[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3fH57mo.jpg?1[/img]

[b][color=853333][u]Prologue: The New Reich[/u][/color]
New York City, United States[/b][/center][hr]

Tony Stark stood at the top of his penthouse, hands grasping behind his back onto a magazine as he looked out of the windowpane and into the Atlantic Ocean. A melancholic expression persisted on Tony’s face, replacing the normal appearance of a smirk or childish grin as a light, sorrowful breath exited his lips. There was no sound in the penthouse apartment— no music, no busy machinery, no background chatter from a television; it was a pause correlating to the rotten sort of news that he refused to think was even real. Normally his mind would be too busy to stop in a hushed moment like this; too busy with ideas and enthusiastic concepts, ludicrous designs, imaginative plots, and pompous announcements to speculate upon— but today it was not the case. Today Tony’s mind was still, an ailment that was the rarest thing that could befall the black-haired billionaire. 

He hated it.

He hated it so much that he couldn’t even will the desire to wash it away with alcohol, cigarettes, or some other indulgence. He didn’t even want to be angry, a fact that made him more uncomfortable and helpless as he thought about it as he looked over the oceanic view. New York sludge hadn’t looked this appealing to him for a long, long time. Not since his parent’s death a decade ago.

His hands held a magazine that recorded his very first candid interview, a piece that took him back to a time before he was Iron Man, even before he was head of Stark International, or even completed his college course for his accreditation. The large bold letters in bright red across the header spelled out ‘SAVANT’ as a youthful visage of his face was photographed under it. It was signed personally by the author of the article in stylistic yet professional penmanship. A name that had been the cause of his rather dour mood— the first girl to call him stupid and dismiss his flirtations, the first girl he boasted he would marry when he was ten, and the girl whose life had just been threatened. [i]Caroline Haines.[/i]

A loud ‘[b]clank[/b]’ echoed in the room as the Iron Man suit’s faceplate closed, covering Tony’s face as his brows narrowed from underneath the helmet as he slid the magazine on the table next to him.

[color=853333][i]Going to have to give you a good thank you, Captain.[/i][/color]

Had it not been for Captain America’s efforts he knew he might be planning a funeral instead of chasing down that sniper and by proxy, this new resurgent Red Skull. He had already had the discussion of helping the government in stopping neo-nazi efforts thus breaking his sort of ‘Superhero Switzerland’ concept he had been pushing in the past few years, but this was a whole new level of ammunition. If he needed a bigger push, there was no question that harassing his only childhood friend was going to be a big one. 

[color=853333]“Computer, I’m going to need any available info on the shooting. You can fill me in on the way there— should only be a short skip and a hop.”[/color]

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much information that could’ve been useful. No police reports had been filled due to how absolutely [i]recent[/i] it was, and any media speculation was just that— speculation. It was frustrating, but it was what it was and while Tony didn’t like it he knew he couldn’t be bothered all too much about it. So it left him with few options in the very small window of time he had before the would-be sniper was half-way to Canada. Said options were ones that Tony would’ve honestly preferred to leave out of it, as from his perspective it kind of damaged his pride to ask for help, especially from the [i]government[/i]. It was probably why whenever he did consider it he decided to do it in the most ridiculously [i]obnoxious[/i] way possible he could. 

And Fury did tell him to call back when he had more “stupid questions” for him to answer.

With thrusters on and pushing himself now above the streets of New York City’, a wide smile finally formed under Tony’s face.

[color=853333]“Yooo, Fury! You said to call back when I had more of those stupid questions, right?”[/color]

Tony nearly chuckled as he heard what sounded like an irritated groan on the other side of the communication channels. 

“This isn’t a good time, Stark.”

[color=853333]“Well, it looks like a good time as any considering that those friends of yours just tried to execute one of mine. You know, the ones who like swastikas and jagermeister? Yeah. I’m on approach so any information would be swell. Just point me in the general direction and this Iron Patriot will surely be thankful, promise.”[/color]

“Negative. We’ve got agents analyzing the traffic cam footage and cracking what intel we have right now.”

[color=853333]“I’ll drop by. See if I can’t help them crack it faster since you know, they aren’t as smart as I am. Nobody is.”[/color]

“…don’t waste my time with this Stark, SHIELD is not a platform to feed your ego.”

[color=853333]“It’s not boasting, colonel. It’s a fact. See you in fifteen.”[/color]