Tony Stark sat stiffly in the scorched folding chair, shirtless save for the rough medical wrap across his chest. The arc reactor pulsed faintly beneath it, a low glow casting light across his bruises.
Across from him sat Liliruca—calm, composed, her terminal casting a soft light over her youthful features as she reviewed the latest transmission.
Tony studied her for a moment.
"You know," he said lightly, "you remind me of a girl Smart. Focused. But when she got mad, she once charged me ten bucks for stepping on her stuffed rabbit."
Liliruca didn't look up. "Did you pay it?"
"No," Tony said with a grin. "I negotiated her down to five and bought her a better one. Still cost me more in dignity."
She tapped a few keys. "You touched our command tent. Nearly gives me a scare. that rabbit analogy isn't going to help you."
Tony raised his hands slightly. "Okay, okay. Bad start, I'll admit. But can we talk about this billion-dollar release fee? That's a bit high, don't you think?"
She didn't answer, just rotated the terminal toward him. On the screen were schematics—factories, smelting plants, rare-earth mineral extraction chains, and even an orbital drydock plan. Tony's eyes narrowed as he skimmed the specs.
"…You want this?"
"Not want," she corrected. "We require. The sum is calculated based on what your resources, connections, and capital can provide."
Tony gave a low whistle. "Lady, this isn't a ransom. This is a corporate acquisition package. You're asking for an entire industrial ecosystem. I mean—where do you even plan to build something like this? You're in the middle of a desert."
"that's not your business," she replied. "Besides, this is only phase one."
He blinked. "There's a phase two?"
Liliruca tilted her head slightly. "Long-term orbital operations. Ship modification capability. We're being conservative."
Tony leaned back in his chair, wincing as his ribs flared in protest. "Kid… I hate to be the one to break this to you, but even if I wanted to help—and I'm not saying I do—you're asking for infrastructure that takes years to build. Not to mention—you've got no base, no supply lines, and no permits."
She gave him a flat look. "You didn't have permits when you built flying weapons."
"…Touché."
He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees. "Look. You want ships, factories, nanomaterials—I get it. But you're skipping ahead a few chapters. If you want something realistic, I can offer a backchannel fund, get you offshore accounts, maybe help you acquire a few facilities that are worth way more than some ransom check."
Liliruca raised an eyebrow. " that's not enough we need to build a spaceship and a planet"
" Your goals are too high why don't you start with something small," Tony said quietly. "So, look, if you believe me, I can help you build a rocket that can go to the moon, I can help you build a few factories, this is the best offer I can give"
He smiled again—soft, persuasive. "Look, I went full Iron Giant back there. Let's call that a bad day. How about you knock a few zeroes off the ransom, and I help you get what you want—without your unrealistic fantasies"
For the first time, she hesitated.
Just a little.
Then the tent flap rustled, and Luthar stepped in, cloak trailing smoke and dust.
His mechanical eye focused immediately on Tony. "Are you negotiating?"
Tony straightened. "More like—brainstorming payment options."
Luthar turned to Liliruca. "Status?"
"Stable," she said, then added, "He's it's trying to reduce the price."
Luthar's gaze lingered on her for a moment, then shifted to Stark. His voice was low—measured but laced with menace.
"Mr. Stark, I assumed a man of your caliber would value his autonomy. But understand this—if you prove unwilling to cooperate, I have methods to ensure your skills are still of use. Neural tuning. Cognitive rerouting. You'll work without rest, without will, until every design I require is complete."
He let the words settle like cold steel between them.
Tony's smirk faded slightly, " even if you transform me, I would not be able to build a spaceship"
Luthar thinking for a moment, then walked past him toward the back of the tent, examining a hololithic projection of their scanning data.
" you can do that, " Luthar said finally, without turning. " from the looks of it as long as you are under pressure you can create miracles."
Tony smirked."well I work better when I'm surrounded by beautiful women and good food"
Luthar turned, expression unreadable.
"I'd rather not break your mind, Stark. Give me the factories and resources I need, and you get your freedom—along with the truth about who had you taken."
Tony sighed. "And here I thought being kidnapped by terrorists was the worst thing to happen this week."
Liliruca returned to her console.
"You're still lucky. Normally, we'd just strip your memories and repurpose the body as a servitor," Liliruca remarked, her tone flat and matter-of-fact.
Tony leaned back in his chair, a dry smirk crossing his face. "When you say it like that, I almost do feel lucky. So—what are you? Aliens?"
"I'm a Pallum. Not an alien—just a different race. Small, fast, often overlooked," she replied, without missing a beat.
She paused, then added with a half-glance toward Luthar, "As for Luthar… he claims he's human. But I've never seen his face, so your guess is as good as mine." Her words carried a faint note of suspicion.
Tony tilted his head, still scrutinizing her. "Okay… how old are you?"
Liliruca gave him a flat look. "15."
He blinked. "15? Seriously? I thought you were maybe ten."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well—keep thinking that. Makes it easier to pick your pockets."
Tony smirked. "good to know I'll be sure to double-check my pocket from now on."
So this would be the first day when I write three chapters while I have supposed to upload these two chapters tomorrow but after an accident deleted so i decided to do it now.
[ by the way i have a draft for Ben 10 x Gwen which I am still not sure as that too many ideas but not much time if you want to check out you can do it on my patreon most of draft is free and if you are ready to support you can join for low as $1 and high as $ 5 that's remind me I supposed to start shout out from this month so has the first to shout out to Hedgeboar he was the first person to go for $5 a month when there was only one option of $1 and the second person is
Dallan Sneed if you are wondering how much I did make last month it would be around $60 can't believe it been 3 months since I started patreon I just hope in future this amount what increase
https://www.patreon.com/Silvervir?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator ]