"So?" Levi rolled over, turning his back to the sun. "If he's missing, then go find him. Doesn't S.H.I.E.L.D. brag about being all-seeing and all-powerful? Why call me? I'm not a volunteer superhero."
"His name is Tony Stark."
Levi froze, a blade of grass still hanging from the corner of his mouth.
Fury's voice carried a deep note of helplessness. "Afghanistan is hell—mountains upon mountains. Our people can't get in, and we can't pinpoint his location."
"That sounds like your problem." Levi lay back down. "I'm retired, Director Fury. Unless—"
"Your condition," Fury cut in instantly. He knew the rules.
"All of Howard Stark's research notes," Levi said flatly, as casually as ordering coffee. "A complete copy. Untouched. Not a single page missing. Including everything related to the Tesseract."
There was a full five seconds of silence on the other end.
"…Deal," Fury said at last, the word squeezed out between clenched teeth.
"Coordinates," Levi said—and hung up.
He rose from the beach chair and stretched, his joints cracking like firecrackers. It had been over a decade since he'd done any real work. Hopefully he hadn't gotten rusty.
Once you took the job, you finished it.
Before moving out, habit dictated a quick inventory check.
He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking inward as he glanced at his Superpower Copier.
---
Ability List:
S-Rank Regeneration Factor — from Wolverine
Super Soldier Serum — from Captain America
Tesseract Source Energy — power of the Space Stone
Subspace Stomach Pouch — from a Flerken; perfect pocket dimension. Can store living beings or trash. Usually used to chill beer. Extremely effective.
Spatial Curvature Barrier — standard defense; makes bullets bend. Essential for home and travel.
Life Reversion — automatically repairs all damage and converts it into energy
Spatial Control (Beginner) — basic interference within small areas
Fixed-Point Teleportation — point-to-point blink; god-tier for travel
Spatial Severing — steak-cutting tool, sharper than any blade
Binary Form — Carol Danvers' model; humanoid walking nuclear reactor. When in a bad mood, firing it into the deep sea can produce hundred-meter waves. Very therapeutic.
Will Barrier — copied from Yon-Rogg. Blocks mental attacks and keeps him perfectly calm—even while counting money until his hands cramp.
Beginner Atmospheric Control — from Storm. Weak, but great for artificial rain on his island or blowing away mosquitoes.
Kinetic Infusion — from Gambit. Charging playing cards and throwing them to blow up fish is one of his few hobbies.
Enhanced Senses & Physique — from Beast. His body was already absurd, but this granted animal instincts and dynamic vision—enough to distinguish thirteen vintages of red wine in one second.
Morphological Mimicry — Mystique's signature skill. Absolute god-tier. He'd used it for years to manage his shadowy global business empire under countless identities.
Cooldown complete. New ability can be copied.
---
Levi smacked his lips.
Decent lineup. Good enough.
The next instant, he vanished.
A breeze passed over the beach. The lounge chair was left with only a shallow dent—as if no one had ever been there.
…
Afghanistan, Kunduz Province.
The desolate wasteland shimmered under the scorching sun. Levi appeared out of thin air, the sand beneath his feet sinking slightly from the sudden weight.
He was dressed in beach shorts and a floral shirt—looking like a tourist who'd wandered into the wrong movie set.
His energy perception spread out like an invisible radar, instantly covering dozens of kilometers. Countless life signals lit up in his mind like stars—most faint and chaotic, the ordinary people struggling to survive on this land.
But one location stood out.
Deep in the mountains, there was a weak yet extremely stable electromagnetic field—like a quiet heartbeat. Beside it, an energy source with wildly fluctuating output, on the verge of shutting down at any moment.
"Found you."
Levi disappeared again.
When he reappeared, he was inside a dark, damp cave.
Tony Stark and Yinsen were hammering away at a pile of scrap metal.
"The angle's off—three degrees to the left!" Tony coughed as he shouted. The crude electromagnet in his chest glowed faint blue; every heartbeat felt like pliers squeezing the shrapnel near his heart.
Yinsen sighed and raised his hammer again.
Then—
Thud. Thud.
Two dull sounds came from the cave entrance.
"Who's there?!" Yinsen jolted, grabbing an iron rod.
Tony froze, staring toward the darkness.
A man in beach shorts and a floral shirt strolled out casually, a blade of grass in his mouth, hands in his pockets. He glanced around the cave and frowned in disgust.
"Tsk. That smell—hits hard."
Behind him, two Ten Rings sentries lay collapsed on the ground, neat slashes across their throats. Dead without a sound.
Tony and Yinsen were stunned.
How did he get in?
"Who the hell are you?" Tony demanded warily.
