The faint golden light, drawn from Leo's newly fortified Iron Bones, moved along his arm, segmenting as it penetrated Tony's ribs. It was a mysterious, almost sacred radiance that extended deep into Tony's entire thoracic cavity.
Leo felt an unprecedented, terrifying sense of control—as if he could now manipulate the very essence of Tony's body. He reached out with his mind, and the golden energy converged directly onto the spreading, spiderweb-like black pattern marring Tony's chest, completely enveloping the cursed markings.
'I can finally sense the presence of the palladium atoms clearly now,' Leo thought, straining against the invisible resistance of the molecular bonds.
Leo's eyes gleamed with a strange, intense light. In his enhanced vision, Tony's flesh, muscles, and bones seemed to vanish, leaving only a glowing, humanoid figure composed of countless, shimmering veins and capillaries. Then, even the biological structure faded, leaving behind only strange, faint black patterns—the toxic residue—flowing invisibly in the air, concentrated near the reactor.
Leo slowly curled his hand into a fist, demanding the metallic poison obey his will.
Visibly, the black markings that had spread to Tony's neck quickly retreated, fading into nothing. The creeping pattern converged rapidly at the chest, focusing all the toxicity into a single, dense black point.
With a final, sharp mental tug, the black point pierced through Tony's skin at the reactor's edge and flew into Leo's open hand, solidifying into a tiny, dark scrap of metal.
A minuscule, bleeding wound was left behind. The golden light that lingered on Leo's palm covered the injury, and the tissue quickly closed up.
As the golden light completely dissipated, the massive mental strain hit Leo. Tony's drunken mind instantly cleared, the cloud of toxicity lifting as if a veil had been torn away.
Leo's legs went weak. He took a few staggering steps back, then sat down on the ground with a dizzying thud, breathing hard. The extraction was a complete success, but the effort was far beyond his current limits.
"Leo! Are you alright, kid?" Tony shot up, completely sober, the lingering effects of the alcohol instantly burned away by the shock of the experience.
He pulled Leo up, his eyes fixed on the small, dark, metallic bead now resting in Leo's palm.
The golden light within Leo's marrow had dimmed noticeably, the intense radiance momentarily sacrificed to perform the impossible feat.
"It's nothing, Mr. Stark. It's just that I've only just broken through that ability, and I can't fully control it yet. It takes a lot of mental energy to pull atoms out of a living system." Leo assessed his fatigue; he was drained, but fundamentally fine.
He looked at the small, repulsive piece of palladium scrap in his hand, a tangible piece of Tony's near-death sentence. He flicked it with his finger.
The speck burst through the air like a tiny bullet, struck the distant cliff face of the mansion, burrowed deep into the solid rock, and was left there to be slowly digested by time and erosion.
Tony was already moving. He picked up the blood testing device, quickly washed it, and ran a fresh diagnostic.
The blue letters flashed on the screen: Palladium concentration: 2%
Tony burst into a silent, ecstatic grin. He was alive.
"Don't celebrate yet. I delayed your demise by a few days, maybe a week, but that's it." Leo looked at Tony Stark, whose face was beaming with relief.
"I can't use that move often, and by the time I've truly mastered it to be used regularly, you might already be dead from the next round of poisoning."
Tony's face instantly regained its familiar, cynical composure. The sense of doom was back; it was just a matter of his death being delayed.
He stared at Leo. "Is what you're saying... about my father and the new element... true? Or was that just something you said to stop me from going crazy?"
Leo knew perfectly well Tony was asking about the Stark Expo 1974 model.
"What I know is only what happened on one of countless timelines, Tony, and I can't guarantee the accuracy of every single one of them, but I'm usually right about the big stuff."
Leo looked directly into Tony's eyes. "The answer will be revealed tomorrow. Trust the process, or trust your dead father. Your choice."
Seeing Tony sitting silently in the ruined lobby, soaking in the cold dawn wind and the reality of his postponed fate, Leo went back to his room and instantly fell asleep. The immediate use of the newly broken-through Iron Bone abilities had stretched the immature skill to its limit, leaving him completely exhausted.
The next day.
When Leo groggily walked back into the living room, Tony was sitting on the single undamaged sofa in the first-floor hall. He was fully dressed in the battered Mark IV armor, holding a nearly empty bottle of expensive wine, constantly chugging it straight from the neck. The mansion looked like a bomb site—dusty, covered in plaster, and missing several load-bearing walls.
"What in the world are you doing now, Tony? Drinking in the armor?"
"Oh, Leo. You want some donuts? I just ordered a whole new batch from the nearest twenty-four-hour store; I've been craving them since last night."
Tony awkwardly manipulated the metallic fingers of the Mark IV to shove a box of fresh donuts toward the boy.
"You're still drinking, and you're still wearing the Mark IV?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I am Iron Man, kid. I am the suit. Why can't I wear my armor wherever I want?" Tony popped a donut into his mouth, the gesture made ridiculous by the metallic helmet, and spoke matter-of-factly.
