Meow Meow Meow! (Four Thousand Words)

Tony Stark.

A famous playboy, genius, and billionaire. One of the pioneers of Marvel's cinematic universe, he was a comic book character with an extremely distinctive personality and a mixed reputation.

But at least in the cinematic universe, Iron Man absolutely deserved to be called a hero.

When Leon watched the movie back then, Tony's death had deeply affected him as well.

What man could resist a suit of iron armor that glowed in the chest and fired laser attacks?

So no matter the reason, Leon couldn't refuse S.H.I.E.L.D.'s request.

He agreed at once. That very night, Leon boarded a S.H.I.E.L.D. plane and flew toward the place where Teacher Tony had gotten into trouble.

In the movie, S.H.I.E.L.D. seemed not to have rescued Tony at the time, though perhaps their efforts had all been kept in the shadows.

After all, Tony Stark's father, Howard Stark, had been one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders back then. S.H.I.E.L.D. naturally felt a certain closeness toward Tony.

And S.H.I.E.L.D. also held shares in Stark's weapons company.

As a genius at making money, Fury wouldn't stand by and do nothing based on that alone.

What's more, the legacies Howard had left behind could truly only be perfectly inherited by Tony.

The plane landed in a desolate Gobi wasteland. By then, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s large aerospace aircraft had already begun to take shape. Leon wondered whether the one they were riding now would become that future mobile S.H.I.E.L.D. base~

With all sorts of random thoughts running through his mind, Leon casually walked down the stairs.

"Is this the place?"

They had arrived at the location where Tony's phone had last transmitted a signal. Looking at the craters covering the ground, Leon thought, Old Obadiah really never intended to let Tony return alive!

Still, that also proved from another angle that Tony truly had the protagonist's plot armor. A missile had exploded right in front of him, yet he survived by relying on a car battery!

"Based on the information we have..." Coulson nodded and began briefing Leon.

Actually, Leon wasn't worried at all. Even if he hadn't come, Tony would have returned safely anyway.

Then, conversely, if Leon had really arrived before Tony hammered out that first Mark I Armor, would he have rescued Tony immediately?

Of course not!

There was nothing to gain and everything to lose from doing that. Leon naturally wouldn't do it.

All in all, Leon had come here purely to kill time and collect some credit.

Without interrupting Coulson's report, Leon listened until the end before nodding to Old Coulson. Then, with three hand signs, he created five copies of himself. Amid everyone's astonished gazes, they noisily flew off in a chaotic cluster.

Sand, and still more sand.

There seemed to be nothing in this area besides sand. Leon's Stamina far surpassed that of ordinary people, but he still wasn't immune to heat and cold. In that regard, Captain America, Black Widow, and even Hawkeye were far stronger than him.

Captain America didn't even need mentioning. That old rice dumpling had been frozen for more than seventy years and still pulled through. In his previous life, Leon had left a pet turtle outside overnight, and it had frozen into an ice lump.

Could those even be compared?

Black Widow and Hawkeye had achieved the same thing too. They wore the same combat suits at the equator and in the polar regions alike.

And Leon? He had stupidly come wearing a black trench coat!

And a mask!

Still, a wise man had his own... cheat!

[Lainapton's White Wine]

Effect: Grants a cooling sensation for a certain period after drinking.

Grade: White

Quality: Fine

Note: Cool to the core, soaring in spirit!

This was why having an all-purpose logistics guy who didn't need a salary was so important!

After drinking the white wine, Leon immediately felt much better. The only problem was that his clones were far too noisy.

"Bro, what good stuff are you drinking?"

"Eating alone will make your dick rot!"

"Are you stupid? If his rots, won't ours rot too?"

"This isn't fair! Why don't I get any of the cold water, but I can't escape the rotten dick either? I refuse to accept this!"

"Stop it, big bro. It hasn't rotted yet. What, are you from France or something?"

"Oh? Why would you say that, brother?"

"Because you protest over every little thing."

"Ding! Today's France achievement has been unlocked!"

"Who can set up a suka blyat joke so we can farm the achievement?"

"That's difficult. Logically speaking, anything I know, you all know too!"

"I protest! I want cold water too!"

"Why are you still here?! Main body! Stop fucking flying around and kick this asshole upstairs out already!"

"..."

