A New Character

"To briefly recap yesterday's incident at Stark Industries, it was caused by a malfunction in a prototype robot."

"Tragically, the incident claimed the life of Miss Qiqi, Mr. Tony Stark's adopted daughter."

"A father has lost his beloved child."

"Meanwhile, another tragedy struck. The private jet carrying Mr. Obadiah, a director of Stark Industries, from Los Angeles to New York last night crashed into a mountain. He also lost his life in the accident."

"Mr. Tony Stark expressed his profound sorrow and offered his deepest condolences and sympathies to the family."

"The deaths of Mr. Obadiah and Miss Qiqi are a tremendous blow to Stark Industries, and an especially devastating blow to Mr. Tony Stark himself..."

On the screen, General Rhodey read from the script in his hands, while Tony sat on the couch, reading a newspaper with apparent "concentration."

"Tony, are you okay?"

Potts was worried about his emotional state. Ever since he had woken up, he seemed to have accepted that Qiqi was gone, and everything he did appeared normal. But she knew there was no way Tony could be indifferent to Qiqi's death.

Even she had secretly broken down in tears when she heard the news, let alone Tony, who had raised Qiqi as his daughter.

Even now, she couldn't imagine that sweet child was gone, and that it was because of them... At that moment, she couldn't put what she felt into words.

"Me? I'm fine. Yeah, absolutely fine."

Tony shook the newspaper in his hands, blinking and frowning as he stared at the letters of various sizes printed across it.

"Hmm... not bad. This article is... very insightful."

He offered his appraisal of the newspaper's contents.

"All right, enough, Tony."

Potts took the newspaper away.

"You've been staring at this ad recruiting male strippers for half an hour."

"..."

She had called his bluff.

Flexing his fingers, Tony wiped his sweaty palms on his expensive suit and mumbled in agreement:

"You're right. Being a male stripper is a pretty good job."

Potts sighed.

"...Do you even hear what you're saying?"

All right, he admitted it. He wasn't remotely in the mood to read a newspaper. Whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was Qiqi's smile, her figure, and how adorable she had been.

Tony knew his current state was far from normal, but he couldn't control his feelings. Every time he thought about Qiqi being gone, sorrow welled up inside him.

Knock, knock, knock.

Coulson pushed the door open and came in.

"We don't have much time."

"Miss Potts?"

He gave her a questioning look, and Potts shook her head.

"Maybe Tony could sit this one out."

"No, no."

Tony cut her off.

"I'm fine, really. Just a little distracted. Come on, the director with the second-largest stake in Stark Industries died. What kind of chairman would I be if I didn't show up?"

Coulson frowned.

"But..."

"No buts. That's settled. All right, now take out whatever you brought for me."

Tony pointed at the corner sticking out of Coulson's suit pocket.

Unable to talk him out of it, Coulson handed it over.

"This is your alibi."

"Okay."

Tony examined the blue sheet in his hand while Potts hurriedly took out some concealer and dabbed it onto his face.

"You were on your yacht. We have port records proving you were in Avalon all night."

"And fifty 'guests' who can vouch for you."

S.H.I.E.L.D. had a procedure for handling situations like this. Witnesses, physical evidence, video evidence-it was absolutely airtight.

He pointed at the blue sheet, which contained a few concise statements written in Tony's voice.

"Just read it when you get up there."

"Feels like there are a lot of holes in this."

Tony rubbed the two thin sheets between his fingers, struggling to focus.

"Just stick to the official statement."

Understanding Tony's current state, Coulson reassured him.

"Soon, all of this will be behind you."

"All right, all right."

Because of Coulson's earlier help, Potts felt grateful to both him and S.H.I.E.L.D., and trusted them.

"Coulson, I just want to say thank you so much for all your help."

Coulson smiled and replied gently:

"You're welcome. It's our job."

With that, he left.

Rhodey passed Coulson on his way in, nodding to him before urgently gesturing at Potts.

"Okay, okay."

Potts quickly picked up the fresh suit she had prepared for Tony from the couch and helped him out of the jacket still marked with sweat from his palms.

"We need to go."

As Tony got dressed, he said with forced casualness:

"Well, even I don't think I'm anything like Iron Man. It's like that Jeffrey Leo guy in DuckTales, wearing that ridiculous battle suit."

Holding the sheets between his teeth, he slipped his arms into the sleeves and spoke indistinctly:

"He even has to shout some catchphrase every time he catches a bad guy."

"That's just so... ridiculous."

Yes, Sheriff Leo from DuckTales always delivered his classic catchphrase whenever he appeared.

"To protect love and peace, surrender now! Sheriff Leo will defeat every evil legion!"

But there had always been someone who watched those stories of good triumphing over evil with rapt attention.

...I'm not Iron Man.

That was what Tony thought.

"Now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking questions. Thank you."

Rhodey yielded the podium to Tony, giving him a meaningful look before stepping down.

Holding the sheets in his hands, Tony began reading.

At first, everything went smoothly.

Until-

He remembered those eyes that had always followed him, and the promise he could never fulfill.

Before he could stop himself, he said:

"I am Iron Man."

The Weight of Iron (Completed: mission rating A)

By the time the familiar Stone Gate appeared, Lin Ze still hadn't managed to see Tony.

Without admission passes, he and Paimon had been stopped outside the venue.

Steve wanted to force his way in with them, but Lin Ze stopped him.

"Thank you, Captain. There's no need to go in anymore. Sorry for the trouble."

Steve didn't understand why Lin Ze had been so desperate to get into the Stark family's press conference, only to give up at the last moment, but he said nothing about it.

"Are you okay? Did something happen?"

He asked with concern.

"No. I just wanted to see someone. But now, I think it's better if I don't."

Lin Ze looked at Steve.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Steve. Thank you for looking after us these past two days. Paimon and I are going home."

Paimon nodded. "Paimon will miss you too."

"Goodbye, Mr. Steve."

The stone path home had already spread beneath their feet, as though urging the reluctant travelers to leave.

Lin Ze turned and sprinted toward the Stone Gate, and Paimon took flight as well.

"No, wait."

Steve instinctively sensed that something was wrong, and unease stirred within him. Without even stopping to think about the fact that Paimon could fly, he immediately ran after them.

Yet despite being only a few steps away, with both children right in front of him, they vanished in the blink of an eye.

The Transmigration Management Bureau.

Back in the real world, Lin Ze took his A-rated mission report to Minister Wu and requested two days off, then spent them lounging at home and playing Genshin Impact.

It hurt! It hurt so much!

MiHoYo must have been a heartache demon in its past life, specializing in emotional devastation for a hundred years.

He got stabbed in the heart after transmigrating, then came back and got stabbed all over again in the game.

"Waaah, Karkata... waaah... Aranara..."

Fortunately, his C8 (???) Qiqi in the game soothed his wounded heart.

Lin Ze, a real man, wiped away his tears and felt ready to take on the world again.

Back to work!

The familiar process, the familiar routine.

The young woman held up the tablet, and Lin Ze extended a finger and tapped it with a flourish.

A purple meteor heralded his first Electro character.

With a wave, Lin Ze bid farewell to his sorrow and the pain of parting, then stepped through the spacetime gate once again.

Mission: The Frost Comes

Starting now.