Predictive Experiment

Leon shook off a swarm of satellites. By the time he returned home, it was nearly one in the afternoon, Los Angeles time.

He made a few fried eggs and some pasta for a simple lunch.

As for Tony, just as he had said before, he was still fighting the Ten Rings by dinnertime and had yet to come home.

So, after naturally conducting a thrust test in the basement, Leon flew into space to bask in the sun.

—He and Tony had devised an experiment to predict the growth limit of the Kryptonian Bloodline.

The procedure was simple: before basking in the sun in space each day, he would test his thrust once, then test it again after he finished.

They would repeat this process for a month, keeping each sunbathing session the same length.

That way, with JARVIS's help, the two of them could build a rough model.

They could then use it to estimate the upper limit of Leon's physical enhancement.

Leon naturally agreed to such a simple test without hesitation.

Besides, his daily time in the sun had always been the moment he looked forward to most, the happiest part of his day.

—Facing the sun in space was like being immersed in a hot spring, with the sound of his blood flowing like bubbling spring water splashing about.

At those moments, he could always feel his strength rising at an astonishing speed with absolute clarity.

Its ferocity and momentum resembled fish surging eagerly into rushing streams after rivers thawed in early spring.

And judging by his experiences over the past few days, the rate at which he was growing stronger was still accelerating.

Leon understood that if the effects of a person's training formed an arc that first rose and then fell—

Then he was currently in the ascending stage.

Looking at the overall growth cycle of Kryptonians, this could perhaps be called the "weak" stage of rapidly gaining strength.

In numerical terms—

After several more days of basking in the sun, Leon's total thrust had already reached a staggering four hundred thousand tons.

This rate of growth made every second Leon spent in the sun feel as pleasurable as being pumped full of a ton of dopamine.

That blissful sensation was like doing something that put a person into sage mode—except it happened again and again, without pause.

Beep beep!

Just as he was enjoying himself beyond all restraint, JARVIS's alert announcing the end of his allotted time sounded.

Leon reluctantly opened his eyes and flew out of the manned spacecraft, preparing to go home for dinner.

The spacecraft, which had initially been meant to protect him while he safely basked in the sun—

Had now become his daily temporary "park."

It remained in space as a dedicated foothold for his sunbathing sessions.

After all, if he basked in the sun directly in the vacuum, satellites from every country could easily spot him.

Then another huge cluster of satellites would gather around him like he was a gorilla in a zoo, which was endlessly annoying.

Leon quickly returned home.

After completing a round of thrust tests—

JARVIS suddenly announced, "Master Leon, Mr. Stark is being pursued by an Eagle flight formation on his return trip. Would you like to provide support?"

"Tony's being chased? Where?" Leon froze.

"In the central region of the West Coast Mountains."

"Hm? Isn't that where I was chased by a reconnaissance plane last time... I see."

Leon wore a gleeful, malicious smile.

At last, they had reached a familiar part from the movie.

Tony must have flown from the eastern Pacific into California and been captured directly by the military's airspace satellites.

"Master Leon, Mr. Stark's current situation is not optimistic. This is footage transmitted from the scene."

JARVIS projected an image before Leon.

The footage showed Tony's first-person perspective.

One active-service fighter after another dropped down through the thick clouds.

There were more than a dozen of them, densely packed enough to fight a small battle.

Leon heard Tony mutter "shit" under his breath in the footage, then his view flipped one hundred and eighty degrees as he prepared to flee.

The next moment, countless ballistic trails shot past his sides.

The footage began to shake as well. Tony had clearly taken a full burst from an aircraft-mounted machine gun head-on.

"Looks like the Air Force is about to teach him a hard lesson." Leon raised an eyebrow, though he was not particularly worried.

"I remember Mark III can now exceed Mach 8 at top speed. It should be easy for Tony to escape, right?"

He stroked his chin. "Could it be that he turned back so confidently because he intends to fight the Air Force?"

"That is not the case, Master Leon."

JARVIS explained, "Given Mr. Stark's physical condition, the amount of time he can sustain the armor's maximum burst speed is actually very short."

"If it continues beyond a certain period, the excessive pressure on his heart will cause it to burst."

"Under normal circumstances, Mark III's average speed remains around Mach 2, but even that continuously drains Mr. Stark's stamina."

Leon could not help laughing. "So after fighting the Ten Rings, he's already exhausted and can't accelerate anymore, right?"

"You are correct," JARVIS said.

"Then why hasn't he asked me for help?"

"Mr. Stark only instructed me to send you this video."

"I get it. That guy is just too stubborn to ask."

Leon rolled his shoulders. "Still, even if he's too awkward to call for help, how could I not go save him? He's my dearest friend and family, after all. Don't you agree, JARVIS?"

"Of course. Legally speaking, you and Mr. Stark are currently the people closest to one another," JARVIS replied, failing to catch the teasing in Leon's words.

Leon smiled. "Get Mark II ready for me. I'm going to teach Tony a proper lesson!"

"You will not be wearing the Superman suit? The Iron Man armor appears likely to restrict your performance."

"It'll be easier to teach him a lesson while wearing armor."

He had been thinking about showing up in style while Tony was getting humiliated. Hadn't the perfect opportunity just arrived?

Leon's gaze pierced across to the West Coast Mountains.

Tony was currently weaving through the locks of several airborne missiles, like a storm petrel cutting through a tempest.

The beautiful, luxurious gold-and-red armor had now turned mostly black.

It was covered in bullet holes and scratches, looking like a skewer of grilled meat fresh off the rack.

"Look at our Uncle Tony. He's getting bullied so badly." Leon headed toward the garage.

"There isn't even a moment to mourn Tony's humiliation. Next up is the moment for hero Leon to take the stage and turn the tide."

At the same time.

Inside the military command room.

The same high-ranking officers who had gathered several hours earlier to discuss the "Afghan Superman" had assembled again.

They were all watching the satellite footage on the screen.

It showed the gold-and-red armor, which had just narrowly avoided being hit by a missile and was swerving wildly, along with the blue-and-red armor covering it nearby.

"They aren't Superman." Rhodey made his judgment. "They're merely two humanoid exoskeleton armors. Superman could definitely destroy our flight formation with ease."