Iron Man on the Verge of Bankruptcy

The next day, Luke woke up, remembered yesterday's farce, and shook his head.

A Shadow Ninja appeared to prepare food. Luke took a toothbrush and cup of water from another Shadow Ninja and went to brush his teeth.

Once he sat down at the dining table, the ninja turned on the television on his own.

"Yesterday, Stark Industries offered an explanation for the battle that took place at Stark Industries the day before. At the press conference, billionaire Tony Stark announced that he was the man wearing the metal armor that night, acknowledging his nickname, 'Iron Man.' He also acknowledged that the other man, who commanded numerous inhuman subordinates and controlled black energy, was his friend, the 'Shadow Lord,' while declaring that his abilities were completely controllable."

"Last night, Tony Stark attended a banquet in his Iron Man armor, livening up the event."

"Unfortunately, however, our reporter did not spot the 'Shadow Lord'..."

The news on television covered yesterday's events, most of it about him and Tony.

There seemed to be even more interest in him. After all, he had saved Tony several times when Tony was threatened yesterday, then fought Iron Monger alone at the end, drawing more attention from the public.

Luke changed the channel, only to find the same news.

He frowned. His favorite morning gossip had all turned into news about Iron Man, leaving him rather helpless.

After eating, Luke opened the system.

He now had 50 Blade Soldiers and 350 Ninja Soldiers. To his surprise, not a single Ninja Soldier with Yinsen had died. Luke felt he needed to reassess their strength.

That made sense, though. The Ninja Soldiers now had eight times an ordinary person's physical capabilities, and their superb skills allowed them to handle rifle fire. Combined with their teamwork and elusive movements, that was enough to establish themselves in that region.

And fighting enemies from another dimension yesterday before fighting Iron Monger had also shown Luke his shortcomings.

His individual strength was still relatively weak, and he relied mostly on his subordinates in battle. Yet the Shadow Legion was not particularly powerful at present.

Ninja Soldiers, for instance, were strong in ordinary battles but somewhat inadequate in battles between dimensions. Their enemies usually sent subordinates from the material world to attack, and there would be plenty of them, leaving his side at a numerical disadvantage.

Looking at how few coordinates for tiny dimensions he had left, he knew that numerical gap would only grow when he went on to plunder small, medium, and large dimensions, or even Dormammu's dimension.

So if he could not compete in numbers, he might as well focus on quality. Once his stronger troop types could each fight ten thousand enemies, they could all guard this side of the spatial rift and keep the enemy from getting through. Meanwhile, his ninjas were not afraid of dying and could cross over to wear the enemy down until they were finished.

Looking at the remaining tiny dark dimensions, Luke decided that after mining them all, he would increase his Ninja Soldiers to one thousand, enhance his body once, then increase his Blade Soldiers to 100. That would not only unlock a new troop type but also strengthen his forces.

Luke checked how much energy remained available to mine, set an alarm, and decided to finish mining all the tiny dimensions over the next couple of days.

A call came in. Luke picked up his phone and saw that it was Tony.

He answered. "Hey, Tony, need my help again?"

"Nothing like that, Luke. Come over to my place. I have a present for you."

A present?

Luke thought about it but could not figure out what Tony might give him. Could it be a suit of Iron Man armor?

He drew a circle and arrived in Tony's basement.

"Footage deleted," came JARVIS's voice.

"I adjusted JARVIS's settings yesterday. From now on, whenever you use a portal, he'll automatically delete all footage from that period."

Tony explained, then handed him two wristbands.

"Put them on."

Luke put on the wristbands. Light flashed from them, and a pair of metal boots flew over and fitted themselves onto his feet.

"This is the targeted armor deployment technology I just developed. It lets the armor automatically separate into individual components and attach to the body. The technology isn't mature yet, though, so it only works with small pieces."

"I noticed you moved pretty slowly in the air before, so I made you a pair of jet boots. They're powered by a miniature reactor and can take you past the speed of sound."

