New element

Luke had no idea how Rhodey had done it, but starting the next day, the campaign against Tony slowed down, and most morning news programs began featuring the gossip Luke loved watching.

Luke also bought a small apartment in Los Angeles. It wasn't large, but it was comfortable for one person, just right.

He checked his blog. Ever since his identity had been exposed, his follower count had shot straight up into the tens of millions. Even the casual photos he had posted before had tens of thousands of comments.

After reading some amusing comments, Luke replied with a few laughing emojis, then uploaded photos of himself beating up Iron Monger.

What had happened at Stark Industries had long since ceased to be a secret, so plenty of people knew he had taken down Iron Monger there. In a sense, posting these photos was just rehashing old news, but the number of replies and shares was still frighteningly high.

Leaving a few ninjas to act as human moderators and delete malicious comments, Luke headed out the door.

Out of boredom, he had recently taken up morning runs. Every day, he went out for a lap while there were few people around, taking some photos along the way to post and keep as material. If he ran out of good photos later, he could use those to fob off the internet crowd. It wasn't as though those people would dare crawl through the internet connection and come knocking.

After buying a few Goubuli Baozi in the local Chinatown, Luke walked home munching on them and took out his phone to check the news.

Automatically ignoring news that didn't interest him, Luke quietly scrolled down. Suddenly, he spotted an article saying that Hammer Industries would unveil new weapons in the Stark Expo's main hall tomorrow night.

But Tony hadn't created the new element yet!

The plot might undergo some major changes now.

Luke had a bad feeling. Come to think of it, Tony hadn't called him over for a detox in quite some time.

Finding an alley, Luke drew a circle and went straight to Tony's house.

As soon as he arrived, Luke saw Tony holding a model of the Stark Expo, analyzing something.

It looked like S.H.I.E.L.D. had still handed these things over to Tony. Luke felt reassured.

Looks like the plot has some pretty strong self-correcting power, getting back on track even after all that. But why hasn't Tony called me?

And why hasn't JARVIS said anything about deleting the footage today? Did S.H.I.E.L.D. actually physically disconnect him from the network?

Seeing that Tony seemed to have discovered something, Luke took out his phone and decided to snap a few photos of him at this moment.

Watching Tony successfully discover in half an hour a new element that S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't found in decades, Luke felt rather happy for him.

"Looks like you've found a way to save yourself?"

Luke came up beside Tony and spoke suddenly, successfully giving him a fright.

"You scared me to death! I thought you were Coulson. You know, Luke, that Coulson guy was terrifying when he threatened me!"

Seeing Luke, Tony wasn't particularly angry. He imitated the way Coulson had threatened him.

"That really is terrifying," Luke gave his assessment without expression.

"Well, anyway, as you can see, I've discovered a new element that can replace palladium, and it's even more powerful."

"This was all..." Tony fell silent for a moment. "All left to me by my dad."

"Buddy, you know what? I've only just found out what my dad thought of me." Tony seemed a little lonely now.

"Oh, come on, don't be sad. Worst case, invent a time machine someday and go back to see your dad! Just hope he won't be scared by a son who's the same age as him." Luke put an arm around Tony.

"Anything you need my help with now?"

Tony smiled, back to his old self.

"First, I need your big guys. We're going to give this house a serious remodel. Start by moving all that furniture out!"

Luke waved a hand, and a group of Troll Soldiers appeared. Fortunately, Tony's house was big enough, or it wouldn't have been able to hold these five-meter-tall little giants.

Once everything inside the house had been moved out, Luke summoned some Ninja Soldiers as well.

The big pieces went to the Troll Soldiers, and the small ones to the Ninja Soldiers.

They punched holes through the house and ran all kinds of strange wiring through them. With the Shadow Ninjas' help, the remodeling was soon complete.

Coulson walked in just then.

"Hey, Coulson, your hairline's gotten higher again." Luke greeted Coulson as he always did.

"So that's how you greet him." Never one to shy away from stirring things up, Tony said, "But we should stick to the facts with this sort of thing. How about you let JARVIS connect to the network, and I'll make a record for you? Then every time I see you, we'll know how far your hairline has moved up."

Coulson shook his head helplessly, only to unexpectedly notice a model.

"This is..." Coulson was rather surprised as he looked at the five-pointed star on the shield.

"Do you know what this is?" Seeing a treasure like this sitting among miscellaneous junk left Coulson somewhat speechless.

Tony was holding a spirit level, struggling to work out how to balance the pipe in front of him, when he spotted the shield in Coulson's hands.

"Yes! That's it!" Tony was pleasantly surprised.

Taking the shield from Coulson, Tony checked its construction and thickness, then started to stuff it under the pipe.

"You can't go sticking that under there." Luke snatched the shield away and looked at the five-pointed star on it. He wondered when Captain America would be dug up, though Thor's story seemed about to begin soon. When the time came, he could visit Asgard and see whether he could obtain some new Dark Dimension coordinates.

"Let's not ruin this thing." He casually handed Tony a piece of art of unknown origin, gesturing for him to use that as a prop instead. Luke played with the shield for a while, then, seeing Coulson's eager gaze, simply turned to Tony and said,

"How about giving this shield to Coulson? You don't want it anyway."

Tony was delighted to see that the spirit level's reading was just right. He glanced indifferently at the shield and tossed it straight to Coulson.

"Thank you!" Coulson hadn't expected to get the shield and was delighted. He gave Tony a smile.

"You don't look so bad when you smile," Tony commented.

Coulson put the shield on his arm and smiled at Tony. "Actually, I came to say goodbye. I've been reassigned to Mexico. There's new work waiting for me there. And it looks like you've discovered the secret of the new element, so I can leave with peace of mind."

Looking at Coulson's friendly smile, Tony simply couldn't connect him with the bully who had threatened him a few days earlier, forbidding him from leaving the house.

Watching Coulson stride efficiently out of the villa, Tony said to Luke in surprise, "Do all these spies have two faces?"

Luke thought for a moment. "Maybe some have countless faces."

Tony took that to heart. Looking at the drastically transformed villa, he said, "All right, Luke, let's get started."

Walking over to a valve, Tony told Luke to stand back, then turned it.

A beam of energy passed through the pipe and, refracted by a crystal, struck the wall, cutting straight through it.

"Oh no." Feeling the wrench shaking constantly in his hands, Tony hurriedly called Luke over to help.

Luke grabbed the wrench and turned it in the direction Tony indicated until the energy beam converged on a chip.

"That's it!" Tony watched the chip nervously and shut the valve.

The energy beam vanished, and the chip gave off a glow.

"You seem to have successfully created a new element." JARVIS's voice suddenly came through the speakers.

"Oh, JARVIS, you're back. Did they let you out?"

"Yes, though I'm somewhat inclined to sue them for violating my personal safety and right to privacy."

"Enough with the dry jokes. Hurry up and analyze whether this thing can replace palladium."

Tony looked at the glow coming from the chip, feeling a little nervous.

Luke walked over and patted Tony on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. Even if this thing can't save you, I'll find a way." At worst, he could just ask Ancient One to intervene, go straight back a few months, and move that bomb away.

Tony smiled, feeling that he had been a little extreme himself.

"All right, buddy, want a drink? We just created a new element. That's worth a drink to celebrate."

Luke readily agreed, so while JARVIS ran his tests, the two found some alcohol and chatted over drinks.