Marvel's Villainous Gacha 45 (Patreon)

“Excellent work as always, Pepper,” Michael said as he escorted her to the Stark Expo. Then, he smirked. “Too bad you’re rude enough not to wear the gift I picked for you.”

She blushed. “I can’t wear a watch you stole from Justin Hammer,” she whispered.

Natasha, once again in her Natalie persona, interjected. “Because she already put it in a display in her private office.”

“Snitch,” Pepper responded, glaring playfully.

“She needs to be punished. Ready your paddle,” Michael said, which didn’t help Pepper’s blush. For a woman who ended a considerable number of her nights in a sexy threesome, she was surprisingly shy.

He chuckled as he glanced around, taking note of the place, which was unnecessarily bright and futuristic, but considering the whole place was a huge advertisement event.

"Tell me again why we're watching Justin Hammer," Natalie complained. “Why doesn’t he get his own Expo?”

Pepper sighed. “Government insisted. Their stocks are in a free fall after Justin’s latest screw-up, and the government wants to protect the only contractor that can help them reverse-engineer Iron Man suits.”

He hummed. “Rumor has it that he has made progress, more than their usual incompetence. They had already leaked the news of successful prototypes, and the stock price had recovered significantly.”

Pepper sighed. “Maybe you shouldn’t have shorted their stock. It might hurt you a lot.”

“If the worst happens, I’ll just declare bankruptcy and find a rich sugar mama to pay for my expenses. Any idea where I can find one?” He smirked as Pepper blushed once more. Not that he cared. He just planned to hack one of Hammer’s toys and create a humiliating situation.

Maybe he would give Hammer a wedgie on the stage using his own products. It would have been amusing.

Too bad he couldn’t just kiss her. She was still the CEO, and it would damage her reputation as a serious businesswoman.

Instead, he pulled his flask and took a sip of his horrid whiskey, the sharp taste enough to distract him. They moved forward, and while Pepper walked with the important guests, Natasha still helped her take notes despite technically not working for her anymore.

He watched the crowd. It was enthusiastic, dense, and mostly civilian. Families with children near the outdoor demonstrations, tech industry professionals clustering around the corporate pavilions, a scattering of military uniforms near the defense technology section.

Security was a bit lighter than he would have preferred. Expo security was private, contracted through a firm that Pepper had vetted personally. Adequate for crowd control, laughable for anything more serious. The SHIELD presence was lighter than Michael expected, just six agents he could identify, positioned at the perimeter rather than embedded in the crowd, all from Coulson’s faction.

Well, technically Fury’s faction, but just by meeting the guy, Michael developed a distaste toward him, and his research on SHIELD files didn’t make him any better. He didn’t have access to real confidential stuff, but sometimes, it wasn’t needed. A few files classified as Level Three and Four, and the public records of some events told him what he needed.

Fury was an extremely competent spy, but he was also a paranoid control freak. They were excellent qualities for a spy, or even a field commander, but on a director who was supposed to control and direct a giant intelligence apparatus…

Michael was very glad that he wasn’t really a part of Fury’s faction, meaning he didn’t actually have to listen to him. He was even more glad knowing that if push came to shove, Natasha would side with him.

After they mingled, they moved toward the main stage, which had been dedicated to Hammer Industries. They moved toward their seats, which were, amusingly, somewhere in the middle rather than at the front, considering it was still Stark Expo.

Justin did that as some kind of revenge, lacking the awareness that it reflected worse on him than on them. Worse, he seemed to underestimate how vindictive Pepper could be.

His funeral.

They took their seats, and soon, Hammer appeared on the stage. Michael assumed that he was trying to look charismatic, but he looked like a second-rate sketch comedy actor trying to mock Tony Stark.

Michael leaned toward Natasha. “How many hours do you think he watched Tony’s product launches to copy his moves?”

“Easily a hundred,” Natasha replied. “His movements are too fluid despite clashing with his micro-expressions. His lack of confidence doesn’t help. He practiced it too many times.”

