Ultimate Iron Man

[Morning]

The base buzzed like a hornet nest in motion.

Suits powered up. Drones zipped through corridors. Security bots were on full patrol. Tony hadn't slept more than three hours, but he was sharper than ever.

The Widows, each one personally scanned and cleared, stood in formation in the combat hall. Their suits shimmered in idle mode, white with deep crimson linings. Tony walked alongside the row, stopping every few meters to inspect them. 

Each suit now carried the Skrull detector and disruptors.

Tony tapped on one Widow's forearm display.

"Disruptor field?" he asked.

"Charged. Linked to my neural signature," she said.

"Good."

He stepped back and scanned them all.

"Next time you girls face any Skrulls or any aliens, trying to harm you or anyone in any way, send me an emergency signal and then kill them. No mercy. They are a threat to humanity, replacing us and increasing their numbers. There's no way in hell we are gonna let that happen. That's the purpose of the Shadow Legion. Destroy them mercilessly."

The Widows nodded in unison.

"Disperse and keep an eye open."

...

[HORIZON ISLAND – TACTICAL FEED ROOM]

A small screen was projected on Tony's arm as he walked. The hologram displayed Melina, standing in the command tower of Horizon Island. Behind her, surveillance feeds from every section of the secure island rotated.

"We've completed scans. No signs of infiltration," Melina said. "We double-checked every personnel, every storage room. If there were Skrulls here, they're gone now, or we never had them."

"Don't relax yet," Tony replied. "Upgrade your suits. You and Natasha both. Full disruptor integration, full shield calibration, new sealants, and double the mecha guards. I want a flight lockdown. Nothing in, nothing out. You and Nat stay there and monitor things."

"Understood," she said. "You're expecting retaliation."

Tony didn't even blink. "We just took down their spies and an entire group. They will now either hide or attack. But it doesn't matter. Be careful."

He cut the call.

...

[CRYO CONTAINMENT]

The air turned colder as Tony descended. He was carrying a bag of new clothes. Earlier that morning, before starting the upgrades, he did a quick search on Ghost and his past life. Tony found Ghost's family.

He passed through five security checkpoints, each layered with biometric locks, electromagnetic seals, and retina scans. The lights flickered in the sterile blue-white tone that this level used exclusively.

At the heart of the chamber stood a single cryo pod.

Inside: Ghost.

Tony stood in front of the pod and folded his arms.

"Elena," he said.

A faint chime.

"Yes, boss?"

"Wake him."

"Affirmative."

The cryo pod hissed and cracked open. Vapor spilled across the floor like steam off dry ice, and the cold breath of the chamber thickened the air. Inside, Ghost stirred.

His body was pale, lean, and completely human again, with no phasing distortions or metallic shimmer in his veins. He coughed once, sharp and dry.

Then shivered violently.

A pulse of gentle heat filled the pod, kicking in automatically. Within seconds, his shivering slowed as his core stabilized. He sat up, blinking against the harsh lights.

Tony tossed the bag of clothes beside him.

"Suit up. You've got five minutes to feel sorry for yourself."

Ghost looked down at his own body, the visible scars, the healed skin. He touched his chest as if he couldn't quite believe he was still alive.

He looked up slowly.

"You're not the one who made the deal," he said, his voice rough. "I told the blonde everything. Gave her your grandfather's location. The cloning tech details. Names. Coordinates. And she promised I'd walk."

Tony didn't blink. "Yeah. She did. But we have certain rules when it comes to high-level individuals like you."

Ghost scoffed, slipping into the undershirt. "High level? Ha! I'm just a regular human now."

Tony stepped closer. 

"You know too much. You've seen more than most. And the things you told us? Those aren't secrets you get to walk away from."

Ghost narrowed his eyes. "So, what's this, then? You going to erase my mind? Kill me quietly? Use me as another tool in your war?"

Tony shook his head. "No. I'm offering you something better."

Ghost stilled. His arms were halfway through the jacket.

"I want you to work for me," Tony said. "No, not just work. I want you to join something I'm building."

"You're joking."

"I don't joke about world security," Tony replied. "The world's changing. Fast. We've got shape-shifting aliens running ops in our backyard, mutants making alliances with psychotic cyborgs. Yup, Gramps escaped. Then there are those traces of other superhumans rising slowly."

Ghost stood, fully clothed now, still barefoot and weary.

"And you think I belong in that world?"

Tony took a step back, giving him space. "I think you've already been in it. You just weren't on the right side. You were desperate to heal yourself, and your mind was broken."

Ghost exhaled through his nose, half amused, half bitter. "So what? I help you fight aliens? Hunt down more monsters like me?"

