Armor and Mechs

Howard led Tony and Qin Yi toward the basement.

A moment later, the group stopped beside a bookshelf.

Qin Yi curiously looked around. He rarely came down to the first basement level before. Could there be something hidden here?

Howard moved several books in sequence, and the bookshelf before them suddenly split down the middle and slid apart to either side.

A stairway leading down appeared.

Tony pointed at the suddenly revealed passage in astonishment.

"Dad, this..."

Howard said nothing, merely gesturing for them to keep following him.

They walked down the stairs, and at the bottom stood a black iron door.

After Howard pressed several spots beside the iron door, an electronic voice sounded.

"Fingerprint verification passed. Iris verification passed. Welcome back, Mr. Howard."

The black iron door slowly opened.

Qin Yi stared blankly at it for a moment. Damn, there were actually five or six alloy doors made of some unknown material sealing the place off.

As the overhead lights gradually came on, they walked inside and found an enormous laboratory before them.

The shocked expression on Tony's face had not changed since they came down the stairs. He looked at his father in confusion.

"This is really beneath our house?"

Howard walked over to a testing bench.

Several steel suits resembling the Mark I were arranged on the bench, except their chests were completely hollow.

Qin Yi went to another testing bench and stared blankly at a solid mech in front of him. This was getting more and more damn confusing.

Howard then leaned against the testing bench and spoke to Qin Yi and Tony.

"The government's recent actions against mutants have become difficult for me to understand. Superpowered people are appearing more and more frequently. In such an unequal conflict, I seriously doubt whether the government will be able to handle things in the future.

"These are some of my earlier research projects. I stopped working on them after retiring a few years ago.

"Tony, what's in front of you is a wearable armored suit. I envisioned Stark Industries' reactor as its power source. I tried to miniaturize it, but the technology at the time limited me. There is still room for improvement.

"Little Qin, what's in front of you is an automated combat mech I designed. Restricted by current artificial intelligence technology, it can only be considered a half-finished product."

Qin Yi and Tony exchanged a glance. When Tony and Shuri had developed the cure serum in the zombie universe, they had also seen quite a few Iron Man suits from that universe.

What neither of them expected was that Howard in this universe had begun research in this area so long ago.

Perhaps Howard in that universe had left too suddenly and never had the chance to explain it to Tony.

Howard continued explaining to the curious pair.

"On one hand, old-fashioned conventional weapons can no longer deal with today's superpowered individuals.

"On the other hand, although Stark Industries built its fortune on weapons... there was no choice in the past. Now, I only hope that you can live in a peaceful era in the future."

"Little Qin, I don't know how powerful you truly are, but as the saying goes, soldiers fight soldiers, generals fight generals.

"You can't fight alone. You must have your own force. That way, when you face threats in the future, you won't have to bear everything by yourself."

After saying his piece, Howard patted Tony on the shoulder.

"I'll leave these things to the two of you. Later, I'll set the access controls to recognize your fingerprints and irises.

"I hope it's not too late. That blonde woman who attacked Little Qin last time has left me deeply uneasy."

Tony looked at his gray-haired father with gradually moistening eyes. After changing the access controls, Howard left alone.

Qin Yi's mind was a mess. He took a pack of Wakandan cigarettes from his magic space and raised it toward Tony. When Tony shook his head in refusal, Qin Yi lit one with a tiny flame from his right hand, took a deep drag, and slowly sorted through his thoughts.

Tony could not help teasing Qin Yi.

"How did you get hooked on that? You're still underage."

"Next time someone says I'm underage, I'm definitely beating them up."

Tony leaned against the testing bench, stroked his chin, and asked Qin Yi,

"So, unlike that universe, I didn't become Iron Man in some cave?"

After rubbing his head, Qin Yi said,

"Let's study this first. Compared to Wakanda, the foundational sciences of this era are far too backward. Since the new tower hasn't been built yet, let's spend the next couple of years in this laboratory organizing the things we brought back from Wakanda and Uncle Howard's research."

Tony nodded repeatedly.

Then the two of them got busy.

"That zombie virus has been confirmed eliminated?"

"Yeah."

"Where are the six Infinity Stones in our universe now? Will there also be someone called Thanos collecting them?"

Qin Yi looked up at Tony.

"At this point, he probably hasn't started yet."

Hearing that, Tony leaned closer and looked at Qin Yi with expectant eyes.

"He shouldn't be your match now, right? Let's go kill him."

Qin Yi folded his arms and circled Tony, who had placed a hand across his neck, before examining him.

"Who told you all that? Spider-Man? Dr. Banner? Or Thor?"

Tony awkwardly rubbed his chin.

"I asked a few of them. Putting their answers together, I figured out some things."

"When did you ask them?"

Qin Yi pondered inwardly. While he was in that universe, he had kept a close eye on Tony, afraid that this guy would learn too much about the future.

"At that bonfire party, when you touched that girl's face."

"I wasn't touching her. I was helping her erase her memories."

Qin Yi hurriedly explained.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Tony stared at Qin Yi as though he had discovered a new continent.

"So that girl named Wanda—where is she in our universe? How old is she?"

Qin Yi looked at the curious Tony, raised his head, and thought for a while.

"She's eleven. She should still be in Sokovia right now, but..."

Tony noticed that Qin Yi had suddenly stopped speaking and was staring at him.

"But what? Does it have something to do with me?"

"Thor and the others didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Qin Yi rubbed his head.

Was he supposed to tell Tony that Wanda's family had been bombed by shells manufactured by Stark Industries? The first shell had killed her parents, while the second had its probability altered by eleven-year-old Wanda's powers and failed to explode. Only Wanda and her brother Quicksilver had survived.

They should still be wandering around Sokovia now.

Should he go, or not? It was just that damned timeline...

Seeing Qin Yi fall silent, Tony silently resolved to look into what had recently happened in Sokovia later.

After a long silence, Qin Yi watched the two little figures in his mind argue.

The black little figure said viciously,

"Fuck the timeline. Whatever happens, happens. We fucking crossed over here and still have to live so cautiously?

"Forget it. We're going now. We'll deal with the future when it comes."

The white little figure curled its lip disdainfully.

"Tch. You just want her body."

The black little figure raised its middle finger and snarled,

"Take this!"

The black and white little figures immediately began brawling.

Qin Yi patted Tony on the shoulder.

"Bro, clean things up here for a while. I'm heading out to take care of something."

Before Tony could ask what he meant, Qin Yi vanished before his eyes amid a ripple of spatial energy.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I'm so fucking jealous."

Tony let out a long sigh. Looking at the old suits before him, the fire in his eyes burned ever hotter.