Tony piloted an old-model suit straight into the castle.
As for the castle's original defenses?
They had already vanished not long ago.
Even someone as careless as Tony knew exactly what that meant. Noah and his people had gone in first and taken away the core of the energy defense.
There wasn't much for Tony to say about it, aside from one thing.
They were fast. Incredibly fast.
After casually dealing with the remaining defensive units, Tony didn't even bother looking at the bodies left behind.
They were all HYDRA.
In his opinion, people like that were better off dead. Desperate criminals who endangered the world. Not worth a second glance.
Steve's earlier mention of super-powered individuals did make Tony a little cautious.
Just a little.
There were many kinds of people with abilities.
The most common were mages and mutants.
One acquired power through training. The other was born with it.
Tony himself was a mage, so he knew how hard that path was. For him, it hadn't felt that difficult-but he knew that wasn't the norm.
HYDRA training mages?
Unlikely. They simply didn't have that capability.
Mutants, on the other hand, were far more plausible. HYDRA had always loved bizarre experiments.
Those experiments could give ordinary people extraordinary power.
Steve Rogers himself was proof of that.
"Attention. Second super-powered individual detected. Female. Do not attack."
Steve's voice came through the communicator.
Tony shook his head silently, muttering under his breath as he mimicked Steve's tone, then continued deeper into the castle.
He was heading to rendezvous with Noah and the others.
Though he had no idea where Noah actually was.
With J.A.R.V.I.S.'s assistance, Tony quickly located a hidden passage behind one of the walls.
He pushed the mechanism.
The wall opened.
And Tony stepped into what should have been the castle's innermost chamber.
It was empty.
Completely empty.
No Mind Stone.
No Noah.
No one at all.
The only thing of any value was the massive, worm-shaped flying carrier that had been shot down during the Battle of New York.
"Where did everyone go?"
Tony looked around, puzzled.
Not a single figure appeared.
But at that moment, he felt something behind him.
His alertness spiked instantly.
Then he realized something was off.
Whoever was behind him had used some kind of ability-and then immediately left.
That made Tony interested.
If someone had tried to ambush him with a gun or knife, he wouldn't have cared.
Like Noah, Tony always prepared defensive spells in advance.
He had been maintaining a magic shield since entering the castle.
Now he wanted to see what had just happened.
As both a scientist and a mage, Tony was naturally curious about unfamiliar forms of power and energy.
"This energy is strange," he muttered. "It seems to affect the mind?"
Frowning, Tony activated the special arc reactor embedded in his chest.
This device had been modified countless times.
Now it allowed his new element and magic to coexist perfectly.
Tony's mage level wasn't particularly high, so he compensated in other ways.
This reactor let him minimize magic output while directly calling on stored magic when needed.
Like now.
He activated it fully, stabilizing his mind and observing the effects of the power that had targeted him.
Tony raised his head slightly.
The massive worm-shaped carrier moved.
"...An illusion?" Tony smiled faintly. "And a pretty realistic one."
He walked forward.
Then stopped.
In front of him lay a group of half-dead Avengers.
Tony went silent.
And then he noticed something even more absurd.
Noah was among them.
"Could this get any more ridiculous?"
An illusion of Noah?
And Noah looked half-dead?
It was laughable.
Who was Noah?
A top-tier mage.
Dying in a place like this?
Especially when the illusion Noah was even grabbing him and telling him to work harder.
It was too much.
Tony felt the person who designed this illusion had an interesting sense of humor.
He admitted it might reflect some inner fear.
But even fear should be more realistic than this.
Now that he was a mage, Tony was more rational than ever.
Under magical protection, these tricks meant nothing.
"Interesting," he said calmly. "But useless."
Tony shook his head and directly used the arc reactor's magic to shatter the illusion.
In an instant, everything returned to normal.
The carrier hung quietly in place.
The surroundings were unchanged.
"Still behind me?"
Tony frowned.
He could clearly sense someone there.
Through magical perception, he knew the caster had used some method to hide themselves from sight.
But that kind of concealment wasn't absolute.
So why the confidence?
Tony didn't like following someone else's script.
He preferred control.
So he turned around without hesitation.
"I'll ask-are you having fun?"
"?!"
Tony froze.
The attacker was a girl.
She looked like a high school student.
Her face showed clear surprise.
Tony found that... interesting.
Then her expression shifted.
Surprise turned to anger.
Anger turned to resentment.
"What's going on?"
Tony had no time to ask.
The girl attacked him directly.
Tony reacted instantly.
Armor or not, he still had magic.
He wasn't a powerful mage, but Noah's teaching was practical. Very much in the Hogwarts style.
Even though Tony favored enchantments, his combat ability was solid.
He dodged the attack and countered almost instinctively.
A spell slammed into the girl, sending her flying.
Steve's warning vanished from Tony's mind.
Don't attack her?
Ridiculous.
Was he supposed to just stand there?
"Care to explain?" Tony tilted his head, touching his chin as he looked at the girl struggling to her feet. "Do we have some kind of grudge? I can confirm you're not my daughter-based on age. I mean, it's possible, but I've never been here before. And I'm pretty sure I've never met you. Also, you're underage."
"Go to hell, Stark!"
The girl roared and charged again.
"Oh?" Tony shrugged. "A lot of people want me dead. I'm curious why you do, but I'll just catch you first."
"Alright, Tony. It's better not to act first."
A calm voice echoed directly in their minds.
A faint golden halo appeared between them.
It expanded.
Then transformed into a passage.
Four figures stepped out.
A young man.
Two middle-aged men.
And a silver-haired individual who looked restrained.
Tony remained calm.
He knew this magic well. He'd used it plenty of times.
The girl, however, looked stunned.
"Noah," Tony smiled. "I thought you weren't planning on showing up. And hello, Charles. Oh-and Erik. By the way, who's the kid?"
"This kid is her brother." Noah stepped out of the halo, glanced at Tony, then looked at the girl. "Hello, young lady. Or rather-Wanda. Looks like you and my apprentice are getting along quite well."
"This is 'getting along'?" Tony rolled his eyes. "She attacked me without a word. You know her?"
"Of course." Noah nodded. "Her name is Wanda. His name is Pietro. If I give them a surname, you might recognize it."
A surname?
Wanda stared at Noah in disbelief.
Her eyes drifted to Pietro.
He was captured.
No one understood his speed better than she did.
Maybe not even Pietro himself.
"Surnames?" Tony tilted his head. "Which one?"
"I think Erik's surname works best," Noah said casually.
"Erik?" Tony paused-then noticed the man standing behind Noah. He immediately stuck out his tongue. "You mean they're the children of this magnet monster?"
Erik's face darkened.
He took a step forward.
Noah raised a hand and stopped him.
"Yes," Noah said calmly. "They're Erik's children. And if you don't want to get beaten up, you should probably stop talking nonsense."
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