Thank You,
Noble Tier: "IamUgoH"
For Becoming A Member On My Pa'treon. The Emperor Protect.
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The fermentation of emotion across the Terra Federation spread at an astonishing speed. Everyone already knew what was about to happen. Tony wanted to send the nuke, abruptly, into the passage!
"Risking deathslife!"
"I still remember Rogers once said Tony fought only for himself!"
"But now… Tony chooses to carry the nuclear bomb without hesitation!"
"I, I don't know what to say. My eyes… they're full of tears."
"I'm losing my mind! Why would he do this!"
"Tony, you can't die, you mustn't die!"
Countless eyes turned toward Tony, holding the nuclear bomb aloft with both hands.
[ Jarvis is attempting to connect Pepper. ]
[ The screen flickers, switching to a plane flying high in the atmosphere. Pepper and a group of people are watching the news unfold on the TV. ]
[ Reporter: "The streets have turned into a battlefield. The army has arrived, but they're clearly outnumbered." ]
[ Reporter: "In my entire career as a journalist, I've never seen anything like this!" ]
[ Reporter: "We know little about the Avengers, except that Tony Stark is a billionaire…" ]
[ Pepper stares at the screen nervously. The phone beside her glows silently, but she doesn't notice. ]
Citizens of the Terra Federation held their breath in collective dread. In the live broadcast barrage, messages flooded the screen like a storm:
"Come on!"
"Pepper! That's Tony's call, pick up!"
"Answer it! Please, just answer the phone!"
"No… I'm in pain!"
"The person you think of in your final moments is always the one you love most!"
"Answer the phone, this might be Tony's last goodbye!"
"He knows he might not survive. He just wants to say a few words before the end!"
"Tony… Tony is a real man!"
"He's using every ounce of strength he has left!"
"These are his final seconds!"
"It'll break my heart if she misses this call…"
"I can't… I'm crying so hard. I can't take it anymore!"
No one could count how many were crying behind their screens, pleading, sobbing, begging Pepper to answer. This could be Tony's last call. His final moment.
In the Terra Earth Era, no one knew how long ago that truly was. Even amidst the piercing cries of the crowd, no one could hear anything anymore. In countless schools across the Commonwealth, students, boys and girls alike, had tears streaming down their faces. Teachers at the doors turned away, silently wiping their eyes.
Suddenly, a student cried out: "I don't want a hero! Tony is just an ordinary person; he should be like us!"
That single cry broke the last of the classroom's restraint. Everyone wept openly.
At the Administration, thousands of employees watched in silence. Especially those in the information management department, people who had grown numb to watching past-life memory archives, used to tearful stories and noble sacrifices. But when they saw the phone beside Pepper light up without being answered… almost every woman there broke down completely. Soft sobs echoed across the department. Some wiped their tears with tissues. Others hugged each other, trembling with emotion.
"Pepper must be heartbroken knowing she missed his call…"
"It's unbearable!"
"The love between Pepper and Tony, it's too pure, too real!"
"They may bicker, but no one doubts how much they care."
"Yeah, Tony never takes what belongs to others, only what Pepper gives him."
The supervisor looked around at everyone's tear-stained faces. His own eyes reddened as he took a deep breath, "Tony carried the safety of millions on his shoulders to prove himself. Isn't that the greatest proof of all, that he never fought just for himself?"
"Or… maybe this is his final redemption, for the weapons he once built that brought so much pain." He exhaled deeply.
Inside the Director's Office, historian Johan and several other experts, who had claimed moments earlier they couldn't bear to watch, were now back online, silently observing the live broadcast.
After composing himself, Johan's expression sharpened with solemn focus. The pen in his hand scratched rhythmically across paper as he murmured, "I'll dedicate my life's ink to record this moment. I will make Terra remember, for a hundred, a thousand, even ten thousand years, that once, in the unknown age of the Terra Earth Era, there lived a man who guarded a city of millions. A man who sacrificed everything, himself."
Johan paused, then wrote with deliberate reverence: "His name is Tony, the creator of the Iron Suit. Flesh and blood. Heart of steel."
In those captured memory images of a past life, Pepper never answered Tony's call. And across Terra, silence spread like frost.
