Lucas Chen had no idea that his private diary had just been cloned. He had no idea that Gwen Stacy was currently blushing over his thoughts, or that Tony Stark was dissecting his every word.
He thought he was being clever. He thought he was flying under the radar. Avoid the main characters, cash in on the stock market, and wait for the powers to roll in.
Tomorrow marked his seventh day of check-ins. According to the System rules, Day 7 meant his first Lottery Draw.
He lay in his new, cheaper rental apartment—having sold his parents' condo to liquidate assets for the upcoming Stark crash—dreaming about what he might get. A Super Soldier Serum? Asgardian magic? Or maybe just a really nice sandwich?
"But seriously," Lucas thought, writing another entry before bed. "If I pursue Gwen, I'm not just getting a girlfriend. I'm saving a life. I'm preventing a tragedy. That's got to be worth some good karma points, right?"
Gwen's Room.
Gwen read the new line appearing on her copy of the diary.
"If I pursue Gwen... I'm saving a life."
Her face burned.
"He wants to pursue me?" she whispered, burying her face in her pillow.
In the US, sixteen wasn't too young for dating. And Lucas... well, he was handsome, smart, and apparently knew the future.
"To save me from the tragedy," she reminded herself, trying to cool down. "It's noble. It's... romantic."
The Next Morning. June 11.
Stark Mansion.
"Sir. The diary has updated."
"Ugh," Tony groaned, rolling over in his king-sized bed. "What time is it?"
"6:00 AM, Sir."
"Who the hell writes a diary at 6:00 AM?" Tony complained, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Doesn't this guy have a job? Or a sleep cycle? Serious people write diaries at night, with a glass of scotch and a brooding expression. This is just... energetic."
Tony dragged himself out of bed and into the living room. The black notebook was waiting.
June 11
Weather: Sunny. Another dangerous day in the Big Apple.
People walk around these streets thinking they're safe. They have no idea.
Once Tony Stark gets back from Afghanistan and announces "I am Iron Man," the floodgates open. It's like a signal flare. Every supervillain, every hidden hero, every freak with a gimmick is going to come out of the woodwork.
The Age of Heroes begins. And so does the Age of Monsters.
Honestly, I should just move to a farm in Iowa. New York is about to become a war zone.
Tony's eyes narrowed. The sleepiness vanished instantly.
"Iron Man."
He tasted the word. Iron. Man.
"So that's my name," Tony said softly. A slow grin spread across his face. "I like it. It's catchy. A bit literal, maybe, but it has a nice ring to it."
"It implies a suit of armor, Sir," Jarvis noted. "Or perhaps a cybernetic enhancement."
"Or maybe I just have an iron will," Tony quipped, though his mind was already racing. Armor. The idea he had yesterday—building a suit to protect himself—suddenly felt less like a frantic thought and more like destiny.
"But look at the context," Tony pointed to the page. "'Once he announces I am Iron Man... the floodgates open.'"
"It suggests causality, Sir. Your announcement triggers an escalation."
"Escalation," Tony muttered. "Like cops and robbers. You get a semi-automatic, they get a fully automatic. You get body armor, they get armor-piercing rounds. I become Iron Man... and the world creates monsters to fight me."
He thought of the footage Jarvis had hacked from the military servers last month. Harlem. Two behemoths tearing up the streets like Godzilla movies. One was a green giant—pure rage and muscle. The other was a spiky abomination.
Bullets bounced off them. Tank shells annoyed them. They were unstoppable forces of nature.
"If those things are the baseline for 'supervillains,'" Tony said, his voice grim, "then a billionaire in a tailored suit doesn't stand a chance."
"Unless the suit is made of a gold-titanium alloy," Jarvis suggested.
"Exactly."
Tony looked at the diary again. Lucas Chen was complaining about the danger, wanting to flee to a farm. But Tony Stark didn't flee.
"He says I become Iron Man after Afghanistan," Tony mused. "But I'm not going to Afghanistan. I cancelled the trip."
He walked over to his holographic table, sweeping away the financial reports and pulling up a blank project file.
"If I don't go to the cave... I don't build the Mark 1 out of scraps. I don't have Yinsen to help me."
"But you have me, Sir," Jarvis said. "And you have a state-of-the-art fabrication lab."
"Right," Tony's eyes lit up with the fire of creation. "Why wait for the kidnapping? Why wait for the trauma? If the world is about to go to hell, I need to be ready now."
"Jarvis, start a new project. Project: Iron Man."
"Right away, Sir."
"And Lucas?" Tony glanced at the book one last time. "You want to hide in a farm? Go ahead. But I'm going to armor up. If the monsters are coming, let them come. Iron Man will be waiting."