It had been a long time since I'd been back to the MCU. First, I took out the Talaria RV, used [Matter Manipulation] to restore it to its original condition, sent it underground for repairs, and refilled its nano particles.
I also asked the AI Minerva to make a spare RV, and ordered an additional Odyssey-class ship, which I intended to use as an Avengers mobile base, as it seemed likely to see a lot of use.
Then, while creating carriages and horses for use in medieval fantasy or martial arts worlds, I simultaneously began analyzing the Destroyer blueprints and the golems I had brought from Konosuba.
"Too much to do as soon as I arrive..."
After spending about three days on such research, I suddenly received a call from New York.
[Master, a person in a red costume is looking for you. He says to tell you that 'Deadpool' is looking for you, and that you'll know what that means.]
"Ah... Damn! I completely forgot about him! Why did that guy come here!?"
I stopped my work and immediately teleported to my New York house.
"Jin! Long time no see!"
Deadpool hugged me tightly the moment he saw me. A bit flustered, I patted him on the back and hugged him back for a moment.
"What are you doing in this timeline?"
"I came to work in the sacred timeline too. I want to do something meaningful. Honestly, I don't even know when the sequels are coming out."
"I see."
I thought about sending him back, but given his personality, he wouldn't leave quietly. It seemed like he would cause less trouble if I just kept him around, so I decided to hire him for now.
"Well then, shall we start with the vacation talk?"
Deadpool was moving way too fast. The Avengers hadn't even been formed yet.
"Do you realize that this is the past?"
"That's why I came to this timeline. After the Avengers formed, they all rejected me. I don't know why they're so stuck up."
"Be careful with spoilers."
"Got it. Anyway, bi-weekly vacation..."
"Sure, Danish style."
"Oh~ you know about that. As expected of Jin. And about the salary..."
"Money from your universe is no good here."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah. You've traveled around the multiverse too. Didn't you notice the size and design of the dollars are a bit different?"
"Come to think of it, the vending machines wouldn't take my money. I blew them up in a misunderstanding, but they're living happily in vending machine heaven now."
"Geez... Anyway, I'll pay you in gold."
"Okay."
I first made Deadpool an ID and gave him some dollars and sent him off on a trip to Disneyland. In the meantime, I had my secretaries look for a house for Deadpool to live in. I made Deadpool's ID using his name, 'Wade Winston Wilson', and as expected in America, money solved the problem, and the ID was ready quickly.
While I was out, I also checked in on Toomes's training and gave Tinkerer some advice. I hadn't seen Natasha in a while, so I contacted her. She said she was cleaning up a Mexican drug cartel. Natasha was still busy as ever.
A few days passed like that. Wanting a bit of a break, I took a bottle of Dalmore 62 and drove the Talaria vehicle to Stark Tower. Tony wasn't there, but Banner was in the lab, so I greeted him.
"Long time no see, Banner."
"Nice to see you, Jin. What brings you here today..."
"Just bored. I came to see if you wanted a drink, but Tony isn't here."
"He's probably at home."
"Then let's go together."
"Sure. I was getting a bit bored anyway."
We bought some pizza at a nearby pizzeria and headed to Tony's house. It was clear he would be busy making suits without having eaten, as usual.
"By the way, Banner, still can't transform into the Hulk?"
"Well, that's right. I tried to transform once, but it didn't work. Actually, I think this is better."
Without the Hulk, there was no telling how the future might change. So I decided to offer some advice.
"Hmm... I think the problem is that you see the Hulk as someone else. I see him as another part of you, Doctor."
"Hmm... you might be right. Actually, Tony said the same thing."
We chatted about this and that as we drove, and soon arrived at Tony's house in Malibu.
"JARVIS, let Tony know we're here."
[Understood.]
Tony came up from his basement lab and welcomed us warmly with a smile.
"Wow~ Long time no see."
"You told me to go out more, but you're even worse."
