However, even as Tony boasted, Leo's gaze was drawn past the dazzling schematics of the Mark IV and the new Arc Reactor. His Golden Eyes cut through the virtual light show and spotted a faint, three-dimensional projection of a human body structure mixed in among the dozen or so armor models.
Before Leo could consciously register it, Tony waved his hand with a dismissive gesture, and all the projections, including the human structure, were instantly pulled back and dissolved into the digital ether.
Yet, Leo had seen enough. The projection clearly displayed a human torso, and prominently marked on the chest, around the sternum, was a spreading, angry red discoloration—an area of localized tissue toxicity and damage.
'It seems Tony has started to suffer from palladium poisoning; he's beginning to take this seriously, even if he won't admit it to himself,' Leo thought with a pang of concern.
Leo's eyes glowed faintly again, peering directly through the layers of the assembled Mark IV armor and focusing on the reactor device embedded in Tony's chest. Tiny, almost invisible black stripes had appeared at the edges of the platinum base plate—the tell-tale sign of palladium corrosion spreading into his vascular system—though they were still very faint.
He then scanned the area immediately surrounding the core magnet that kept the shrapnel at bay. He saw several tiny, almost microscopic metal fragments—the remnants of the initial bomb blast—still firmly adhered to the protective metal wall around the heart, remaining motionless but present.
In fact, Leo was confident he could easily remove the larger metal fragments now, but the procedure would be delicate and risky. His current level of control allowed him to move the metal, but not yet to perfectly break down and disassemble the fragments atom by atom without causing collateral damage. The removal of the shrapnel had to wait for a higher stage of his ability.
Leo walked over and gently tapped the Mark IV's shoulder plate. "Mr. Stark, putting aside the new paint job, how about we actually address the metal shrapnel lodged in your chest? I think I can handle it now."
The Mark IV's faceplate slid back, revealing Tony's astonished and annoyed face.
Tony paused for a beat, his smile faltering as he realized Leo wasn't just talking about the obvious physical threat. He forced a smile and shook his head. "I'm fine, kid. No need to worry about the scrap metal, it won't bother me anyway. The magnet is holding firm."
"I'm not talking about the fragments, Mr. Stark. I'm talking about the palladium poisoning. You saw the projection yourself a second ago, didn't you?" Leo's voice dropped, his expression serious, conveying a profound, almost paternal warning that belied his age.
Tony's energy immediately deflated. He dropped his gaze, watching a schematic of a missile defense system spin lazily in the air beside him.
As Leo correctly surmised, Tony was in deep denial. The reactor leak and the subsequent poisoning were physical threats, but the deeper issue was psychological. If Iron Man loses the reactor, will he still be Iron Man?
Tony feared becoming dependent on an external power source. He knew that the reactor, as Obadiah Stane had proven, was the true core of the suit's power, and he had personally created the most potent single weapon in history. That power resided in him.
Tony feared this dependency. Even if it meant being slowly poisoned, he refused to install an external, detachable reactor, thus reducing the possibility of the core being violently ripped out, and reducing the possibility of the suit becoming just another piece of technology, rather than an extension of himself.
Tony couldn't tolerate the idea that the reactor in his chest was just a battery; he truly believed it was the defining hallmark of him becoming Iron Man. He was afraid of losing the reactor, afraid that he would no longer be a savior, or even a good person.
"I'm already experimenting with other, non-toxic elements, kid. I have options," Tony said evasively, avoiding eye contact. "I'm drinking more chlorophyll juice. It's a work in progress, alright? I can handle it, Leo, don't worry about me. I've got a new lease on life, and I'm not planning on checking out early."
He quickly closed the Mark IV's mask. "Leo, I really have to go now. Urgent matter in the Baltic Sea. I've been incredibly busy lately."
Flames spewed from his boots and hands with a familiar roar, and the Mark IV vanished through the retractable roof hatch, seemingly off to save the world and, more importantly, distract himself from his own mortality.
Leo was left alone in the magnificent, echoing underground studio. He looked around and even spotted a partially assembled structure that was clearly the Mark V suitcase-style armor. It seemed Tony had never let his guard down; he'd truly been relentlessly busy lately, constantly designing new contingency plans and upgrading his arsenal.
However, Leo didn't linger. His mission here was accomplished: secure resources. He needed to push his own progress.
He returned to his modest garage workshop. After the intense concentration required to open Tony's delivery case, he reviewed his internal status, a small, floating panel only he could see.
Control Points: 109
Strength: 21
Defense: 20
Speed: 20
Spirit: 20
Skills: Metal Control C-level, Body Enhancement B-level, Microscopic Manipulation C-level
Enhancement: Golden Eyes(100%), Copper Skin(100%), Steel Bars(100%), Iron Bones(38%)
Derivative Skill: Golden Eyes of Truth (Unaffected by any abilities, sees through all illusions, enhances visual observation, and can metallize objects), Immovable Golden Body (Greatly enhances defensive power; feet firmly planted on the ground; possesses unlimited stamina; body regeneration speed is increased; cannot be moved by external forces), Nirvana Golden Wings (Maximum speed can be increased to ten times the speed of sound, condensing golden wings into weapons, special skill: Dimensional Shield)
Three months had passed, and the progress on Iron Bones was only 38%, despite the fact that nearly ten tons of high-quality gold-titanium alloy had already been fully consumed by his body's absorption process, and even the fifth reactor he obtained from Tony (a backup from a previous repair batch) had been drained.