Michael couldn’t help but wince as Hammer revealed his robots. He didn’t wince because he was scared.

No, he winced because his inner craftsman had been annoyed by the shoddy worksmanship; with dozens of shortcuts taken to make them movable. Yet, instead of focusing on fixing these glaring mistakes, Hammer Industries once again went for the flash, and created several equally useless variants instead of a workable one.

A glance was enough to confirm that those armors would break into pieces after half a dozen sorties, and any maintenance to prevent it would cost more to repair.

It was still better than their research progress had indicated, making it clear that Hammer Industries had found some kind of genius to fix their shoddy product. Considering the other SHIELD faction was supporting Hammer Industries to counter Stark Industries — and Fury — Hammer finding a genius was not a surprise.

Though, the fact that he had spent all that time mounting fake weapons when all that was needed was to have them fly around and shoot pretty lights —

Michael froze as a little detail caught his attention. The ammo loaded into their anti-air model was partially visible. They had all the marks of fake ammunition for display purposes, but they were real.

The difference was small, impossible for anyone else to notice. Even Natasha would have missed it, but he had too many crafting abilities to miss that.

It was alarming enough that he reached for his phone, activating one of his emergency measures he had programmed, which ordered a submarine filled with drones to be released from its hiding spot, and appear near the surface.

The other SHIELD faction wouldn’t blink before sacrificing Hammer for their benefit. He was afraid that an accident killing hundreds of civilians was something they would define as their benefit.

He could hack the remote-controlled armor to dismantle the threats, but he didn’t dare to do so. With his supercomputers, he believed he might match SHIELD computers, but they would have home ground.

He didn’t want to trigger an emergency self-destruction response. He didn’t have enough protective drones near the expo. He had assumed that he had been ready for any threat that would target Pepper, but four dozen remote-controlled power armors that could potentially self-destruct was not one of his calculations.

A mistake, he realized. Just because he had been playing it subtle and careful didn’t mean others would do the same.

He could still prevent the disaster, but not without revealing more of his abilities like Stonesprout, which he didn’t want to; not after he went to all the trouble convincing SHIELD that his powers were based on recovery and enhancement.

On stage, Hammer was reaching his crescendo. The drones powered up in sequence, their chest units glowing with the particular shade of blue that indicated arc reactor derivatives, but functional enough for a demonstration.

He had no doubt these were based on the armor Tony had given to the military — in a needlessly dramatic manner.

He took a note to get a few of them. They were shoddier than Tony used for himself, but he didn’t care about it. He just needed a prototype to create improved versions.

He was considering what to do when Tony appeared from the sky, flying in his armor. The moment he landed, the armors had been activated their weapons, targeting Tony.

Tony cut through the sky, and most of the Hammer robots followed them. Even War Machine followed, his OS clearly overridden by whoever was behind Tony’s issues.

Meanwhile, the protection drones that he arranged for Pepper’s protection arrived, targeting the remaining bots, each deploying an energy shield around the remaining dozen robots, which also blocked their communication.

No communication, no self-destruct order.

“Nice plan,” he said to Natasha as he pointed at the drones, acting like he believed the drones were from SHIELD. At the same time, he reached to touch Pepper’s arm and activated Stamina Blessing on her, though the minor regeneration was the more important part. She was already up and giving orders to make sure the panic wasn’t expanding.

“They are not ours. It’s probably a measure from Stark,” Natasha said, then she reached and touched her earpiece. “They followed the signal to Hammer Headquarters,” she said as she grabbed his hand.

“Strength or Agility?” he asked.

“Go with Strength. I might have to deal with something unusual.”

He followed her request. “Do you want me to stay here, or follow you?” he asked.

“No, stay here. We need to run crowd control, and your healing might be necessary to prevent civilian losses.”

