"Oh? So, what do I need to do?" Alan asked curiously.
"When the frog travels across various worlds, it makes friends. When these friends come to visit, the host can enter the game as the owner to welcome guests from other worlds."
"So that's how it works. There are conditions for entry." Alan realized.
"Up to now, the Frog has already visited three worlds. I wonder when one of its friends will come to visit." Alan wasn't in a hurry about this, though.
Soon, the food was ready. Alan called Gwen, who was still running on the treadmill, to come and eat. Gwen walked over with an annoyed expression, which Alan found rather cute.
He knew she was still a bit upset about the teasing earlier, but he couldn't help it—blame it on the Frog's poorly timed return. That silly little thing really didn't know how to pick the right moment.
As they ate, Alan spent the time teasing Gwen, lightening the mood. Eventually, with good food and Alan's playful banter, Gwen gradually forgot about what had happened earlier.
After dinner, nightfall arrived.
"Alan, Connors will likely show up tonight. I want to go out and check..." Gwen said.
Alan nodded. "Before we go, let's head to your place first."
"When you get home, turn on your computer. I'll have Red Queen hack into it. Then, lock your bedroom door and sneak out through the window. That way, even if Uncle George gets suspicious, Red Queen can create the illusion that you're still at home remotely."
"You're a genius, Alan!" Gwen was surprised and thrilled by this clever idea. Now, she could stay out late without any worries. With her spider abilities, she could just climb back in through the window.
She was about to give Alan a big hug, eager to share her excitement, but then she remembered how he had teased her earlier. She stopped in her tracks, crossing her arms with a huff.
Alan, who had been ready to embrace her, paused mid-motion.
Women...
No, wait! Girls... are truly creatures that hold grudges.
"I'll head home first and turn on the computer in my room," Gwen said.
She slipped off her outer clothing, revealing the Spider suit underneath. Then, with a leap off Alan's balcony, she swung away on her web toward her house, taking down a few small-time criminals along the way.
The name of Spider-Woman was starting to spread.
Meanwhile, Alan lay leisurely on a deck chair on his balcony, sipping tea, while Red Queen reported Gwen's crime-fighting exploits.
"Sigh, once Tony Stark publicly announces that he's Iron Man, I definitely need to get a new house. And I'll upgrade everything to high-tech."
Because of his current house, Red Queen's capabilities were limited. In a place like Tony's, J.A.R.V.I.S. would have instantly pulled up live footage for him, rather than him having to rely on a small computer screen like now.
"I wonder how far Tony has gotten with his Mark armor research," Alan pondered. "Has Obadiah found Mark 1 yet?"
Thinking about Mark 1, Alan recalled how, when he first saw its blueprints, the design had deviated from the original concept.
"Will Tony's future armors end up looking like the Emperor's armor?" Alan mused.
Meanwhile, inside Tony's lab...
At this moment, Tony was covered in a fully metallic silver suit of armor. The helmet's eye section had been designed in a particularly exaggerated style.
Other parts that were originally supposed to be smooth have been radically redesigned.
If Alan were here, he'd think it looked somewhat like Emperor Armor, but not exactly.
"Okay, Yinsen, J.A.R.V.I.S. Mark II's first flight test—are we ready?"
Yinsen gave Tony an "okay" gesture.
J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice sounded inside Tony's helmet: "All set, sir."
"All parameters and flight paths have been designed."
"Great! Let's begin!"
Flames shot out from the palms and soles of the Mark II suit, lifting Tony slowly into the air. Once stabilized, Tony dived headfirst out of the underground lab.
"Wow..."
"Hahaha..."
"We did it, J.A.R.V.I.S.! Yinsen!"
Yinsen could see Tony's flight from the lab. Inside the armor, Tony was grinning like a child with a new toy. Like a shooting star, he streaked across the New York night sky—except, unlike a shooting star, Tony was flying upward.
"Alright, let's see what this suit can really do..."
"What's the altitude record for the SR-71 Blackbird?"
"The fixed-wing flight record is eighty-five thousand feet, sir."