The incremental gain in physical strength and defense required an ever-increasing amount of raw material, and the jump in efficacy—the effect of one attribute point increase after reaching twenty points—was astronomically greater, but the materials required were becoming unsustainable.
Seeing the increasingly slow progress, Leo knew he had hit a wall with common metals, even high-grade alloys. He absolutely had to set his sights on Vibranium. Although the Black Panther storyline hadn't started yet, he seemed to remember that a large shipment of the metal had been stolen by an internal asset and was eventually intended for use by Ultron in the future.
'It seems to be on a cargo ship somewhere in the Indian Ocean, possibly off the coast of Africa or perhaps in a hidden storage facility near the Gulf of Aden,' he recalled. The area was far too vast for a conventional search, but he knew roughly where to start.
After packing the remaining backup reactor and taking his personal mobile equipment—a heavily shielded phone with global satellite map data—he told Uncle George he was simply going to a friend's house for the rest of the holiday.
After walking through several unsuspecting suburban streets, he ducked into a small, shadowed alleyway and disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, far across the world, in a dilapidated, freezing Russian house, the lights were dim and flickering, the only warmth coming from a burning, makeshift furnace.
Ivan Vanko, a man of terrifying intensity, covered in peculiar, faded tattoos, picked up a piece of red-hot, glowing metal. The smell of oil, burnt wiring, and molten slag was overwhelming. He began hammering the metal with brutal, focused force against an old, rusted anvil.
The only bright surface in the room was a fluorescent-lit wall covered entirely with portraits of Tony Stark—torn out of recent newspapers and magazines, all taped together like a terrifying collage.
You could even see that some of the paper had turned slightly yellow and brittle, indicating that the collection had been ongoing for a long time, dating back to Tony's initial public resurgence. The recent, countless reports about Iron Man had provided Vanko with enough material to completely paper the entire wall in Stark's grinning face.
Ivan chewed a piece of cheap gum mechanically, his eyes burning with an inherited, ice-cold resentment that surpassed mere fanatical obsession. It was the deep, consuming hatred of a man whose family honor and intellectual property had been stolen.
He glanced at a small, framed photo tucked away in the corner—the face of a stern, aging Russian scientist, his late father, Anton Vanko. Ivan tightened his grip on the hammer, focusing every ounce of his destructive rage on the anvil.
The entire room was filled not just with the rhythmic clang of the hammer, but with a palpable, depressing atmosphere of ruin and single-minded vengeance. He wasn't building a suit to save the world; he was forging a weapon to destroy the man who had everything.
Back in the sky, following the crude satellite navigation on his phone, Leo prepared for the colossal journey. He needed to travel directly from New York, across the Atlantic, then over the vast Eurasian landmass, to the African continent in search of higher-quality metal.
Starting from New York, he ascended to an average altitude of three thousand meters, well above the dense cloud layer, where the air resistance was manageable. With the Nirvana Golden Wings—now a perfected derivative skill—unfolded, Leo began to accelerate.
The wings, a shimmering, golden-red construct of pure energy, moved slightly, and Leo transformed into a silent streak of light circling the Earth. He started at Mach 3 and gradually accelerated, becoming even faster as the Wings stabilized the air around him.
Mach 5. The atmosphere became a blur.
Mach 7. He felt the immense power of the core reactor being channelled into his enhanced body, propelling him forward.
And after about three minutes of sustained acceleration and refinement of his aerodynamic control, he effortlessly hit a stable, smooth cruising speed of Mach 10—roughly 7,600 miles per hour.
In other words, Leo could now reach any point on Earth within an hour and could theoretically circumnavigate the globe in less than two hours.
Moreover, thanks to the perfect synchronization with the Nirvana Golden Wings, Leo seemed to exist almost outside of the immediate space he occupied. His energy field constantly smoothed the turbulence and prevented the atmospheric tearing that causes a sonic boom. Even when he pierced straight through a dense cloud, he only created a small, silent hole, like a needle passing through silk.
The strange fluctuation created by the Golden Wings was helping to smooth out the turbulence around him, making Leo's small size difficult for any conventional radar or satellite to detect.
Leo's planned trajectory would take him across the Pacific Ocean, passing through the Philippines, near Hong Kong, and then into Southeast Asia before cutting through India and finally reaching the African continent.
Looking at the world map on his phone, he flew head-down, completely absorbed in calculating his route and maintaining his speed.
Twenty minutes later, he decided to check his location. He flew down from the cruising altitude of the clouds and took a quick look, only to find that he hadn't just passed Taiwan; he had already arrived over the bustling, neon-lit skyline of Hong Kong.
It was just past dusk. The city lights were a mesmerizing carpet of luminescence far below. Leo, feeling the sudden cultural shift, decided to slow down and descend a few hundred meters, thinking he might stop for a quick, non-disruptive look at the majestic city.
He hadn't descended more than a few meters from the cloud ceiling when, only a short distance away, the air violently shimmered. Sparks of intense, orange electricity suddenly erupted in a circle, instantly forming a rotating, crackling portal from which a figure in a traditional yellow-and-red robe emerged, standing casually in the middle of the sky, blocking Leo's path.