Tony's call came even sooner than Lynn had expected.
The morning after the press conference, Lynn was sitting on the sofa in the Sanctum's main hall, leafing through a magical tome about dimensional energy, when the phone in his pocket vibrated. He took it out and saw an unfamiliar number.
"Hello?"
"It's me." Tony Stark's voice came through the phone.
Lynn closed the book. "Good morning, Mr. Stark. What can I do for you?"
"What can you do for me?" There was a trace of displeasure in Tony's voice. "You're asking me that? You threatened to sell Yinsen before, and now you're asking me that? Give me the address. I'm coming over now."
"Now?"
"Yes, now. Where are you?"
Lynn thought for a moment, then gave him the address. Tony fell silent for a second after hearing it. "A townhouse? Back in Afghanistan, you said there was a problem with your identity. Where did you get a townhouse?"
"This isn't my house," Lynn said. "I'm staying here."
"Fine, whoever it belongs to," Tony said briskly. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."
He hung up.
Lynn looked at the ended call on the screen, slipped his phone back into his pocket, and turned to call up to the second floor. "Wong! We're having a guest in a bit. Tony Stark."
Wong poked half his bald head out from behind the railing, a book in his hand as usual, his expression unruffled. "Understood." After a pause, he added, "Don't let him touch things."
Less than twenty minutes later, the roar of a sports car came from outside the Sanctum.
Lynn pushed open the front door and saw Tony Stark climbing out of a brand-new silver sports car, dressed in a dark gray suit. The bruises on his face had faded a little, but they were still visible.
He took off his sunglasses and surveyed the building before him.
"Come in." Lynn stepped aside.
Tony walked through the door, stopping the moment he crossed the threshold. He looked up at the churchlike hall rising three stories before him, its walls covered with objects and the patterns on its dome looking ancient and beautiful.
Tony was silent for a while before saying, "This isn't a townhouse, is it?"
"Uh, at least it looks like one from the outside."
Tony didn't press the issue. He chose to set it aside for now. Just then, footsteps came from the end of the corridor.
Yinsen emerged from inside. He was wearing clothes Wong had found for him and looked much more energetic than the oil-covered middle-aged man in the cave, with a little more color in his face. When he saw Tony standing in the hall, his steps paused for an instant.
"Tony," he called gently.
Tony turned around. They looked at each other for a second, then Tony strode over and gave him a brief hug.
"You look much better than you did in the cave." Tony released him and looked him up and down. "This guy hasn't been mistreating you, has he?"
"No." Yinsen smiled. "Mr. Lynn has treated me very well, and it's safe here. Master Wong is a good man too."
"Master Wong?" Tony glanced toward the second floor. Wong was leaning against the railing, leafing through his book without even looking up. He could sense that this burly man probably wouldn't come over to introduce himself.
The three of them sat down on the sofas in the hall. Yinsen poured Tony a glass of water. Tony accepted it, but instead of drinking right away, he looked at Yinsen.
"I held a press conference yesterday and contacted Lynn first thing this morning," Tony said. "I just wanted to ask you in person what you plan to do next."
Yinsen clasped his hands over his knees and was silent for a while.
"I want to go back," he said.
"Go back?" Tony frowned. "Where?"
"My hometown, Gemira," Yinsen said, his voice calm but certain. "I want to go back and do something there. Be a teacher, or a doctor. I can do both. The people there are very poor. There aren't any decent schools or proper hospitals. Ever since I left all those years ago, I've kept thinking that one day I would return and make it a better place."
Tony set down his glass. "You can stay in New York. I'll arrange a job for you, in Stark Industries' R&D division or medical division. Take your pick. Your compensation won't be worse than anyone else's. You don't have to start over somewhere that's still at war."
Yinsen shook his head, his gaze gentle but firm. "Tony, we talked a lot in that cave. You told me you'd discovered that your weapons had killed people they shouldn't have, and you didn't know how to face it. I told you to survive first and think about what came next afterward. Now we've both survived. You've decided what you want to do. And I've decided what I want to do."
"Then you should do something for yourself too."
"This is what I want to do for myself," Yinsen said. "Go back and teach those children to read, to do arithmetic, and to understand basic medicine. Give my people more of a future, even if things only get a little better."
Tony looked at him, his lips moving as he started to say something, then gave up. He leaned back against the sofa, quiet for a few seconds, then sighed softly.
"All right," he said. "I won't stop you."
Yinsen nodded.
"But." Tony held up a finger. "You can't just go back like this. It's a war zone right now. Going back alone would be no different from going to your death."
"I can..."
"I'm not finished. Hear me out," Tony interrupted. "Once I've taken care of what's on my plate, I'll take you back myself. Your hometown needs schools and hospitals, right? I'll pay. Build schools, build hospitals, and you'll be responsible for putting them to proper use. There's still time for you to go back once everything's arranged, right?"
Yinsen looked into his eyes, was silent for a moment, then nodded slowly. "All right. Thank you, Tony."
"Don't thank me." Tony stood and stretched his neck, his tone returning to its usual nonchalance. "It's pocket change anyway."
Then he turned, his gaze landing on Lynn, who had been quietly enjoying the show beside them.
"And you," Tony said, his tone suddenly becoming rather less friendly.
Lynn looked up and pointed at himself. "What about me?"
"Tell me about that identity problem you mentioned," he said. "You told me there was a problem with your identity and you couldn't really show yourself in front of the military. What exactly is going on?"
Lynn lowered his hand and glanced at Tony.
"I can't really explain where I came from. All I can say is... I have no legal identity here. No birth certificate, no Social Security number, no passport, no documents that can prove I am who I am. Simply put, I'm as undocumented as it gets in this world."
Tony frowned. "No identity records at all? Where did you come from?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
As Tony spoke, he suddenly raised a hand. "Wait. Back in the cave, I felt something pass beside me, and later, on the dunes, you suddenly appeared with Yinsen."
He thought for a moment, then gestured at the Sanctum around them. "And this place. It looks like a townhouse outside, but inside it has this... this architectural structure I can't find a word for right now. Spatial folding? An optical illusion?"
"Magic," Lynn said. "But it doesn't matter if you don't believe it."