Stark Tower hummed differently when it was full.
Not louder.
Warmer.
The building had long since stopped feeling like an office tower to Tony.
To the world, Stark Industries was steel, glass, money and technology.
To Tony, it was where his mother kept telling his father to stop working during dinner.
Where Jarvis somehow always knew when Tony had taken apart something he wasn't supposed to touch.
Where Howard's laboratory smelled permanently of solder, coffee and ozone.
Where every wall seemed to have some unfinished idea hidden behind it.
It was home.
And on one warm Manhattan evening, home got considerably more complicated.
Tony Stark was four years old when he met Virginia Potts.
Everyone called her Pepper.
Tony decided immediately that this made sense.
She had red hair.
That was apparently enough evidence for him.
The Potts family arrived shortly before dinner.
Michael Potts was one of Howard Stark's chief engineers, a man Howard trusted enough to argue with.
That alone placed him in a very exclusive category.
His wife, Mary, was considerably calmer.
Their daughter stayed partially hidden behind her mother's leg.
Pepper looked at Tony.
Tony looked at Pepper.
Then Pepper's eyes dropped toward his chest.
Even underneath his shirt, there was a faint blue glow.
Tony noticed.
Most children stared.
Adults tried not to.
Tony had gotten used to both.
Pepper didn't look frightened.
She looked curious.
That was different.
She slowly approached.
"Does it hurt?"
Tony looked down at himself.
"No."
Pepper tilted her head.
"Never?"
Tony thought about it.
"Sometimes it feels hot when I'm angry."
Maria immediately glanced toward Howard.
Howard suddenly became fascinated with his wine.
Tony continued.
"But it's supposed to be there."
Pepper looked confused.
"Like a heart?"
Tony nodded.
"Kind of."
Howard had explained it approximately six different ways.
Tony understood all six.
He simply preferred the shortest version.
"My heart and reactor grew together."
Pepper's eyes widened.
"So you're part machine?"
Tony frowned.
"No."
Howard quietly smiled.
Even at four, that distinction mattered to him.
Tony tapped his chest.
"It's all me."
Pepper slowly reached toward him.
"Can I?"
Tony shrugged.
"Sure."
Her fingertips touched his shirt.
The reaction was immediate.
HMMMMMM.
Tony's reactor brightened.
Pepper jumped.
Then something underneath her own skin answered.
Soft pink light spread through her hand.
Maria stood.
Michael stopped mid-sentence.
Howard's glass froze halfway toward his mouth.
The air between the two children shimmered.
Pepper's Quirk activated instinctively.
A bio-energy field.
Normally weak.
Normally unconscious.
But Tony's Arc Reactor responded to it.
Blue energy moved beneath Tony's skin.
Pink light flowed around Pepper's fingers.
Neither was hurting the other.
They were synchronising.
Tony's altered nervous system began analysing the unfamiliar energy automatically.
Pepper's field reacted to Tony's cardiovascular rhythm.
For several seconds, their Quirks pulsed together.
Blue.
Pink.
Blue.
Pink.
Then—
White.
The combined light faded.
Tony stared at her.
Pepper stared back.
"You made my reactor feel funny."
Pepper immediately looked horrified.
"I didn't break it!"
Tony smiled.
"I know."
He touched his chest.
"It felt good."
Howard slowly looked toward Michael.
Michael looked toward Howard.
Both men grinned.
Maria saw it.
Mary saw it too.
"No," both women said simultaneously.
Howard blinked.
"I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to."
Michael started laughing.
Howard raised his glass.
"I'm just saying, twenty years from now—"
"Howard."
"—those two could run Stark Industries together."
Maria crossed her arms.
"Or you'll decide they're getting married before they understand what marriage is."
Howard considered that.
"Efficient."
Maria stared at him.
Howard took a drink.
"I'm stopping."
Tony met Happy Hogan properly that same evening.
Henry Hogan Jr. was four.
He somehow already looked like he'd been assigned security detail.
He stood with his hands behind his back while Tony showed Pepper a collection of prototype drones.
"My dad said I'm supposed to keep you safe."
Tony looked at him.
"Why?"
Happy frowned.
"Because that's his job."
"No, why do I need keeping safe?"
Happy thought about that.
Pepper answered first.
"Because you climb things."
Tony turned.
"That happened once."
"You climbed the Stark sign."
"I wanted to see how it was mounted."
Happy nodded seriously.
"You need supervision."
Tony looked between them.
"This friendship is already terrible."
Pepper giggled.
Tony spread several drawings across the floor.
