New Element

After Coulson left, Iron Man spent a whole day going through the files, but made no progress.

"Tang, let's go to the company and see Pepper Potts. I have some things to tell her," Iron Man said.

Apocalypse thought to himself, It's finally here.

Iron Man drove while Apocalypse sat comfortably in the passenger seat. Ever since gaining the strength of three Hulks, he had barely ridden in cars.

The sports cars he had once envied so deeply in his previous life no longer stirred his heart in the slightest.

Iron Man stopped at a fruit stand by the roadside and bought two boxes of strawberries. He did not pay in cash, instead taking off his watch and handing it to the fruit seller.

The fruit seller was overjoyed and accepted the watch.

Even if it was fake, it was worth far more than two boxes of strawberries. Besides, the famous man standing before him was Tony Stark, Iron Man himself, someone everyone saw on television and knew by name. There was no way it could be fake.

That one watch alone was worth half a farm.

When they arrived at the company, Iron Man had come with a heavy heart, intending to make arrangements for after his death, but Pepper Potts knew nothing of it.

"Pepper Potts, I brought you some fruit."

When she saw Iron Man approaching with strawberries, she became somewhat angry. "Do you know that out of all fruits, strawberries are the only thing I'm allergic to? You're always so self-centered. You never think about others or consider their feelings."

Iron Man felt deeply guilty and fell silent. At a moment between life and death, he had realized that the person he cared about most, the one he could not let go of, was Pepper Potts.

He had only wanted to buy some fruit as a small gesture, yet he did not even know what the person he cared about most liked to eat.

It seemed he truly had spent too little time thinking about Pepper Potts.

In the original plot, their relationship began to change precisely in Iron Man 2.

Apocalypse handed over a box of kiwis. "The strawberries are for me. Tony bought these for you."

"Really?" Pepper Potts did not quite believe it.

"Look, I've already eaten more than half a box of strawberries. If Tony had bought them for you, would he have let me eat them?" Apocalypse said.

Iron Man gave Apocalypse a strange look. He understood him less and less. This Easterner always seemed to help him whenever he ran into a difficult problem.

He even knew what Pepper Potts would and would not eat. Did he know everything?

"Ding!"

Iron Man's trust level increased: 75%.

Apocalypse had not expected that casually easing the awkwardness between the two of them would raise Iron Man's favorability toward him.

It seemed Pepper Potts held a more important place in Iron Man's heart than she appeared to.

As expected of a fated couple who would eventually become husband and wife.

Hearing Apocalypse say that, Pepper Potts said coquettishly to Iron Man, "You did that on purpose to make me angry, didn't you?"

Apocalypse said, "Don't you know Tony's personality by now? How could he bring himself to do something so sweet? He wanted to, but couldn't put aside his pride. He insisted on dragging me here to be his shield without considering my feelings at all."

Those words dispelled Pepper Potts's doubts. Her anger turned to joy, and sweetness immediately filled her heart.

The man she had always loved from afar had finally shown her some affection. Her years of silent devotion and waiting had not been in vain.

Iron Man, meanwhile, shot Apocalypse a sidelong glance. Tang was too amazing. No wonder he had won over Natasha Rushman with just a few words last time. Who was the real playboy here?

No, he knew Pepper Potts too well. I can't let him steal my woman.

So he unceremoniously drove Apocalypse out, leaving himself alone with Pepper Potts.

Apocalypse had no idea what they talked about. After a while, Pepper Potts left with a glowing face and went to handle company affairs.

Ever since they had taken down the bald Stane, someone had to manage the company's affairs. Iron Man hardly ever handled the company himself, so all the practical work had fallen onto Pepper Potts, keeping her incredibly busy.

Seeing Pepper Potts's expression as she walked out, Apocalypse knew. "Tony, you still haven't told Pepper Potts the truth, have you?"

Iron Man sighed. "I... don't know how to say it."

Having grown accustomed to being an unruly playboy, Iron Man found himself unable to express such heavy matters.

Apocalypse wondered whether he should find another opportunity to give them a hand.

In the original plot, Iron Man would walk around the office before finally taking the city model in the corner back to his lab, where he would discover a New Element within it.

This was the inheritance Iron Man's father had left him.

Apocalypse watched Iron Man sit listlessly in his office chair, showing no intention of examining the city model.

If he had not come along, this would probably have become another turning point caused by The Butterfly Effect.

Seeing Iron Man about to leave, Apocalypse could only remind him, "Aren't you going to look around here and see if you can find something new?"

Iron Man said, "All of the company's technical data is already in my head. What could possibly be here?"

"Is that so?"

Apocalypse had no choice but to pick up the city model. "Tell me, what do you see?"

