After handling Yinsen and his family’s matters, Leon and Tony returned home to find Rhodes already waiting in the living room, let in by JARVIS.
“Tony, Leon, I think I need an explanation.” Rhodes looked at the brothers with a “friendly” smile.
At this, Leon and Tony exchanged glances.
The former shrugged to show he didn’t care, while the latter nodded and led Rhodes down to the subterranean workshop where the Iron Man armor was stored.
They trusted Rhodes completely.
He was one of the few close friends who could talk heart-to-heart, banter back and forth, and speak with the brothers on equal footing.
The Rhodes in this Marvel universe was the supportive, older-brother-like Rhodes from *Iron Man 1*, rather than the tagalong sidekick Rhodes from *Iron Man 2* and the subsequent films.
After Tony’s explanation.
Rhodes stared at the three suits of Iron Man armor in the display cases, unable to stop marveling: “Oh, my God!
You’re telling me you took out that armed warlord faction in Gulmira along with the Stark weaponry Obadiah sold them, all using this single suit?”
“To be precise, it was Leon and me,” Tony corrected.
“Though even without Leon, I would’ve been fine on my own.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Leon rolled his eyes, too lazy to argue with Tony, especially since it was the truth.
“If Tony is relying on armor, then what’s your deal, Leon?” Rhodes turned to him.
Leon smiled slightly and raised his hand, firing a palm blast that easily shattered a pane of bulletproof glass in the workshop.
He wasn’t lacking energy now.
As soon as they had returned home, Leon had asked Tony for the miniature Arc Reactor he’d prepared in advance.
As long as Leon didn’t do anything stupid like draining it all at once, this reactor would last him a long time.
“Shit!
Superpowers?” Rhodes looked as if he had seen a ghost, which Leon thoroughly enjoyed.
After all, having superpowers and not showing them off was like walking in the dark wearing fine silks.
Just for being such a great hype man, Leon made up his mind to save Rhodes from the Skrulls.
No, instead of playing defense, it was better to take the initiative.
You can’t guard against a thief every single day.
It seemed the Skrull Extinction Plan needed to be put on the agenda.
Leon didn’t want to find himself teaching or training a goblin disguised as a Skrull one day.
That would be absolutely horrifying.
He was a staunch human nationalist.
Anything else, other than races that fit Leon’s aesthetic standards, was heresy!
“Tony, I…” His worldview shattered after witnessing Tony and Leon’s abilities, Rhodes suddenly started acting a bit sheepish.
Seeing this, Tony waved his hand before he could finish.
“Say no more, Rhodes.
The Mark 2 was built for you.”
“Oh, Tony!
You are the absolute best!”
In his excitement, Rhodes gave Tony a massive bear hug.
With a *click*, Leon used his phone to capture this beautiful moment, which was practically on par with the iconic image of Hancock hugging Luffy.
Afterward, Rhodes couldn’t wait to have Tony take him for a spin in the sky. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Leon once again showed off his overwhelming flight speed.
His provocative display made Tony want to build the Mark 4 and Mark 5 on the spot…
Good times always fly by.
Two and a half hours later, Rhodes left the seaside villa, completely satisfied.
But he didn’t take the Mark 2 with him.
Aside from the suit not having its system updated yet, it was also to protect Tony’s identity as Iron Man.
It had to be said that as a best friend, Rhodes was absolutely peerless to Tony and Leon.
This was why Leon was willing to show off his superpowers in front of him, and why Tony was willing to gift him a suit of armor outright.
Wealth is easy to acquire, but a true soulmate is hard to find.
This was a shared headache the two brothers faced solely because they were too rich.
After seeing Rhodes off, Tony immediately put the Mark 4 armor on his schedule and began working on it.
Leon, meanwhile, moved his bedroom straight to the mechanical workshop on the second subterranean floor where Arcee was parked.
To build up his connection with Arcee, Leon decided that unless he was spending the night at another girl’s place, he would sleep with Arcee.
“Leon, you’re not a child anymore,” Arcee said, somewhat exasperated as she looked at Leon, who was clinging to her.
“But compared to you, I *am* a child…
Ah!” Before Leon could finish, Arcee spun in place, throwing him right out of the driver’s seat!
“Leon, don’t you know it’s incredibly rude to talk about a lady’s numbers—especially her age?” Annoyed, Arcee transformed into her battle mode, pinning Leon to the floor in a kabedon-style slam.
However, Leon never played by the rules.
Looking up at Arcee affectionately, he spoke from the bottom of his heart: “Arcee, you look beautiful like this too.”
“You…”
Arcee’s face flushed crimson instantly.
In the blink of an eye, she transformed back into motorcycle mode, turning her rear toward Leon and not daring to face him.
Seeing this, Leon smirked.
*Just as planned!*
The easiest way to win over a pure-hearted, mature beauty like Arcee was a direct, straightforward approach—provided you were handsome enough and already held a place in her heart.
This was a dating tip passed down to Leon directly from Henry Cavill himself.
The next day.
The second subterranean floor of the seaside villa.
Leon and Arcee’s mechanical workshop-slash-bedroom.
Leon woke up in his large bed, still half-asleep.
Last night, he had a bizarre dream that he had replaced Sun Wukong and been pinned beneath the Five Elements Mountain.
“Christine, did you gain weight?” Leon mumbled, reaching out to grasp the soft weight pressing down on him…
“Huh?
Why is this so hard?”
The strange texture beneath his hands jolted Leon wide awake.
He then realized there was no Christine in sight.
Judging by her lit-up dashboard display, she seemed to be awake.
“Who is Christine?” Arcee demanded.
“A reporter friend.”
“…” “…”
Leon didn’t elaborate, and Arcee didn’t press further.
Neither knew the other was feeling rather awkward, resulting in an unusually silent understanding.
After a long silence, Arcee suggested, “Leon, maybe you should check today’s headlines.”
“Oh?
Let me take a look.”
With a quick kip-up, Leon flipped cleanly from the bed onto Arcee’s seat.
Her dashboard screen automatically searched for today’s breaking news.
The first thing that caught his eye was a close-up photo of Soldier Boy—no, of Leon.
He had a smile as bright as a child’s, captured at the exact moment he threw his shield and realized his talent for throwing.
He didn’t know which cutie had secretly snapped it, but they had managed to capture at least seventy percent of his good looks.
Because it was taken from a distance and his helmet covered the upper half of his face, the photo was slightly blurry.
It would probably be hard for an average person to connect this picture to Leon at first glance, but…
“Shocking!
Hellish Demons in Gulmira Wiped Out Overnight!
The Resurrection of Superman, Son of God!”
“According to reports from our on-scene journalist, the liberation of Gulmira was achieved by two superheroes hailed as saviors by the locals—”
“Iron Man and Shield Kid.”
“What the hell is ‘Shield Kid’?
Why didn’t he call me ‘Shield Daddy’ instead?” Leon laughed in exasperation.
“I bet Tony wrote this damn copy!”
“Iron Man is fully clad in a suit of steel armor, his identity a mystery.
However, Shield Kid is suspected to be the second son of Stark Industries—Leon Stark.
Extrapolating from this, Iron Man might be his brother, Tony Stark.”
“The above report is pure speculation.
If there are inaccuracies, please do not take them seriously.”
“Hey, they even threw in a disclaimer.” Leon’s mouth twitched.
“Which unprofessional bastard of a reporter wrote this?
I’m going to ruin them!”
Furious, Leon used speed-reading to flip straight to the very bottom line.
The byline read…
“Christine?!”