Tony's Shock

Leo stayed within a thick cloud layer, enveloped by dense mist all around him.

He did not mind. He spread out the Metal Darts following at his side, transforming them into a thin yet stable Steel Platform, and sat securely atop it.

Golden Light enveloped his body, preventing the mist from eroding him.

He sat there steadily, in no hurry to return home. Closing his eyes, he suspended a small piece of metal above his hand.

It's been a long time since I made a model. As my Mental Power has improved, my ability to control fine details has indeed grown stronger. The same goes for my control over other rare metals.

I can now turn metal into fine powder, but I still can't penetrate Abomination's skin. And the smaller the metal gets, the harder it is to control. It simply can't compare to the killing power of Metal Darts.

Come to think of it, Nirvana Wings seem to have undergone some kind of change!

Leo lightly shook his shoulders, and the two wings unfurled, curving around before him.

The Purple-Gold edges of the wings gleamed with dazzling light. Even the slightest movement left flowing afterimages behind them.

Looking closely, one-third of the diamond-shaped phantom Wing Feathers at the outermost edge had already filled with Black-Purple metal. The remaining metal Wing Feathers were the same.

Yet only those at the edges were visible, while the rest remained concealed beneath them.

With a gentle flap, the streaming light raised by his wings caused the space around him to distort slightly, making Leo's vision blur for a moment.

He flapped them again, and the countless surging streams of light made even Leo, who had been staring at them, feel dizzy.

The golden wings retracted. Leo did not know what they would ultimately become, but no matter what, it would be a good outcome.

Leo simply closed his eyes and drifted along with the clouds, not knowing where he had flown.

Malibu Beach Villa.

The sky had begun to brighten faintly. Tony drank the last sip of coffee, lightly stepped back from the holographic simulation board, and returned to his chair.

He rubbed his temples, yet an irrepressible smile spread across his face.

He had finally thought of a way for Mark VII to achieve precise positioning.

And it could enable an entirely new integrated armor assembly technology.

Sitting in his chair, Tony pushed hard with his foot and slid over to the bar. He uncapped a bottle and poured its contents into a glass.

Holding the glass, he casually took several ice cubes from beneath the cabinet and dropped them in.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., how is Leo doing? Did he go straight home?"

"Sir, Mr. Leo is currently over Germany. Since yesterday afternoon, his location has indicated that he has remained in a state of slow movement through the air."

Tony raised his glass and returned to the desk, lightly tapping the keyboard twice.

The feed from Leo's Glasses appeared on the screen.

It showed only a hazy expanse of mist, with nothing visible.

"Call him!"

Leo, who had kept his eyes closed, felt a faint vibration from his glasses frame and opened his eyes.

"Mr. Stark is calling. Would you like to answer?"

Tony's image appeared before Leo's eyes.

"Answer. Hey, Mr. Stark, why are you calling me?"

"How did you end up in Germany? Did something happen there?"

"Germany?" Leo looked at the location marker displayed by J.A.R.V.I.S. before scratching his head somewhat sheepishly. "Nothing happened. I was just doing a little training and drifted here without realizing it. I'll head back in a bit."

"Oh, right. Did Nick Fury contact you? Why does it seem like there's been no news at all? Did everything go smoothly?"

Tony took a sip of his drink and asked.

"It was fine, though Abomination was a little stronger than I expected. Still, I managed to deal with him smoothly enough."

Leo glanced at the lifelike model of Abomination in his hand and slipped it into his pocket, intending to keep it as a memento.

"Mr. Stark, I'm heading straight home in a bit. I left in a hurry this time, and I don't know what Aunt May is going to say!"

"Alright. I'm going to rest for a while. Later, I still need to go to the company and work with Pepper on preparations for Stark Tower. That's it for now. Bye!"

"Bye, Mr. Stark."

Leo ended the video call, stood from the Steel Platform, and lightly tapped his foot. His entire body floated into the air.

The Metal Plate beneath him transformed back into Metal Darts and followed behind Leo.

A streak of Golden Light tore through the clouds and shot toward New York.

Tony rubbed his hands together and sat directly on the sofa.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., play yesterday's recording."

"Yes, sir."

J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice sounded, entirely unsurprised.

At the same time, a large projected screen appeared before Tony, showing Leo arriving in the airspace above Havel Military Base.

Glasses' built-in scanning system had broken through the outermost defenses and roughly scanned the scene inside. Abomination was among those detected.

"Wait!"

The footage froze.

Tony stared at the image. Did I remember wrong?

"J.A.R.V.I.S., pull up the previous recording."

The earlier footage of Abomination fighting the helicopter appeared beside it.

The two screenshots were compared, and Abomination showed obvious differences.

What happened? In barely forty minutes, that monster had changed so drastically.

"Keep playing!"

The footage began moving again.

It gradually descended toward the ground below.

Tony also heard J.A.R.V.I.S.'s conclusion that Abomination ate people. He frowned and set his glass aside.

A bone spur rapidly enlarged in front of the camera. Although Tony knew nothing would happen, he still instinctively tilted his head aside.

But the speeding bone spur was caught by a small hand and casually tossed away.

Then, with a curl of five fingers, several Steel Tendons wrapped around Bone Spur Man and hauled him into the air.

Tony watched the scene in silence, showing no particular reaction as he continued watching.

Bone Spur Man's identity was exposed, and then he was bound and thrown several thousand meters into the sky.

Tony smiled when he saw that. He would never show mercy to such a beast either.

Then—

All they could see was a fair little hand reaching into the frame and pulling back.

From the massive military base, hundreds of enormous Steel Tendons shot out in a dense swarm, trailing afterimages as they stabbed into the nearby desert.

The entire large military base aboveground collapsed in on itself.

At the same time, vast clouds of yellow sand and dust erupted, rapidly spreading outward and engulfing everything around them.

RUMBLE RUMBLE!!

The deafening sound of collapsing buildings echoed throughout the Underground Workshop.

Dust covered the camera, dimming the room slightly. All they could see was a hazy cloud of dirt.

Tony Stark, who had witnessed the instant all those buildings collapsed, widened his eyes.

He could not help rising to his feet.

"Replay that part!!"

The footage rewound and played again. The thunderous sound of massive structures collapsing rang out once more as every building across several hundred, perhaps even a thousand meters, crumpled in an instant.

The sheer shock made Tony Stark drop back onto the sofa with a thump.

That kind of power... only the Jericho Missile could probably do that, right?