"They don't offer any protection to the rest of your body, though. Still, judging by your physical capabilities, you might not need protection. Armor might even hold you back."

Tony delivered that last sentence helplessly. That was what baffled him most: why was Luke's body so powerful?

If he had physical capabilities like that, he could interview all thirteen of that magazine's girls for the year in a single day.

"Jealousy won't get you anywhere." Luke looked at the boots on his feet and took a couple of steps. They fitted well.

"JARVIS, could you give me a route to test these out?"

He reached the starting point at the garage entrance.

"Tony, want to go for a ride?"

"Oh, please. You're just afraid you won't know how to fly and want me, billionaire Iron Man Tony Stark, to protect you."

"Get lost. I can fly on my own. I'm just inviting you along for a ride."

Watching Tony approach in his armor, Luke thought for a moment. Dark energy covered his body and slowly took the form of a combat suit, which would offer him some protection too.

"Is there anything that ability of yours can't do?"

Tony looked at Luke's suit, rather envious of how he put it on. He still needed specialized equipment to suit up, though the new technology he was developing would solve that problem.

He was also working on a portable suit of armor as an interim solution.

"Technology should be able to do it too. Like that nanotechnology concept that's just emerging."

Tony nodded thoughtfully.

"JARVIS, give that idea a thumbs-up. Now, it's time we went for a ride."

As he spoke, Tony stepped onto the suit-up platform. Several mechanical arms brought out various armor components and fitted them onto him.

Fully armored, Tony came over to Luke and moved his body a little.

"Ready? How about a race? If you lose, give me two Ninja Soldiers to study. Don't worry, I'm just curious about what makes up their lives. I won't perform any evil experiments."

"What if you lose?" Luke was unconcerned. He understood Tony fairly well by now. At this point, Tony was still a technology fanatic with no interest in biotechnology. Most likely, those two Ninja Soldiers would become Potts's bodyguards.

"Tony Stark doesn't lose."

Tony spoke confidently. Would you even understand fluid dynamics if I explained it? You can barely break the sound barrier, but I'm already approaching twice the speed of sound. Chalk up a win for technology in advance.

"Let's get this straight first: no cheating with portals. JARVIS, plot a route and request an air corridor."

"Relax. I can't open portals to places I don't know."

"Wait, then how can you come straight into my lab?"

"Route plotted, sir."

"I'm off!"

"Wait, you bastard!"

Flames spurted from Luke's boots, carrying him forward. After wobbling through the air for a while to familiarize himself with the controls, Luke steadied himself in midair.

"Hey, are you ready yet? I've been waiting forever."

Tony had not started racing either. He hovered nearby, waiting for him.

"Whew. Should be."

"Then don't use that as an excuse if you lose. JARVIS, give us the starting signal."

The two held their positions in the air, waiting for JARVIS's command.

At the signal, Luke reacted first and flew forward. Tony was a little slower to react, but his superior speed soon brought him close to Luke.

"Luke, I'll be going on ahead."

Both had broken the sound barrier by now, and bone conduction through the wristbands let Luke "hear" Tony's voice.

As the flames from Tony's thrusters intensified and he shot forward, Luke smiled. You really think I'm no good in the air?

Dark energy wrapped around his entire body, pushing the air aside as he accelerated.

From a distance, Luke's body looked like a black pillar, yet it pushed the air away, letting him fly as though he were in space, without air resistance.

"Here I come, Tony."

Through the dark energy, Luke spotted Tony, who had previously disappeared from view, and steadily closed in.

"What the fuck? JARVIS, analyze why he's so fast."

"Unknown energy detected. It displaces the air, eliminating air resistance and allowing continuous acceleration, sir."

"Unbelievable!"

Tony watched Luke reach his side in that short span of time, his speed still climbing.

"Luke, you're about to break three times the speed of sound. This is ridiculous."

"Really? I think I can go faster, but it looks like there isn't much of the trip left."

Tony checked the route. JARVIS had originally plotted a five-hundred-kilometer course, but at their current speeds, they would cover that distance in just ten minutes.