Happy crouched beside them.
Pepper leaned over Tony's shoulder.
One sketch showed a crude suit of armor.
Another showed a flying car.
Another appeared to be a robot dinosaur.
Pepper pointed.
"What are we?"
Tony looked at her.
"What?"
"If you're building all this."
She pointed toward Happy.
"What's he?"
Tony answered immediately.
"Security."
Happy nodded proudly.
Pepper pointed at herself.
"And me?"
Tony stared at her for several seconds.
Pepper waited.
Tony finally smiled.
"You make everything work."
Pepper blinked.
"What does that mean?"
Tony shrugged.
"You're the heart."
For once, Pepper didn't have an answer.
Tony placed his hand in the center of the blueprints.
Pepper placed hers over his.
Happy added his.
Tony's reactor pulsed.
Pepper's field answered.
Happy's Quirk produced a faint metallic shimmer over his skin.
Tony grinned.
"Team Iron Heart."
Pepper frowned.
"That sounds like you named it after yourself."
"I name most things after myself."
Happy looked impressed.
Pepper rolled her eyes.
It would not be the last time.
James Rhodes arrived six years later.
By then, Tony, Pepper and Happy had become less of a friendship group and more of a recurring engineering emergency.
Rhodey was ten when he first saw Tony's drone lab.
He stood in the doorway for nearly a full minute.
Small aircraft hovered everywhere.
Half-completed machines covered every table.
Pepper sat with a tablet, reorganising something Tony had already reorganised three times.
Happy wore protective goggles.
Tony was upside down underneath a prototype engine.
Rhodey looked toward Howard.
"This is allowed?"
Howard smiled.
"No."
Tony slid out.
"Technically."
Pepper looked over.
"That's Rhodey?"
Rhodey raised an eyebrow.
"That's Pepper?"
Tony stood.
"You two are going to get along."
They did.
Eventually.
Rhodey understood flight systems almost instinctively.
Within weeks he was piloting Tony's prototype drones better than Tony was.
Tony hated that for approximately six minutes.
Then decided it was useful.
Pepper handled scheduling, testing logs and the social interactions Tony found boring.
Happy enforced basic survival.
Rhodey made sure anything Tony built could actually fly.
Tony built everything else.
Howard watched them one afternoon through the glass wall of his office.
Rhodey flew a drone.
Pepper shouted timing data.
Happy yelled at Tony for standing too close to the propulsion test.
Tony ignored everyone.
Maria joined Howard.
"They look happy."
Howard nodded.
"They're going to be terrifying."
Maria smiled.
"They're ten."
"Exactly."
Tony was eleven when he learned that technology couldn't protect everyone.
Howard was away with Dr. David Shield.
The two men were finalising designs for a floating research facility eventually known as I-Island.
Tony had been furious he wasn't allowed to go.
Maria had promised him the next trip.
There was never a next trip with Jarvis.
The attack happened shortly after midnight.
Glass shattered downstairs.
Tony woke instantly.
Extremis accelerated his nervous system before he consciously understood why.
His reactor output climbed.
His hearing sharpened.
His heartbeat increased.
Then came footsteps.
Too many.
Tony left his room.
Pepper was already in the hallway.
Happy appeared moments later.
"What's happening?"
Jarvis came around the corner.
He wasn't wearing his usual suit.
He carried a sidearm.
His expression told Tony everything.
"Workshop."
Tony opened his mouth.
"Now, Master Anthony."
There was something in Jarvis's voice Tony had never heard before.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For them.
The children ran.
Jarvis followed.
The first intruder came through the hall.
Jarvis moved faster than Tony had ever seen.
His Quirk activated.
A translucent energy barrier exploded outward and threw the attacker backward.
Another entered.
Then another.
Jarvis kept himself between them and the children.
Always.
Tony watched through the gap beneath the workbench.
Happy's hand gripped his shoulder.
Pepper was shaking.
Tony wasn't.
That scared him afterward.
His body had entered some strange state.
Everything looked slow.
His reactor surged.
His nervous system processed movement, sound and electrical signals faster than his eleven-year-old brain could emotionally understand.
An attacker raised an electrical weapon.
Tony saw it.
Jarvis didn't.
"JARVIS!"
The weapon fired.
Jarvis turned.
Too late.
Electricity struck his barrier.
The barrier collapsed.
Jarvis hit the floor.
Something inside Tony broke.
The Arc Reactor flared.
Every electronic system in the mansion responded simultaneously.
Lights exploded.
Security shutters slammed down.
