[Third Person Pov]
As cheers and excited chatter erupted around them, several students and teachers applauded Tony and Melissa as they stepped forward. The sound washed over them in a wave of celebration, yet not everyone shared the same enthusiasm. Aizawa narrowed his eyes beneath his capture scarf, studying Tony from head to toe with an expression caught somewhere between suspicion and fatigue.
"What's with the fancy suit?" he asked flatly, clearly unimpressed by the spectacle.
"I'm more curious about those creatures he's got with him," Mandalay added, crouching slightly to better observe the assortment of animals and bizarre beings clustered around Tony and Melissa. Her brows knit together in confusion as she watched one of them chirp and another sway excitedly. "Seriously… where did they even get those from?"
As they began descending the ramp of the spaceship, Tony turned his head toward Melissa, his usual confident grin tugging at his lips—though there was something strained about it this time. His eyes flicked to her with an unmistakable hint of worry.
"Melissa…" he said slowly, forcing a chuckle. "I think I might be the world's biggest idiot."
"Huh?" Melissa started to reply, but her confusion vanished in an instant. Her eyes widened in pure panic as she noticed a thin line of blood slowly trickling from the corner of Tony's mouth.
Before she could react, Tony's knees buckled slightly. "I completely forgot to fix my heart," he admitted weakly, his voice losing its usual bravado. "All the excitement, the adrenaline… it made my artificial heart pump way too fast. Guess it drained itself completely—"
His sentence never finished.
Tony's eyes rolled back, his body tipping forward as gravity took hold. He collapsed, tumbling helplessly down the ramp as gasps of horror echoed around him. His Pokémon reacted instantly, leaping away just in time to avoid being crushed as Tony rolled past them.
"Tony!!" multiple voices cried out at once.
People rushed toward him in a panic, their faces pale with fear and shock. Shouts overlapped, hands reached out, and the world around Tony began to blur. The noise dulled into an indistinct hum as his vision darkened at the edges. It felt as though something unseen was pulling him downward, dragging him away as everything else grew distant and faint—
Until at last, there was nothing but darkness.
…
"Ughhh…" Tony groaned, his face twisting in discomfort as consciousness slowly returned. His eyelids fluttered open, only for him to immediately wince as harsh lights bore down on him from above. "Whose fucking bright idea was it to install blinding lights so they're the first thing someone sees when they wake up—"
"Tony. Language."
The stern, unmistakable voice froze him in place.
His body stiffened, and dread crept up his spine. Slowly, he turned his head toward the source of the voice—and his breath caught in his throat.
Sitting beside his bed was his mother.
Her eyes were puffy and red, swollen as though she had been crying for hours. In her hands was an apple, which she methodically sliced with a small knife, her movements precise and controlled despite her clearly exhausted state.
"M-Mother…" Tony stammered, attempting to push himself upright before wincing sharply at the effort.
She didn't even look at him as she gently but firmly pressed him back down onto the bed. "Rest," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument. "You're still recovering."
"Recovering from what?" Tony muttered, glancing down at his chest. Beneath his clothes, he could feel it—faint scarring where his heart had once failed. "I pretty much gave myself a healing factor."
"That may be true," she replied calmly, resuming her cutting, "but it still isn't enough to regenerate a heart. Your body is adjusting to a transplant. As brilliant and impressive as you are, you mustn't forget something very important."
She finally looked at him then, her gaze sharp yet heavy with emotion.
"You're still human."
She stabbed a slice of apple with the knife and brought it toward his face.
Tony stared at the apple. Then at her. His expression shifted into something between confusion and disbelief.
She stared back at him, utterly unamused.
"Eat," she commanded, her voice carrying all the weight and authority only a mother could possess.
Tony's lips twitched, his cheeks warming as a faint blush crept in. He pouted slightly but leaned forward anyway, biting into the apple like a chastised child.
After chewing for a moment, he spoke again, his tone noticeably softer. "So… I heard you were attacked. How are you?" Genuine concern seeped into his words.
"Oh, you know…" she said casually, stabbing another slice and taking a bite herself. "A crazy thing happened. Some strange robots showed up and attacked the mansion. Fortunately, nothing bad happened to me—thanks to the suit and Baymax protecting me. Then Howard appeared, and together we dealt with the threat."
"That's good—" Tony began.
