Tony Stark quickly realized something amusing: it seemed that S.H.I.E.L.D. still hadn't figured out that Superman… was actually Luo Chen.
Now that was interesting—one hell of a trump card to hold.
It also confirmed something else: despite their vast intelligence network, S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't know everything. They had blind spots. Even Fury himself had missed this.
But honestly, it wasn't that surprising. Before Tony had seen Luo Chen flying through the sky with his own eyes, even he couldn't have imagined the guy had that kind of power.
Luo Chen had never written anything about it in the diary. Sure, he'd vaguely mentioned running into Tony Stark while "basking in the sun," but he'd conveniently left out the fact that this little meet-up had taken place above the clouds—in mid-air.
Clever. Very clever.
Who actually writes everything in their diary, anyway?
That was Luo Chen in a nutshell—intentionally vague and elusive. That kind of ambiguity created blind spots in how people interpreted the diary. Everyone assumed Luo Chen was just a time traveler. Without the diary's protection, S.H.I.E.L.D. probably would've abducted him already.
"So, you do know something, don't you?" Nick Fury said, narrowing his eyes at Tony.
In truth, that was the real reason Fury had come.
They had footage of Obadiah's death—and it clearly wasn't Tony Stark who had dealt the final blow. That gave S.H.I.E.L.D. an edge. While the public assumed it was just a battle between Tony's Mark II and Obadiah's Iron Monger, Fury knew otherwise.
"It's one of the things I came to ask about," Fury said. "I want to know who Superman really is. And if possible… I want to recruit him into the Avengers."
S.H.I.E.L.D. had been trying everything to track down Superman's identity. No luck. Nothing solid.
Still, considering the wave of superheroes and villains mentioned in Luo Chen's diary, a sudden appearance like this wasn't exactly unprecedented. It just looked like another superhuman blowout event.
"Hahaha… yeah, that's not happening," Tony laughed, sipping his drink.
"Why not?" Fury frowned. "Is there some deeper secret here?"
Tony set his glass down with a smirk. "Because Superman is Luo Chen. You're not going to recruit him into the Avengers. Hell, you can't even tell him the diary exists… can you?"
Fury's face went pale in an instant.
That look of shock was deeply satisfying to Tony, especially after Fury had strutted in like he had the whole game figured out. That sense of control, that smug superiority—Tony had hated every second of it.
So he decided to flip the table. And judging by Fury's expression… it worked beautifully.
"Hahahaha!" Tony cackled like a kid who'd just pulled the perfect prank.
"You're lying," Fury said quickly. "He's just a Common. There's no way he's Superman."
"You do know he came from beyond the fourth wall, right?" Fury continued, trying to reassert control. "There's no record of superpowers in that universe. In fact, from his diary entries, it doesn't sound like anyone from his world can become someone like Superman!"
"Ah, but did you notice what he said the other day?" Tony replied, grinning. "He joked in his diary, 'The rich rely on tech, the poor rely on mutation.' Ring a bell?"
Fury paused. Yes… that line had stood out. Luo Chen had written it casually, as a joke.
S.H.I.E.L.D. analysts had interpreted it as commentary on how people in this world gained powers—either through wealth and technology, like Tony Stark… or through unpredictable, often dangerous mutations, like Spider-Man or Spider-Woman.
It had seemed like a throwaway line.
Now, it might be the biggest clue they'd missed.
"So you're saying… he mutated?" Fury asked, finally piecing it together.
"Exactly," Tony nodded. "He came from another world, yeah—but here, he's changed. No wealth. No tech empire. No scientific genius. That only leaves one explanation."
He leaned in slightly.
"And do you know where he said he met me that day he was 'basking in the sun'? Not in the park. Not on the street."
Tony's eyes gleamed.
"He met me on the clouds."
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