Doors locked.
Alarm systems screamed.
The attackers' weapons shut off.
One man's tactical visor overloaded.
Another's communications system died.
Tony wasn't consciously controlling any of it.
He was terrified.
And Extremis was listening.
By the time Maria and Stark security reached them, the attackers were unconscious or trapped.
Jarvis wasn't moving.
Tony crawled toward him.
"Jarvis?"
Nothing.
Tony shook his shoulder.
"Jarvis."
His voice cracked.
Pepper started crying behind him.
Happy turned away.
Jarvis's eyes slowly opened.
Tony froze.
The older man looked at him.
Even dying, Edward Jarvis somehow found enough strength to smile.
"You did very well, sir."
Tony shook his head.
"No."
"You protected them."
"No."
Tony's eyes filled.
"You were supposed to protect us."
Jarvis's breathing became shallow.
Tony looked desperately toward the medical team.
"They can fix you."
Nobody answered.
Tony understood.
His intelligence was sometimes cruel like that.
It allowed him to understand things before he was emotionally ready to accept them.
Jarvis looked at him.
"Your father will be proud."
Tony grabbed his hand.
"Don't."
Jarvis's fingers squeezed weakly.
Then relaxed.
Tony stared.
The man who had been there almost every day of his life was suddenly just—
gone.
Tony's reactor dimmed.
For the first time anyone could remember, the Stark mansion became completely quiet.
Howard returned the next morning.
He found Maria first.
Then the damaged hallway.
Then the blood.
Then his son.
Tony sat alone in the laboratory.
Jarvis's voice recordings played repeatedly through the speakers.
"Good morning, sir."
Again.
"Good morning, sir."
Again.
"Good morning, sir."
Howard stood in the doorway.
Tony didn't look around.
"I couldn't save him."
Howard's chest tightened.
He crossed the room.
Tony finally looked at him.
His eyes were red.
"But I can save something."
Howard looked toward the screens.
Thousands of recorded conversations.
Voice samples.
Behavioral logs.
Security responses.
Tony had collected everything Jarvis had ever recorded in Stark systems.
Howard understood instantly.
"You're building an artificial intelligence."
Tony looked back toward the hologram.
"I'm building him."
Howard sat beside him.
"No."
Tony's jaw tightened.
Howard continued gently.
"You can't."
Tony looked angry.
Howard understood that too.
"You can make something that sounds like Jarvis. Something that learned from him. Something inspired by him."
He swallowed.
"But Edward is gone."
Tony looked down.
"I know."
That was almost worse.
Howard placed a hand on his shoulder.
Tony whispered:
"I just don't want the house to forget him."
Howard closed his eyes.
"Then we make sure it doesn't."
Father and son worked together.
For days.
Then weeks.
Memory architecture.
Personality modeling.
Autonomous learning.
Security protocols.
Predictive behavior.
The first real Stark artificial intelligence.
Tony created the acronym.
Howard didn't ask how long he'd spent forcing the letters to work.
Eventually—
The speakers activated.
"Good evening, sir."
Howard froze.
The voice wasn't Edward.
Not exactly.
But it was close enough to hurt.
Tony stared at the ceiling.
The AI continued.
"It appears I've missed several scheduled maintenance checks."
Tony smiled through tears.
"Welcome home, J.A.R.V.I.S."
By fourteen, Tony understood something important about Extremis.
His Quirk wasn't finished.
It was still evolving.
And Tony hated leaving evolution to chance.
He had begun experimenting with a theory.
Not on himself.
Not yet.
Only simulations.
Tony stood in the laboratory surrounded by holographic models of his cardiovascular system.
At the center sat the Arc Reactor.
Tony rotated the image.
Pepper looked over his shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"Improving it."
Pepper stared.
"Tony."
"What?"
"Your Arc Reactor is literally connected to your heart."
"I noticed."
"That wasn't encouragement."
Tony expanded the model.
"Look."
Layers appeared.
Cardiac tissue.
Nerves.
Blood vessels.
Extremis interfaces.
Energy channels.
Then another material appeared around the simulated reactor.
Vibranium.
Pepper's eyes widened.
"Absolutely not."
Tony sighed.
"It's theoretical."
"You said that before you built a drone that broke the sound barrier."
"That worked."
"It entered Canadian airspace."
"Details."
Pepper pointed toward the hologram.
"You're talking about putting vibranium inside your chest."
Tony shook his head.
"Not a chunk of it."
He enlarged the structure.
"Microscopic quantities."
The vibranium had been processed into a stable liquid suspension.
