HIATUS

"AH!"

"Finally!", Grant screams as he saw Ethan's body opens its eyes.

"Quiet down, Grant. Even if Ethan is already conscious, you still need to cover for him", Bucky said as he placed one of his hands on Grant's shoulders.

Ethan, who at first was in a state of dazed and confusion soon gain clarity of his mind, and he realized that he was back in his own body.

"Where were you? For nearly 6 months, I have searched multiple dimensions and then suddenly, I could easily spot you. Where were you previously?", the Ancient One asked.

"I was in two dimensions, the previous one was a dark place, I didn't know how I got out of there, I just did. As for the second, I think I was in Niflheim, specifically Hel", Ethan said as he laid back down.

"Where?"

"Where?"

Both Grant and Bucky were confused, this was understandable since both people did not know any relevant knowledge about the other dimensions. The Ancient One, on the other hand, she was clearly thinking about why I was suddenly transported there. In the past, before she knew me, she would have just blamed it as an act of random occurrences because of the space stone. But spending time with me, she realized that there is always a layer of mystery about the things that will happen to me. She didn't voice any of her concerns though and she just kept it to herself.

"I was gone for 6 months, huh", Ethan stated.

"Yes! I needed to cover for you in your company. Now that your back though, maybe you can take over. I'm not that completely heartless, you can return tomorrow", Grant said with a wide grin.

"SWISH."

This resulted in him getting teleported by Bucky into Ethan's office, Bucky returned soon afterward.

"What happened to Tony?", Ethan asked Bucky.

I was worried about Tony since I wasn't there when he was abducted, I feared something might have happened during his capture.

"Howard was incredibly worried about him, so I had to shadow him the entire time he was abducted as well as a few weeks after that, but all in all the man took care of Obadiah Stane and his suit called the Iron Monger. He later proclaimed himself as Iron Man after a press conference was scheduled asking for him to explain the battle of giant armored suits on the street. The look on Howard's face was both annoyed and proud when saw the live coverage", Bucky said with a smile.

After a few moments of silence, Ethan stood up, and said to them, "I'll do Grant a favor and I will be returning to work in the company tomorrow but for now I will be in the Lighthouse, I need to be updated on the things that I missed, specifically what happened to Ava in space. The thought of her being unsupervised and doing what she wants in space is something.." Ethan decided not to finish his sentence then he just sighed.

Bucky who was there when Ava was younger knows how much of a prankster the girl can be, so he knows what the things Ethan was feeling if she was the one in-charge of an operation.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

For the past number of months since Tony's big reveal as Iron Man, the Senate, specifically, Senator Sterns of Pennsylvania had pushed for Tony to surrender his suits to the US government. But unbeknownst to the public Senator Sterns is a Hydra Operative. He wanted Tony to surrender his suits so that he could allow hydra scientists to study it and hopefully duplicate his suits.

Inside the Lighthouse Howard was seen holding a triangular shape, glowing object in his hand.

"So, that's it, huh?", Ethan said as he looks at what Howard was holding.

"Yes, the mini version of the Arc Reactor", Howard replied. It's called mini because Howard was comparing it to the larger Arc Reactor that was used to power the base.

"When will you be giving it to him?", Howard asked as he placed the Arc Reactor inside a container.

"A day or two after his birthday party, I guess", Ethan said.

"Birthday? Oh, I almost forgot it was Tony's birthday today", Howard said with pain in his eyes.

"Yep, Tony is having a birthday party, even after what happened. I'm betting he got that from your side of the family, Howard", Ethan said. Seeing the pain in Howard's eyes, he approached Howard and placed his hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry Howard. You will see Tony soon, in person this time. I promised you that". Howard replied by giving me a weak smile.

Later that night I wore an extremely beautiful suit and droved my car towards Tony's house in Malibu. Despite what happened in Monaco, when Ivan Vanko attacked Tony with the same technology as his suit, Tony was still having his birthday party. The event in Monaco was something I just observed, it wasn't the time yet for me to introduce my other self to Tony, even if he nearly died when he fought Ivan.

But because of what happened there, Uncle Sam, The United States wanted Tony's suit even more, but Tony right now doesn't care anymore. Who can blame him really? For Tony, he thinks that his dying and right now he no longer cared about the government or the consequences of his actions. Why would he care when he's about to die?

I arrived at Tony's mansion and saw the New face of Stark Industries.

"Congratulations on the promotion", I said as I shook Peppers's hand.

"Ethan it's good to see you. The promotion is nice but sometimes I think that it was better for me to have remained as a secretary to Tony, that way I would only need to fix Tony's mistake now I need to fix Tony's mistake and handle the company, at the same time", Pepper said in a joking manner as she shook my hand. But I know that she sprinkle a tiny amount of truth into what she said.

"Well, you win some and you lose some, I guess", I said with a smile.

Pepper looked to her side and she saw Natalie and she introduced her to Ethan, "Oh, Ethan this is Natalie Rushman, my new secretary".

"It's nice to meet you Mister Ethan", Natalie said as she shook Ethan's hand.

"Likewise", I said with a smile on my face. Both of us had a clear understanding to not act like we know each other, and proceeded to talk like people who just met for the first time.

Soon, I excused myself from the two of them and tried to find Tony. The moment I saw Tony, he was totally drunk and showing off his Iron Man suit.