“Be careful,” he said and kissed her before she moved away. He didn’t argue. She was an expert, and he respected her belief that she could handle the threat. Instead, he followed Pepper, who had been trying to organize the panicking security guards.

“Stay calm. Protective drones already have the threat under control, people!” he shouted while moving toward the thickest part, and he even punched a few guards.

At the same time, he pulled his phone, quickly typing several messages. The submarine had already spat out about two hundred defensive drones, and they went to target the remote-controlled armors.

At the same time, the drones started to radiate a digitally generated voice. “Calm down, citizens of New York. Professor Azure is here, and I won’t let a pathetic hack like Justin Hammer and an overgrown booze hound destroy my city! Nor will I allow the government to do so! For I am Professor Azure, the lord of the deep and ruler of the free ocean!”

While the drones radiated that order, they were also acting as a vector to hack the suits. Which, to his surprise, happened smoothly.

Whoever built them didn’t bother adding even the rudimentary anti-hacking measures. It had to be intentional. Even Hammer Industries couldn’t be that incompetent.

Maybe.

He once again leveraged his Multitasking, using his advanced hearing to ‘stumble’ on struggling people. At the same time, he focused on thinking about his newest achievement.

A declaration of his new villain identity. He had been prepared to do so for a while, but he had been holding back to not to alert SHIELD. But, considering their internal conflict was growing in danger, he changed his mind.

It had three reasons. The first two were simpler. Tickets as the first, and the ability to pull bigger heists while misleading his enemies was the other … which was also why he had deployed the drones from the sea. He wanted his enemies to search for Professor Azure in the sea; he even named it accordingly to further lead them in that direction.

However, the last reason was the most important one. This was the second time SHIELD factions deliberately mismanaged a disaster to drive it to a worse situation that he knew of; both with a high risk of civilian deaths. Same with the current one. Even though Tony arrived just in time, he was still only one figure, and without his intervention, a dozen landbound armors could have killed hundreds before they could be taken down by Fury’s forces.

No, others might not care about the civilians, but he did.

He even designed his Professor Azure identity to take advantage of it, a contingency identity for situations where things could escalate.

Where Shadow Blade was elegant and playful, the Professor was cranky and authoritative. An older voice, digitally modulated, carrying the irritable gravitas of a retired academic who had been interrupted during something important and was deeply unimpressed.

The kind that would dismiss both the government and the other villains as inconsequential.

The only problem was the loadout. When he had been building the forces, he had believed that a full submarine filled with drones had been excessive, but clearly it was not.

Without Iron Man distracting them, and without the giant hacking vulnerability, things would have gone badly. His forces would have won, but not without a lot of civilian casualties.

While he was busy with the rescue efforts, the drones were split into three different works. Helping Iron Man to deal with the attackers, and also stealing the broken armors. Their power source was very valuable, and the rest could be recycled as well.

A second batch had split around the warzone, using their shield generators to block the attacks as well as helping with the search and rescue.

Then, a third batch, this time a mixture of offensive and defensive drones, left the city, and started to hit every Hammer Industries factory they could find, stealing both the machines and high-value materials.

A punishment for being naughty!

The best part, with most of the SHIELD agents identified, he was able to dodge any counter-attack to catch his drones. Not that there were many. Four dozen killer remote-controlled armors fighting with Iron Man provided a higher priority, and a few of these teams received misleading messages to make his job even easier.

His overt intervention ensured that there was no loss of life due to panicking crowd, and his drones ensured that the battle had gone smoothly. The only exception was Iron Man and War Machine fighting another figure, who, for some reason, chose to use electric whips as weapons, but since they were fighting far away from any civilians, he left them alone, focusing on bringing most of his loot away.

The drones themselves were not valuable, but the machines he had just stolen from Hammer Factories were another story.