[ Tony looks at his helmet display. Pepper's number remains unconnected. A flicker of loneliness crosses his face before he looks forward, resolute. Before him stands the Stark Building, a blue beam piercing the heavens, keeping the sky's gateway open. ]
[ The nuclear bomb races forward. Tony strains every muscle, pouring all his power into redirecting it. At the last possible second, he pulls the bomb into an upward arc and flies directly into the channel. ]
[ Black Widow, tearing apart the energy field, glances upward, her eyes following the silhouette soaring toward the light. Thor, Rogers, Barton, all of them stare at that single, blazing red figure, carrying death itself into the sky without hesitation. ]
[ Tony's suit surges forward, unyielding. He drags the nuclear bomb upward, desperate, unstoppable. The red armor vanished into the passage, and silence fell once more. ]
The entire Terra Federation seemed to halt, and every heart carried the same grief. Tony, with a nuke, had rushed into uncharted space, sacrificing himself to save millions below. No one spoke, and tears felt too heavy to fall.
The scene flickered.
[ In the darkness of space, the armor's energy fades. In the cold void, Tony's suit drifts, lifeless. ]
[ The nuclear bomb, propelled by momentum, continues forward. It collides with a massive alien battleship, detonating into a cataclysmic blaze. Countless Leviathans nearby are annihilated. ]
[ Tony's eyes close, and his body falls. ]
[ On the streets below, as the bomb's shockwave ripples, the Chitauri collapse, lifeless. ]
[ On the aircraft carrier, the control room erupts with cheers. The enemy is destroyed. Director Fury lowers his head, lips trembling, eyes hollow with sorrow. ]
The nuke had detonated. The result, spectacular. The Chitauri army was obliterated, and millions of lives were spared. Cities are safe from the burning curse of radiation.
In the boundless darkness of space, the explosion's fleeting sparks should have inspired celebration, but across Terra, the people wept. At every school, students stood, crying, raising their hands in a solemn salute toward the sky. This was a hero.
Across the Federation, traffic halted. Every vehicle turned on its hazard lights. Every driver honked once, long and low. The unified hum rose skyward, Terra's farewell song.
"Tony will always be a hero in my heart!"
"Self-sacrifice, he didn't deserve to die!"
"Why does he always take the most dangerous path?"
"I adore you, Tony!"
"It's always been this way, every time, he risks his life!"
"And yet, people still criticize him!"
"That's absurd! Why are they cheering? He's dead!"
"Two minutes and thirty seconds of waiting… and this is what we get?"
"The Chitauri are gone, but so is Tony!"
"He'll be my idol forever!"
"I'll draw him with my own hands, I'll live by his courage!"
The entire Terra Federation mourned in unison.
At the Administration, the floodgates broke. Women sobbed openly. Men wept quietly. Even the stoic couldn't hold back.
"I finally understand now…" someone choked out, "Why the Immortal Warrior's resonance is so high! Sacrificing yourself to save the world, it's worth billions of souls remembering! So sad… Tony shouldn't have died."
The whole hall cried as one.
In the director's Office, the director stood facing the screen, removed his hat, and saluted. His voice trembled: "I've made a decision. We will establish the Hall of Honor for Heroes to record every hero and every deed remembered from Terra's past. This… is humanity's pride. Without their sacrifices, there would be no Terra Federation today. We must ensure that no one ever forgets them."
The experts nodded solemnly.
Historian Johan said, "It's only right. Tony will be the first, forever enshrined in the Hall of Heroes. But he won't be the last."
Tonio's voice quivered with awe and grief. "Tony's armor was a masterpiece. His wisdom is unmatched. His life, too brilliant to end."
The research chief sighed. "Such a pity… The cycle of the Immortal Warrior ends here."
At the Norland Base, tears streamed down Guerino's face. "The universe truly is jealous of talent…"
As chief engineer, he knew better than anyone how difficult it was to create a new element. Even with Horward's help, the true element had been born from Tony's own hands.
"I never imagined that the moment he created a new element, it wouldn't be to save himself, but to throw himself into death's embrace!"
If not for that discovery, the new Ark Reactor would never have existed. Nor would the new armor. Back then, even if Tony wanted to strike the Chitauri, he couldn't have. Yet without it, the shrapnel in his heart would've ended him long ago.
He smiled bitterly. "Fate… always has its balance."
The universe's jealousy of genius, indeed.
But Guerino's heart burned with reverence, "Tony chose the most worthy death. He deserves the respect of all mankind."
Turning to his team, he declared solemnly, "From this day forward, we'll give everything to recreate the new element. In the age of Terra Earth, Tony created it alone. He gave his life for humanity. We'll honor him by finishing what he started."
All of Norland Base rose to their feet and nodded. For them, this was the highest tribute a scientist could give.