May 25th, 2008

  Los Angeles

  "The security check was so wild. Sheesh," Chris said as he boarded the pne.

  "I don't care. I am finally in LA. This is a dream e true. Thank you, Liam," Bonnie said as she slightly touched Liam's arm, which he ignored.

  The project was a group project, and thus Liam had to include at least two people. The first was Chris, who was kind of Liam's favorite buddy in school. He was a single-parent child, and the situation around him had forced him to be mature and aware of his surroundings, which made Liam closer to Chris.

  The other was Bonnie. Bonnie was a ese-Ameri, and her family had been living in America for the st two geions. Liam could clearly tell that Bonnie was into him and probably had a crush on him. Liam might not be the most handsome man in the school, or maybe even the css, but he always carried an air of charm and mystery.

  The way he walked felt like he was always on his tiptoes—silent and deadly. Even though Liam wore baggy clothes, one could see the outline of his well-armed body. Liam was a nerd, but a hot nerd. Many of the women in school had a crush on him, especially when the school annouhat he had beeed to represent them at a nationwide Sce Expo. He had even applied for a patent.

  Liam didn't have any delusions of having romantic retionships at the moment, at least not now. But among the girls he had e across and been forced to i with, he found Bonnie likable. She was intelligent, mature, and on the good-looking side of the spectrum. Having died at the age of 30 in his previous life, a part of him found it criminal to like any girl under 20 years of age.

  "It is because Tony Stark has been missing," Liam replied as they were checked more thhly at the airport. Though he didn't uand the e, he could tell that Tony's kidnapping had thrown many agencies into a dustbin of headaches.

  "I read oerhat most tries around the world don't like him," Chris said as he pushed the trolley through the exit.

  "You mean the tries that 't afford to buy his ons and ammunition," Liam corrected him.

  "Hahaha... Not all tries have the moo buy his bombs," Chris said. Before they could tinue, his ph. His father had called to know if he had nded safely. Seeing this, both Bonnie and Liam called their parents. Soon, they were on their way to the hotel that the anizers had booked for them.

  The day

  Chris and Bonnie helped Liam ahe small space they had been allotted, where they were supposed to showcase their iion—or, in this case, their new iion. This wasn't like Liam's previous world. Here, for some reason, there was a greater craze for new iions and iors. They were much more idolized than any Hollywood celebrity. There was a reason why Tony Stark was so famous.

  It wasn't only because of his ons but also because of his other small iions. Stark Industries had its hands in other industries too, especially automobiles, energy, and space tech. It was also the reason why Tony could simply say he would shut down ons manufacturing and still hold on until he was able to supply green energy, which made Stark Industries go further than ever before.

  So this Sce Expo was a big deal for the try, almost equivalent to an Oscar party. Apart from NASA and other think tank industries, many capitalists would show up and take their time to see the iions. This world also had Elon Musk. Though Liam wasn't a huge fan of his in his previous life, one couldn't deny that he had the money in this world too.

  Soon, the Sce Expo started, and Liam had trained Chris and Boo say what they o say wheioned. It was Liam's iion, but if his "assistants" were duds, it would be an embarrassment.

  Liam demonstrated the usefulness of his iion to those around, and it soon became clear that what he had created could be helpful for many industries, even for automated vehicles. Elon Musk was the first to ask if his iion could detect vehicles too.

  "Yes, I made the software so it be ged to detect vehicles and solid objects in 3D," Liam said.

  "Excellent. I would like to i in your iion. I assume you have already registered a patent for this," Elon asked.

  "Yes," Liam said. Elon's words made Bonnie and Chris very happy because Liam had promised them 1 pert of the shares in the pany if they ever got an iment. Elon wasn't the only oerested, though.

  Justin Hammer also showed up and promised to io supply for the industry. Liam was busy talking to other rich venture capitalists, and Chris was more than happy to handle Hammer and expin.

  "Dude, I talked to Justin Hammer... The Justin Hammer... you imagine?" Chris was over the moon. Justin still had a name for himself in the world. He might not be as big as Tony, but he was still up there.

  "He was so cool," Bonnie said, also very happy.

  "Eh... He's alright," Liam said, not that impressed. Knowing the future, he couldn't ally with someone who would go to ahs to get ahead. That kind of greed wasn't what he was looking for.

  "Of course, you'll say that since you got to talk with Elon Musk," Chris pined. Liam just rolled his eyes.

  "I bet you wouldn't say the same if Tony Stark were here," Boeased.

  "He wouldn't have been here even if he weren't kidnapped," Liam said. Tony was notorious for throwing parties and was rumored to mock others during visits to such expos or MITs, g he could do better. One had to be really good to earn his approval.

  This made the two sad. Nobody from Stark Industries came to the Expo, and it was more of a hot topic among the attehan the Expo itself. What really surprised Liam was that people from SHIELD showed up, and the one who came was her than Brock Rumlow.

  "Hello, you must be Liam. Coulson spoke quite positively about you."