MK97 Prototype

The cute phase never lasted long with little kids. By seven, Morgan Stark had already picked up Tony's little-devil streak.

He'd better keep an eye on the Morgan in his own universe. Otherwise, he might end up with two little devils: one shaving Tony's beard, the other shaving off his eyebrows.

...Then again, that might not be so bad. As long as they didn't shave his. They couldn't manage it anyway. Put that way, he could live with it.

Tony spent the whole trip trailing Morgan from shop to shop, looking wistful even as he forced a smile.

No one urged them to leave. They simply kept wandering until the sky grew dark.

Once they went back, they would have to travel through the Quantum Realm to the correct timeline. According to the Time Navigation Device's settings, no matter how long they stayed in the past, they would return to the future only seconds after they had left.

So staying here longer wouldn't cause any major problems, and no one was tactless enough to rush them.

In the end, though, Tony was the one who spoke.

"You... need to go back."

Morgan Stark, who had been chattering nonstop, froze. After a while, she gave a barely audible "Mm."

They tossed everything into the pocket dimension, and the five of them returned to Stark Tower.

Tony had already had the large, empty room cleared. Peter was helping Strange set up the Compass there.

Morgan stood by the window in a daze, gazing at a high-rise outside.

Two Spider-Men, one in black and one in red, stood on its roof watching this way in silence. They were saying goodbye without a word.

Tony leaned against the wall beside Lin Yi. "A lot of superheroes have died over the past two years."

"As for Steve and the others you asked about, they're stationed in different cities so they can respond quickly."

"And this Mind Stone you mentioned..." Tony took out the glowing orange-yellow gem.

"Quantum Man gave it to me the first time we met."

"Quantum Man gave it to you?" Lin Yi looked skeptical.

That was one hell of a gift for a first meeting. An Infinity Stone?

Wait. Could there be an Infinity Stone inside my Icosahedron too?

Judging by its size, one would fit perfectly.

"Yeah. The Infinity Stones are useful. They're hard on the armor, but this one has helped me..." Tony turned the stone over in his hand.

Tony's Reactor was enough to power a suit under normal conditions. But for weapons with exceptionally high destructive power, the Reactor alone wasn't enough.

A suit couldn't withstand the energy flowing from an Infinity Stone, though. Using it meant doing nearly as much damage to the armor as to the enemy.

There was a solution: use different materials for the armor. But Tony hardly dared leave Blue Star now. He was afraid he'd run into another of those so-called Celestials out there.

"Oh, right. There's something I've been thinking about all afternoon." Tony pulled an inverted triangular Reactor from his pocket.

"The MK97 Prototype. I've upgraded the energy weapons and operating modules, and incorporated Cosmic Virus isolation technology. It'll be safe from infection even in outer space."

"But some of the tech is still unstable, so I hadn't planned to bring it out..."

Tony hefted the triangular Reactor, then handed it to Lin Yi. It was a new model he had been developing so he could leave Blue Star to fight and strike back at the Anomalies.

"Give it to the me in your world. It might help."

Lin Yi took a look. It was different from the Mark LXXXV Tony had given him, though he had no idea what the full suit looked like.

"Your latest tech? You're willing to hand it over?"

Tony scoffed. "With the world in this state, what's there to hold back?"

"If it helps the me in another universe, it helps Morgan too."

"Oh, right. If we completely eliminate the Cosmic Virus here one day, how do I contact you?" Tony had just thought of the question.

Sending Morgan away didn't mean she would never come back. This universe could still be saved, but the odds were so slim that Tony had little confidence himself.

But what if a miracle happened? The fact that Blue Star had held on this long was already a miracle to him. He hoped for another.

Or perhaps he would create that miracle himself.

He could communicate with Lin Yi through Quantum Man, but no one knew when Quantum Man might appear again.

Lin Yi patted his shoulder.

"You won't need to contact me. Once our universe is stable, I'll come back."

"Oh? Why's that?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

If Lin Yi could stay here for a while, he would be a powerful deterrent to the Anomalies. The kid also seemed to know a great deal, though there was no time to discuss it now.

"There's still a lot about this universe I don't understand. If things weren't so urgent in ours, I wouldn't be leaving so soon," Lin Yi explained, narrowing his eyes.

The portals that couldn't be used, The Ancient One, whom he hadn't met but couldn't shake a strange feeling about, and the beings behind those furtive gazes—he wanted to know what was going on with all of them.

It wasn't that Lin Yi was set on some grand feat of saving the world. But without getting to the bottom of those things, the Cosmic Virus could never be completely dealt with.

The isolation device was only a temporary measure to buy them breathing room. It could shield Blue Star, but what about the universe beyond it?

From the day Lin Yi first set foot in this Marvel Universe, he seemed to have been tangled up in all of it.

If he did nothing, trouble would come for him sooner or later. Better to grow stronger and strike first!

"That works. Having you here would take a lot of pressure off us."

"Then I'll look forward to your next visit. Next time, we'll have a proper talk." Smiling, Tony patted Lin Yi's shoulder in return.

While they spoke, Strange had activated the Compass.

A huge Magic Circle projection spread from beneath the Compass, covering most of the room.

The Magic Circle glowed softly. Strange waved and called, "It's ready, Lin Yi. We can teleport whenever you are."

Lin Yi and Tony exchanged a glance. Tony nodded firmly.

Lin Yi walked toward the Magic Circle and asked Strange, "Doesn't it need an energy source? I remember The Ancient One used a lot of energy getting us here."

Strange glanced toward Kamar-Taj, then down at the Magic Circle drawing energy from some unknown source beneath his feet. He shook his head.

"This Compass keeps drawing in energy to replenish itself. It barely needs us to do anything else."

"Come over here and focus on the Teleportation Coordinates. That should initiate the teleport."

As he spoke, Strange's expression gradually changed.

"We may need to hurry. I don't know if it's my imagination, but I feel like something is... looking for us."

Huh?

Lin Yi had reached the center of the Magic Circle and was about to call up the coordinates. He stopped and extended his senses as far as they would go.

There was a strange restlessness in the air, as if something were whispering.

He felt the faintest sense of being locked onto. Strange was right. Something was searching for them—or locating them.

When Lin Yi stood there without moving, Strange came over and prodded him, his face grim. "What are you doing? Give it the coordinates. We need to go."

Lin Yi snapped back to himself. He agreed they needed to leave quickly. "It's nothing. I'm entering them now."

He entered the coordinates from memory into the Magic Circle. As they shifted into place, they would become a beacon guiding the right passage open, leading them home.

The Magic Circle flared brighter with a humming sound. The teleportation had begun.

Lin Yi felt the familiar sensation of weightlessness and looked at Tony one last time.

Tony said something, but the sound of the Magic Circle drowned it out. Lin Yi read the words from his lips.

Take care of Morgan.

Hum!

The light reached its peak, filling the entire room before vanishing in an instant. Only a few drifting particles of light remained.

"Sir, I've confirmed that Mr. Lin Yi has left."

"Also, sir, someone is here to see you."

Tony hadn't even had time to feel sad about Morgan's departure before JARVIS spoke.

"Who?"

JARVIS displayed a hologram from the camera at the entrance.

Three people. A burly man in a yellow bodysuit, someone in a red bodysuit carrying two swords, and...