When Levi returned to his office at Stark Tower, Ivan Vanko's brutal, destruction-driven design philosophy was still fresh in his mind.
It was crude. Direct. Built for violence.
And undeniably brilliant in certain areas.
Especially the way Vanko constrained and shaped plasma energy—it opened new conceptual pathways.
Levi activated the highest security protocol in his private lounge. Alloy shutters sealed silently. Isolation complete.
He raised one hand.
A miniature nebula of condensed cosmic energy formed above his palm, glowing soft blue.
His other hand lifted.
Silver arcs—derived from Vanko's copied plasma-confinement techniques—danced across his fingertips.
No keyboard.
No holographic console.
His mind was the processor.
His hands were the instruments.
"Mark V's power routing is too fragile," he murmured.
Tony's design favored elegance and compact efficiency. But at extreme output, the conduction pathways bottlenecked.
Levi closed his eyes.
The entire Mark V architecture appeared in his consciousness.
He began to move.
The cosmic energy stretched into impossibly fine filaments.
Silver arcs fused and rewove them into a non-linear lattice—organic, adaptive, self-balancing.
Minutes later, a luminous energy framework hovered before him.
He studied it.
Satisfied.
Then translated the structure into precise engineering schematics.
This wasn't charity.
Tony Stark was an investment.
More importantly—
A future asset against threats far beyond Earth.
An Iron Man who could fail due to internal design flaws was unacceptable.
---
Malibu – Underground Workshop
Tony hadn't slept properly in three days.
Coffee cups. Energy drink cans. Burned circuit boards.
"Damn it!"
A wrench clanged against the wall.
The problem remained:
Power routing collapse under extreme load.
"JARVIS. Simulation 8C. Output 120%."
"Sir, collapse probability exceeds 99%."
"Run it."
Mark V powered up.
80%. 100%. 110%.
Blue arcs flickered along the armor.
115%.
"Warning—"
116%.
A dull explosion.
Reactor flicker.
Shutdown.
"Failure."
Tony slammed the console.
He had reached a theoretical wall.
Then—
New Email.
Sender: Anthony Chen
Subject: Busy with your suit? Small patch.
Tony's jaw tightened.
He decrypted the attachment in seconds.
Then froze.
The energy routing schematic was… alien.
Not linear.
Not conventional parallel.
It resembled vascular growth.
Self-distributing.
Self-buffering.
"Where did he even—"
"JARVIS. Integrate patch. Simulation. 150%."
"Sir—"
"Do it."
Power climbed.
100%.
130%.
150%.
Stable.
Green across the board.
No overheating.
No collapse.
Tony stared at the word:
SUCCESS
Then erupted into laughter.
Hours later—
A new suit stood in the center of the workshop.
Red and gold, refined.
Triangular arc reactor—now fully stabilized.
Stronger frame. Improved energy tolerance.
Tony touched the armor.
"Welcome back. Mark VI."
He dialed Levi.
"Anthony, you bastard!"
"If that's gratitude, you're creative," Levi replied calmly.
"I fixed it myself."
"Of course."
"…Fine. Your patch helped."
A pause.
"I owe you one."
Then Tony smirked.
"Next time I go out to have some fun, I'll bring you. Just don't tell Pepper."
The workshop door opened.
Pepper Potts stood there.
"…Don't tell Pepper?"
Silence.
Tony slowly turned.
Pepper smiled.
Dangerously.
"Happy?" she asked softly. "New girl? Blonde? Redhead?"
"No! Happy's a place! A jazz bar! Business negotiations!"
She set the coffee down firmly.
"Great. Take me next time."
She walked out.
Tony stood frozen.
Mark VI operational.
Physics conquered.
But in the realm of Pepper Potts—
He was hopelessly outmatched.
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