As the tension in the room finally eased, Tony leaned against the wall, arms folded, his helmet retracting with a faint hiss. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth while his gaze swept over the rows of machinery.
"So, tell me, Mr Peeping Tom—do you actually have a lead on these kidnappings, or are your cameras just for watching women take showers?"
Without replying, Luthar tapped a command into his vambrace. A holographic projection flickered to life between them—a rotating globe marked with faint red indicators scattered across continents. With a gesture, he magnified one of them, revealing a rugged mountain range in Eastern Europe.
"This one was the most promising," he said flatly. "When my agents breached it, the entire place was already cleared out. They even set a trap—as if they were expecting the raid."
Tony's eyes narrowed. "So you're telling me we've got labs popping up and vanishing before anyone even sneezes near them?"
"It's worse than that," Luthar murmured, his voice low and hollow, as though the words themselves hurt to speak. "They've found a way to blind my eyes… to block my surveillance."
Tony let out a low whistle. "Sounds like someone's upset they can't peek into people's basements anymore." He straightened, crossing his arms. "What's next, you gonna complain about losing your 'privacy invasion privileges'?"
Luthar didn't respond.
The silence stretched just long enough for Tony's smirk to falter. His expression shifted as a sudden thought hit him. "… Wait. You don't have cameras around me, do you?"
Luthar raised a hand and brought up another holographic display. A single phrase shimmered in the air—PROJECT GOLIATH.
Tony froze, the blood draining from his face. "You've got to be kidding me."
Luthar's tone remained calm. "Relax. It's just a broken armour design. You'd be surprised if you knew the amount of technology I have copied from you."
Tony exhaled sharply, jaw tightening. His first instinct was to punch Luthar, but he quickly dismissed it. If the priest already had his tech, any confrontation would be foolish. The priority was now clear: find every hidden camera, destroy them, upgrade his weapons, and then confront Luthar.
He shook his head, muttering to himself, "Unbelievable… you probably has eyes everywhere… even in my room."
With a deliberately theatrical sigh, Tony turned toward the exit, stepping over the humming cables and machinery. "Try not to watch me sleep," he called over his shoulder, smirking. "It'd be… frankly disgusting for a man like me to have you spying on my beauty rest."
Luthar said nothing, only tilting his head slightly as Tony disappeared down the corridor, boots echoing on the metal floor.
The room fell back into the hum of machinery as Luthar returned to the holographic display. His eyes scanned the red markers, each representing a previously compromised lab or hidden facility. The data scrolled faster than he could process, but his mind was already leaping ahead to a different problem entirely: preparing the Black Widows for dungeon-world rotations.
He tapped a sequence on the interface, bringing up schematics of various miniature devices he had designed for instant teleportation, portable combat simulators, modular weapons, and the Nexus Gate. All of these could train those agents effectively… if used correctly.
A frown crossed his face as he considered all the options. At first, he thought about using a Nexus Gate. That would allow direct access to the dungeon world, but constructing one alone was a monumental task. And what if he simply brought the Nexus Gate from the dungeon world to Marvel? The thought made him pause. Then he realised it was a stupid idea—there were too many beings in this world who could hijack the gate, which would be disastrous.
Luthar sketched out possibilities in his mind: should he take them in small batches? That looked like a good idea—first, take a small batch of around five or ten. With this approach, he would need to build only a few teleportation devices.
He activated a secondary display, projecting images of the dungeon world itself. Stone corridors twisted into labyrinths. The Black Widows would need to learn fast—how to use swords and guns at the same time and survive in a different world, he mused. His fingers hovered over the interface, already drafting the design for new devices.
Even as he worked, he allowed a small, wry smile to tug at his lips. Perhaps he could also let those agents collect lots of magic sir stones for his experiments. At least this way, he wouldn't feel stupid for building this device just to train these agents.
After a moment, he leaned back in his chair, mechadendrites retracting with a soft hiss. The plan was beginning to take shape—not fully realised yet, but the skeleton was there: staggered deployment, controlled exposure, precise extraction points, and a method to observe each agent's performance in real time.
Inside the chamber, the machinery rumbled back to life. While Luthar worked in silence, calibrating the core of the teleportation device. Lines of code flickered across his visor, equations rewriting themselves as he adjusted everything.
Far above that quiet hum of invention, the sky over New York shimmered in shades of steel and cloud. Tony soared through it, the deep thrumming of repulsors cutting across the wind. The bulk of the armour made the flight rougher than usual, but he didn't care. Inside, Jarvis's calm voice cut through the noise—precise, patient, and mildly judgmental.
"Director Fury has sent a message; he can't talk."
Tony frowned. "Send a message, I want to talk to him right now, and it's urgent."
A moment later, the call connected. The channel crackled, followed by distant bursts of gunfire.
"Little busy here, Stark," Fury's voice came through, clipped but steady.
"Sounded like someone is playing too much," Tony muttered. "Do you need a hand?"
"Minor issue. Handle it myself."
Tony rolled his eyes, banking slightly as he hovered above the city. "You know, communication's cheap these days. You didn't think to mention Natasha's been sending you reports?"
Fury's voice came back through the static. "I have read them. Didn't see the point in looping you in. They're about a bunch of missing scientists, not about killer robots."
Tony snorted. "Do I have to remind you that things never start with a bunch of missing scientists?"
"Relax, Stark," Fury said, gunfire still echoing faintly in the background. "If it turns out to be something important, you'll be the first one I bother."
"Cute," Tony muttered. "Just inform me before if it blows up."
"Don't worry, I am keeping tabs on the situation. If I find anything real, you'll know. For now, I've got nothing." The line went dead before Tony could fire back.
He exhaled, the city stretching beneath him like a circuit board waiting for a spark. The armour touched down on the balcony of his tower with a heavy thud.
"Jarvis," he said, stepping out of the suit, "create a file—tag it 'Anti-Espionage.' Start compiling everything we've got on hidden surveillance tech."
"Understood," Jarvis replied.
Tony moved deeper into the lab, scanning every surface with sharp eyes. With patience, he tried to look for the hidden cameras but, unfortunately, couldn't find them. Still, he knew they existed somewhere in these rooms, as Luthar was tracking every movement, and Tony's mind raced as he needed to find the hidden cameras quickly before even thinking about anything else.
The authors note: 30 days no new donation anyone which I had is getting cancel it let just say watching this really makes me not want to write sometimes but since that small donations will become a quite important for me even writing new novels did not improve the donation it still lower than 70$ and I have no idea what to do in the future. Maybe I really have to look for a better project which can attract new wave of donations but till that it is going to be a hard journey if anyone have ideas just give it to me now because I really need them.