Najicablitz
patreon
A Rider Kick in Marvel Rewrite Ch 25
🕑 Added 2025-02-26 15:15:50 +0000 UTCThe cafeteria buzzed with typical high school noise as Ace, Berto, and Nico sat at their usual corner table. Nico scrolled through her phone, her gothic-styled fingers tapping the screen with quick precision. Suddenly, she looked up, her expression shifting from casual to serious.
"Hey, guys," she interrupted their conversation about a recent video game. "Tony Stark has disappeared."
Berto leaned forward, his curiosity piqued. "What do you mean disappeared?"
Nico held up her phone, showing them a news article. "He was on a trip in Afghanistan, and now there's no trace of him. The military is conducting a search, but so far, nothing."
Ace glanced at the screen, his eyes scanning the headline. The name Tony Stark was familiar to him, though he knew little about the billionaire beyond his reputation as a genius inventor and weapons manufacturer.
"When did this happen?" Berto asked, taking the phone from Nico to read the details more closely.
"Just recently," Nico replied. "It's all over the news right now."
The cafeteria's ambient noise faded into the background as Nico continued scrolling through her phone. More headlines populated her screen, each one more dramatic than the last.
"Breaking: Stark Industries CEO Missing in Afghanistan"
"Billionaire Weapons Manufacturer Vanishes During Weapons Demonstration"
"Search and Rescue Teams Deployed for Tony Stark"
Berto leaned closer, his eyes wide. "Wow, this is huge. It's literally the top trending story right now."
Ace glanced at the phone's screen, noting the multiple news sources and the consistent reporting. The headlines were splashed across every major news network - CNN, Fox News, MSNBC - each with their own variation of the story.
"Look," Nico pointed to the trending topics section, "Tony Stark is the number one searched term globally right now."
The phone showed real-time search statistics, with Tony Stark's name dominating social media and news platforms. Hashtags like #FindTonyStark and #StarkMissing were trending worldwide, reflecting the global interest in the billionaire's mysterious disappearance.
Berto whistled softly. "This is crazy. A guy like Stark just doesn't vanish."
Nico's expression darkened. She set her phone down and looked directly at Berto and Ace.
"I'm actually glad he's gone," she said flatly. "Stark is a war profiteer who's been selling weapons of mass destruction under the guise of global peace."
Berto raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"He's the merchant of death," Nico continued, her voice sharp with disdain. "Stark Industries has been supplying weapons to militaries and conflict zones worldwide. He's an egotistical billionaire who profits from human suffering while claiming he's making the world safer."
Her gothic-styled fingers curled into a fist on the table. The cafeteria's background noise seemed to fade as she spoke, her words cutting through the typical teenage chatter with a raw, passionate intensity.
"People call him a genius," Nico said, "but he's just another rich guy who makes money from destruction. Global peace? More like global conflict, funded by Stark Industries."
Berto chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "Wow, Nico. You really don't like big corporations, huh?"
Nico's dark-lined eyes narrowed. "Of course I don't. Big corporations are always hiding something. Who knows how many skeletons are hiding in their closet?" She leaned forward, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial tone. "And I'm sure Tony Stark has a mountain full of them."
Nico turned to Ace, "What do you think, Ace?"
Ace nodded absently, his mind clearly wandering. "Yeah, totally," he mumbled, his thoughts drifting to a different narrative entirely. In his mind, he was tracing the early moments of what would become the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tony Stark was currently being held captive in a desert somewhere, unaware that he was about to create the first Iron Man suit that would change everything.
Ace knew the sequence of events that would unfold. Tony would soon craft his initial crude but revolutionary armor, using scraps and his incredible ingenuity to escape his captors. The desert would become the crucible of transformation, where a weapons manufacturer would become a hero. He calculated it would take a few months before Tony would make his dramatic escape, with the threat of Iron Monger looming in the near future.
Nico's fingers scrolled through her financial app, her dark-lined eyes narrowing at the screen. "Stark Industries stock is starting to drop," she muttered, showing the graph to Berto and Ace.
The stock price hovered just above its current baseline, showing slight but noticeable downward movement. Ace leaned closer, studying the numbers with unexpected interest.
"Hmm," he said, calculating silently. The stock wasn't crashing, but it was definitely experiencing some instability due to Stark's disappearance.
Ace considered the potential investment opportunity. He knew something about Stark's future trajectory that others didn't. The stock would eventually rebound dramatically, making this a potentially lucrative moment to invest.
"What are you thinking?" Nico asked, catching Ace's contemplative expression.
"If the price gets lower," Ace replied carefully, "I might consider buying some stocks."
Nico stared at Ace in disbelief. Her dark-lined eyes narrowed, skepticism etched across her gothic-styled features. "You want to buy Stark Industries stocks? Are you serious?"
Ace shrugged, a casual gesture that seemed to infuriate Nico even more. "It wouldn't hurt to make some extra money," he said simply.
"How can you be so sure the stocks will rise?" Nico challenged. Her fingers drummed against the cafeteria table, a rhythmic counterpoint to her growing frustration. "For all we know, this could be the beginning of a total crash. The company could bottom out completely."
Ace met her gaze with a calm smile. "I've got a good feeling about it," he replied.
Berto, who had been listening intently, suddenly perked up. "Wait, if Ace is buying stocks, I want in on this too!" His enthusiasm bubbled over, eyes bright with the prospect of potential financial gain.
Nico stared at Berto in disbelief. Her eyes narrowed, a mix of frustration and incredulity crossing her gothic-styled features. "You can't be serious," she said. "You want to invest in Stark Industries? After everything I just said?"
Berto grinned, his enthusiasm undiminished. "Come on, Nico! Think about it. If we make a profit, we can celebrate together. And if we lose money, we can wallow in our financial misery as a team."
He leaned closer, his voice taking on a conspiratorial tone. "What do you say? Are you in?"
Nico's fingers drummed against the cafeteria table. Her internal conflict was visible - her deep-seated hatred for corporate giants battling with the potential financial opportunity. She looked at Ace, then back at Berto.
"I'm only doing this because you two are doing it," she emphasized, her voice sharp. "Not because I want to support this multi-billion dollar weapons manufacturer. I want that to be absolutely clear."
Berto's grin widened. "Great!" he exclaimed.
Nico sighed, her dark-lined eyes rolling as Ace chuckled at her dramatic reaction to their potential stock investment. The tension from moments before dissolved into a more relaxed atmosphere.
"Hey," she said, changing the subject entirely, "there's this arthouse theater showing an unreleased sequel to a B-movie I've been dying to see. Want to come?"
Berto perked up immediately. "What movie?"
"It's the sequel to 'Midnight Chainsaw Massacre'," Nico explained. "The director's cut that was never officially released."
Ace grinned. "I'm in," he said without hesitation.
"Me too," Berto added enthusiastically. "Sounds like a perfect way to spend an evening."
Nico looked surprised but pleased that both of her friends were so quick to agree. The cafeteria buzzed around them, a typical high school backdrop to their spontaneous movie plans.
Comments
T.0.PA.CI.0
Cool 👍