Tony, who looked like he hadn't slept much, had haggard features and bloodshot eyes.
"Tell me about it. I don't know how I ended up like this... Anyway, have a seat."
We sat at the table, ate pizza, and had a glass of Dalmore each. Banner looked at Tony with concern.
"Tony, how long has it been since you slept?"
"Well... three days? Or maybe four... I don't remember."
Looking at Tony's condition, it seemed Iron Man 3 wasn't far off.
"Is something wrong?"
"Sigh... Well... ever since the New York incident, I've been having terrible nightmares. Because of that, my life has become a mess."
Just like in the original story, Tony was suffering from severe trauma. I first checked Tony's physical condition with [Eyes]. He was under a lot of stress, wasn't sleeping, had severe hormonal imbalance, and his body was quite exhausted.
"Hmm... Tony, turn around for a second."
"Huh? Why?"
"I'm going to use my powers to help your body a bit."
"Oh~ You have that kind of ability too?"
Tony stood up and turned around. I went to him, used [Heal] and [Mugensen] to heal his body, and used [Drain Touch] to share some of my energy with him. The color noticeably returned to Tony's exhausted face.
"Wow~ This is really effective? What did you do?"
"I just shared some of my body's energy with you."
"Your explosive stuff? I'm not going to explode, am I?"
"Of course not. I only gave you pure energy."
"I see."
Tony stretched, moving his body lightly.
"I feel completely rested. Thanks! Come by and do that once in a while."
"I'd like to, but I'm not a person with a lot of free time. I think you'd be better off getting a good night's sleep."
"That's true."
We finished the pizza, and Tony gave us a tour of his lab. The lab had a large number of completed Iron Man suits on display, and not content with that, various parts were strewn about, suggesting he was making new suits. Seeing that, Banner said seriously,
"Tony, are you building all these suits because of the New York incident?"
"That's right. You guys can't understand what I saw that day. Aliens, other planets... I'm just a guy in a can, and honestly, I'm afraid it might happen again."
As he said that, Tony suddenly couldn't breathe and collapsed to the floor. We quickly helped him to a chair. Banner's words seemed to have triggered Tony's trauma. Tony sat in the chair, calmed down, then stood up, put on a bracelet-like device from the lab desk, and called for JARVIS.
"Haah... haah... JARVIS, check my vitals."
[There are no abnormalities in your heart, lungs, or brain. My diagnosis is severe anxiety.]
"Sigh... Damn..."
Seeing that, Banner said worriedly,
"Tony, I think you should get some rest."
"Yeah... I suppose so."
Banner and I put Tony to bed in his bedroom and came back out so he could rest.
"This is a serious problem."
"I agree. But what can we do? He has to overcome it. I believe Tony can get through it."
I took Banner back to Stark Tower in New York and handed him some cash and a business card.
"What's this?"
"With Tony in that state, if anything happens, you can contact me or come to my house for help. And that's some emergency cash."
"I see. Understood."
"Then, see you next time."
I said goodbye to Banner and returned home. The next day, Natasha finally came home.
"Finally back. How was Mexico?"
"Tough. A lot of the citizens were involved with the gangs too. It was enemies on all sides, so I couldn't sleep properly, but I caught the boss. The unfortunate part is I couldn't completely root them out."
"You must be tired. Get some rest after you shower. I'll repair your suit and the Talaria."
"Okay, thanks."
In truth, rooting out Mexican gangs was impossible. At this time, Mexico's drug industry was directly tied to the livelihoods of its citizens, so politicians and police often turned a blind eye or even helped the gangs. But I didn't tell Natasha, who had worked so hard, about this fact.
I put Natasha's suit and Talaria vehicle into my inventory and sent them to my lab for repairs. Then I returned to New York and checked on Toomes's training.
"It seems I'm improving faster with the boss teaching me."
"I'm glad to hear that. And Tinkerer said the suit is finally finished. We'll test it tomorrow."
"Got it."
