As the song ended, the Armor opened automatically. Tony's hair was damp with sweat, but he looked visibly better.
"Tony, are you okay?" Dick rushed over first, looking him up and down. "What exactly happened?"
"Dick." Bruce walked over and stopped his eldest son from asking more questions. Looking at his childhood friend, he sighed. "Tony, you should have told me sooner."
"Told you what? I'm perfectly fine, aren't I?" Tony insisted. "It's this place you call Gotham. There's something seriously wrong with it."
"Tony, I've been through this too. You can't hide it from me." Bruce stared into Tony's eyes, his gaze carrying the pressure of someone who saw through everything. "I won't force you, Tony, but I think we're friends."
"Yeah. Friends."
Tony toyed with the Hand Cord Miaomiao had given him, his voice heavy and strained.
It was precisely because his friends were here, because there were people he cared about and wanted to protect, that he felt even more terrified.
I absolutely cannot lose any of them!
Tony couldn't imagine what would happen if the terrifyingly vast alien fleet he had seen through the wormhole during the Battle of New York really descended on his world one day. His love, his friends...
Boundless panic surged up in an instant, drowning him like a tide.
Just then, a cool, soothing power spread from his hand throughout his body, pulling him out of his panic.
The Hand Cord was working.
Bruce watched Tony take a deep breath. Despite their vastly different personalities, he understood what was going through Tony's mind. Deep down, they were the same kind of person, always trying to shoulder everything themselves, silently doing all they could to stop disaster before it struck.
But now, Bruce had successfully established the Justice League alongside Superman, Clark