Not molten metal.
That would've been insane even by Tony's standards.
Instead, molecular-scale vibranium particles were suspended inside a biocompatible conductive medium.
Tony highlighted pathways.
"Extremis already regulates foreign materials better than normal physiology. My nervous system can monitor the reactor continuously."
Pepper slowly understood.
"You want the Quirk to integrate it."
"Exactly."
Tony smiled.
"Not implant it."
He pointed toward the Arc Reactor.
"Teach my body to grow around it."
Pepper looked uneasy.
Tony continued.
"Vibranium absorbs and redistributes energy. My reactor generates energy. My biggest limitation isn't output."
"It's what your body can safely carry."
Tony pointed at her.
"Yes."
He changed the simulation.
Reactor output doubled.
Normally Tony's tissues would've overheated.
With vibranium integrated into the reactor housing and specialized Extremis tissues, the excess energy was absorbed and redistributed gradually.
Pepper stared.
"That could increase your safe output."
"Massively."
"And regeneration."
"Potentially."
"And your technology interface."
"Probably."
Pepper looked at him.
Tony smiled.
She didn't.
"What else?"
Tony hesitated.
Pepper crossed her arms.
"Anthony."
Tony sighed.
"Titanium-gold alloy."
Pepper closed her eyes.
"And?"
"Trace palladium alternatives."
"Tony."
"Possibly uru someday."
Pepper's eyes snapped open.
"You're not putting Asgardian metal in your heart."
"I said someday."
"You haven't even met an Asgardian."
"That's why it's a long-term goal."
Pepper stared at him.
Tony looked innocent.
Neither believed it.
J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted.
"Sir, preliminary simulations indicate a 61.4 percent probability of catastrophic systemic rejection if attempted with your present physiology."
Pepper smiled.
"Thank you, JARVIS."
Tony frowned.
"Run it again."
"I have run it four hundred and twelve times."
"Run it better."
Pepper laughed.
Tony looked back toward the hologram.
He wasn't going to do it.
Not yet.
That was the difference between Tony at fourteen and Tony at four.
He still wanted everything immediately.
He had simply learned that surviving long enough to build the next version was occasionally useful.
He saved the project.
EXTREMIS REACTOR INTEGRATION — THEORY ONLY
Pepper leaned toward him.
"Add 'DO NOT TEST.'"
Tony typed.
EXTREMIS REACTOR INTEGRATION — THEORY ONLY — DO NOT TEST
Pepper smiled.
Tony waited until she walked away.
Then added:
WITHOUT PEPPER PRESENT
J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke immediately.
"I have informed Miss Potts."
Tony looked upward.
"Traitor."
The armor came later.
Not material appearing from nowhere.
Tony had abandoned that idea almost immediately once he understood his Quirk properly.
Extremis wasn't matter creation.
It was integration.
So Tony designed armor that could interface directly with his nervous system.
The Mark 22 waited in segmented modules around the laboratory.
Red.
Gold.
Beautiful.
Tony stepped onto the platform.
"JARVIS?"
"Mark Twenty-Two online."
Tony's reactor brightened.
The armor responded.
Pieces launched.
Boots locked around his legs.
Gauntlets sealed over his arms.
Chest plating connected around his reactor interface.
Helmet closed.
Tony didn't need joysticks.
Didn't need manual controls.
The suit felt like another layer of skin.
He moved his fingers.
The armor moved instantly.
He thought about rising.
Repulsors activated.
Tony lifted several feet above the floor.
Howard walked into the laboratory.
Stopped.
Then slowly looked upward.
Tony hovered in full red-and-gold armor.
Howard stared.
"When I was fourteen, I was trying to build a radio."
Tony's faceplate opened.
"Underachiever."
Howard pointed.
"I can still ground you."
"From my own company?"
"From my own house."
Tony smiled.
"Fair."
Pepper entered behind Howard.
She was wearing armor too.
Different design.
Silver.
White.
Pink energy channels.
Tony descended.
Pepper's suit wasn't Extremis.
It didn't need to be.
Tony had built it around her Quirk.
Rescue amplified her bio-energy field.
Force projection.
Medical stabilization.
Protective barriers.
Tony looked at her.
"How does it feel?"
Pepper flexed her fingers.
"Light."
"That's good."
"Responsive."
"Better."
She looked at him.
"You built this specifically for me."
Tony shrugged.
"Obviously."
Pepper smiled.
"Why?"
Tony suddenly found the diagnostics fascinating.
"Can't have my partner getting hurt."
