"What… what in the hell just happened to you?"
Leo looked down at his own hands, which were scorched black and blistered just moments ago, and muttered a confused reply. He didn't have to answer, though.
As Leo's bare feet finally made contact with the pristine, shattered marble floor, he felt an astonishing wave of warmth surge from the ground, enveloping his entire upper body. It wasn't the searing heat of the fire or the electricity; it was a deep, restorative energy.
Within a minute, the charred, cracked outer layer of skin began to dry and flake away.
With a gentle rub, large, ugly patches of dry, burnt epidermis fell to the floor, leaving behind a shower of sickening debris. It was as if a complete layer of protective tissue had been shed, revealing something new and miraculous beneath.
The skin that appeared underneath was astonishingly fair, smooth, and unblemished—but it was no longer ordinary. Countless intricate, indelible streaks of brilliant gold were embedded directly into the flesh, tracing the paths of his major veins and energy channels. A faint, almost imperceptible golden luminescence pulsed just beneath the surface.
"Mr. Stark," Leo said, pulling a discarded blanket around his shoulders, still feeling a residual chill from the intense energy drain. "I think I desperately need a shower first."
He emerged from the bathroom wrapped in an oversized white terrycloth bathrobe, his hair still slightly damp. He immediately saw the massive dining table—now miraculously clear of the breakfast wreckage—piled high with stacks of fast food boxes.
Leo didn't hesitate. He sat down and began eating with renewed, frantic intensity, stuffing an entire cheeseburger into his mouth in two enormous bites. He followed that with two more, moving with the focused, desperate energy of a man who hadn't eaten in months.
Happy Hogan, Tony's head of security, walked in carrying yet another towering stack of pizza boxes and witnessed the spectacle. He stood paralyzed, jaw slack, watching Leo's astonishing speed.
Tony, uncharacteristically, didn't retreat to his studio. He sat nearby, arms crossed, studying Leo like a complex equation.
"Pepper, I think I've just brought a massive financial liability into our lives. I doubt your entire annual salary is enough to feed this kid," Tony remarked to Pepper with a dry smile, ignoring the flabbergasted Happy.
"Is he the only one eating all of this? I cleared out four different fast-food chains just to accumulate this supply," Happy asked, totally bewildered, looking from the towering stacks of food to the small boy.
"Happy, do you think he can finish it all? I'll let you place the first bet," Tony challenged.
"Impossible. He'll explode first," Happy scoffed, still trying to reconcile the image of the polite, small boy with the eating machine in front of him.
"Who knows?" Tony shrugged, turning his attention back to Leo. "Leo, you owe me an explanation. You destroyed my room—it looks like a targeted firebombing. What exactly were you doing up there?"
Leo looked up at the three people surrounding him. He paused his eating spree, pushed the bathrobe down, and untied the sash, letting the luxurious cloth fall open.
The three adults were instantly captivated by his exposed upper body.
Countless fine, shimmering golden threads were now flawlessly inlaid into his skin, pulsing with that faint, internal light. They contrasted starkly against his fair, smooth skin. These seemingly organic yet perfectly ordered golden filaments created a strange, almost divine beauty.
The small face, which had been darkened by the electrical charge, looked unnervingly white and clean after the bath, framed by the mysterious, glowing pattern that started at his neck and ended neatly at his waistline.
"What… what in the hell is that?" Happy finally managed to articulate, his eyes wide.
Tony stepped forward and gently rubbed Leo's shoulder where the gold threads ran beneath the surface. "The luminescence isn't painted on, Happy. This golden light is embedded in the subcutaneous layer, like a circuit board printed just under the skin."
"Leo, how are you feeling right now?" Pepper asked, her voice soft with concern.
Leo moved his torso, stretching and twisting as if performing a light calisthenic routine. He seemed completely unburdened by the strange, glowing veins. "I feel absolutely great right now. Like I could run a marathon. But I am still overwhelmingly hungry and need to replenish all that lost energy."
The interrogation was temporarily tabled. Leo continued to eat, and the other three watched in utter fascination. Happy simply found it strange and slightly terrifying, but Tony was now entirely focused.
Based on the preceding events—the failed blood draw, the incredible physical stats, the four tons of vanished metal, and the sudden power surge—Tony's supercomputer brain was rapidly formulating the true hypothesis. Pepper, remembering Leo's cracked, smoking body, realized these golden threads were the result of the agonizing breakthrough.
