Watching Tony leave, **Pichu** sank into thought.
The Stark Expo was coming up, and Tony had recently discovered that prolonged use of the arc reactor in his chest — and overuse of the Iron Man armor — was poisoning him with palladium.
Which meant Nick Fury would likely be showing up soon.
Judging by how things went in the movies, Fury had probably been monitoring Tony's condition for a while now.
***
A short while later, under Pichu's watchful gaze, Tony took to the skies in his Mark IV, heading toward New York.
Pichu considered for a moment, then went back inside the villa.
As soon as he stepped through the door, J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice greeted him:
**"Mr. Pichu, sir left a message for you. Do you want to hear it?"**
**Pichu:** "Play it."
Tony's voice came through:
> "Hey, Pichu, I noticed there's still a lot of fruit Pepper bought in the fridge. If you feel like snacking, help yourself — it's not like it'll be the first time.
> Oh, and if you want a drink, feel free to raid my wine cellar. Think of it as compensation for being stuck here while I'm gone."
"…."
Pichu rubbed his cheek with one paw, muttering to himself:
*Sure enough… here comes the 'wealth distribution' arc from the original plot.*
In *Iron Man 2*, palladium poisoning had made Tony reckless. He'd modified the Mark II armor and handed it to Rhodes, officially creating the "War Machine." He'd named Pepper CEO of Stark Industries and passed control of the entire company over to her.
It was less generosity and more like making arrangements before his own funeral.
***
Shaking the thought off, Pichu returned to his room.
Eyeing the Pikachu Armor resting beside the bed, he pulled out a tablet he hadn't used in a long time — the special-issue S.H.I.E.L.D. model.
After powering it on, he activated its *anti-surveillance* function, then accessed the internal network, located Nick Fury's contact profile, and sent a voice call request.
**Beep… beep…**
Half a minute later, the connection opened, and Fury's voice came on the line first.
**Fury:** "Pichu. Why the sudden call today? What's going on?"
**Pichu:** "You've been monitoring Tony, haven't you?"
**Fury:** "Oh? Who told you that? I'm not aware of any such thing."
There was nothing odd in Fury's tone — no surprise, just mild puzzlement.
Pichu rolled his eyes. *Hmph, old fox.* Had he not already known the truth, he might've believed Fury's act.
As an agent — *the* top agent — lying like it was second nature came easily.
**Pichu:** "Cut it out. I know you. You're stingy, scheming, and always cooking up some angle."
"…."
Somewhere in a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Fury's brow twitched. Half a year without speaking to Pichu, and the little guy's mouth was still as sharp as ever.
**Fury:** "Just tell me what you want."
Since Pichu was so sure, there was no point hiding it.
**Pichu:** "See? That wasn't so hard to admit."
He got to the point:
"Do you know what's going on with Tony right now?"
**Fury:** "What do you mean? I haven't read the latest report on him yet."
**Pichu:** "You know the arc reactor, right?"
**Fury:** "Go on."
**Pichu:** "Tony's built what S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't. But with all his upgrades and his unique condition, it's left him with… side effects. Potentially fatal ones."
Fury's expression turned serious. "You're certain?"
Pichu scoffed. "If I wasn't certain, do you think I'd waste my time talking to you?"
**Fury:** "Understood. Anything else?"
**Pichu:** "Yeah — don't tell him I'm the one who brought it up. Not that it matters — if you're watching him, you'll figure it out soon enough."
**Fury:** "Fine. If that's it, I'll hang up."
The line went dead.
***
Pichu smirked. "Tsk."
Rubbing his cheeks, he muttered,
"When Tony's situation is handled, maybe I'll take a short trip… head down to Mexico and hang out with Thor.
As an Electric-type Pokémon, why not spar with someone who swings a thunder hammer?
"Although… if I end up moving Mjolnir, will that catch Odin's attention?"
He shook his head. "Eh, plenty of time before that. I'll think about it later."
With that, Pichu shut down the tablet, switched on the small reactor generator, and resumed absorbing energy to rack up evolution points.
He currently had almost 15 million. Only 85 million more to go to hit 100 million — meaning nearly three years of work left.
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