Pepper looked toward Howard.
Howard looked toward Maria.
Maria shook her head before he could speak.
"Don't."
Howard whispered:
"I wasn't going to say anything."
"You were going to say exactly what you said when they were four."
Howard smiled.
"They're consistent."
The Japan conversation happened three months later.
Howard entered the living room carrying a tablet.
Tony immediately recognised the expression.
"You're going to say no."
Howard sat down.
"Probably."
"Then say yes instead."
"Excellent negotiation strategy."
Tony leaned forward.
"U.A. is accepting international students."
"I know."
"Best hero school in Japan."
"I know."
"Support facilities are world-class."
"I helped fund half of them."
Tony paused.
"That actually helps my argument."
Howard smiled.
Tony continued.
"I want to go."
Maria looked toward Howard.
Howard didn't answer immediately.
That surprised Tony.
He had expected the refusal to be instantaneous.
Howard finally spoke.
"Hero Course?"
"And Support."
"Both?"
Tony shrugged.
"I get bored."
Maria sighed.
"Of course you do."
Howard looked at Tony.
"You're fourteen."
"I'll be fifteen before term."
"You currently have three active projects the Department of Defense doesn't know exist."
"Four."
Howard closed his eyes.
"Why did you correct me?"
"Accuracy."
Howard stared at him.
Then smiled despite himself.
"Fine."
Tony froze.
"What?"
"Conditions."
Tony immediately became suspicious.
Howard counted them.
"You attend class."
"Obviously."
"You don't skip Hero Studies to work in the Support Lab."
"Define skip."
"Tony."
"Fine."
"You run Stark Industries Japan."
Tony blinked.
Pepper nearly dropped her drink.
Maria looked at Howard.
"You're giving him a corporate branch?"
Howard shrugged.
"He's been practically running parts of the company for years."
Tony smiled.
Howard pointed at him.
"Pepper goes with you."
Pepper nodded.
"Happy is security."
Happy looked pleased.
"Rhodey is operational advisor."
Rhodey frowned.
"I'm fifteen."
Tony grinned.
"Congratulations on the promotion."
Howard continued.
"And JARVIS monitors everything."
Tony groaned.
"Dad."
"Non-negotiable."
Maria looked between them.
"So our son is going to another country, attending the world's most competitive hero school and running a multinational corporation?"
Howard smiled.
"He's a Stark."
Tony leaned back.
"I accept."
Howard laughed.
"I hadn't finished."
Tony stood.
"You said enough."
The Stark jet left New York several days later.
Tony took the seat nearest the window.
Pepper sat beside him.
Rhodey was reading flight data.
Happy was checking security.
J.A.R.V.I.S. had already complained about three luggage violations.
Tony had apparently brought an entire mobile laboratory.
Then someone entered the cabin.
Tony looked up.
A massive green teenager ducked beneath the doorway.
He was huge.
Easily over seven feet.
Muscular enough that Happy immediately sat straighter.
Small glasses rested awkwardly on his face.
The teenager looked around.
"Uh… Stark?"
Tony studied him.
Green skin.
Extreme musculature.
Enormous frame.
Then the name appeared on the passenger manifest.
Tony smiled.
"Bruce Banner."
Bruce blinked.
"You know me?"
"I know your papers."
Bruce's expression changed immediately.
"You've read them?"
"Gamma radiation harmonics."
Bruce smiled.
"You understood those?"
Tony looked offended.
"Of course I understood them."
Pepper looked toward Rhodey.
"No."
Rhodey sighed.
"What?"
"There are two of him."
Happy looked at Bruce.
Then Tony.
"We're dead."
Bruce laughed.
His Quirk—Smart Hulk—was unusual.
Unlike transformation-based strength Quirks, Bruce remained permanently enhanced.
Green skin.
Extreme strength.
Extreme durability.
And intelligence that rivaled scientists decades older than him.
Tony moved toward the holographic table.
"Sit down."
Bruce did.
Tony brought up his Arc Reactor model.
Bruce immediately leaned forward.
"That's biological?"
Tony smiled.
"Now we're friends."
Within twenty minutes, both boys were covering the cabin in equations.
Rhodey eventually stopped reading and joined them.
Pepper attempted to maintain order.
Happy gave up.
J.A.R.V.I.S. announced an incoming call.
Howard appeared holographically.
His eyes moved around the cabin.
Equations.
Holograms.
Tony.
Bruce.
Howard sighed.
"You've been airborne forty minutes."
Tony shrugged.
"We're being productive."
