New York City, Manhattan, the 82nd floor of Stark Tower in Tony Stark's temporary lab.
A sudden ball of flame flared to life, and Axel stepped out of it.
The moment he appeared, JARVIS's calm voice spoke up.
"Mr. Axel, your method of arrival always defies my calculations. Next time, could you please use the door?"
"Come on, JARVIS," Axel replied with a smirk as he casually grabbed a bottle of wine from Tony's liquor cabinet, "you don't strike me as the complaining type. Tony must've programmed you to say that."
With the wine in hand, Axel waited outside Tony Stark's bedroom door.
A moment later, the door burst open with a clang and a disheveled Tony Stark stormed out, yelling angrily.
"Axel, damn it, can you stop bothering me! This is the third day in a row. Every morning you show up here. Why don't you just live here so you don't have to keep running back and forth!"
"Oh?" Axel smiled and patted Tony's shoulder.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm very sure, buddy! If having you live here means you'll do fewer boring things, I'd rather look at your grumpy face every day!"
At this point, Tony nervously glanced back toward his bedroom.
Before he could think further, Axel gently pushed him aside and squeezed through into the room.
Just then, Little Pepper Potts, still in her neatly pressed business suit but barefoot and without shoes, rushed out of the room in a fluster.
Axel grinned as she ran, then playfully gave her a firm tap on the backside.
"Axel!!!" she screamed.
Tony's face turned pale, and he angrily raised his hand.
Suddenly, three red and gold laser cannons emerged from the ceiling in the bedroom, their barrels trained on Axel's head.
Looking at them with bored amusement, Axel shook his head.
"Come on, buddy, you know these things can't do anything to me. If you really want to deal with me, you should integrate the vibranium S.H.I.E.L.D. gave you into your armor!"
"F*ck!" Tony cursed, clearly annoyed, then reluctantly retracted the laser cannons.
He came up beside Axel and said indignantly, "That was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s idea, not mine. I gave Director Fury two hundred million Dollars just to barely secure twenty kilograms of vibranium, and they only managed fifty kilograms from Wakanda. With such little material, even though I'm supposedly the smartest person in the world, turning research into application still takes at least one or two months. Damn it, can you stop checking my progress every day, and especially stop slapping my lover's backside!"
Tony grabbed Axel's collar angrily.
Axel laughed and shrugged off Tony's hands.
"You still need one or two months? Why didn't you say so sooner! If you'd told me, where would I have the time to hang around with you?"
Then Axel casually tapped Tony's backside again, causing Tony to leap several meters away in shock. Instinctively clutching himself, Tony yelled, "Are you ever going to stop? If you want to, why don't you just kill me? Is it really that fun to mess with me every day?"
"Uh, isn't it interesting?" Axel replied, spreading his hands.
Tony closed his eyes helplessly and gave a bitter smile before continuing, "Don't be ridiculous, Axel. I have a ton of work right now. Besides trying to integrate vibranium into my armor, I also have to repair and reinforce this tower. You should know, my tower wasn't that damaged before. You added countless extra hours of work for me!"
"But shouldn't Americans have plenty of experience reinforcing buildings? After all, not every country has had planes accidentally crash into buildings," Axel joked.
"F*ck!!!" Tony yelled as he threw an unfinished armor component at Axel.
Axel caught it casually and pouted at Tony.
"Alright, you continue your research. I'll come check on you and Pepper again tomorrow."
With that, Axel walked toward the tower's window and stepped into another ball of flame.
Watching the flash of fire as Axel disappeared, Tony Stark clasped his head in frustration.
"Damn it!"
He stormed out of the bedroom and back into his lab.
"JARVIS!" he barked at the empty air, annoyed.
"Besides defensive capabilities, my new armor also has to be user friendly! Nanotechnology still isn't perfected, so I need a portable system for putting on and taking off the armor. But it can't just be portable, because the Wraith could show up at any time. Damn it, that means specializing in nanotechnology is unavoidable!"
With that thought, Stark wearily resumed his research and calculations for the day.
For the past three days, Axel had been showing up every morning to check on Tony's progress — and, incidentally, to tap Pepper's backside.
The most outrageous was yesterday morning, when Stark was away at an Avengers meeting. Axel arrived, but since Stark wasn't there, Pepper had to deal with him alone. Then, when Stark rushed back home, he found Axel right in front of him pinching Pepper's backside hard.
Right in front of him! Damn it, that scoundrel clearly wasn't just teasing Pepper. He was insulting Stark himself!
Thinking this, much of the weariness in Stark's eyes vanished, replaced by intense irritation and motivation.
He quickly immersed himself in his scientific research, rapidly inputting data into his holographic research interface and accelerating his progress.
To prevent Axel from teasing Pepper again, he had to master vibranium!
But the question was, would his effort today inadvertently help Axel in the future?
After all, from the first day Axel had shown a strong interest in his armor.
Tony paused, his hand slowing, and then chuckled to himself.
"That scoundrel is already a big problem we can't solve, even without armor. So what if he steals a complete set of my armor!"
His annoyance turned into motivation and he plunged back into his research.
As for Axel…
When he emerged from the flames at the command center, everyone nearby, including Maria Hill and the staff, stopped what they were doing.
Someone gulped, and all the agents lowered their heads and resumed work while casting cautious glances at Hill.
Axel approached Hill with a cheeky grin.
"Good morning, pretty girl. How was your night without me? Lonely?"
"Axel!" Hill trembled and swatted his hand away, glaring fiercely at the eyes watching her.
Under her glare, the room quieted, then the sound of typing resumed.
Hill pleaded with Axel, "I'm at least the current director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Axel, can you please, just give me some face?"
Her palms were sweaty as she looked around. When she felt no one was watching, she gritted her teeth and grabbed Axel's hand, leading him toward the training ground while scolding her subordinates.
"Focus on work and maintain flight altitude. Axel and I will be gone for a while."
Her voice shook slightly.
Meanwhile, Axel looked around and asked softly, "Where's Natasha? Is she not here today?"
"Hiss! Oh my gosh! I'm so envious! Damn it!"
"I'm here."
The last voice was Natasha Romanoff, who was returning from the deck and saw Hill's flushed face. After hearing Axel's question and the gasps from the command center, Natasha lightly licked her lips and smiled.
"So, what do you need me for? Are you planning to include me?"