The Greatest Creation

Ethan held a simple contract, the ink still wet, and asked, "Boss, why are you only having them deliver meals for one month? Do you have some new plan for after that?"

Yuri smiled mysteriously and put an arm around Ethan's shoulder. "We can talk about what happens in a month when the time comes. For now, you just need to find a suitable set of fangs for our Iron Suit as quickly as possible."

Evening.

Ethan called Yuri down from the second floor, where he'd been busy engraving magical patterns, and they ate the dinner Hell's Kitchen had delivered.

Before leaving, he handed Yuri several blueprints detailing where each weapon should be installed, what weapons should go where, and so on. Ethan had rented a place in New York, not far from the shop. It took him less than ten minutes to get to work by bicycle.

Yuri watched his shop assistant wobble away on his bicycle. After greeting Old Rogers, who was sitting outside the bookstore, he shut and locked the shop, then returned to the makeshift workshop on the second floor. The armor was nearly finished, but it still lacked its signature outer paint.

He took the blueprints Ethan had drawn up and looked to see which weapons he could build right away and install on the armor.

Reality was harsh, and the answer was disappointing.

These munitions and missiles always required a few small but essential components, and Yuri had no way of getting them right now.

"Brrring..."

Before Yuri could even reach into his pocket, the phone answered automatically. Tony spoke in a guilty, furtive tone. "Open the door, quick! I'm right outside the shop!"

Yuri pulled out his phone and casually draped a large cloth over the Steam Armor in front of him. He glanced at the time on his phone and at the darkening sky outside, then asked in confusion, "Why are you in such a hurry? It's already dark. No one should be able to see you."

Tony paused on the other end. He took a couple of short steps, and the clang of metal striking metal rang out conspicuously on the deserted street. He made a mental note to add sound-dampening features to the soles of his armor, then gently pressed the doorbell on the glass door twice. "All right, Yuri, I didn't come alone... Uh, I mean, I brought something with me."

Yuri could guess what he'd brought even with his toes, but he still pretended to know nothing. "So, has the generous Tony Stark brought my little shop another missile from twenty years ago, with only its outer shell left?"

Tony fell silent again. He knew the opening-day gift he'd delivered that morning hadn't been much, but he hadn't expected Yuri to compare it to the Iron Man Armor he was wearing right now. He pressed the doorbell twice, hard, and said angrily, "Those two things aren't even remotely comparable! What I've brought now is, without a doubt, the greatest creation of my life!"

"Wow~"

Yuri stood behind the one-way glass and thoroughly admired the red-and-gold Iron Armor gesticulating on the street. He couldn't help feeling genuine admiration for the man inside, a man cursed with knowledge. To stand shoulder to shoulder with Gods in a mortal body, he didn't need the armor on the outside; he needed the weathered soul he'd have years from now.

He opened the door and murmured into the still-connected phone, "I wonder if a certain little girl would still say 'I love you three thousand' after hearing that..."

"What did you say? Are you blown away by it?"

Tony strutted around in his Iron Man Armor outside the shop, then squeezed inside. He knocked on the glowing helmet and said, "As long as I've got this on my head, you'll never be able to break into my mind and control my body again. Want to give it a try?"

"No."

Yuri poked the shining blue reactor in the Iron Man Armor's chest with a finger. There was an interesting rule in Marvel: things that were controllable and beneficial were usually blue, while those that were difficult to control and highly dangerous were usually green.

He opened his phone's camera and wrapped an arm around the chilly Iron Armor, snapping several pictures together. When he was done, he rapped on Tony's metal head. "If I'm not mistaken, I'm the first person to see your greatest creation, right? How about taking off your helmet for the photo, Tony? Let's capture this moment."

The Iron Man Armor was silent for a moment, then the faceplate slowly opened.

Tony gave Yuri a disdainful look and pretended to be impatient. "Hurry up and take the picture."

"Click, click!"

Yuri finished taking the pictures and headed upstairs first. Hearing the clanking footsteps behind him, he silently mourned for three seconds for the staircase, which was enduring a weight no life should have to bear.

The two of them arrived on the second floor. Yuri walked over to the Steam Armor, still covered by the large cloth, and courteously let Tony reveal it himself. "Mr. Stark, you're about to witness the greatest creation of Yuri Ambrosius."

"Heh."

Tony sneered twice. He hated it when people mimicked him!

He yanked off the cloth, revealing the seamless Metal Giant once more beneath the bright lights. Yuri controlled it with his mind, and it split open down the middle, exposing a human-shaped cockpit lined with shock-absorbing rubber.

Tony's eyes flickered. This way of getting in and out was so much more convenient than his Mark I. He had to learn how it worked!

Yuri climbed into the cockpit, and the Iron Giant slowly closed around him. Mysterious patterns flashed briefly as dozens of streams of scalding steam shot from its vents with every movement.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

The whole room trembled slightly with each heavy footstep. Tony's mouth twitched; he suddenly felt that whether or not to install sound-dampening features on the soles of his armor didn't matter anymore. At Yuri's command, the street-facing wall slid apart. The bright moonlight fell on his face as he strode outside. In a fit of showing off, Tony immediately switched on flight mode.

"Whoosh~"

He hovered in front of the heavy, towering Metal Giant and teased, "If you just jump down like that, you'll probably be having tea with the city authorities tomorrow."

Yuri kept walking. His voice came from inside the Iron Giant. "Tony, if you're sure all the nearby surveillance equipment is down, I'd be happy to show you what a flying Metal Giant can do."

"Then let's see it."

Tony closed his faceplate and instructed Jarvis, built into his armor, "Scan his armor and find its power source."

"As you wish, sir."

Mysterious patterns shimmered, and thick streams of scalding white steam blasted out. The nearly four-meter-tall Iron Giant lowered its head slightly, then floated into the air with the grace of a fish slipping into the water, despite its massive, heavy frame.

"Scan complete. The armor has no centralized power source. It appears to continuously draw moisture from the environment and generate power through a process similar to a steam engine."

"A steam engine?!"

Tony watched the water vapor swirling around the Iron Giant and fell silent.

After getting used to the sensation of flying, Yuri excitedly invited Tony to take a high-altitude flight with him. "After that, we can have a friendly spar and see which of our creations truly deserves to be called the greatest!"

The sounds of gunfire and artillery came from far away. Tony and Yuri exchanged a glance. Tony pointed toward the source of the noise and said, "Then let's see who can get there first and deal with whatever's causing all that noise!"