"Shut up. I'm not done."
Her cold gaze cut him off instantly. Tony flinched, lips curling inward as he went completely still, as though even breathing might provoke her further.
She continued, her tone darker now. "Then I felt it. Not exactly a feeling—more like a sensation. A deep sense of dread and horror."
She stabbed another apple slice with a bit more force than necessary.
"And it was about you." She said as she feed him again.
"Hahaha…" Tony laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head as he chewed. "Yeah… I wonder what that could've been about?"
"Don't talk with your mouth full—you know better," she scolded, frowning at him with a reproachful glare that instantly made Tony straighten a little. "Honestly…"
She sighed softly before continuing, her tone regaining its measured calm. "Anyway, Howard noticed something was wrong immediately. He could tell just by the look on my face. When he asked what was bothering me, I told him the truth—that I believed you were in grave danger."
Tony stayed silent, chewing slowly.
"Of course, he thought it was nonsense," Maria went on. "I mean, with everything you've accomplished… who could possibly hurt you, right?"
Tony swallowed hard—both to finish his bite and because her words were making his stomach twist into knots.
Maria speared another slice of apple and brought it to her mouth, chewing as she spoke. Tony couldn't help but notice the hypocrisy of it—she'd just scolded him for the exact same thing—but he wisely kept that thought to himself, fairly certain commenting on it would earn him a stabbing.
"To make sure what I felt wasn't just lingering fear from the attack," she continued after swallowing, "Howard asked Baymax to check on you."
She shifted the knife in her hand, bracing a finger against the flat of the blade as she casually gestured toward Tony with it.
"Now, can you imagine my reaction when Baymax informed us that your heart had been pierced clean through?"
She raised an eyebrow and fell silent, clearly expecting an answer.
Tony hesitated before replying in a low, careful voice. "I… can't imagine it was good."
"Well, you'd be wrong," she replied bluntly, shrugging as he looked up at her in surprise. "I fainted the moment I heard. So there really wasn't much of a reaction at first."
She paused, her expression tightening just a bit. "The real reaction came afterward. I don't remember much of it—I was hysterical. If Baymax hadn't been there to calm me down, I might've miscarried… or gone into early labor."
The words hit Tony like a punch to the chest.
His face drained of color, horror and guilt flooding his expression as his hands clenched tightly against the bedsheets.
Maria noticed immediately. Her eyes softened, and her voice dropped into something far gentler. "Baby… I'm not blaming you. I know this wasn't your fault. I'm not telling you this to make you feel guilty."
She set the plate and knife aside, then reached out and took his hand in both of hers, squeezing gently.
"I'm telling you this so you understand why I'm taking you out of that school."
"WHAT?!" Tony snapped, his head jerking up as he stared at her in disbelief.
Maria leaned back, crossing her arms as she met his gaze head-on. "Don't look at me like that. This is for your own good. This hero nonsense ends today. This little hobby of yours—being Iron Man—I'm forbidding it."
"You can't do that! What the hell?!" Tony shouted, panic creeping into his voice as he tried to sit up straighter.
"Oh, I absolutely can," Maria scoffed. "I'm your mother."
She shook her head sharply. "I'm not letting you risk your life again in that school. This is what now—the third, maybe the fourth major incident since you enrolled? That place is cursed. Bad luck follows it everywhere. We were lucky today, but what about tomorrow? Or the next attack?"
"You can't just stop me from being Iron Man!" Tony argued, finally pushing himself fully upright. "It's too late for that—it's already a part of who I am!"
Maria studied him in silence for a long moment.
"…From everything I've seen and heard," she said at last, "I can't deny that."
She exhaled slowly. "So I'll give you an alternative. You either quit being Iron Man entirely… or you continue your hero course here in America, where it's safe."
Her eyes hardened.
"Because one thing is certain—I am not letting you go back to Japan."
"Wait," Tony interrupted sharply, his heart suddenly racing as he heard her wording. "Where exactly are we right now?!"
"Can't you tell, Tony?" Maria asked calmly.
Tony's eyes darted around the room as realization dawned. His breathing quickened as he took in the familiar furniture, the layout, the décor he hadn't seen in years.
"We're back in your old room," Maria said quietly. "At the mansion."
Tony stared at her, horror slowly settling in as the truth sank in.
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