Leo opened the box and started eating without a care. His mind, now mostly recovered, was already racing through other possibilities, mainly the vibranium issue. He wondered if he should detour to Wakanda in a few days to take a look at their supply.
However, his own energy source felt low. The current Arc Reactor in Tony's chest, even with the palladium extracted, wouldn't last more than a few days, and his own internal golden energy needed time to recharge.
I wonder what the new element-powered reactor will actually be like.
By the way, I heard Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is made of Uru alloy. Should I try to sneak a peek at that fun little piece of metal?
The Destroyer also seems to be made of a special metal. And has Captain America been pulled out of the ice yet? I definitely need to see what metal his shield is made of.
Suddenly, the large, damaged plasma TV, which had been playing some continuous morning news program, started making static noises. The picture flickered violently a few times before correcting itself.
Tony, distracted by his donut and wine, didn't notice the precise moment the signal interference occurred. But Leo, with his enhanced senses, immediately spotted the two figures walking toward the shattered front entrance.
It was Nick Fury, still wearing his signature black trench coat, accompanied by Natasha Romanoff, now dressed in a form-fitting, tactical S.H.I.E.L.D. combat suit, her cover officially blown.
"Someone's here to pick up the pieces, Tony."
Tony turned to look at the entrance, his armored head tilting. He immediately recognized the one-eyed Director.
"Oh, not interested. I don't want to join your 'Superman Boys' group, Fury. I already told the suits in DC this." Tony assumed Fury had come to recruit him for the Avenger Initiative.
"I know you thought you could fix this all by yourself, Stark. How did that plan work out for you?" Fury sat down opposite Tony, next to Leo, his single eye cold and assessing.
"The result... the result speaks for itself," Tony stammered, gesturing vaguely at the ruins.
Nick Fury ignored the wreckage and turned his gaze to Leo. "And you, kid. Why are you here in the middle of this domestic dispute?"
"Just like you, solving the same problem. I was buying him some time." Leo continued to slowly eat his donut, unconcerned by the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. sitting next to him. "By the way, how did you manage to maintain such an unstable element as lithium dioxide for your treatment plan, Fury? I'm genuinely curious."
Nick Fury gave Leo a meaningful, challenging look, then turned back to Tony. He focused on Tony's neck, which was now completely free of the tell-tale black markings. He couldn't help but allow a small, grim smile to cross his lips.
"Looks like I'm a step too late, Stark. You've already solved the palladium poisoning problem on your own, didn't you?"
How did he know about the poisoning?
Tony frowned furiously. He had assumed only he and Leo knew about the palladium crisis. He had even tried to keep it a secret from Pepper. Well, Ivan knew, but he was supposedly dead.
Natasha, now clearly revealed as an operative, walked over and took a stance next to Nick Fury, radiating competence and quiet menace.
Tony looked at her intently for a few moments, the realization of her betrayal overriding his anger. He spoke with icy disappointment, "You've been fired, Agent. And I'm keeping the severance package."
"That's not up to you to decide anymore, Stark." Natasha sat down on the other side of Leo, flanking the boy who knew far too much.
"Tony, this is Agent Romanov. She's S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I am an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Fury sent me to monitor you after we learned you were experiencing severe palladium sickness and had developed self-destructive tendencies."
"You'd better apologize to me, both of you," Tony said, rubbing the back of his neck, which still throbbed slightly from the extraction.
Leo continued eating his donuts at a leisurely pace, enjoying the unfolding drama. "Let's get down to business, Nick. I believe Tony will understand these things now."
"Leo, do you know who she is?" Tony asked, genuinely confused about the boy's calm demeanor in the face of two major intelligence threats.
"I knew it from the first day, Tony. Otherwise, why would I have gone up on stage to compete with her for the job? It's just that you were blinded by her beauty and didn't bother to think too deeply about a flawless resume."
Natasha frowned slightly as she looked at Leo. She had filed an extensive report on the bizarre, metal-controlling child to Fury, but had never received any confirmation or response from him, suggesting that the Director had his own secret knowledge about the boy.
Fury, seeing Leo's knowing smirk, decided to ignore the boy's insight for the moment.
"Has your poisoning problem been permanently resolved, Stark?"
"No. It's only provided temporary relief. The clock is still ticking," Leo answered for Tony, chewing slowly.
"It seems finding a final cure won't be easy for you alone," Fury said, staring at Tony with his one, intense eye.
"I've been looking for a substitute for palladium. I've tried every combination of every element on the periodic table—every known isotope, every theoretical compound!" Tony retorted, his voice rising in frustration.
"I'm here to tell you that you haven't tried everything, Stark," Fury said slowly, leaning forward.
Tony was startled. He looked sharply at Fury, then back at Leo in shock. Leo's words from the previous night had just been confirmed by the most powerful man in the US intelligence community.