"Records are made to be broken—let's go!"
Tony pushed the suit to its limits, aiming to break the altitude record. At that moment, he didn't seem like a scientist but more like a fiercely competitive kid.
Meanwhile, at S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury watched the Mark II soar higher into the sky. The armor's design made him increasingly suspicious that Tony was somehow connected to that mysterious mech suit. Ever since Tony's return, Fury had been keeping a close eye on him.
The moment Mark II left Tony's house, someone reported it to Fury.
"Howard, your son has really outdone himself, actually creating something like this," Fury muttered, watching Tony climb higher and higher, admiration in his eyes.
Yes, this was the kind of determination he was looking for.
Another future Avenger member...
But what happened next made Fury's expression change.
Tony continued to climb, but the higher he went, the colder it got—especially with his rapid ascent. The temperature dropped drastically, and frost began to form on the surface of the armor.
"Is this guy crazy?" Fury thought, feeling that his earlier praise might have been a bit premature.
Tony kept going higher.
"Sir, severe icing on the exterior may cause damage..."
"Keep flying!!!"
Tony refused to stop. Soon, as the frost covered the surface, the internal systems began to fail. Even J.A.R.V.I.S. went silent.
The Mark II shut down completely, plummeting from the sky.
"Ah..."
"Ahhhh!!!"
"We're frozen, J.A.R.V.I.S.! Deploy the flaps...!"
"Quick, we need to get rid of the ice!"
With no response from J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony had to manually find the emergency switch. As soon as the flaps deployed, the descent slowed significantly. J.A.R.V.I.S. rebooted just in time, and Tony regained control, skimming the ground as he flew back up.
Having narrowly escaped death, Tony burst into laughter inside the suit: "Hahaha..."
Back at S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury wiped the sweat from his brow. Agent Hill asked, "Should we include Tony in the program?"
Fury replied cautiously, "Let's keep observing him for now..."
Meanwhile, on his balcony, Alan looked into the distance at the Mark II shooting into the sky.
...
New Fic is out now!! Check out my profile and read it.
"Mark II is finally complete, huh."
Alan watched as the Mark II disappeared from sight.
The successful development of Mark II signified the true birth of Iron Man.
From now on, all of Iron Man's future suits would be improvements and scene optimizations based on the Mark II design.
There would even be various Mark-XX armors in the future, showcasing Tony's incredible genius.
"Once Tony gains fame after his fight with Iron Monger, Stark Industries' stock will skyrocket."
"By then, I won't have to live so frugally anymore."
...
On the other side of town, Gwen had just returned home.
"Mom, has Dad come back yet?"
Gwen had already changed back into her regular clothes nearby and asked the moment she walked in.
After all, the last thing she wanted was for her father, George, to notice anything unusual.
As his daughter, Gwen knew all too well about George's detective and reasoning skills.
You don't become the head of the NYPD without earning respect through real abilities.
"He called earlier and said he'd be home late tonight. He also asked me to keep an eye on you and make sure you didn't stay out too late."
"Well, at least I don't have to report to him now."
Gwen's mom grumbled as she handed Gwen a glass of water.
"Thanks, Mom."
Gwen kissed her on the cheek. "Dad still treats me like a little girl."
"Well, you are his precious only daughter."
"Is that... a new pair of headphones?"
Gwen's mom immediately noticed the black earbuds in her daughter's ears.
"Yeah, the old ones broke, so I got a new pair."
Gwen quickly laughed it off and said, "Mom, I still have some assignments to finish. I'm heading to my room."
She handed the empty glass back to her mom and headed upstairs.
Gwen's mom shook her head with a smile, "Like father, like daughter."
After returning to the living room, Gwen's mom picked up the house phone and dialed George.
On the other end, George was sitting in a black unmarked car, seemingly observing something.
Across the street was Peter Parker's house.
A middle-aged man was returning home with groceries in hand.
The officer next to George said, "That man is Peter Parker's uncle, Ben Parker."
"He works as a technician at a nearby supermarket."