"My father left this to me. Back then, he said the future was within this city, but he was limited by the era and couldn't make it happen. I always thought he meant the city's buildings..."

Before he could finish, Iron Man immediately noticed something.

With Apocalypse's hint and his own genius, he instantly sensed that the city model before him was unusual.

He immediately pulled off the cover completely, growing more excited the longer he looked.

"Tang, there's no equipment here. Help me take these things back to the lab. I need to study them further."

Suddenly, he stopped and looked at Apocalypse. "Tang, how did you know? You knew all along, didn't you? Why didn't you just tell me? Did you want me to discover it myself?"

Apocalypse merely smiled without speaking. Even if Iron Man racked his brains, he would never understand that Apocalypse had watched his entire life unfold in another world.

Iron Man stepped forward and gave Apocalypse a fierce hug. "Tang, if I were thirty years younger, I'd definitely believe you were an angel sent to protect me."

"What about now?"

"Now I think you're more like a delivery guy."

"Get lost..."

Soon, several large pieces of the city model were brought back to the lab.

Iron Man activated the holographic display and began extracting the model's key data, filtering out the noise one piece at a time.

With Apocalypse's clear guidance, Iron Man decoded it even faster than in the original plot.

Finally, with a sweep of both hands, an elemental model that continuously released energy appeared in the holographic display.

"Perfect, Tang. This element is simply perfect. I can't believe it! It brilliantly bypasses the contradiction that nuclear elements must be radioactive. It's a work of genius. This element is like the sun, releasing endless energy."

"Why did my father invent such a powerful New Element but never tell me?"

"Precisely because it was so powerful, he didn't dare tell you," Apocalypse said.

When Iron Man's parents died, he had not yet come of age and was still only half-grown. Howard could not possibly have casually told his son such important information. He had not even told S.H.I.E.L.D.

He had probably intended to reveal everything once Iron Man became an adult, but unfortunately, an accident happened.

"Tang, I need to build a Miniature Particle Accelerator. Give me a hand."

A conventional particle accelerator was usually dozens of kilometers long, accelerating particles to near light speed and colliding them to explore the deeper cosmic truths of particles.

However, Iron Man only needed to use energy conversion to transform palladium into another element, so there was no need for anything so complicated.

In the original plot, Iron Man had built this Miniature Particle Accelerator all by himself. Now that he had Apocalypse as free labor, he was happy to take it easy, and the efficiency greatly improved.

Before long, a ring-shaped Miniature Particle Accelerator dozens of meters long was completed.

Apocalypse also saw the prototype of Captain America's shield, which Iron Man had used as a brick in the original plot. Captain America's shield had been forged by Tony's father, Howard.

The real shield was likely still sleeping in a land of ice and snow, just like Captain America.

"Good. Success or failure depends on this one attempt."

Iron Man activated the particle accelerator. A massive amount of energy rapidly gathered in a laser emitter, and after reflecting through a prism, the laser slowly moved. Everything in its path was sliced in two.

Even some experimental Iron Man armor was no exception. One could imagine just how terrifying that energy was.

Apocalypse felt that even his body could not withstand that laser and would likely be cut apart. It seemed there were still many things in this world that could harm him. He absolutely could not become overconfident.

"Hiss... Hiss... Hiss..."

Enhanced by the prism, the laser's energy struck the palladium element. It immediately began to jump violently, continuously releasing blinding light.

Before long, the intense reaction ended. The light grew weaker and weaker, and the palladium element suddenly became gentle. A new Miniature Arc Reactor took shape!

"It was that easy?" Iron Man could hardly believe it.

Apocalypse stepped forward. He did not understand science and could not see anything unusual.

However, he could sense that the energy level inside was more than ten times stronger than the Arc Reactor in Iron Man's chest.

That meant the New Element had succeeded. Cleaner, stronger—this was the future Iron Heart!

"Thank you, Tang," Iron Man said solemnly.

Apocalypse said, "I only lent a hand. You should thank your father. It was the technological legacy he left behind that saved your life."

"Ding!"

Another system notification sounded in Apocalypse's mind. Iron Man's trust level had increased again.

Iron Man said, "Although I don't know what your purpose is, you've saved me again and again. I, Tony Stark, will never forget this debt."

Apocalypse and Iron Man opened a bottle of champagne and held a small celebration.

Just then, the phone rang.

Just as Apocalypse had expected, it was Ivan calling. With Hammer Industries providing materials and equipment, his genius had finally found room to shine.

Ivan said smugly over the phone, "Stark, I made it dual-cycle. The power is stronger. Everything you did to my family, I'll take it all back within forty minutes!"