I AM IRON MAN

"I think you're a good person now! No, wait—a good fan!" Morgan grinned, then tilted her head. Something didn't sound right.

"No, that's not right either. You're not my fan, are you?"

"Wait, you thought I was a bad guy before?" Lin Yi poked her little head in mock complaint.

Morgan giggled. "Of course! There's no information about who you are, and JARVIS told me you appeared out of thin air. You're either an alien or someone from another universe."

"Oh, so you were putting on an act with me this whole time!"

Morgan lifted her chin and gave a haughty little snort. "So what? It's your honor to have Miss Morgan play along with you. Pfft..."

She burst out laughing and broke character first.

After their outing, the two had grown much closer. Morgan was still a child, after all. She couldn't escape that simple childhood rule: she liked whoever played with her.

"I just want to prove to Daddy that I'm grown up! That I can help him!"

See? Only a kid would keep saying she's grown up! Lin Yi thought as he listened to Morgan chatter on.

"Anyway, are you an alien or did you come from another universe?"

"You noticed that I could sense you. You can fly. And JARVIS rated you a level-six threat."

Morgan counted on her little fingers. Before Lin Yi could answer, she looked up at him curiously and went on, "Can you tell me the truth? And why are you so practiced at that?"

The way he had wiped away her sweat, and what he'd done at the restaurant earlier—it was obvious those gestures came naturally to him.

Maybe he's from an alien species that likes taking care of children.

Lin Yi chuckled. "It's no secret, so I can tell you. I already told your daddy I'm not an alien. Unfortunately, he's impatient. He ran off before I could finish."

"Then you came from another universe? What are you doing here?" Morgan asked.

"Our universe is dangerous. There's the Cosmic Virus, and alien monsters that eat people." At the mention of alien monsters, something seemed to come back to Morgan. Her eyes dimmed, and she grew a little unhappy again.

"To ask for help, of course!" Lin Yi explained.

"But that's between your daddy and me. You're still little. All you need to do is have fun!"

Morgan pursed her lips in disagreement.

"I told you, I'm not little. Daddy says I'm little too. He won't let me do this or that."

"But you're better than Daddy. At least you take me out to play."

Now that was a thing to say.

"If your daddy heard that, he'd probably come after me."

Morgan sprang to her feet and stamped angrily. "Hmph! I want him to hear it! That old geezer is the worst!"

Old geezer again? Lin Yi asked curiously, "I've been wondering—where did you learn that?"

Where had an American kid picked up that expression? It wasn't a joke from Marvel, either, was it?

"A big sister taught me!" Morgan said after a moment's thought.

"What kind of big sister?" Lin Yi frowned. Please don't tell me something else strange crossed over too.

"Um... I don't know. She wore a huge cloak. I was going to see Daddy, and I happened to spot them talking!"

"They seemed to be arguing, but they stopped when they saw me."

"Later, she played with me for a while. That's where I learned 'old geezer'!"

Who was she? Lin Yi thought it over. He couldn't recall anyone like that from Marvel. Unless...

"A huge cloak, couldn't see her face. Anything else you remember?" Lin Yi asked carefully.

Morgan knitted her tiny brows in thought, then exclaimed, "Yes! She had beautiful long brown hair, I think! A little curly. Some of it stuck out from under her cloak."

"And the color..." Morgan gestured, then tugged at her own hair to show Lin Yi. "It looked like mine! Almost exactly the same!"

Oh, hell. Lin Yi was starting to feel numb. Why did that description sound so much like the woman who had blocked his path in the Quantum Realm?

Could she be the same person? The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. What had she come here for? And that almost identical hair color...

Lin Yi didn't even want to follow that thought. It felt as though some enormous web lay behind it all.

"She played with me all afternoon!" Morgan continued. "Even though we'd only just met, she felt so familiar!" Her little face suddenly filled with anger. "But when I went to find her the next day, Daddy said she'd left!"

"Daddy must have made her leave. Old geezer! Rotten old geezer!"

Morgan vented her anger by swinging her little fists until she was slightly out of breath. Only then did she crouch down again.

"I know Daddy cares about me." Morgan's mood plummeted so quickly that Lin Yi could only stare.

Kids really do change moods fast!

"Daddy's busy, and he's been so... especially since Mommy..."

Morgan pressed her lips together and didn't finish. Instead, she gave a world-weary little sigh. "But... I don't like things this way."

Great. Two hours of fun, and now she's miserable again.

Look what you've done! Lin Yi raised his middle finger toward the Stark satellite, making sure Tony could see it.

Watching Morgan draw circles on the ground with her head lowered, Lin Yi rubbed his fingers together. I can't let this go on. At this rate, she really will grow up to be Gloomy Morgan.

An idea struck him, and he clapped his hands. Got it!

"Come on. I'll show you something incredible!"

Morgan looked up in confusion. "What is it?"

"Heh!" With a mysterious grin, Lin Yi thrust out his right hand and grabbed at the air. His hand plunged straight into it, sending ripples across empty space.

"Recognize this?!" When Lin Yi pulled his hand back, he was holding a glowing, inverted triangular Reactor.

It was magic he had learned at the Lost Library: a small pocket dimension for storing things. He hadn't expanded it much yet, only to a few hundred cubic meters. He kept some of his belongings inside.

Morgan studied it closely, then cried out, "That's—"

"That's right!" Lin Yi grinned again, placed the Reactor against his chest, and double-tapped to suit up.

Before Morgan's astonished eyes, nanotech flowed swiftly across Lin Yi's body. In an instant, it formed the Mark LXXXV.

Tony had given it to him before he left. The Mark 50 needed replenishing after two uses of the Infinity Gauntlet, so Tony had given Lin Yi a spare Mark LXXXV.

He hadn't planned to bring it, but Tony had insisted. One more weapon meant one more safeguard, he'd said. So Lin Yi had brought it along.

"Watch this!" Now that he had Morgan's full attention, Lin Yi threw himself into it.

Soft mechanical clicks sounded as Lin Yi moved a little, then struck Tony's usual combat pose in front of Morgan.

"Hey!"

One Repulsor aimed forward, the other back!

"Ha!"

Both arms outstretched, Repulsors at the ready!

"Hoo!"

A spin and a Repulsor shot behind him!

"Hoo-ha!"

He backflipped, landed in a superhero pose, and looked up. With a snap, his faceplate opened, then closed again.

He rose, chest out and chin high, left foot forward like he owned the place.

From who knew where, Lin Yi produced a microphone and made his voice sound like Tony Stark's.

"I! AM! IRON MAN!"