The Death Knell

"You killed one of them...are you sure you killed someone?"

Howard poured himself a glass of wine and had no intention of giving his son a drink. He asked suspiciously.

"Yes, I'm sure. I blew his head off and blood spurted out on my face. I'm sure of it." Tony rubbed his face impatiently. As an alcoholic, he hated to see others drinking in front of him while he didn't. A portion.

This person, this car, and this potion all made him anxious.

"Only blood? No brains? Or did you kill a water-filled doll with only blood in the brain?" Howard looked at him faintly.

Tony only remembered that his eyes were bright red at that time, and he didn't know if he had any brains, and he hated Howard talking like this.

"What are you implying? Are you saying it's not Hydra? Or is it your crazy spy theory? Are they trying to trick me?"

Howard looked away and watched the scenery on the street moving quickly outside the window. He realized that Deathstroke was right, Tony had fallen deeply into the trap of love.

Tony can see the possibility of acting or deception in reality, but he would rather trust his intuition than rational judgment. As a scientist, this is the end of the world.

"A boy meets a girl, and the girl introduces the boy to her family. This relationship happens to be the offspring of both sides in a cruel game, but, oh, no, a terrorist attack comes, and the boy who has never killed anyone before stands up. He came out and became a hero and saved everyone. Tony, don't you think it's too much of a coincidence? There is no such thing as coincidence in our world, it's either a plan or a conspiracy."

"Blah blah blah." Tony shook his head and rolled his eyes, scorning Howard's analysis: "So you think everything you said is right, and I am wrong, just because I fell in love with a girl, and she is your competitor. daughter, so she is a terrorist, an anti-social and anti-human conspirator. You can give her all the names you can think of, but I don’t care. You were not there when all this happened, not at the scene, you didn’t say."

"What did I say wrong?"

Rather than trusting himself, Howard believed in Deathstroke's judgment. Compared to SHIELD's intelligence, his old friend was more trustworthy.

The man had said that the girl's father was Hydra and her mother was Leviathan, and that was that.

Even if the girl is really a white lotus that emerges from the mud and remains unstained, the Stark family's son cannot mix with the Hydra and Leviathan families.

At first, he was just close to the shadow, which seemed harmless, cool and comfortable, but that was just an appearance. Maybe the next second Tony would be swallowed up by the real darkness behind the shadow, and then it would be too late to change anything.

This is what Howard thinks. In the years since he became the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra and Leviathan have launched hundreds of assassination operations against him. Now they just changed their tactics and planned to attack Tony.

He would not let his enemies succeed and he would protect his son.

Tony just tilted his chin and leaned on the seat, burying himself in the high-end sofa: "You're not there."

"I know you won't like what I have to say, but it means I'm right, you fell into a honeypot." Howard drank the wine in the glass and put the glass back: "Now, Forget about that girl, promise me not to be so stupid again, and I won’t tell your mother about it and make her worry.”

Tony didn't answer, he just held his mouth with his fist and turned to look out the car window.

............................

"Are you awake? I've been around a lot during this time and found some acquaintances. Neither Hydra nor Leviathan have any plans to deal with Tony."

Three weeks later, Howard met Su Ming in the Stark mansion on Long Island, New York, just when he woke up from his dream holding Maria in his arms one day.

This guy was holding a glass of wine, quietly moved a sofa, and sat in the dark with his legs crossed facing the big bed, as if he was admiring the sleeping posture of Mr. and Mrs. Stark.

Seeing Deathstroke upon opening his eyes is definitely not a good wake-up call, and this dark, intimidating prank gave Howard chills.

"Fake! When did you come? Even if you don't call first, at least knock on the door first?" Howard rubbed his face in pain and covered Maria with the quilt to prevent her from being seen by others.

"Are you worried that I hid in the dark and watched your couple's live broadcast last night? Don't worry, I'm not that bored yet."

Su Ming raised the wine glass to signal to Maria. She huddled in the quilt and smiled awkwardly. She was still a little girl when she first saw Deathstroke.

At that time, she only knew that Mr. Wilson was Howard's friend, but it was only after she got married that she learned more and learned the dark secret behind this legendary businessman.

Howard pulled his nightgown angrily and put it on himself: "I wonder who was so bored eavesdropping on Tony sleeping with women a few days ago, and called his father to report to me every time? And if you weren't lurking in my house last night , how do you know that I and Maria last night..."

Su Ming looked at him as if he were an idiot, picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and elegantly put the goblet on his knees.

"Who is so bored that he buys a lot of supplements for his son? Yes, I just went to Tony's room and took a look around. On his bedside table are more than ten kilograms of medicines produced all over the world. You wouldn't think that Africa Is it true that eating lizard shit is an aphrodisiac? Poor Tony was forced to eat that kind of stuff at a young age."

"You still have not answered my question."

Howard's eyes became sharp, and Deathstroke hadn't yet said how he knew what happened in this house last night.

Deathstroke stood up, walked straight to the window, suddenly opened the curtains, opened the window, stretched out his hand and fanned in front of him.