Leon didn't dare say a single word. He just flew forward with his head down. Who would have thought that Leon, whose mouth was sweet as honey around others every day, would privately be so scared of his own Shadow Clones that he didn't dare speak?

"There are only four of them now. If one day I make dozens or hundreds like the Talk-No-Jutsu Prince..."

The image was too beautiful. Just thinking about it made his head start to hurt.

If not for grinding skill proficiency, Leon would never have dared release these four.

After flying for over an hour, the five people transformed into Black Hornets finally saw something other than sand.

Yellow earth and barren Gobi.

"This should be the place. Split up and search. Whoever finds that group, dismiss yourself."

This was another use for Shadow Clones. If Shadow Clones were used for scouting, they could dismiss themselves upon discovering anything, and the main body would receive their memories at the same time. It was practically perfect.

Every Shadow Clone possessed exactly the same personality and character as Leon, so they could still distinguish priorities when it came to serious matters.

Without exchanging a word, the Black Hornets immediately flew outward in all directions with Leon at the center. Leon, meanwhile, landed where he was, found a shaded spot, and quietly waited for news from his Shadow Clones.

Inside a crude cave, the primitive environment of carved stone stood in stark contrast to the pinnacle of human industrial technology scattered everywhere.

This cave filled with missiles was naturally the cave where Tony Stark was being held captive.

Before this incident, Tony Stark had never known what role he played in human society. Never before had he hated the weapons produced by his company as much as he did today.

He considered himself a genius, and that was universally acknowledged as fact. The weapons produced by Stark Industries had always been the best on the market, all thanks to Tony's genius mind.

But now, the weapons designed by that genius mind had nearly killed him after someone used weapons he had created to blow him up. He could only cling to life with a ridiculous car battery pressed against his chest.

And because of his extraordinary ability to manufacture weapons, he was imprisoned here and forced to design weapons for the people who had hurt him.

But he was Tony Stark.

A genius in industrial design and manufacturing! He had a stack of certificates from all kinds of universities, along with the skills of a level-eight fitter and level-eight welder—a supreme DIY master!

"You want weapons, don't you? Then I'll make one and show you..."

Having made up his mind, Tony and the bald, bespectacled man who had operated on him and saved his life began their first effort to dismantle missiles.

While the two geniuses in the cave hammered away at iron, Leon had already been asleep beneath a rock outside for quite a while.

His thoughts hadn't changed. If he charged in to rescue Tony now, all he would be saving was an obnoxious playboy. Leon had no interest in making trouble for himself.

But that bald, bespectacled uncle, Yinsen—Leon had made up his mind that he had to save him.

He was someone worthy of respect.

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Iron Man Tony Stark snapped his fingers and traded his own life for the lives of half the beings in the universe. No matter what his first half of life had been like, everyone had to admit in that moment that he was a qualified hero.

So when had that obnoxious playboy become a hero?

It was in this cave.

More precisely, it was when Yinsen had just become his friend, then died before his eyes.

Yinsen was the life-saving benefactor of the playboy Tony Stark, and through his own efforts, he made Tony into Iron Man.

At the end of their plan, in order to buy Tony time to activate the armor, that frail, balding, bespectacled uncle grabbed a gun and charged out with a shout.

That figure would probably remain in Tony's heart forever, impossible to erase.

"I've always planned it this way."

The dying Yinsen said that to Tony. Those words were what awakened the confused, aimless Tony Stark.

"You have everything, yet you also have nothing."

Those words Yinsen had spoken to Tony perfectly described the first half of Tony's life.

And in the end, Yinsen held Tony Stark's hand and told him, "Don't waste your life!"

Tony's latter half of life truly followed his friend's wish, as he kept fighting for the weak!

Tony Stark was humanity's superhero. Yinsen was Iron Man's superhero.

How could Leon possibly stand by and watch such a gentleman, wise man, and respectable person die?!

Two days later, just as Leon knew from the plot, frail Yinsen resolutely shouted and charged out to buy time for Tony's Mark I Armor to activate.

No matter how anxious Tony was, he could only watch helplessly as Yinsen went out alone to draw enemy fire and buy him time.

The armor finally finished activating, and Tony impatiently drove it out.

His calculations had been correct. In the cramped tunnels of the cave, his iron armor was unstoppable against the enemy's guns. He didn't even need to attack himself; the enemies wounded their own allies with ricochets, losing several men.

