May 25th, 2008

    Los Angeles

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

    "I don''t care. I am finally in LA. This is a dream come 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 Chinese-American, and her family had been living in America for the last two generations. 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 class, 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 announced that he had been selected to represent them at a nationwide Science Expo. He had even applied for a patent.

    Liam didn''t have any delusions of having romantic relationships at the moment, at least not now. But among the girls he had come across and been forced to interact 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 thoroughly at the airport. Though he didn''t understand the connection, he could tell that Tony''s kidnapping had thrown many agencies into a dustbin of headaches.

    "I read on the Internet that most countries around the world don''t like him," Chris said as he pushed the trolley through the exit.

    "Yes," Liam said. Elon''s words made Bonnie and Chris very happy because Liam had promised them 1 percent of the shares in the company if they ever got an investment. Elon wasn''t the only one interested, though.

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

    "Dude, I talked to Justin Hammer... The Justin Hammer... Can 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 any lengths 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 complained. Liam just rolled his eyes.

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

    "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, claiming 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 attendees than the Expo itself. What really surprised Liam was that people from SHIELD showed up, and the one who came was none other than Brock Rumlow.

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