Tony was fixated on the unprecedented speed of recovery. The memory of the charred skin and deep fissures—and how quickly they vanished—left a deeper impression than the gold itself.
Finally, to Happy's utter, ghost-like disbelief, Leo finished the entire table of food. Happy, questioning his own perception of reality, silently trudged home.
Pepper followed Tony and Leo back to the ground-floor studio, needing to understand the mysterious phenomenon.
"Jarvis, perform a spectral analysis on the markings on Leo's torso," Tony commanded. "Scan for any correspondence with known languages, ancient symbols, or proprietary corporate patterns."
Leo spread his arms wide, allowing four blue scanning beams to sweep over his glowing body.
Jarvis projected a perfect, detailed 3D model of Leo onto the workbench, isolating the dense, complex golden patterns, and began a frantic online search.
"Sir, no correlative data has been found. The pattern does not correspond to any known human script, symbol, or design archetype."
Tony stared at the strange design, manipulating the holographic image, zooming and rotating the pattern for a long time, but couldn't make any meaningful conclusion.
"Leo, are you truly okay? No lingering side effects, no dizzy spells?"
"I'm better than normal!" Leo put his clothes back on. From the outside, there was absolutely no change; he was just a clean, slightly pale little boy.
Pepper looked at Leo's easy, confident smile, and her tense mood finally eased. She smiled back. "Okay. I'm going to get back to the office now. Please, if anything strange happens, anything at all, you must tell Tony immediately. Your health is the absolute priority."
After Pepper left, Tony looked intently at Leo and asked, "Was that extreme agony and subsequent electrical gluttony a normal part of your 'superpower' progression? Because if so, we need to wire your room directly to a hydroelectric dam."
"Mr. Stark, I promise you, that truly was an accident! A complete surprise to me, too," Leo insisted, feeling genuinely aggrieved. He really hadn't known the Steel Bars breakthrough would be so violent or demanding.
"Okay, well. Let's focus on what we can control," Tony said, sitting down and returning to his computer. "Do you need any more metal? Because you just vaporized four tons of titanium."
"Yes! Oh, yes, please. We definitely need more," Leo affirmed immediately, realizing his supply was now completely gone.
"Now I understand why you showed up on my doorstep, kid," Tony said seriously, half-joking. "You needed a constant, expensive source of raw materials. Jarvis, same order as last time: four tons of grade-five titanium alloy plates."
"Affirmative, sir. The order has been expedited and is scheduled for arrival at 0900 hours tomorrow morning."
Leo leaned in close, looking at the holographic structural diagrams of the Mark II. "Mr. Stark, I think the micro-adjustments on this primary stabilizer could be subtly modified to compensate for lateral wind sheer at high altitude…"
Everything swiftly returned to their new normal. Leo and Tony were back to work in the studio, their strange collaborative rhythm restored.
Leo continued his routine of six hours of intense, focused training every day, pushing the remaining 36% of the Steel Bars enhancement. He spent the rest of his time glued to the studio, aiding in the Mark II development.
With a mental capacity that was effectively doubled by the subtle Spirit enhancement, Leo began reading Tony's professional reference books. Although the initial technical jargon was overwhelming, with Jarvis acting as a perfect, real-time glossary and assistant on the computer, Leo's absorption of advanced engineering knowledge was alarmingly fast.
On the ninth morning after the electrical fire and the gold branding—nearly two weeks after Leo's arrival—he opened his eyes in his newly renovated, now fireproofed, bedroom. He immediately brought up his internal status panel.
Control Points: 83
Strength: 18
Defense: 19
Speed: 16
Spirit: 19
Skill: D-rank Metal Control, C-rank Body
Enhancement: Golden Eyes (100%), Copper Skin (100%), Steel Bars (64%), Iron Bones (0%)'
Derivative Skill: Golden Eyes of Truth (Unaffected by any abilities, sees through all illusions, enhances visual observation, and can metallize objects), Immovable Golden Body (Greatly enhances defensive power; feet firmly planted on the ground; possesses unlimited stamina; body regeneration speed is increased; cannot be moved by external forces)'
He looked at his body, which still emitted that faint, pervasive golden light beneath his skin, and felt a profound sense of power and solidity.
'My Strength and Defense have increased considerably, I can definitely feel the change,' he thought, clenching a fist. 'But why has my Speed increased so much? I was only at 14 nine days ago. I haven't even started training my legs yet.'