"You become more than who you were," Tony said. "You join the team I'm assembling. Let's call it the Ultimates, or maybe something cooler once I've had more coffee, and you can earn back everything you've lost. I don't care about your past; what matters is that you understand the consequences of losing this war."

Ghost was silent for a long time. The quiet in the chamber was thick. The hum of the cryo unit buzzed in the background.

Finally, he looked at Tony.

"And if I say no?"

Tony stopped and looked straight into his eyes, "You won't. That phasing tech you created was to help others in need, but your boss exploited you and your tech, even tried to kill your girlfriend. Now, you can walk away from her, and I'm pretty sure you'll go to her. But how would you face her and your daughter? What would you tell them? She never married anyone... Still waiting for you." 

He raised his right arm and pulled up a live feed of Ghost's family. His girlfriend and his daughter, who has grown up. He never got to see her grow up. 

"Your daughter goes to college now," Tony said as he pushed the holographic screen toward Ghost.

Ghost stood frozen, staring at the projection. His breath caught in his throat.

On the screen, his daughter laughed in the backseat of a car, talking to her mother, the woman Ghost had left behind when everything fell apart. Her smile was the same. The lopsided grin. The dimples. Her eyes.

His fingers reached for the screen.

They passed right through it.

He didn't say anything. His hand hovered in the air, then slowly curled into a fist. His shoulders trembled once. Just once.

Tony let him sit in it.

After a long silence, Ghost finally spoke.

"Twenty years," he whispered. "I missed twenty years. First words. First steps. School. Every single birthday."

His voice cracked.

"They think I'm dead."

Tony stepped forward, quieter now.

"They do," he said. "But you're not. And it's not too late."

Ghost looked up, eyes rimmed red but dry.

"I can fix it," Tony said quietly. "Not the past. But the story."

Ghost didn't speak. His hands were still clenched, his eyes locked on the frozen image of his daughter laughing.

Tony continued, calm and matter-of-fact. "We say you were part of a deep quantum experiment. Something hush-hush. Pulled out of phase for two decades. Time didn't pass the same way for you. You survived. We recovered you."

Ghost looked at him. "You think they'll believe that?"

Tony smirked. "Coming from me? Please. I'll throw some jargon around. Quantum tether. Chrono-echo instability. Toss in a few faked debrief files, signatures. Hell, I'll even include a NASA stamp."

Ghost swallowed. The emotion was thick in his throat.

"And just like that... I get to go back?"

"You go back today if you want," Tony said. "You walk through that front gate and hug them. You let them cry. You tell your daughter you're sorry. You explain the whole mess as something you couldn't control."

Ghost said nothing.

Tony continued.

"One day, I'm going to call. Could be tomorrow. Could be a year. Doesn't matter. When that call comes, all I ask is one thing."

Ghost looked at him.

"You say yes."

There was a moment of silence.

Tony turned off the projection. 

"You get your life back," Tony said. "And when the time comes, your daughter gets to see you become a hero."

Ghost blinked. "A hero?"

Tony smiled. "Yeah, a real one."

Ghost stood there for a few seconds longer and then finally exhaled. "I'll take the story," he said. "But I'm not doing this for myself."

Tony nodded once. "Good. Then we're on the same page."

He turned and started walking away, but paused at the door.

"There's a car waiting up top and someone to make the cover story more believable for you."

He looked back at Ghost.

"When you're ready, go home. Enjoy normal life for a bit."

Then he walked out, leaving Ghost standing in the cryo chamber, staring at the space where his family had just smiled at him in light.

...

[In the elevator]

Tony looked at his right arm. The nanite controls are activated. He entered a command and activated the nanites in Ghost's clothes. Without him knowing, these new-gen nanites entered his body. 

'Trust is something you gotta earn, Mr. Jake Preston.'

He then called Jane, one of the high-level Widows, to take care of Ghost's mess.

...

[MED LAB SECTOR]

The elevator doors slid open and Tony stepped into the main corridor, the weight of half a dozen global defense systems still running calculations in the back of his mind. He barely had time to take a breath before Sue Storm came around the corner at full speed.

Her face was tight with worry.

"Tony!"

He stopped.

Sue reached him in two quick strides and looked around, making sure no one was nearby. She lowered her voice.

"It's Ben," she whispered. "His skin... It's falling off. Like chunks, and not just flaking, and he's glowing purple. He's panicking. Thinks he's dying. I tried to scan him, but whatever's happening is way beyond what I can read. It's not degeneration... It's like his whole body is rebuilding itself and breaking down at the same time."

---

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