The Tony Stark of this universe had already lost too much.
Family.
Friends.
Teammates.
People he could never bring back.
Now, the two most important people in his world were Pepper and Morgan. Because of that, he could not tolerate even the slightest potential danger approaching them.
Tony reluctantly lowered Morgan back to the ground.
Even though he had only known the little girl for less than a minute, he already adored her.
She was too cute.
Still, escalating tensions with the other Tony Stark was the last thing they needed.
As Morgan returned to her father's side, Tony muttered quietly under his breath, "Technically, I should also be her dad."
Unfortunately for him, the other Tony heard that perfectly.
Instantly, older Tony glared at him.
"Listen carefully," he said seriously. "I don't care where you came from. I don't care if you're really me from another universe or some weird clone created by cosmic nonsense."
He pulled Morgan protectively closer.
"Morgan is my daughter. Only mine."
Then his expression softened slightly as he looked down at her.
"Morgan, come here."
Morgan obediently ran behind him.
Only after placing Morgan safely at his side did older Tony finally relax a little.
A little.
The dozens of hidden weapons surrounding the area were still fully locked onto Locke and Tony.
Older Tony stared at them carefully.
"You said you're from another universe," he said slowly. "Fine. Prove it."
Then he pointed toward Locke.
"And who exactly is he?"
Tony rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"How do I prove it..." He suddenly snapped his fingers. "Right. Your first time was when you were fifteen. You lasted around three minutes, and afterward the girl called you completely useless—"
"STOP."
Older Tony's face instantly turned red.
Morgan looked up at him suspiciously.
"Dad?"
"Nothing!" older Tony said immediately.
Then he glared murderously at the younger Tony.
"You are absolutely not continuing that story."
Younger Tony grinned victoriously.
Even Locke almost laughed.
Clearly, some things remained universal across all versions of Tony Stark.
After taking a breath, older Tony forced himself to calm down again.
"Fine. That proves you know things nobody else should." He crossed his arms. "Still doesn't necessarily prove the parallel universe part."
Then his expression hardened again.
"But that doesn't matter right now. Tell me why you're here."
Tony immediately began explaining.
"Well, it started when I accidentally opened a portal connecting our universe to yours—"
"Portal?" older Tony interrupted instantly. "Kamar-Taj portal magic?"
He narrowed his eyes sharply.
"You're a sorcerer?"
Tony looked offended.
"Can I finish talking first? God, you're rude."
Older Tony stared at him blankly.
Tony sighed dramatically before continuing.
"In our universe, I trained under the Ancient One for a while."
That statement alone visibly shocked the older Tony.
Meanwhile, Tony kept talking casually.
"Anyway, I accidentally connected our universes. So naturally, I brought my friend Locke with me to investigate."
He gestured toward Locke.
"Then we discovered your timeline is catastrophically depressing."
Locke raised an eyebrow. "That's your summary?"
"You literally arrived after half the universe died," Tony replied. "I think my wording is fair."
Older Tony ignored the bickering and focused on the important part.
"You mentioned fixing things."
Hope flickered in his tired eyes for just a second.
"How?"
Locke answered directly this time.
"It's simple. We use quantum space-time navigation to travel into the past, collect the six Infinity Stones before Thanos destroys them, and then use the Stones to reverse the Snap."
For a brief moment, older Tony's eyes brightened.
Then the light vanished completely.
"What did you just say?"
His voice carried obvious disbelief now.
Locke shrugged. "Time travel."
Older Tony stared at him like he had lost his mind.
"Simple?" he repeated slowly. "You call that simple?"
His sarcasm became increasingly obvious.
"You're talking about breaking the Planck scale using quantum fluctuation navigation while avoiding temporal collapse effects." He pointed at Locke. "Do you even understand how absurd that sounds?"
Then he turned toward the younger Tony.
"If you're really another version of me, then you should know exactly how impossible this is."
Younger Tony hesitated.
Honestly?
From a scientific perspective, it did sound insane.
But after everything he had witnessed around Locke, science had already stopped being the absolute authority in his worldview.
Locke had shattered common sense too many times already.
"You won't know unless you try," younger Tony argued. "Parallel universes sounded impossible too."
"That's different," older Tony snapped immediately.
"No, it isn't," younger Tony shot back. "You're only calling it impossible because you're scared it might fail."
The words hit harder than expected.
Older Tony fell silent.
After several seconds, he finally spoke again in a much calmer voice.
"If this is your entire plan..." He shook his head tiredly. "Then I can't help you."
He bent down and picked Morgan up into his arms.
"Please leave."
Without another glance, he turned and walked toward the cabin.
Locke watched him quietly.
Right before the cabin door closed, Locke spoke.
"We're staying in this universe until tomorrow."
Older Tony paused slightly.
"If you change your mind before then," Locke continued, "come find us."
The cabin door opened halfway.
For a second, it looked like older Tony might turn around.
But in the end, he said nothing.
The door closed.
Silence returned to the forest.
Younger Tony stared at the cabin with a complicated expression.
"I can't believe that guy is another version of me."
Locke lightly patted him on the shoulder.
"He isn't you," Locke said calmly. "Not really."
Tony looked at him.
"Our experiences shaped us differently. He lost people important to him. He lived through pain you haven't experienced." Locke glanced toward the cabin. "Now he's terrified of losing what little he still has left."
Tony slowly lowered his head.
"He thinks we'll make everything worse."
"Exactly."
The forest became quiet again for a moment.
Then Tony suddenly asked, "What if he never comes?"
Locke shrugged.
"If even the people of this universe have already abandoned hope, then why should we keep trying to save them?"
Tony opened his mouth instinctively.
But no words came out.
Because Locke was right.
If the Avengers themselves chose to give up, then what exactly were he and Locke fighting for?
Locke smiled slightly.
"Besides," he added, "you should have more faith in yourself."
....
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