Chapter 191 — Are You an Alien Too?

Chapter 191: Chapter 191 — Are You an Alien Too?

RING... RING...

Tony, who had a lot of fun the night before, slowly woke up when the phone beside his bed started ringing. Still half-asleep, he moved the blonde woman sleeping beside him aside and reached for the phone.

"Hello?" he answered sleepily.

Within a second, his expression changed.

"Jarvis, did you check? Are you sure it’s them?" he asked loudly, suddenly wide awake.

Tears began forming in his eyes as he listened to Jarvis. Without saying anything else, Tony quickly got dressed and rushed out of the house, not even caring about the woman still sleeping in his bed.

By the time Tony reached the hospital, the news had already spread. Howard Stark and his wife, Maria Stark, had died in a car accident. Stark Industries’ shares had begun to fall, and people around the world were already talking about the sudden death of the famous scientist and inventor.

Tony stood outside the room where Howard and Maria’s bodies had been taken. He looked through the glass, but the bodies were badly burned from the accident, making it impossible for him to even see their faces properly.

"Dad..." Tony whispered. He suddenly broke down and hugged Jarvis tightly. "I didn’t even get to say goodbye..."

Jarvis quietly placed a hand on Tony’s back, trying to comfort him.

At the Plumbers’ base, Howard slowly woke up from unconsciousness. "Where am I?" He looked around and realized he was lying on a bed. Memories of the previous night slowly returned to him, the car, the crash, the Winter Soldier, and then the strange creature that had appeared.

"Maria... where is she?" Howard looked around and found his wife sleeping on a bed nearby. Seeing that she was safe, he felt relieved.

Were we both saved?

Only then did Howard notice something strange. Neither he nor Maria had any injuries on their bodies. In fact, he felt better than he had before the accident. He was still wondering who had saved them and whether they belonged to some organization he knew when the door opened.

A grey-skinned girl walked into the room. She looked completely different from a normal human, and she immediately noticed that Howard was already awake.

"You’re awake already? That was faster than I expected," she said as she walked toward him.

"Who are you? Did you save us?" Howard had plenty of questions, but he didn’t let his nervousness show. He had spent years dealing with dangerous situations and knew better than to panic when he was in unfamiliar territory.

"You don’t have to be afraid. I’m Mia. Our leader saved you. You’re safe here," she said. Mia secretly sent a message to Alice, informing her that Howard had woken up.

Howard knew he was in someone else’s territory, so he didn’t do anything unnecessary. Soon, Maria woke up as well, and Howard immediately spoke to her and reassured her that they were both safe. Mia then took them to meet Jack and Gwen.

As they walked through the facility, Howard and Maria realized they were inside a huge underground base. A green symbol shaped like an X was displayed in several places, the Omnitrix symbol of the Plumbers. Howard also noticed several people who clearly weren’t human. His curiosity finally got the better of him.

"Can I ask you something? Why do so many of you look different?" Howard asked, probing for information.

"Our leader will answer all your questions, sir," Mia replied without answering directly.

Soon, they entered Jack’s office, where Jack and Gwen were waiting.

"They’re here," Mia said as she entered.

"Thanks, Mia. Welcome, Mr. Stark and Mrs. Stark. I’m sure you have a lot of questions. Why don’t we sit down and talk?" Jack said. Howard and Maria sat down, while Mia nodded and left the room.

"Thank you for saving us," Howard said. "But what do you want from me?" He knew that if a secret organization was willing to show him their base, they probably wanted something from him.

"I understand, Mr. Stark. Waking up in a place you’ve never seen before would make anyone suspicious. Let me explain," Jack said. "We’re the Plumbers. We’re an organization made up of people from different planets. Our job is to protect others."

Howard and Maria looked at each other in disbelief. Aliens were real. They had known that something was strange about the people they had seen while walking through the base, but hearing Jack openly say that the Plumbers had members from other planets was still shocking.

"So why are you telling me all this?" Howard asked. "You don’t expect me to help you with something against Earth, do you? Because if that’s what you want, you’re wasting your time."

