"Who are you punks? How dare you attack young girls?" a man who looked like a bodyguard shouted as he rushed toward them.
Seeing the man approaching, the two remaining thugs noticed his bodyguard-like appearance and immediately ran away at full speed without even helping their companions.
Emma and Morgan didn't chase them. After all, they were only twelve years old and couldn't outrun two grown men.
At the same time, the two thugs whom Emma and Morgan had taken down tried to get back on their feet. Unfortunately for them, the arriving bodyguard quickly caught both of them before they could escape.
Seeing another two punks escape, he ordered someone to catch them on his walkie talkie.
"Hey girls, you weren't injured by these guys right?" hearing this, both guys who were caught by him cursed him, did they look injured? You would have asked them too.
"No, no, we were fine, thanks for your help," Morgan replied.
"That's good, I called people, those people will be caught soon-"
"I am Happy Hogan, I work as a bodyguard at Starks company," Happy introduced himself.
"Hi Mr. Hogan, this is Emma, and this is my friend Morgan," Emma introduced them.
"Let me call the police," since these guys attacked young girls, Happy decided calling the police was the better option.
Hearing Happy was going to call the police, both Emma and Morgan panicked, as they didn't want Jack or Gwen to know what happened, since they had come outside without his knowledge.
"Happy, we don't need to call the police, right? If our parents find out, they'll be worried," Emma said, trying her best to stop Happy from calling the police.
Unfortunately, her efforts failed, as Happy had already called them.
Before Happy could ask about their parents, a few bodyguards arrived, bringing back the two thugs who had escaped.
"Sir, we caught them," one of the bodyguards said.
"Good. Hand all of them over to the police when they arrive," Happy said as he handed over the two men he had caught.
"You guys don't know who my brother is! He—"
Before the thug could finish his threat, one of the bodyguards shoved him back down.
"Shut up, man. You can tell all that to the police," the bodyguard said, completely unfazed by the thug's threats. As Tony Stark's bodyguards, they didn't care about the words of a few street thugs.
"Well, it seems I need to increase security around the company," Happy muttered to himself.
"Are you two here alone? Where are your parents?" Happy asked again, as he didn't see anyone else nearby.
"No, we were just walking in the park by ourselves," Morgan replied while looking at the younger Happy. She knew Uncle Happy very well, as she had grown up calling him that.
"Do either of you have a phone, or would you like to use mine to call your parents?"
"No, I have a phone," Emma said as she took out her mobile.
Suddenly, Happy's phone rang.
He glanced at the caller ID and frowned.
"What the hell happened?" Happy asked, his voice turning serious.
A few seconds later, his expression darkened.
"No, no, don't tell me that now. Are you kidding me?"
The person on the other end continued speaking.
"I'm serious. Don't touch anything until I get there."
Not wanting the girls to hear the conversation, Happy stepped a few meters away to answer the call.
His attention became completely focused on the argument while the bodyguards dealt with the captured thugs nearby.
"What do we do? If the police come, Dad will find out," Emma quietly asked Morgan.
Morgan thought for a second. Seeing Uncle Happy speaking seriously on his phone and not paying attention to them, she made a decision.
"Let's run from here," she whispered.
Hearing her, Emma glanced at Happy. He was still talking on his phone, his attention completely focused on the call.
Emma swallowed nervously. "Are you sure?"
Morgan nodded.
Neither of them dared to make a sound. Their hearts pounded as they carefully took a few steps backward.
One step.
Then another.
Emma couldn't help but look back at Happy every few seconds, afraid he would suddenly turn around and stop them.
Fortunately, Happy remained busy talking on his phone while the bodyguards escorted the captured thugs toward the park entrance. Their attention was focused on the prisoners, giving the two girls a chance to slip away from the opposite side.
After putting some distance between themselves and the group, the two girls continued walking quietly through the park.
Only after they were far enough away that Happy and the bodyguards could no longer see them did they finally break into a run.