At last, Tony found Yinsen atop a pile of cargo, already riddled with bullets.

"My family is already dead... I'm going to see them... I already... I have nothing left to hold on to."

Yinsen spoke weakly, yet his face still wore the same calm, composed smile Tony had seen when they first met.

"Thank you for saving my life..."

Tony felt as though something was squeezing his chest. The suffocating pressure nearly made it impossible for him to breathe.

It was his reluctance to part, and his guilt.

"Don't waste your life."

Yinsen still spoke with a smile. Then, beneath Tony's silent gaze, he slowly closed his eyes...

Tony looked at his savior, his friend, and remembered his final words in his heart.

Lowering his faceplate, he said, "My turn..."

"Uh... sorry, but he doesn't seem to be dead yet. Look, I just happen to be a doctor. How about I save him?"

The one ruining the mood was naturally Leon.

He transformed into a Black Hornet and flew in, staying beside Tony the whole time. Though he hadn't done anything after arriving, he couldn't guarantee that some butterfly effect wouldn't occur. To be safe, he had followed behind Tony.

After all, Tony was certain to meet Yinsen.

It wasn't that he was no longer afraid of the butterfly effect. There was only one exit in this cave, so as long as they ran out, there was no way they could fail to run into each other!

When Leon had followed them over just now and spotted Yinsen lying on the ground, he had activated his aura and bound it to Yinsen.

[Light of Revival]: Can grant one friendly target a continuous 10% recovery effect.

Tony turned and immediately blasted flames at him!

"If you don't let me save him, he'll really die!"

Nimbly dodging the flames spewed from the launcher mounted on Tony's arm, Leon shouted, "I really came here to save people!"

Only then did Tony see that the "person" speaking was actually a Black Cat!

"An elf? A wizard? The star performer of a circus?"

What could he say? Worthy of being one of Marvel's three greatest chatterboxes—Tony still didn't forget to crack a joke at a time like this.

Like a real cat, Leon sat on the ground with all four limbs tucked together. His black tail curled around to the front, covering his paws. "Do you want me to save him?"

Leon didn't say anything else. He simply asked that one question.

Hearing this, Tony had a thousand questions and a thousand doubts in his heart, but he could only take a step back and give up the spot. At the same time, he raised his arm with the launcher and pointed it at Leon.

Leon didn't transform back into human form. Cat paws could hold a toothbrush anyway. This was a special skill he had deliberately practiced!

Later, when he went on dates with pretty girls, he could say: Want to come to my place? My cat brushes its own teeth with a toothbrush!

Wasn't that much more impressive than catching mice?!

And so, inside the dark cave, under the watchful gaze of an iron man silently holding up his hand, a Black Cat used a toothbrush to perform surgery on someone who had supposedly already died...

After speaking those words, Yinsen had fallen unconscious. But in his hazy state, he seemed to regain awareness. Faintly, he felt as though someone was shaking him.

"Yinsen, Yinsen!"

That was right!

Someone really was calling his name!

Opening his eyes, the first thing that entered his vision... was a pair of golden vertical pupils!

"He's awake, but there are still two bullets inside him. Things are urgent right now, so we'll talk after we get back."

Yinsen had just woken up when the huge cat face scared him unconscious again. But Tony could tell that Yinsen had truly escaped immediate danger. After all, those strangely healing wounds had closed right before his eyes.

"Thank you!"

"...Mr. Cat..."

Tony had lowered his guard against Leon a little by then, but endless curiosity soon welled up within him.

"What species of cat are you?"

"Magic?"

"That's right! Now you can make three wishes!"

"You're a wish-granting genie?!"

"Of course~ not! Didn't you go to school? Obviously, I'm a cat."

"But you can talk!" Tony said again as he helped Yinsen up.

"So can you."

Leon took the lead with a proper catwalk. "Do I also have to tell you that I can use the Clone Technique?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a puff of smoke rose, and four identical cats appeared where they stood.

"Yo! Canned food!"

"Do you know how to scoop poop, human?"

"Meow! Meow! Meow meow! Meow! Meow!"

"Speak fucking human!"

"Fuck, I forgot I could talk!"

"Idiot!"

"Hehe, an idiot calling an idiot an idiot..."

For the first time in his sharp-tongued life, Tony Stark found himself utterly speechless!

This chapter was hard to split up, so I posted it all together. Please vote!