"You dismantled part of the entertainment system."
"It was inefficient."
Howard looked toward Bruce.
"You must be Banner."
"Yes, sir."
"Please don't encourage my son."
Bruce glanced toward Tony.
Tony smiled.
Bruce smiled too.
Howard closed his eyes.
"Great."
Tony leaned back.
Howard pointed.
"Remember the conditions."
"School."
"Company."
"Discipline."
Tony nodded.
Howard paused.
"And don't blow up the dormitory."
Tony smiled.
"No promises."
Howard laughed despite himself.
"That's my boy."
Back in New York, Howard made another call.
The hologram activated.
An older man appeared.
Broad shoulders.
Weathered face.
Kind eyes.
Joseph Rogers.
America's first great symbol hero.
Captain America.
Retired now.
Mostly.
Howard lifted his glass.
"Joe."
Joseph smiled.
"Howard."
"I need a favor."
Joseph laughed.
"That sentence cost me three years of my life last time."
"Tony's going to U.A."
Joseph's expression softened.
"I heard."
"I want someone there I trust."
Joseph already understood.
"Steve."
Howard nodded.
Joseph leaned back.
"My boy was planning on applying anyway."
Howard smiled.
"Good."
Joseph's Quirk had become famous decades earlier.
Super Soldier.
Enhanced strength.
Speed.
Durability.
Reflexes.
Recovery.
Endurance.
Every physical system elevated toward the highest possible human expression and beyond.
Steve had inherited it.
Joseph smiled.
"He'll watch your boy."
Howard nodded.
"Tony will hate that."
"Steve will hate Tony ignoring him."
Howard raised his glass.
"Perfect."
Joseph watched his son training the next morning.
Steve Rogers threw his shield.
It cut through the air.
Bucky Barnes ducked.
"Slow!"
Steve caught the returning shield.
"You wish!"
Bucky's metallic left arm shifted.
Panels moved.
Fingers reinforced.
The limb reshaped itself into a blunt combat configuration.
His Quirk—
Cyber Arm.
A living mechanical limb capable of restructuring itself into different tools and weapons.
Bucky charged.
Steve blocked.
Metal struck vibranium.
CLANG.
Joseph smiled.
His wife joined him.
"They're ready."
Joseph nodded.
"Howard's sending Tony Stark."
Maria Rogers looked toward him.
"That Tony Stark?"
Joseph laughed.
"How many do you think there are?"
"The one with the reactor?"
"The same."
She watched Steve and Bucky sparring.
"And you want Steve looking after him?"
Joseph nodded.
Maria smiled.
"I think Tony may need protection from Steve."
Joseph laughed.
"Probably."
Outside, Bucky struck again.
Steve blocked.
Both started laughing.
Two boys who had trained beside each other for most of their lives.
Soon they would meet another group.
Stark.
Potts.
Hogan.
Rhodes.
Banner.
Joseph watched them.
History had a strange habit of repeating itself.
But sometimes—
if the next generation was lucky—
they could do it better.
Far above the Pacific Ocean, Tony stared out at the sunrise.
Pepper had fallen asleep beside him.
Happy remained awake purely out of stubbornness.
Rhodey was reading.
Bruce had somehow filled seventeen pages with calculations during the flight.
Tony rested his hand against his chest.
Thump.
Hum.
The Arc Reactor pulsed beneath his skin.
Tony thought about the simulation he'd left running back in New York.
Vibranium integration.
Energy redistribution.
Biological reinforcement.
Still theoretical.
Still dangerous.
Still impossible.
Tony smiled.
Impossible had always been a temporary word.
Japan appeared on the navigation display.
U.A.
Hero society.
New technology.
New Quirks.
New problems.
Tony's reactor brightened slightly.
Pepper opened one eye.
"You're doing the thing."
Tony looked over.
"What thing?"
"The smile."
"What smile?"
"The one where you're about to make everyone's life complicated."
Tony looked back toward Japan.
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
Pepper closed her eye again.
"Japan isn't ready for you."
Tony smiled wider.
"Then they'd better catch up."
The Stark jet continued toward the horizon.
Toward U.A.
Toward heroes Tony had never met.
Toward enemies he didn't know existed.
Toward friendships that would one day become something much larger than any of them understood yet.
Iron.
Shield.
Thunder.
Gamma.
Spies.
Soldiers.
Heroes.
The Avengers didn't exist yet.
But the people who would eventually create them were already moving toward one another.
And somewhere beneath Tony Stark's ribs—
Thump.
Hum.
—the future kept beating.