"Hurry!" Emma said, sweat forming on her forehead.
"What if Uncle Happy notices that we're gone and starts looking for us?" Morgan asked nervously as she ran beside her.
"If the police arrive, we'll be in even bigger trouble by then!" Emma replied.
After making sure nobody was nearby, a green light flashed.
Emma transformed into XLR8, picked Morgan up, and dashed away at incredible speed. Within seconds, they disappeared from the area before any nearby cameras could properly capture them.
"Where did those girls go?"
After finishing his call, Happy looked around in confusion. The bench where the girls had been sitting was now empty.
"Emma? Morgan?" he called out as he quickly searched the nearby area.
He walked around the park, looking behind trees, near the food truck, and along the walking paths, but there was no sign of them.
"Emma! Morgan!" he shouted again.
The only people left in the park were his bodyguards standing near the entrance with the captured thugs, waiting for the police to arrive.
"Boys, did either of you see those girls come this way?" Happy asked.
The bodyguards exchanged glances before shaking their heads.
"No, sir."
After searching for several more minutes, Happy still couldn't find them anywhere.
"Sir, maybe those girls didn't want their parents to know about this, so they ran away," one of the bodyguards said. Having children himself, he could somewhat understand their thinking.
Happy sighed. The explanation made sense.
Soon, police cars arrived, and the officers took the thugs into custody.
"So, the names are Emma and Morgan. One has black hair, the other blonde. Both appear to be around twelve years old," a police officer said as he wrote down the details.
"So they didn't tell you their full names?" the officer asked Happy.
"Yeah. They didn't say much. I honestly didn't expect them to run away," Happy admitted, sounding slightly embarrassed. As one of Stark's top bodyguards, he never imagined that two twelve-year-old girls would escape right under his nose.
"We'll try to identify the girls and contact their parents. We may need their statements later," the officer explained.
"Oh, my friend, I heard you lost two twelve-year-old girls."
A familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.
Happy turned around to see Tony and Pepper walking toward him.
"Tony, are you here to make fun of me? Is your meeting over already?" Happy asked.
"The meeting ended early. Security told me you were dealing with four thugs and two missing girls near my building. I had to come see the legendary Happy Hogan get defeated by middle schoolers," Tony said with a grin.
"Don't make it sound like I did something wrong!" Happy replied before explaining everything that had happened.
Tony listened quietly before looking at Happy.
"So let me get this straight. Two little girls beat up two grown men, escaped from Stark security, and disappeared while you were standing right here?"
Happy sighed.
"When you say it like that, it sounds bad."
"It sounds terrible," Tony replied. "Buddy, I think the girls need security jobs."
Pepper shook her head. "Tony, stop making fun of Happy and help him."
Tony raised his hands. "Fine. J.A.R.V.I.S., let's find our little escape artists." To Tony, it seemed like the easiest task in the world.
However, several seconds passed without a response.
Tony frowned. "J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
A few more seconds later, the AI finally replied. "Sir, I apologize, but I am unable to track the two girls. It appears they left the park before nearby cameras could properly capture them. I found partial identity information, but a deeper search suggests that the identities may be false, sir."
For the first time, Tony's smile disappeared. "Wait. You're telling me J.A.R.V.I.S. can't find two twelve-year-old girls?"
"That is correct, sir."
For several seconds, nobody spoke. Tony stared at the holographic information displayed through his smart glasses.
Happy frowned. "What is it?"
J.A.R.V.I.S. continued processing the data. "Sir, I have discovered several irregularities regarding the two girls."
Tony's smile disappeared completely. "...What?"
Additional information suddenly appeared on the holographic display. Happy stepped closer, but Tony remained silent as he read the data.
"Tony?" Pepper asked.
For the first time that day, the joking expression vanished from Tony's face. And for the first time, Tony realized that these two seemingly ordinary girls were not as simple as they appeared.
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