"You’ve got the wrong idea, Mr. Stark. I’m human too. We’re not asking you to do anything against Earth," Jack replied. "The reason we saved you is complicated. It’s a long story."

Howard raised an eyebrow after hearing that the leader of the organization was human.

Maria, who had been quiet until then, finally spoke. "Can we go home? We won’t tell anyone about you, I promise. But people must already be looking for us. Tony... he’s going to be devastated."

"Well... there is a problem with that." Jack hesitated, his expression becoming slightly uneasy as he tried to figure out how to explain it to them.

Seeing Jack’s hesitation, Gwen switched on the screen in the office. A news channel appeared, showing reports about the deaths of Howard Stark and Maria Stark.

Howard stared at the screen in disbelief. "How the hell did they conclude we were dead without even finding the bodies?" he asked angrily.

"Because we made fake bodies using your DNA. They died in the accident, as far as everyone knows," Gwen explained.

"What?! What the hell are you trying to do?" Howard asked angrily. "You want me to stay here and work for you while the whole world thinks I’m dead?"

"Mr. Stark, calm down. We’re not your enemies. Let me explain everything."

Jack spent the next several minutes explaining everything to them . He told them that he and Gwen were time travelers, explained why they had come to 1991, why they had saved them, and why Howard and Maria couldn’t simply return to their old lives. He also explained how their survival could affect history and showed them proof of the future, including images of Iron Man.

Howard listened without interrupting.

"So you’re telling me the world has to believe we’re dead?" Howard finally asked.

"Yes."

"And if we go back to Tony?"

Jack shook his head. "It could change the future."

Howard stared at him for a moment. "And you’re serious?"

Jack nodded and showed him more evidence.

Howard still found everything difficult to believe. Time travel, aliens, the future, it all sounded impossible. But the evidence in front of him was becoming impossible to ignore. He looked through the pictures Jack had taken in the future and watched the videos Red Queen had stored in her database from her trip to the past.

But as Howard looked through the pictures, he suddenly stopped. He stared at one of them for several seconds.

"Maria... don’t these girls look familiar?" Howard asked, staring at the picture. "I feel like I’ve seen them before."

The picture showed two girls standing with a future Tony Stark inside a house.

Maria looked at the girls for a moment before turning to Howard. "Howard... don’t they look a little like the girls from those pictures you showed Tony when he was younger?"

Howard looked at her in surprise. "You think so?"

"I’m not sure," Maria said. "They just look similar. Tony spent so much time trying to find those girls, but he couldn’t find any proof that they even existed. In the end, he called you a liar and thought you’d just made them up."

"Yeah, I remember that," Howard said. "But I didn’t make them up. They really existed." He looked at the picture again. "I met them back in 1943. I thought I’d see them again someday, but they disappeared, and I had no way to find them. Eventually, I stopped looking."

Howard paused. "They did give me some ideas for future inventions, though. I used some of them, and Stark Industries made a lot of money from those inventions." He looked at the picture again. "But this picture was taken in 2008, right? Maybe they’re related to those girls. Their granddaughters or something?"

Hearing what Howard said, Gwen and Jack looked at each other in surprise.

"By any chance, were those girls’ names Emma and Morgan?" Jack asked.

Howard looked at him in surprise. "How do you know?!"

Seeing his reaction, Jack and Gwen knew for certain that the girls Howard had met in 1943 were indeed Emma and Morgan. They hadn’t expected Howard to have met them too.

It should have happened before they found them.

"Yes. We know them. Emma is my future daughter. Before we came here, we traveled to 1943."

Jack suddenly remembered something. If Howard met Emma and Morgan in 1943, then he must have met Alice too. Jack contacted Alice, who was busy with her work, and asked her to come to the room. A few moments later, Alice entered, and Howard immediately recognized her.

"You’re Alice, right?" Howard asked.

"Yes, Mr. Stark. It’s nice to meet you again," Alice replied with a smile.

Howard stared at her for a moment. She looked exactly the same as she had back then, which left him confused.

"Wait... how do you still look the same?" He looked at her carefully before asking, "Are you an alien too?"

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