Tony's Confused, Heartbroken Breakdown

This was, after all, Tony's first time designing a suit of armor. Though he had considered the need for flight in the final escape, he had never imagined that controlling his posture in midair would be far more difficult than he had expected.

What Tony was most grateful for while suspended in the air was that Sherlock had come to save him and taken Yinsen away.

After all, if they had really followed the original plan—whether Yinsen rode on the back of his armor or Tony carried him in his arms—given the armor's current flight performance, Yinsen would have had only one fate.

A fall from high altitude, followed by death on impact!

Yet Tony's brief relief quickly turned into panic. At first, things had been simple enough. His posture might have looked ugly, but at least the thrusters beneath his feet were still propelling him forward.

But after several explosive bursts, the thrusters beneath his feet suddenly died!

The instant he lost power, Tony truly began to panic. The cumbersome iron giant flailed in midair like a drowning fish, but it could not resist the mighty pull of gravity and crashed heavily into the ground.

The crudely made armor unexpectedly became Tony's greatest lifesaver. Because it was so poorly constructed, the armor absorbed nearly all the impact from the fall.

Though it shattered into pieces and still flung Tony out, compared to the normal outcome of being smashed into pulp, getting away with only a sprained arm was already a blessing in disguise.

If there was anything wrong, it was probably that the "tracking ring" Tony had kept in his mouth had been accidentally swallowed in his panic.

Lying on the scorching sand, Tony could only hope the ring would still work even inside his stomach. Having gone so long without food or water, he truly did not want to move anymore. He simply lay there like a salted fish, waiting for Sherlock and the others to find him.

Under the blazing sun, Tony soon closed his eyes in a daze and fell asleep. The past month had simply exhausted him too much.

But just as Tony was drifting in and out of sleep, the smell of a cheeseburger barged into his nostrils like a bandit, kicking down the door and swaggering straight into his brain. Almost instinctively, Tony opened his mouth and tried to take a bite, only to bite at empty air.

Just as Tony was getting annoyed, an extremely familiar yet gleeful voice sounded by his ear.

"See? I told you this would work!"

Tony forced his eyes open, and what he saw nearly made him think he was hallucinating.

A huge Raptor pickup was parked before him. Its elaborate decals and gleaming paint job clearly had no business being in the middle of this desert.

Inside the truck, Sherlock wore clean beachwear and sunglasses. He held a fishing rod, and a cheeseburger tied to its line dangled in front of Tony's face.

His young face was full of a mischievous grin, like a little fox that had just pulled off a prank.

In the driver's seat, John Wick was similarly dressed in beachwear and sunglasses. One hand rested on the steering wheel while he watched Sherlock fish for Tony, laughing so hard he slapped his thigh.

In the bed of the Raptor, Yinsen—clean and neatly dressed—leaned against the side with a smile as he watched Tony.

Compared to the Yinsen Tony knew, this Yinsen was immaculately clean, and the smile on his face was far more genuine, as though he had returned to being the respectable doctor he had been before being captured.

But what truly made Tony think he was hallucinating was the back seat of the Raptor. Vaguely, Tony could see a woman watching the childish antics of the men with a helpless expression.

And by the window closest to him, a clearly out-of-place anime-style creature was poking its head out, staring at him curiously.

"A hallucination? Not an unpleasant one, though."

Still groggy, Tony muttered to himself and prepared to close his eyes again. But the next second, his lips touched something. The rich aroma of grease and intense cheese made Tony instinctively open his mouth and bite down.

The instant Tony bit down, he felt a force yank his head upward, while the so-called "hallucination" erupted into even louder laughter!

"Caught one! Caught one! I'm the first man in the world to catch a giant fish called Tony Stark in the desert!"

With that familiar voice, the laughter rose to another level. The tug on the fishing line and the unmistakable taste of cheeseburger in his mouth both told Tony clearly that this was no hallucination!

Tony suddenly opened his eyes wide and stared at the Raptor in disbelief. Almost unconsciously, he sat up, yanked the cheeseburger off the line, and began eating while staring at the scene before him, unable to find words for it.

"Sherlock, stop playing around. Let Tony clean himself up, then let's get out of this damn place already. I'm starting to miss the comforts of human civilization."

The woman in the back seat spoke helplessly to the three men who were laughing their heads off.

"Doro wants to go home too!"

The anime-style creature added, and only then did Sherlock put away his playful mood. He opened the door, got out, walked over to Tony, and said,

"Come on, our ladies' man. Get in the truck so I can take you back and report in!"

Hearing Sherlock's words, Tony, who had eaten a cheeseburger, finally woke up completely. He looked at Sherlock with a grin and said,

"I want to stay in the truck bed with Yinsen. Damn it, I've never missed the damn sun as much as I do now!"

At Tony's request, Sherlock curled his lips and rolled his eyes in irritation.

"Great, another one driven crazy by captivity!"

Just as Sherlock was about to move Tony into the truck bed, Yinsen spoke up.

"Sherlock, I think you should let Tony wash up and clean himself first. My God, that smell is unbearable!"

Yinsen practically pinched his nose as he complained to Sherlock.

It would have been one thing if Yinsen had not mentioned it, but after he did, Sherlock also noticed the overpowering stench coming from Tony. He immediately backed away from Tony and gave Yinsen a thumbs-up.

"You're right!"

As Sherlock finished speaking, a simple shower stall rose from the ground before Tony's stunned and bewildered eyes.

Looking at the shower stall that had suddenly appeared before him, then at everything he had seen, Tony's mouth twitched for a long time before he finally asked, his resolve cracking.

"Don't tell me you all took showers and got yourselves cleaned up before coming to find me!"

"You guessed right, genius."

John Wick answered Tony's question with an especially wicked grin, earning an eye roll from Helen in the back seat. In return, Sherlock and Yinsen burst into hearty laughter, while Tony suffered his breakdown alone.