George nodded and asked, "Any updates from Team B?"
"Peter Parker hasn't left Oscorp since he entered earlier today."
"Our team doesn't have the authority to enter Oscorp without special orders."
"There's no need to go in. Just confirming Peter Parker is inside is enough."
Clearly, George hadn't fully trusted Peter's words this morning. After letting Peter go, he'd had people tail him and had come to stake out Peter's house himself.
But after a whole day, he hadn't found anything noteworthy.
At that moment, George's personal phone rang.
Seeing it was a call from home, George answered.
His wife's voice came through the line: "Your precious daughter is home. Don't worry."
George glanced at his watch.
She came home this early?
"Did she come back alone?"
"Yeah, just by herself."
"Alright, I'll head home once I finish this mission."
George hung up.
The officer beside him chuckled, "Chief, you sure do care about your daughter."
"Of course. She's my only child."
"There aren't many good influences at that university, so I have to keep her safe."
The entire precinct knew that George was a total overprotective dad.
...
Gwen locked her door after returning to her room. Once she was certain everything was secure, she opened her laptop.
"Red Queen, my computer is ready..."
"One moment, Miss Gwen."
After a brief pause, the Red Queen appeared on Gwen's screen.
"Miss Gwen, if anything unusual happens on this end, I will notify you immediately."
"You just need to speak directly, and I will transmit your voice as if you were still in your room."
"Wow, Alan really thought of everything."
Gwen removed her outer clothes to reveal her Spider suit underneath, then walked to the window and shot out a web.
"Thanks, Red Queen!"
With that, she jumped out the window.
Not long after Gwen left, her mother knocked on her door with a snack tray.
"Gwen, I brought you some snacks."
The Red Queen quickly transmitted Gwen's voice from earlier.
"Good thing Alan set this up, or I would've been caught tonight," Gwen thought with relief and responded, "Thanks, Mom, but I'm not hungry. You can save it for Dad."
Hearing her daughter's response, Gwen's mom didn't press further.
"Don't stay up too late, take care of yourself."
"Got it, Mom."
In the city of New York, Gwen swung between buildings.
Suddenly, the Red Queen's voice spoke up: "A robbery just occurred in the Bronx, the victim is an elderly person."
"Thanks, Red Queen."
"Time to remind someone that crime doesn't pay."
...
Meanwhile, in Tony's lab, Tony was pressing an ice pack to his head.
He had survived falling from 10,000 meters without a scratch, yet when he returned home, the weight of his suit caused him to crash through the floor into the basement.
He even crushed one of his beloved cars in the process, leaving him completely speechless.
Watching the disheveled Tony, Yinsen struggled to suppress a laugh, "Looks like you need to switch to lighter aerospace titanium."
"That's a solid idea."
"Jarvis, order some aerospace titanium."
"Right away, sir."
"The new model is complete, would you like to see it?"
"Show me."
A full titanium armor design, along with its specs, appeared before Tony and Yinsen.
"The color's not great."
The armor on the screen was pure gold.
"Jarvis, do you have any other color options?"
"I thought this suited your subtle personality."
Hearing Jarvis's sarcastic tone, Yinsen realized that the AI had learned enough to reach a human-like level of wit.
Yinsen teased Tony, "Even your butler knows you so well."
"Jarvis, color it like the other model."
"Right away, sir."
Soon, a silver and white version of the Iron Man suit appeared on the screen.
Tony, now satisfied, said, "Perfect."
Just then, Yinsen noticed something on the news: "You're hosting a charity gala tonight?"
Tony looked baffled. "What? I've been here all day."
He followed Yinsen's gaze to the TV.
A reporter was talking about a charity event supposedly organized by Tony Stark himself, while also criticizing Tony's recent actions. It was clear that she was a victim of the recent Stark Industries stock decline.
"Let's go, Yinsen. I'll take you for a drink..."
"Jarvis, no need to wait up for me tonight."
"You're always like this, sir..."
...
New Fic is out now!! Check out my profile and read it.
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