Tony Stark did not believe in fate.
He believed in data.
And the data surrounding Yiping refused to settle into a comfortable pattern.
For three consecutive days, the young assistant performed flawlessly. Calculations were precise. Suggestions were useful without being intrusive. He never overstepped, never tried to show off, never pushed ideas that were too far ahead of current development.
That alone was suspicious.
Geniuses wanted recognition. Engineers wanted their ideas tested. Scientists wanted to be right.
Yiping wanted none of that.
He wanted position.
Tony watched from the observation deck as Yiping worked below, calmly adjusting simulation parameters. The projection showed stress responses in modular armor systems—nothing classified, nothing dangerous. Safe work.
Too safe.
"FRIDAY," Tony said quietly, "run comparison."
A holographic screen appeared beside him.
Behavioral analysis. Speech cadence. Decision patterns.
Probability estimates shifted slowly.
Unknown knowledge source: increasing likelihood.
Tony sighed.
"So you really do know something you shouldn't."
Below, Yiping paused for a fraction of a second, as if sensing something. Then he continued working normally.
Tony smiled faintly.
Good instincts.
That made this interesting.
Yiping, meanwhile, felt the pressure tightening.
Not openly. Not aggressively.
But subtly.
Access permissions were changing. Not restricted, just… redirected. Projects he expected to see were missing. Others appeared instead, almost as if Stark was feeding him controlled information.
A test.
Yiping kept his expression neutral.
So Tony Stark was testing him already.
That was faster than expected.
Fine.
He adjusted his own strategy.
If Stark wanted to observe, then he would observe back.
The key was balance. Be useful enough to remain indispensable, but never threatening enough to become a target. In a world filled with super soldiers and gods, survival depended on remaining beneath notice while standing close to power.
Still, something bothered him.
The timeline felt unstable.
Events that should have been years away felt… closer. Technologies appearing earlier. Decisions happening slightly differently. Small deviations accumulating like cracks in glass.
Someone else might be interfering.
Or the world itself was correcting.
Yiping frowned slightly.
If multiple anomalies existed, then relying on future knowledge alone would not be enough.
He would need contingency plans.
Plural.
Later that night, Stark Tower stood silent.
Tony sat alone in the workshop, turning a small metallic component between his fingers.
"Trying to fix the future," he muttered. "Yeah. That never goes wrong."
The irony wasn't lost on him.
He understood the impulse. If someone truly knew what disasters were coming, of course they would try to prevent them.
The problem was simple.
Every solution created new problems.
And people who believed they understood the future tended to underestimate chaos.
Tony placed the component down.
"Let's see what you do next, kid."
Across the city, Yiping stared at the skyline with the same thought.
Neither of them realized that the first real deviation had already occurred.
And once timelines began to drift, they rarely stopped at small changes.
The board was expanding.
New players were entering.
And the cost of mistakes was rising.
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