"Attention!" Professor's digital voice boomed drone speakers all around the city. "This is Professor Azure once again. I am addressing whatever half-trained incompetent car repairman dared to put those bargain-bin tin soldiers and disturbed my rest. I will find you, and I’ll destroy you. Hammer Industries. You dared to bring dozens of remote-controlled armors with live ammunition to the middle of a city. I revoke your right to do business anywhere in this state. Push your luck, and I’ll kick you out of America! You have been warned!”

Michael smirked even as he walked back to Pepper, who was looking panicked despite her exhaustion.

"The other idiots who call themselves villains. I do not know who you are, and I do not particularly care. What I do know is that from this day, New York is under my protection. I don’t care about your pathetic little games. But, if you start hurting civilians, I will come after you. I won’t care about your little pathetic masks. And this time, I won’t use toys but actual weapons! You have been warned!”

He also sent two emails, one to Coulson, another to an agent called Brock Rumlow, who was essentially Phil’s equivalent in the other faction. The contents of the message were simple. To each party, he promised that if they start targeting him, he’ll cooperate with the other SHIELD faction; albeit the message itself was unnecessarily long with some egotistical ramblings.

He knew that with that threat, both parties would hold their hands initially, giving him the chance to expand his forces. Merely one submarine and a few hundred drones were not enough.

While he hugged Pepper, he listened to the crowd’s reaction. Maybe it was the adrenaline speaking, but Michael could see that most people were happy with the declaration.

Appearing without warning and threatening all villains, especially after such a spectacular disaster, went a long way to gain public sympathy.

Pepper melted into his arms, finally letting herself relax now that the immediate crisis was over. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Not our problem,” he said as he hugged her waist. “Probably another villain, but since he went out of his way to protect civilians, it means he’s SHIELD’s problem.”

She let her head fall against his shoulder. “I think it’ll be my problem as well, Tony—“

“Tony can do whatever he wants. You’re the CEO of Stark Industries, not his assistant. Tony’s personal crusade is not your problem. Especially since this mess was his fault.”

Pepper shuffled. “What do you mean?”

“His egoism,” he explained. “It’s clear that he finally gave one of his armors to the American government, but still refused to work with them, forcing them to turn that idiot Hammer,” he explained.

“But—“ she started.

“He could have refused them completely, or cooperated properly; but no. He had to pick the worst option just to assuage his ego—“ Michael started, then paused. He hugged her. “I’m sorry. It’s just … this is the second time you’ve been almost killed by one of his armor rejects, and I don’t appreciate the risk he’s putting you in.”

She sighed. “I will go and resign immediately—“ she started, but he silenced her with a kiss.

He wasn’t a moron. Pepper’s attraction might have died, but a close call with death, combined with adrenaline, was always a nasty combination. The last thing he wanted her to have a charged fight with Tony.

“No. What you need is to come with me, and sleep. Preferably for fourteen hours, and think about what you’ll do tomorrow.”

“I can’t. I’m still the CEO—“

“And, you once again faced a potentially deadly situation. Stark Industries has to survive without you until morning. The most I’ll allow you to give a quick interview to the press to tell them everything is under control, the fault is entirely with Hammer Industries, and there are no civilian losses.”

Another kiss. “You have a point,” she admitted, hugging him tighter.

Michael watched as Pepper handled the press like a maestro for half an hour, his mood getting better with each passing second. Not only watching Pepper in her expertise was always fun but also he had been observing his drone teams, all of them successfully completing their heists and returning underwater.

Only one of them had been prevented by Spider-Man, who, for some reason, decided that it was more important than search and rescue efforts, almost like he was afraid that Michael had forgotten him, but at this point, he was more of a slight annoyance.

An annoyance that faded immediately when he received his rewards.

[Feat Achieved! Pull off a heist big enough to alarm SHIELD

+1x Gold Random Gacha ticket]

[Feat Achieved! Pull off a heist big enough to scare the government

+1x Platinum Random Gacha ticket]

[Feat Achieved! Pull off a heist that takes over the front pages across the globe

+1x Diamond Random Gacha ticket]

Not bad for a casual outing…