"Oh, Tony, I think I'm going too fast. I'm running out of energy."

Luke suddenly shouted.

"Are you all right?" Tony called.

"I'm fine, but I might have to slow down. Go on ahead." The dark energy covering his body slowly disappeared, and Luke gradually slowed.

Finally coming to a complete stop, Luke touched his chest.

Removing the dark energy had exposed him to the air at over Mach 2, making him feel as though an elephant were pressing down on him. That was despite having eight times an ordinary person's physical capabilities and dispelling the dark energy gradually to give himself time to adjust.

After healing himself with dark energy, Luke slowly flew onward.

"Tony, you won. Nice work." Luke spotted Tony waiting for him at a nearby burger joint, already surrounded by people taking photos.

Covering his face with dark energy, Luke walked over.

"You bastard, I know you let me win!" Tony approached, hugged Luke, and whispered in his ear.

"Don't. I wanted to do something for Pepper too. She did give me a ride, after all."

Luke smiled as he spoke.

The people around them erupted. Seeing Iron Man had already been exciting enough; seeing the even more mysterious Shadow Lord sent their excitement soaring.

Looking at the crowd taking pictures and cheering around him, Luke felt rather uncomfortable. He was not like Tony, who could accept so many people cheering for him.

"A lot of these people were evacuated from Stark Industries that night. Without you, over half of them would have been killed by Obadiah. You saved them. They're here to thank you."

Luke glanced at the crowd. They were happy, but none of them did anything excessive.

Two children came over carrying flowers and handed them to Luke.

"Thank you for saving us."

Luke accepted the flowers and gently ruffled both children's hair.

"Thank you."

After speaking to the two children, he turned around.

"All right, Tony, I admit I'm starting to like this atmosphere."

Luke spoke to Tony, who smiled and activated his armor's loudspeaker.

"Everything at the burger joint is free today! Anyone want a cheeseburger? I opened this place myself, and the cheeseburgers definitely taste great!"

"You actually opened a burger joint?"

Luke was rather surprised. Tony shrugged. "Stark Industries shut down its weapons division, and commercializing the reactor is progressing pretty slowly. I didn't know what else to do, so I opened a burger joint for now."

"All right." Luke shook his head. "I'll have two cheeseburgers."

Tony went inside to get the burgers while Luke flew up to the rooftop across from the burger joint to wait for him.

A little later, Tony flew up too.

"Your burgers."

"Want a tip?"

"Get lost."

The lower half of the mask on Luke's face disappeared, and he tasted a burger.

"Pretty good. You might make some money."

"That's good. Stark Industries stock might have stopped falling, but it's still nowhere near where it used to be. If I don't start making money, I might go bankrupt."

Tony took a bite of his cheeseburger and spoke to Luke with a touch of exaggeration.

"You have so much advanced technology. Can't you turn it into products?"

"Cost is one issue, public acceptance is another. Plenty of people still think cameras on phones are useless: poor resolution and wasted space. Meanwhile, I'm already using better equipment in my armor."

"Oh, have you tried putting everything on one?"

"What?"

"Bad news: it's a Frankenstein's monster. Good news: you've stitched everything onto it."

Tony still looked rather confused.

"Try making a phone with an all-screen display and no buttons. Just swipe on the screen, like this wristband. Put everything on it: a radio, television, camera, compass, handheld game console, every feature you can think of. Make people feel like the phone can do anything. Then give it a voice assistant. It doesn't need to be like JARVIS, just a simple recognition-and-response assistant that reacts to specific phrases. It can make calls, take pictures, and search for things."

Luke tried to guide Tony into developing smartphones sooner so he could have fun using one.

"Will it sell well?"

"Absolutely!"

"Then I'll trust you. I'll give it a try when I get back."

Tony spoke seriously, clearly taking the suggestion to heart.

"You certainly understand ordinary people better than I do."

"Are you taking a jab at me?"

While the two were chatting happily, a voice came from behind them.

"Having a nice chat?"

Luke and Tony turned around and spotted an Egghead.