"And I've told Tinkerer this too, but it's best to keep your identity a secret. For your family's sake. You could become a target."
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that for a while."
"Go home early today and get some rest."
Officially, Toomes was known as a security guard and Tinkerer as a researcher. Since they wore suits to work every day, it seemed their identities wouldn't be compromised even when they were active as the Vulture.
The next day, we moved the Vulture's equipment to the island with the training facility. Tinkerer, Toomes, and Natasha, who had come along to watch after hearing about it, rode the Talaria vehicle to the island.
"Wow... Boss, when did you make a vehicle like this?"
"People like us need to move fast."
Both Toomes and Tinkerer seemed amazed to be flying in the Talaria vehicle. Seeing them, Natasha said,
"Are these the new members? I just thought they were your security guards."
"Ah, I haven't introduced you yet. This is Toomes. He'll be operating as the Vulture. And this is Tinkerer. He'll be in charge of general equipment repair and upgrades."
As I introduced them, Natasha, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned around and greeted them.
"I see. Nice to meet you. I'm Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. Just call me Natasha."
"Nice to meet you. I figured I'd meet you someday, being with Jin. I'm Adrian Toomes. Just call me Toomes."
"I'm Phineas Mason, also known as the Tinkerer. Nice to meet you."
Natasha lightly shook hands with them. The interesting thing was that Tinkerer, who always loved eating, had recently taken up an interest in exercise, so his body had improved a lot. Anyway, we arrived at the island, set up the equipment that had arrived earlier, and prepared for the test flight.
The Vulture's equipment had changed a bit from the original story because the engine was now an Arc Reactor engine, and plasma thrusters greatly increased its speed. As a result, the exterior had become slightly smaller, sleeker, and much more refined, not bulky.
It wasn't similar to the Falcon, though. The concept itself was different. The Vulture was much larger than the Falcon and had a wide variety of weaponry. Plus, with the aggressive integration of Chitauri technology, its firepower was no joke. It could also fly at extremely high altitudes, and with the addition of active camouflage panels, stealth was possible. Of course, AI was standard.
When Toomes came out wearing the Vulture equipment, even Natasha was surprised.
"Wow~ What is this! When did you prepare something like this?"
"I didn't make it. He did (Tinkerer)."
"So there's another person like Tony."
Hearing that, Tinkerer was very embarrassed and said,
"Not at all. I could never have completed it alone. Chairman Jin helped immensely."
"Even so, the basic design was all him."
I put on a headset and called out to Toomes.
"How is it?"
-Wow... This... it's even more amazing than I imagined.
"First, try walking around. Check for any discomfort."
-Okay, Boss.
The Vulture folded its wings and walked around the island, checking its status.
-Hmm... the response time seems a bit slow here and there.
"Really? Wait a moment."
Tinkerer and I began making small adjustments based on the data sent by the AI.
"How about now?"
-Ooh~ Good. Perfect.
"Great. Now try flying."
At that, Toomes sounded a bit surprised.
-Already? Boss, I'm starting to get a little scared.
"Don't worry. The emergency escape systems are all in place. And the AI will assist you, so it won't be too difficult."
After a brief pause, I heard Toomes's voice, sounding like he had made up his mind.
-Phew... Alright! Let's do this!
We started the flight test, initially keeping the power low and gradually increasing it.
-Ooh~ ooh~ ugh! Ah~ hmm... Hot!
Just like Tony on his first flight, Toomes made strange noises as he slowly began flying around the island. Seeing that, Tinkerer was so moved he was crying beside me.
"How is it?"
-This is incredible, Boss! Can I try going a bit faster?
Toomes, who had been worried just moments ago, was now very excited.
"No, sorry, but we need to make some adjustments based on today's test data. Come down for now. We're having a celebration party. Let's have a drink!"
-Oh~ Sounds good!
We moved back to my New York house and had a small celebration party. That day, Toomes and Tinkerer drank like crazy and got so drunk that I had to take them home.