Strength Test

A few days later.

A rainy day.

Dark clouds churned across the sky, and the drizzle turned the sea outside Stark Mansion into a briquette.

Underground garage.

Leon wore a skintight sensor suit, with circular metal plates attached all over his body. Sensor wires ran from the ends of the plates to a massive machine.

"You're sure this iron lump can test my strength?" Leon asked, rolling his wrists.

Today was the day he and Tony had agreed to test his strength and new abilities.

So, at dawn, when the sun struggled to cast a few rays through gaps in the endless dark clouds—

Tony had excitedly dragged him out of bed.

After washing up and having breakfast, the two arrived at the underground garage.

A circular iron block with a radius of three meters was fixed to the wall facing the sea.

This was the tool for testing strength.

"Why do you always state facts with a questioning tone?" Tony asked confidently.

He explained, "Half a year ago, after you went into space, I had a feeling this day would come, so I built this strength tester in advance."

"Most of its materials come from a tungsten alloy I specifically synthesized."

"High melting point, high density, high wear resistance."

"A million tons placed on it won't deform it, and impacts of over ten thousand tons won't damage it."

"The alloy I created while making this tester would be generations ahead of its time even if it were used to build warships."

Tony stood before the computer desk. "So don't worry. I guarantee you won't be able to damage it!"

Leon remained skeptical. "Tony, you know that look of confidence you have right now is exactly the same as when we sparred a few days ago."

Tony choked on his words. "That's different. Anyway, all you need to do is stand in front of the tester and throw a punch with all your strength. Leave the rest to me!"

"No, that isn't safe," Leon said. "At least put on your armor first."

Tony slapped his forehead. "I'm more than ten meters away from you, and that still isn't safe? Since when did you get so full of yourself?"

"Put on the armor," Leon repeated.

"Fine, I'll wear it!" Tony raised both hands. "As long as it puts our little princess at ease, I'll wear anything."

The two bands around his wrists lit up with red light.

A few seconds later, a red-and-gold flight pod flew in from outside the garage and rapidly transformed into armor around Tony.

Mark III—this was the new armor Tony had built over the past few days by directly replicating Leon's data.

Aside from its energy source not being made with New Element,

it possessed almost all the same functions as the Mark VII from the movies.

After all, the Mark VII was armor that only appeared in the first phase of the Avengers. Its functions were absurdly powerful.

(Note: It was only completed so quickly because Leon lent a hand.)

(Another note: Tony had specifically paid attention to the liquid circulation system, then deliberately removed that function right in front of Leon. No doubt he would suffer for it someday and eventually surrender to the laws of "it smells so good.")

"Now we can begin, right?" Tony stretched his limbs and gestured. "I'm looking forward to your performance."

Leon curled his lip speechlessly. That old fart even had to copy his lines.

"I hope the tester you built is as tough as your mouth."

He stood before the pitch-black tester and took a deep breath. For a moment, the airflow in the basement began to surge into a gale.

Tony, on the other hand, had never seen anything like this. He looked around at the papers whipping through the air, completely dumbfounded.

Then he saw Leon slowly lower into a squat, every muscle swelling as though carved into the most perfect stone statues.

"Why does this... feel a little wrong..."

Tony stared blankly as Leon let out a low shout and threw a punch.

Then, in an instant, the entire underground garage was turned upside down!

Rumble!

A roar like a missile exploding beside his ears filled Tony's entire world.

Everywhere he looked was rubble. Everywhere was dust and haze.

The sudden hurricane knocked Tony off his feet. Tables and chairs slammed into him, threatening to carry him away into the unknown.

—If JARVIS had not activated the armor's thrusters in time, Tony would have vanished from the underground garage for sure.

Fortunately, the commotion did not last long.

More than ten seconds later, the sensation of the world ending faded away.

The entire underground garage was blanketed in dust, and visibility was almost zero.

"Cough, cough... What... happened?" Tony shut off the thrusters, landed on the ground, and staggered a few steps.

Then he heard Leon exhale.

"Hah!!"

The gale swept through again, but this time it was much gentler, only blowing away some debris and the dust hanging in the air.

Now the view was clear.

But Tony's brain had crashed.

The once minimalist basement had become a battle-damaged ruin straight out of Syria.

It was riddled with holes, like a condemned building.

Everything that had originally been in the room—glass, machinery, lights... was gone.

The dozen or so limited-edition sports cars parked in the underground garage were gone too.

Even the tester on the wall, which he had believed could withstand almost any impact, had been reduced to nothing but an empty hole.

Beyond that hole lay the hazy sea beneath the rain.

"My God..."

By afternoon.

The location was a patch of grass on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

The people were still Leon and Tony, the two brothers.

The drizzle continued to fall. Wearing a shirt, Leon kept hammering away at a huge circular iron block with clanging sounds.

"You said this iron lump of yours could withstand my strength!"

He complained, "But I hadn't even used half my strength when it changed from a flat shape into a convex lump."

"And it fell into the sea too, forcing me to dive down and salvage it from the ocean floor."

"Give me a break, Leon."

Tony stood fifty meters away in the Iron Man armor, operating a computer to calibrate the data as he replied over the radio.

"Even God couldn't have imagined your strength would be that ridiculous."

"Who knows how you only basked in the sun for half a year, yet your strength grew so enormously? It was practically exponential growth."

"Look at the three months of sunlight you got in Los Angeles half a year ago."

"Over ninety days only increased your strength by a little more than four hundred tons."

"JARVIS and I built a model based on the data from that period."

"We predicted that after you returned, your strength should have been between one thousand and five thousand tons, with a speed no higher than Mach 5."

"Who could have expected you to be this strong!"

"And look at that TV series, Smallville. Clark Kent couldn't even fly when he was in high school, and he had basked in the sun for more than ten years!"

Leon stopped what he was doing and pressed his earpiece. "You watch Superman TV shows too? I thought that show was pretty good. It portrayed Superman's journey of growth really well."

"But you probably haven't watched the later parts, right? Superman's feats get pretty outrageous afterward!"

Tony retorted, "Even so, he didn't get stronger as fast as you did!"

"Well, maybe it's because I'm already an adult, or maybe basking in the sun in space is more efficient?" Leon guessed.

He slammed another punch into the tester. "Done! The tester is back to normal. How do we test it now?"