My Words Always Come True

"I told you already, I'm a Sorcerer. Don't keep trying to explain me with your science," Feeney corrected him, displeased.

Tony remained silent in the air. Of course, he hadn't been doing nothing all this time, but no matter how he investigated, he couldn't find anything suspicious about Feeney.

He'd even hacked into the hospital's system and checked Feeney's birth certificate. It proved he was a bona fide Earthling, which meant what Feeney said might be true.

But after years of studying science, the idea of Sorcerers struck him as absurd.

He'd thought he was ready to make amends for his past mistakes, but Feeney's appearance had clearly shown him that the world was more dangerous than he'd imagined.

Watching the current Mark II take shape directly as the original Mark III, skipping the original Mark II entirely, Feeney asked, "So you called just to let me know you can fly?"

Tony didn't want to answer. He had indeed partly been thinking that, but he obviously couldn't admit it now. Another reason was that he felt more confident after successfully building the armor and wanted to probe Feeney's background again, so he'd called.

But the result was clearly the same as last time with Feeney: things had gone a little wrong.

What a fool—his opponent could fly too!

"Want to race?" Tony asked, trying to change the subject as he looked at Feeney provocatively.

"We Sorcerers use portals. We don't care about speed!"

Feeney lifted his chin and spoke with disdain to hide his guilty conscience. Inwardly, he reaffirmed his resolve to practice flying, and even set himself a small goal: first, he'd surpass the Mark II.

But Tony was who he was. Even if he couldn't detect Feeney's guilty conscience, he'd still take a shot at him.

"Trickster Kid, I can tell you don't understand the thrill of flying. Speed is what makes it exciting, got it?"

As he spoke, Tony increased his power and shot past Feeney with a whoosh. In the blink of an eye, his figure disappeared into the night.

A few seconds later, he came roaring back, trailing a long plume of flame. "Now that's speed!"

"That's it!?"

Feeney was insanely jealous, but he couldn't lose face. In an even tone, he said, "That wasn't very fast. You were only a little faster than a fighter jet."

Tony had been thrilled, but those words immediately took the wind out of his sails. He glanced at Feeney, then asked, "Shall we head down and talk?"

Feeney had been about to say goodbye, but paused. Without thinking much of it, he nodded. He also wanted to find out whether his involvement had brought about any changes for Tony.

The two began descending together. The competitive Tony clearly had no intention of waiting for him and shot downward, leaving a long trail of flame. Feeney nearly opened a portal to cheat.

But he figured that wouldn't be a fair win, and Tony wouldn't accept it, so he eventually flew down at a leisurely pace.

Tony was already sitting in the villa's courtyard, legs crossed and a glass of wine in hand. His faceplate was open, and he looked like a big shot.

"I almost thought you'd gotten lost. I was wondering if I should go look for you."

As usual, Tony 'attacked' Feeney with his words, then pointed to the wine cabinet nearby. "Help yourself to whatever you want. I don't pour drinks for other people."

Feeney didn't mind and headed straight for the fridge. After a few encounters, he was actually starting to get used to Tony's personality.

He casually deactivated Possessed by Evil Spirit and returned to normal. He looked inside the fridge. It seemed to be stocked with expensive name-brand liquor, though he didn't recognize most of it.

He picked out a bottle with a low alcohol content, took it and a glass over to Tony, and sat beside him. Pouring himself a drink, he raised it toward Tony. "Come on, let's toast the Stark Armor!"

"Now that I think about it, you're still a minor. You'd better not drink. I'll have some milk ready for you next time. Also, how exactly do you store and summon your armor?"

"..."

Feeney ignored him and took a sip. The rich, sharp taste filled his mouth, making him a little uncomfortable, so he put down his glass and replied, "It's magic. You wouldn't understand. It's Mind Power, Mental Power. With your level of understanding, it'd be hard to explain."

"Lend me your armor for a few days and I guarantee I'll explain it to you," Tony said, refusing to back down and trying to provoke him.

"In your dreams!"

Feeney would sooner let someone take him away to be studied than lend out Possessed by Evil Spirit for research.

"Such a stingy boy. I bet girls don't like you," Tony said, unhappily sipping his wine. Still, he felt a little uncomfortable wearing the armor.

"I was the heartthrob at school. You think nobody likes me!?"

"I slept with twelve cover girls last year, and one of them was a pair of twins! What about you?"

Now Feeney was the one who felt annoyed. He opened his mouth, but ultimately couldn't think of a reply, so he could only lift his glass and angrily down a gulp.

As the saying went, true happiness was often built on someone else's misery. Seeing Feeney's glum expression, Tony laughed heartily and took a celebratory sip of wine.

The two of them actually started chatting. Tony talked about his experiences with girlfriends, and Feeney chimed in with the occasional comment.

Feeney didn't know that Tony was very lonely at that moment. A few months earlier, he'd lost a friend who had saved his life. After struggling to make it home, the first decision he made had been met with everyone's criticism and suspicion.

Even when he'd wanted to invite his best friend to help him build the armor, his friend had refused. Aside from Pepper Potts, one of the people closest to him, he hardly had anyone he trusted.

Yet even Pepper Potts couldn't understand what he was doing. She was simply trying to understand him for his sake.

After Yinsen died, Tony had decided that his purpose in life was to do something for the world. The Iron Man Armor gave him a goal and hope.

But just as he was preparing to make his mark, Feeney had suddenly appeared.

His mysterious origins, incomprehensible abilities—though he had seemed ill-intentioned at first, once his disguise was exposed, he'd frankly apologized and offered to make amends.

Add in his relatively young age, carefree personality, and inexplicable knowledge of Tony, and Tony simply couldn't ignore his presence.

That was why, after making the armor, he'd called Feeney when he had no one else to share his joy with. Perhaps he hadn't even known what he wanted to say. He'd just wanted someone to know that he'd succeeded.

Tony didn't know whether what he was doing was right, but it was like his family tradition: do it first and think about it later. Even if he was wrong, he believed he had the ability to set things right.

"Can you tell me about your... uh... Magic Show Troupe?"

After chatting for a while, Tony still couldn't fully relax. Holding his glass, he looked at Feeney and asked.

"We're Mystic Arts Mages. We have an organization, and you'd better watch what you say. Our leader is very powerful." Seeing how disrespectful Tony was toward the profession of Sorcerers, Feeney decided to give him a little warning.

"My teacher is known as the Sorcerer Supreme. He wields Time Sorcery and can predict the future."

"So you can do that too!?" Tony clearly wasn't about to believe him so easily, especially when it came to something like the future that went against science. He raised an eyebrow. "Then predict what I'm going to drink next."

"I can't do that yet, but my words always come true."

Feeney took a sip of wine, wondering how he could mess with Tony.

Should I change my posting schedule so you'll have more tickets to vote for me!?