HIATUS

Seeing the drunk state that Tony was in Pepper told him to end the party but to no avail.

"Pepper Potts. She's right. The party's over. Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago. The after-party starts in 15 minutes. And if anybody, Pepper, doesn't like it, there's the door", drunk Tony said to Pepper as he began to fire his laser beams at bottles that people were throwing at him for fun.

The same thing basically happened in the movie, Rhodey steals one of Tony's suit and beats his drunk ass with it. When this happened Pepper and I exited Tony's mansion immediately. We both didn't want to be in the middle of two friends fighting.

"Well, this is an interesting party. What do you think?", I sarcastically joked at Pepper.

Pepper just gave me a deadpan look.

"Too soon?", I said with a smile. Happy who was with us motioned me with his hand telling me to basically shut up. I laugh when I saw this. I patted Happy's back and said to him, "She, not my boss". With a smile on my face, I returned to my car and left Tony's mansion.

Ethan didn't see it but Happy had a look that just screams that he'll get even someday.

"Take me home Happy", Pepper commanded.

"Yes, ma'am", Happy said as he hopes that Miss. Potts will no longer be angry tomorrow.

THE NEXT DAY:

"That thing in your chest is based on unfinished technology, Fury said as he drinks his beer.

After what Tony did at his birthday party and the report that Romanoff had been giving him, Fury decided to talk to Tony. He didn't want Tony to die, Tony was just too valuable. He wanted Tony to study his father's research and just maybe he would find something that will make him live longer.

"No, it was finished. It has never been particularly effective until I miniaturized it and put it in my---", Tony was explaining the Arc Reactor technology but Fury cut him off.

"No. Howard said the arc reactor was the stepping stone to something greater. He was about to kick off an energy race that was gonna dwarf the arms race. He was on to something big, something so big that it was gonna make the nuclear reactor look like a triple-A battery", Fury explained.

"Just him, or Anton Vanko in on this too?", Tony said in a condescending tone.

"There is always another side to a story Mr. Stark. Knowing both will help you understand why people do, what they do", a voice behind them said.

The two of them were bewildered, both of them look at the direction of the voice. Tony was confused but Fury had this serious look in his eyes.

"Is he with you?", Tony asked Fury as he pointed at a man wearing a cloak that has a red cloud design and weird ripple design masked. Fury remained quiet and just looks at Zero, his mind was thinking at every possible reason why Zero would show himself here. He thought that Zero wanted to remain in the shadows but him showing himself in Tony's mansion where currently there were multiple SHIELD agents in place wasn't something he'd ever consider Zero would do.

After a hush silence, Fury said, "Hello, Zero".

"Hello to you too, Agent, I mean Director Fury. I like this cold pirate vibe you playing with", Zero said to Fury.

"So, you know him?", Tony asked.

Fury didn't acknowledge Tony's question instead asked Zero, "Why are you here? Someone like you would have definitely known that I have SHIELD agents currently in placed in this mansion". This question really bugged Fury so much that he decided to just asked the man.

Zero used his head to point at the SHIELD agents that were on the balcony. Those agents' jobs were to keep watch of anything that might be considered hostile and report it immediately for backup.

Fury and Tony looked in the direction where the Zero was pointing at and they saw the previously standing SHIELD agents were now unconscious and on the floor, men wearing black military gear with their face covered were now standing beside the unconscious agents. Tony was shocked because he never heard anything occurring, the conversation they had wasn't even that long yet SHIELD agents were already knocked out and those agents were like 10 meters away from them.

This was the moment Phil Coulson entered the room, seeing SHIELD agents on the floor and seeing a man that was wearing a mask with a weird design check all box in Coulson's head. Someone has breached the security. Coulson took his gun from his holster and pointed it at Zero.

This was also the moment Agent Romanoff entered the room and she also pointed her gun at the unwanted visitor.

"And I thought we were friends, Fury", Zero said with an amused tone.

Suddenly the agents that were with Coulson also took their guns out but it wasn't aimed at Zero, no, the gun were both aimed at Coulson and Agent Romanoff.

The tension was thick in the room that even Tony didn't give a sarcastic remark.

"Put your weapons down", Fury ordered Romanoff and Coulson. Both were reluctant to do so but obliged to do it anyway. Soon the agents that had pointed their gun at Coulson and Romanoff vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Where are my agents?", Fury asked Zero. He now knew that Zero had taken care of his identity not leaking. Zero took out his Agents but he left behind his most trusted people, Romanoff and Coulson.  He would just need to order them to not say anything and that they never saw him. Their loyalty would keep them from talking about Zero.

"Do not worry, they're fine, I'll text you their location later", Zero said to Fury.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yes I remember now. Anton Vanko is the other side of that coin. Anton saw it as a way to get rich. blah blah blah. here read his file instead", Zero said as he handed Tony a file that talks about Anton Vanko.

"Why are you here, Zero?", Fury asked.

Coulson and Romanoff were shocked that Fury knew the name of the intruder.

"I came because I need to give this to Tony", Zero said as he lifts a briefcase that no one realized that he was carrying.

"I don't even know you", Tony said at the man.

"It doesn't matter cause you need me more than you think", Zero said as he opens the briefcase. Inside of the was the Arc Reactor that Howard had made for Tony.

Zero handed the device to Tony and Tony subconsciously took it and said, "What is this?"

"A technology that will save your life. This is a device that Howard entrusted me to give to his son", Zero said. The bombshell that he said shock the people in the room. Especially Fury, he is the current Director of SHIELD, he has read all files the pertain to Howard Stark, but none of them even mentioned the existence of the man named Zero.

'He's just having fun at this point', Natasha thought as she looks at Zero, nay Ethan.