CHAPTER 46

The banquet hosted by Tony Stark sent shockwaves through the business and political worlds. The public announcement of a strategic partnership between the titan of industry, Stark, and the meteoric new Baymax Medical Technology solidified Aidan Parker's position not just as a boy genius, but as a serious player on the world stage. Delegations from high-level political parties, who had previously dismissed him as a novelty, now began to take a very serious interest.

Aidan, however, paid them no mind. He and Yinsen immediately began the monumental task of building their company from the ground up. They selected a vast, desolate tract of land upstate. There was no need for canteens, dormitories, or recreation centers; his workforce would not be human.

The process began with a single, high-tech 3D printer in Aidan's Tandar laboratory. From it, he fabricated the components for the first construction robot. That first robot then helped him build a second. The two built four. Within a week, a small army of black and white construction bots, each imprinted with the "master chip" containing all of Aidan's architectural and engineering knowledge, was autonomously building the factory that would, in turn, build them. Yinsen watched the progress on a monitor from a temporary office, completely awestruck by the geometric progression of creation.

A month later, a sprawling, 4,500-square-meter facility with stark black and white textured walls rose from the wasteland. One division of the robot army immediately began constructing the advanced laboratory Aidan had designed, while the larger division re-programmed themselves, built their own assembly lines within the new factory, and began the mass production of the commercial Baymax units.

The entire operation was funded by the massive influx of cash from the Baymax movie pre-orders and the ever-increasing profits from the fighting robot chip factory, which was now supplying a booming global sport. But Aidan's ambitions were already looking beyond this world. For his next project, the space transportation device, he needed materials so rare and controlled that only one person could procure them without raising red flags. He sent the list to Tony Stark.

Two months later, the world was still buzzing with the news of Tony's "I am Iron Man" declaration. His days were a whirlwind of fan adoration and government scrutiny. One afternoon, as he was leaving a tech exhibition, he found his car blocked by a statuesque blonde woman in a sharp, professional suit.

"Mr. Stark," she said, her voice polite but unyielding, "you have been ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 0900 tomorrow morning." She handed a summons to a bewildered Happy Hogan. "And please, bring Mr. Parker with you."

"Aidan?" Tony asked, frowning as he took the document. "Why do you want him?"

"He has been found in possession of a special weaponized flight system," she explained. "We have been unable to locate him. He disappeared off the coast of the Pacific Ocean several days ago."

"The kid really knows how to run," Tony muttered to himself. First Afghanistan, now this. "How far is it to Washington?"

"Over three hundred kilometers, sir."

Tony sighed and got into his sports car. "Tell them we'll be there."

The next day, they stepped into the Senate Military Chamber just as the hearing was beginning. The room was an imposing cavern of dark wood and self-importance. Tony, paying no attention to the glares from the committee members on the dais, sat down casually and started whispering jokes to Pepper.

"Mr. Stark!" the head of the committee, Senator Stern, snapped, his face reddening. "Mr. Stark, can you please pay attention?"

Tony looked up with an expression of bored surprise.

"Excuse me," Stern continued, trying to regain his composure. "Why is Mr. Parker not with you?"

"Why are you asking me?" Tony replied flippantly.

"You're close!"

"We're friends, yes, but we're not so close that I feel the need to drag a child into this… grand and majestic parliament," he said with a mocking gesture at the room. The implication was clear: you're shameless for even asking a kid to participate in this political theater.

"You both possess special weapons," Stern pressed.

"I don't," Tony lied smoothly. "And a child possessing one is even more impossible."

"Iron Man is a weapon!" Stern declared, holding up a photograph. "And so is this!" The photo was blurry, but after digital restoration, it clearly showed Aidan Parker's face, surrounded by a massive pair of silver-white mechanical wings, flying in the night sky.

"No, my invention is not a weapon," Tony retorted.

"Then how would you describe it?" the Senator leaned forward.

"Before I answer that," Tony said, a sly grin spreading across his face, "I have something to say. The mechanical wings behind the kid… they're also my invention."

"What's your evidence?"

"I don't need evidence," Tony said simply. "They are my inventions. I say what they are."

"...Very well," the Senator said, deciding not to argue the point. "Then what do you think they are?"

"They're… high-tech prosthetics," Tony said with a dramatic flair. A wave of laughter rippled through the room.

"They are weapons," Stern insisted, his face grim, "and such weapons must be turned over to the people of the United States."

"Nope. Don't even think about it," Tony said. "I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To hand over the suit is to hand over myself, which would be involuntary servitude or prostitution, depending on what you get. So, no."

The hearing devolved from there. Justin Hammer was brought in, only to be humiliated when Tony hacked the committee's screens and showed embarrassing footage of Hammer's many failed weapon prototypes exploding. Colonel Rhodey testified, but his words were twisted by the committee. In the end, Tony won, not only protecting his own rights but successfully shielding Aidan from government seizure.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Aidan Parker was sailing through the silent, dreamlike world of the deep ocean. His Archangel suit, active at a depth of three hundred meters, moved silently through the fascinating landscape of the seabed. He had an inexplicable fear of the dark, crushing abyss, but the view here, with shafts of sunlight piercing the blue water like the pillars of a cathedral, was breathtaking.

He was searching for a home. Building a Hive beneath New York, in a world filled with heroes and villains who could shatter mountains, was too risky. He needed an uncharted island, a secret base. In his suit's subspace storage compartment, he carried one half of the space transportation device he had built using Callaghan's data.

The freshness of the journey lasted a week. Then, boredom set in. If not for his conversations with his AI, Ruby, he might have gone mad from the majestic, lonely silence of the sea. After an unknown amount of time, he caught a cod from a passing school, cooked it instantly with the heat from his palm repulsor, and ate, staring out at the endless horizon.

Suddenly, he saw it. A dark smudge in the distance. "Ruby," he commanded, his voice sharp with excitement. "Unlimited scan, ahead. Look for landmasses!"

"Receiving," the AI's voice replied in his ear. A moment later, she confirmed. "Island detected. Area coverage approximately 230,000 kilometers, 1,562 meters ahead. Projecting image."

A holographic map appeared before him. It was an archipelago, the islands clustered tightly together around a large, central, extinct volcano. The vegetation was lush, ancient. The soil around the volcano would be fertile, rich in minerals. It was perfect. "After all this time," he breathed, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Finally."

He flew over the island, a pristine, virgin forest. "Ruby, cover the island. Scan for all life forms."

"Testing…"

He patrolled the island's geography. The central volcano. A large lake to the west. A continuous mountain range to the east. A sheer cliff face to the south.

"Life detected," Ruby reported. "Screening… confirmed. Life forms show no human characteristics."

"Pick the best building site."

The 3D map appeared again, a red marker settling on a flat plain in the northwest, near the junction of the lake and the gentler mountain range. "Record this location."

"Recorded. Please name the new territory."

Aidan looked down at the untouched paradise, the future home of his empire. His eyes were bright with longing and ambition. "Apex Island," he declared.

He landed on the designated spot and retrieved the other half of the space device from his storage. It was made of an unearthly, shifting alloy. He placed the sections on the ground, and they magnetically locked together, forming a large, three-ringed circle that hummed with a low, resonant frequency. He activated it.

The air in the center of the ring began to shimmer like a heat haze. Then, with a sound like cracking glass, a stable, swirling vortex of turquoise and violet light opened before him. His private doorway to the world was now open.