A/N: I FUCKING LOVE YOU GUYS

like all the comments you left on the last chapter (especially where tony called adie his daughter, which was something i added as an afterthought lol) made me sMILE SO BIG YOU HAVE NO IDEA. yall literally made my DAY. thank you so much and im so so so grateful for everyone who reads this story 🥺 and i still can't believe this was #2 in iron man yesterday!! that's so woah

so i know the last chapter was a bit dramatic but this one is pretty mellow and it's sort of a filler, but don't worry, it's all leading up to chapter 100!!

happy reading!

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"Soon, my Adelaide will come back to me.

She is going to willingly walk back to me.

And then nothing can stop us."
————————————————————

Neither guard nor the doctor were able to understand why their boss was so happy at the sight of the brain scans.

Especially the doctor. When he had seen them for himself initially, he had been afraid of what Lukov might say when he gave it to him. After all, the results weren't quite what he had expected them to be. The doctor had expected him to be furious. However, the case seemed to be just the opposite. And even he couldn't understand why.

"As you wish," the guard said obediently, nodding his head.

He glanced at the doctor unsurely before marching past him to fire up the chopper like he had been asked to. After he left the room, Lukov handed the brain scans back to the doctor. There was still an unexplainable maniacal grin on his face that sent a shiver of fear down the doctor's spine. Anything could happen. This man was beyond unpredictable.

Lukov grinned to himself. His gaze was distant, as if searching the future.

"Soon. Soon, my Adelaide will come back to me," he said to himself, "She is going to willingly walk right back to me."

"And then nothing can stop us."

—————

Tony wanted to kill.

He wanted to kill the man who did this to Adie. He wanted nothing more than to storm through this building, find him, and smash his face into bits so small that no one could recognize him. He wanted to slam him into a wall, beat him until his skin was a palette of black and blue, and then crush him against the floor.

Tony wanted revenge.

However, Adie came first. She was dying. If he didn't get her someplace safe soon, he was going to be beating himself up about it instead. He hoped that tonight wouldn't come to that. But by the look of Adie's graying skin, he couldn't be so sure. Whatever choice he made right now, he had to keep her in mind.

So, as badly as he wanted to hunt down the person who did this to her, he couldn't.

He pushed himself off of his knees and upright onto his feet. His teary gaze traveled down to their intertwined hands. He had curled her fingers through the gaps between his in a pathetic effort to pretend that she was holding his hand back. He promised himself that soon she would be. Soon, he would have her back.

Wiping the tears off of his face, he took a step back, letting her hand fall from his. With one final look at her, he stepped back into his suit.

"What are you planning?" FRIDAY asked.

Tony set his lips into a thin line. His eyes traveled over Adie's unconscious face once again. Then, he stepped forward and slowly gathered her small, frail body up in his arms. Without looking away from her, he gritted his teeth.

"Burn this place to the ground," he growled.

He couldn't hunt the man who'd done this.

But nothing was stopping him from setting this place on fire.

"Copy that, boss," FRIDAY said.

He looked up at the ceiling of the room. A laser shot up from his shoulder and went through the ceiling, leaving a giant hole for him to fly through. Looking down at Adie once again, he fired up his repulsors and lifted himself through the hole and up into the dark void that was the night sky.

Tony flew them a safe distance from the building before stopping and turning around to face the building. The billionaire gritted his teeth. If only he could fly in there and completely slaughter the man who had put Adie in this state. But a fire would have to suffice.

Two explosives were launched from each arm and they landed perfectly on the roof of the small building. Two more flew out and landed on the other side.

Satisfied, the billionaire turned away.

A few seconds later, he heard an explosion behind him. Three more followed. And then the entire building was on fire. A fire that was growing higher and faster with each passing second. More explosions happened as the fire reached different areas of the building.

There was no escaping that place now.

"No remaining signs of human activity in the building," FRIDAY informed him, "Ploy successful."

That son of a bitch was dead.

Tony gritted his teeth, "Good."

Then he pushed himself to fly faster, leaving the burning building behind them.

—————

Happy was busy putting out a fire.

His was on Coney Island. The remnants of the plane were still burning even though the fire department had swarmed the place, trying their best to put out the fires quickly. The police department was here too, surveying the damage. Tony had insurance, sure, but a lot of the items that had been on this plane had been irreplaceable.

Happy sighed. He had gotten too happy too early.

Of course nothing went right. It had become a trademark of Stark industries. He should have known that no matter how perfectly he planned things, things almost never went accordingly.

"Most of the work is almost finished here, Mr. Hogan," Officer Brown said, approaching him. Happy nodded appreciatively.

"And what about that guy?"

Happy pointed to the man webbed to a crate who had a sign beside him that read Found flying vulture guy – Spider-Man. P.S. Sorry about your plane. The "flying vulture guy" looked over at the sign beside him with a strange expression on his face. A half-smile and a half-sigh. Officer Brown chuckled.

"Don't worry, let Spider-Man know that we'll take good care of him," he smiled.

"Thank you, Officer," Happy said, "And one other thing—"

Suddenly, he was interrupted by a phone call. He pulled his phone out from his pocket and glanced at the caller ID.

It was Tony.

—————

A/N: it's going to get exciting now!!

i know this is a super short chapter, but i just needed this to wrap things up so we can have a smooth segue into the next chapter!!

soo i got a new iphone as my graduation present and it looks so slickkk. i love iphones they're so pretty 💕 im actually publishing this from the new phone haha

also! i started the chloe ting slim thigh challenge a couple days ago because i loved her summer shred one so much!! listen, this is coming from someone who absolutely hates working out: i love her workouts. i dont like working out specifically, but if it's one of her videos, ill do it. so if you're looking for motivation, this is it! the longer you'll stick to her program, the better you'll feel about yourself!! remember, it's not about what you see in the mirror or on the scale, it's about how you feel.

aaand lastly, im almost done with the playlist for this book. im at 98 songs rn and i need two more to make it 100 to make it special to celebrate making it through 100 chapters of this book! ill be releasing the playlist along with chapter 100 so be on the lookout for it within the next few weeks!

question: do you guys think tony killed lukov with that fire? 👀