"The air in your bedroom is full of the smell of hormones. The smell has not dissipated when I came in just now; there is a large dried water stain on the floor at the bathroom door, but a big house with Jarvis as a housekeeper will not have such hygiene problems; There are oyster shells discarded last night in the trash can outside your door. The recipe is French white wine bouillon; there are traces of rub lipstick on your pillows. The color is the same as the one on Maria's lips now. She didn't have it last night. Take off your makeup… You’ll probably find a lot of clues at just one glance, do you need me to continue?”

"...You are so boring! Stop reasoning about my life!"

Howard was tying his pajamas and jumping around, as if he had no secrets at all and he was going crazy.

Su Ming smiled. Howard could probably understand Tony's situation now. People who have no secrets are so sad.

"Did you hear what I said before?"

Su Ming put down the wine glass in his hand and returned to the previous topic. He stood on the balcony and looked at the sea in the distance with his hands behind his back. It looked like the weather would be very good today.

Well, there are thick black clouds in the sky, and lightning flashes in the clouds from time to time. The waves stand up like bear traps. A tropical storm may be coming to New York.

"What? The wind was too strong! I didn't hear clearly!"

Howard squinted his eyes. The strong wind outside the window made him unable to open his eyes. The moisture and chill of the sea breeze immediately dispelled his drowsiness. Maria grabbed the quilt to prevent it from being blown away by the wind.

Su Ming originally wanted to give them a break, but he didn't expect that these two people wouldn't appreciate it. Sometimes good people just can't do it.

So he returned to the room and closed the balcony door. The house was nice, and the sound of the howling wind outside suddenly stopped being heard at all.

"Hydra and Leviathan have no plan to deal with Tony. At least three weeks ago, they didn't know about his relationship with you." Su Ming walked to the other side and opened the door to the corridor to ventilate. That's ok too.

There are currently hundreds of bodyguards and servants in the mansion, plus Jarvis, who is not an outsider.

Howard frowned and came to sit on the sofa. He didn't realize what Deathstroke had just done. He had a sad look on his face: "So, the protection of Tony will have to be upgraded in the future... But if no one plans , so what’s going on with the Jesper family drama?”

"It's still unknown. You suddenly showed up and took Tony back to the United States, disrupting my fishing plan. The man behind the scenes who could have followed the clues has gone deep again." Su Ming spread his hands indifferently, but it doesn't matter, anyway. Tony is still alive: "The Jasper family left Spain and disappeared. They must have used secret channels to cover up their traces. Cassandra is still in Cambridge, but she doesn't know anything. It's useless."

"Anyway, I won't let him come into contact with the enemy again. This world is too dark. He should..."

However, just as Howard was talking, an unknown old man suddenly walked in outside the door. He had a long white beard and was holding two breakfast-like plates in his hands.

"Who are you?"

Su Ming took the plate and handed one to Howard and one to Maria: "I forgot to introduce you. This is Master Elminster. I brought him to visit your home, but I saw that your kitchen is so high-tech. After that, he couldn’t help but want to show off his cooking skills. Don’t worry, Jarvis and I have said hello.”

Howard opened the lid of the dinner plate with some suspicion. The white plate looked like a blanched steak, and it was also served with bread.

He had no doubts about the food brought by Deathstroke, because after all, bickering was bickering, and the relationship between the two was still very good.

Howard picked up the knife, cut a piece of 'unknown meat' and stuffed it into his mouth. He dipped the bread in the sauce and ate it. He had never tasted this before. It didn't seem to be an ingredient on earth.

He had never tasted any of the condiments, and what on earth was this soft meat?

However, it is really delicious.

"Master... he is indeed a master, and his cooking skills are indeed extraordinary. But wouldn't it be inconvenient when cooking with such a long beard?" Howard indicated that Maria could eat too, and he cut it again. The next chunk of meat was stuffed into his mouth and chewed.

"Haha, it's not wrong to say that he is a master of cooking, but I learned these from my teammates when I was young. Halflings are very good at cooking." Elminster said with a smile, and took out He got his pipe and started smoking.

This world is really interesting. He never thought that he would find a way to leave Faerun in his lifetime, and finally come outside the crystal wall system, and even surpass the gods.

None of the lichs in the Netheril Empire could do it, but after all, it was he, a human, who did it, and he felt happy just thinking about it.

For this reason, he made a trade contract with Deathstroke, which is not unacceptable. Anyway, he has to find a place to stay in the new world. Kama Taj is very good... It is good in all aspects.

"Halfling? Master, do you also play dnd role-playing?" Howard thought the old man was quite interesting.

Elminster smiled and nodded, but did not answer the question he couldn't answer. He didn't understand what role-playing was, and what was dnd? He changed the subject: "So you like this dish very much?"

"Yes." Howard wiped his beard with great emotion and stuffed the last piece of meat into his mouth: "This kind of meat is tender and full of wildness. When chewing it, I feel like I am running on the grassland. I have never eaten it before. What kind of meat is this animal? Don’t say it’s human flesh, I’ll puke.”

"It's not human flesh. That's too crazy. Neither Deathstroke nor I are such people." Elminster winked: "This is the body of the black dragon. We brought it to replenish your son's body. Give it to him first." You taste it.”

Su Ming also smiled and nodded: "Jarvis has learned how to make this dish. Tony will definitely like it. Let me tell you secretly, I heard that this stuff is super tonic."

Howard: "Ugh..."