward and pointing frantically at the ceiling corners. "There are cameras here! The Ten Rings monitor us constantly! If they see youâ"
"Relax, Doc," Ethan shrugged, pocketing his phone. "I already took care of the cameras. Looped the feed with a basic illusion spell the second I walked in. To the guys looking at the monitors, you two are just quietly welding scrap metal."
Tony stopped, crossing his arms and giving Ethan a highly skeptical look. "Did you just say... a spell? What are you, some kind of David Copperfield cosplayer? Who sent you? The military? Or some secretive organization?"
"I'm a sorcerer," Ethan said plainly. "And I'm here on my own time."
"A sorcerer," Tony scoffed, rolling his eyes so hard it looked painful. "Right. And I'm the Tooth Fairy. Listen, pal, I don't know what kind of black-ops stealth tech you've got your hands on, but magic doesn't exisâ"
Ethan's eyes flashed with a mischievous glint. He didn't even say a word. He just casually snapped his fingers.
A shower of golden-orange sparks erupted perfectly beneath Tony's feet.
"Whoaâ!"
Tony dropped like a stone through the floor, vanishing entirely. A split second later, a second portal opened directly on the ceiling. Tony fell out of the ceiling portal, screaming at the top of his lungs, and plummeted straight back down into the floor portal.
Whoosh!
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
Whoosh!
"Make it stop!"
Whoosh!
Yinsen stood frozen in absolute horror as the billionaire fell in a continuous, endless, terrifying loop.
Ethan leisurely walked over to Tony's abandoned workspace, picked up a stray piece of scrap metal, and examined it while the screaming continued in the background. He checked his watch.
He let Tony fall for exactly ten minutes.
Finally, Ethan waved his hand, closing the portal on the floor.
Tony fell from the ceiling one last time and slammed onto the hard rock floor with a heavy, painful THUD. He groaned, rolling onto his side. The extreme vertigo and motion sickness hit him instantly. His stomach violently scrunched, and he dry-heaved into the dirt, entirely stripped of his usual billionaire bravado.
Ethan slowly turned his head and looked at Yinsen.
Yinsen immediately threw his hands up in the air and aggressively backed away against the cave wall.
"I believe!" Yinsen shouted, his voice cracking with panic. "I believe in magic! One hundred percent! Heck, my dad was an amateur magician! Pulled a rabbit out of a hat once! Definitely real!"