Chapter 61: Blatantly Killing Ivan
A few minutes passed, and the door was opened.
"The assailant has been screened. You can go in now," a guard told Liam. ''He has not said a single thing since he got here, so I wish you luck.''
Liam nodded, thanked the guard, and stepped inside.
Once inside, Liam found Ivan sitting on a bench, his back turned to the door.
"So, that didn't go according to plan, did it Ivan?" Liam asked, his tone teasing.
Hearing his name, Ivan turned his head slightly to Liam, surprised. He had made sure his name, face, and even fingerprints were erased from all online and offline records. He had completely wiped his existence from the world.
"Everything goes to plan," Ivan replied.
"Sure it did," Liam said, amused.
"Who are you?" Ivan questioned, with his heavy Russian accent.
'Too many people have asked me the same goddamn question today,' Liam sighed internally.
"I'm a private investigator. I want to know your motives," Liam replied.
"Motives?" Ivan repeated. "The Starks took eve—"
"Save me the backstory," Liam interrupted before continuing. "Why would someone like you want revenge for your father, even after he abused you physically and mentally for years?"
"My father did no abuse to me," Ivan said. "The Starks put us in that position. They are reason my father was forced to hide."
Liam looked at Ivan, processing his words. 'I guess you could see it like that, but that's not exactly logical,' he thought.
"You know," Liam said, "your father could've just started working again. He didn't need to spend his life drinking it away."
At that, Ivan fell silent.
'Figured as much. Just a nutjob,' Liam sighed internally. 'His father probably fed him lies since he was a kid. With nothing else to believe and his father's death, he decided to take it all out on Tony.'
As Liam thought this, he heard the door click behind him.
Turning around, he saw the door open, and a guard stepped in.
"An important guest is here to ask some questions to the assailant," the guard informed Liam. He then turned to Liam. "Do you want to temporarily leave?"
Liam waved him off. "Let him come in. I'll leave in a bit."
The guard nodded and stepped back outside. A few seconds later, the door opened again, and Tony Stark walked in, casually waving at the guard in thanks.
"Hey, I recognize you. You're the kid from the bar," Tony said as he approached Liam.
"Let me formally introduce myself, Stark. I'm Liam, a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., which you're already familiar with," Liam said, extending his hand for a handshake.
"A kid like you is part of S.H.I.E.L.D.? And for someone your age, you should call me Mr. Stark," Tony replied, shaking Liam's hand.
"Yes, I'm an investigator directly under Fury," Liam said, lying through his teeth. "And my apologies, Mr. Stark."
Tony nodded. "Would you mind leaving the room now, kid? I need to have a talk with this guy here," he said, pointing at Ivan.
Liam considered for a moment before agreeing. He knocked on the door, and after a click, it was opened again. "I'll come back in once you're done to finish my job," Liam said as he left.
Liam sat outside, waiting for Stark to finish. 'I needed to leave,' he thought. 'Neither Ivan nor Tony would talk freely with me there, that's not what I want. After this talk, it'll be time to finish him off.'
He began pondering ways to escape afterwards. 'The easiest way would be to just cut through the wall and leave,' he thought, glancing at the innocent guards. 'Dismantling all of them without hurting them will be a pain in the ass.'
After a while, a knock came at the door. Liam stood as the guard opened it.
Inside, he immediately heard Ivan's annoying laughter. Tony stood silently, likely processing what Ivan had said during their conversation.
"Are you done now, Stark?" Liam asked.
"Yes. And didn't I tell you to call me Mr. Stark?" Tony replied.
Liam rolled his eyes and walked up to Ivan. Tony watched him curiously, unsure of what Liam planned to do.
"What are you laughing at?" Liam questioned Ivan, who immediately stopped and stared at him.
"So, are you sure you've learned everything you wanted to, Mr. Stark?" Liam asked, glancing at Tony.
Tony gave him a questioning look but nodded.
"Then it's time to say your goodbyes," Liam said coldly.
With that, Liam summoned Incursio around him.
Tony's eyes widened as he realized what Liam was about to do. He moved forward to try to stop Liam but it was too late.
"Hey, wait! What are you—" Tony started, but his words were drowned out by the sound of a clean slice.
Ivan Vanko's head, still wearing a shocked expression, flew through the air and landed in front of Tony, blood still flowing out of the head while Ivan's body slumped lifelessly to the floor.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Tony yelled in disbelief, stopping in his tracks. The commotion attracted the guards, who rushed into the room with weapons drawn and aimed at Liam.
Liam turned to Tony, his expression calm. "Never leave your enemies alive, Stark. No matter how small they seem, never underestimate their ability to claw their way back up to hurt you."
"He was already captured! Defenseless! He was going to be judged and put away for life!" Tony shouted.
"You know better than that," Liam replied before walking to the back wall. ''You think he wouldn't have found a way to kill more people or come after you again?''
The guards hesitated to open fire, only doing so after someone shouted out to shoot. Liam ignored the bullets as he cut a hole in the wall with Neontote and jumped out.
From the second floor, Liam fell straight into a small portal he opened beneath him. He landed on the ground of an alleyway in Monaco, instantly closing the portal behind him.
Liam unsummoned Incursio and stood up, pulling out his phone. He wasn't afraid to open a portal there since he had seen beforehand that there were no camera's aimed to that side of the building. Most likely since it was just used for holding cells, which prisoners don't stay in for longer than a few hours.
"I'd say that went pretty well according to plan," Liam muttered as he started dialing a number.
'Feels like I call this number more often than my own grandfather,' he mused. 'Still, this one's going to be difficult. They probably weren't expecting that I would do that.'
Meanwhile, back at the prison...
The guards looked over the edge but found no trace of Liam. ''What the fuck was that?'' One of the guards shouted. More men rushed inside the room but Liam was already gone, all that was left behind was the headless corpse from Ivan.
Tony himself leaned over to check but saw nothing. Internally, he understood Liam's words, but he refused to accept what he had done. 'The man was already captured. Defenseless, this was nothing more than an execution.' Tony thought, frustrated.
"I am going to need an explanation from Fury about this," Tony muttered to himself, still trying to process what had just happened.
The scene replayed in his mind. 'A so called investigator with powers like that? I doubt it. What even is that armor and spear?'