The man ignored him, walked straight up, and circled Tony, eyeing him like meat at a market.
"So you're Tony Shit-a-crumb?" Levi deliberately mangled the pronunciation of Stark.
"It's Stark!" Tony snapped instinctively. "Idiot! Wait—who are you? Military?"
"You can call me… a delivery guy." Levi grinned. "Someone paid a ridiculous price for me to deliver an expensive package—you—back home, intact."
He glanced at the clunky metal frame they were building.
"Planning to rely on that?" He clicked his tongue. "Design's not bad. Materials are garbage. By the time you finish hammering this together, those idiots outside will've turned you into Swiss cheese."
Tony bristled, genius-level arrogance flaring. "You don't know shit! This is a revolutionary masterpiece!"
"Oh yeah?"
Levi walked over to a stack of steel plates. He raised a finger and casually traced a line through the air, like drawing.
Spatial Severing.
No sound.
No flash.
A perfect circular cut appeared in the thick steel plate—and then clanged onto the ground. The cross-section was smooth enough to use as a mirror.
Tony's eyes bulged.
He lunged forward, running his hands over the cut, then stared at Levi's utterly ordinary finger. His arrogance instantly transformed into a look like he'd seen a ghost.
"My God… how did you do that? This—this is bullshit! That's not scientific!"
Yinsen was just as stunned, the iron rod slipping from his hands.
"Forget science, Mr. Shit-a-crumb." Levi picked up a blueprint. "The idea's solid, but your cave workshop is too slow. I'll give you a hand."
For the next hour, Tony and Yinsen witnessed what it meant for a god to work.
Tony went completely feral—like a contractor on crack. He pointed at parts on the blueprint, barking dimensions and angles at machine-gun speed.
Levi became a humanoid universal machine tool.
With spatial severing, a light flick of his finger split metal apart—cutting, grinding, bending—done in one seamless flow, with precision surpassing Stark Industries' top-tier equipment.
"Here—tighten the curve! Yes, exactly like that!"
"That drive shaft—one piece, no joints!"
"How the hell did you fuse metals with different melting points?!"
Parts that should've taken days were completed in minutes. Yinsen was reduced to a bystander, mouth hanging open as his worldview was repeatedly smashed into the floor.
"Alright, core components are done." Levi dusted his hands. "You two can handle the assembly. I'll get some air."
Just as he turned away, chaotic footsteps and shouting echoed from outside.
"They found us!" Yinsen's face went pale.
"No time! Help me put it on!" Tony roared.
Heavy armor plates were strapped onto Tony one by one, but time was running out. Gunfire drew closer. The metal door shook violently.
"The system's still downloading—I need time!" Tony shouted.
Yinsen looked at the crawling progress bar, then at Tony's resolute face. His eyes hardened.
"I'll buy you time."
He grabbed an AK and rushed out without looking back.
"Yinsen!" Tony screamed.
Levi stood quietly to the side, unmoving.
This is your road, Shit-a-crumb, he thought.
Gunfire erupted—fierce, but brief.
When the door was blown open and Ten Rings soldiers poured in, they were greeted by a steel giant slowly rising to its feet.
"My turn," Tony's voice rumbled from beneath the faceplate, fury barely contained.
Twin jets of fire erupted from his arm-mounted flamethrowers, instantly turning the front line into screaming torches.
The cave became hell.
Tony charged out like an unleashed iron beast.
Levi followed behind at an unhurried pace. Any stray bullets that came near him bent away, twisted by an invisible spatial barrier, and flew off into nowhere.
Mark I armor—ugly, but effective. Flamethrowers and shotguns against AKs was pure dimensional suppression.
Tony tore through the camp, detonated the stockpile of Stark weapons, then activated the jury-rigged thrusters and lurched into the sky.
After only a few kilometers, the scrap-built armor finally gave out, disintegrating midair and crashing into the desert.
Tony crawled out of the shattered helmet, gasping for breath—only to see Levi standing calmly in front of him, holding an ice-cold bottle of mineral water.
"Need a hand, Mr. Shit-a-crumb?"
Tony stared at him, then at the black speck in the sky—the incoming U.S. Army rescue helicopter.
"You… who the hell are you?" he panted.
"The delivery guy." Levi tossed him the water. "Your ride's here. I won't get in the way."
The helicopter drew closer, rotors roaring.
Levi tossed the empty bottle onto the sand and waved.
"See you around, Shit-a-crumb."
The next second—
He was gone.
Vanished.
No flash.
No shadow.
The desert was left with a stunned Tony Stark, and an equally dumbfounded James Rhodes, who had just jumped down from the helicopter.
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