“Welcome home, Young Master Leon.
It is wonderful to see you safe and sound.”
As Leon passed the facial recognition scanner and entered the mansion, JARVIS greeted him immediately.
His tone carried a slight edge of excitement, as though he were already developing a spark of human emotional awareness.
“JARVIS, how long has it been since Tony disappeared?”
“Young Master Leon, it is currently the night of the eighty-fifth day.”
“What?”
“Eighty-five days already!”
Leon felt an immediate surge of urgency.
In the original timeline, Tony had been captive for around three months before making his escape, though the movie had never specified whether it was slightly over or under that mark.
The Ten Rings had been hired by Obadiah to assassinate Tony, but they had broken the contract on the spot, driven by the wild ambition to rule the world by forcing Tony to build them a Jericho missile.
After secretly saving Tony—who had been impossibly lucky not to die in the initial missile blast—they had locked him in a cavern.
They had given him a mere seven days to assemble a Jericho missile using the raw materials they provided.
Tony had played along while secretly constructing the Iron Man Mark I armor, utilizing every scrap of material to forge his ticket out.
Yet Ho Yinsen, the scientist who had saved Tony’s life, had stayed behind in that dark cave forever, sacrificing himself to buy Tony enough time to power up the suit.
That sacrifice was the spark that birthed the future Iron Man—and salvaged the entire Marvel Universe.
Although Tony was unlikely to die here in theory, death remained a very real possibility for any living human.
Now that Leon—an unpredictable anomaly—existed in this world, there was no guarantee the timeline wouldn’t drift into chaotic, uncontrollable variables.
Besides, Leon genuinely wanted to save Ho Yinsen.
The man was Tony’s mentor, the catalyst who had turned a playboy into a hero.
If Yinsen stayed alive to assist Tony, Leon’s own life would be infinitely smoother.
He wouldn’t have to worry about a thing and could focus entirely on his own “training business.”
Unlocking the descent path with a fingerprint scanner and a passcode, Leon took the elevator down to the subterranean garage and workshop where Tony spent his days tinkering.
Leon affectionately dubbed the place “Tony’s Clubhouse.”
He scanned the cavernous room, but failed to spot his target.
“JARVIS, is the Jet Glider operational right now?”
“Young Master Leon, the Jet Glider remains on standby.
However, as the design is incomplete, the physical toll on the driver is extreme.
Without Mr.
Stark’s authorization, I cannot activate it for you.”
“Come on, JARVIS, look at what time it is.
A person needs to be flexible with their boundaries sometimes.
Learn to adapt.”
“Young Master Leon, I am not a person.
I am merely an artificial intelligence created by Mr.
Stark, capable only of operating within his programmed parameters.”
“Well, in my eyes, you’re family.”
“…”
JARVIS fell silent for a moment.
Beside Leon, a hidden elevator built into the inner wall leading to the deepest underground test garage slowly clicked open.
A smirk tugged at the corner of Leon’s lips.
He stepped into the elevator and rode it deeper into the earth.
Upon exiting, however, he was met by a massive, blast-proof alloy vault door that looked like it belonged in a central bank.
“Young Master Leon, I can only assist you this far.
Without Mr.
Stark present, I am unable to unlock this door.”
“That’s fine, JARVIS.
You’ve already been a huge help.”
*BOOM!*
Leon grinned, pulling back his arm and slamming a charged Haymaker straight into the reinforced metal door.
The heavy barrier merely registered a shallow dent, while the surrounding walls shuddered violently, scattering bits of dust onto his shoulders.
If he had time to burn, Leon was confident he could tear through the vault door with his bare hands, but that would take far too long.
His chest cannon could probably blast through it in seconds, but the collateral explosion might destroy everything inside—or even collapse the whole mansion overhead.
“Young Master Leon, according to Mr.
Stark’s specifications, this metal door is designed to withstand a direct nuclear strike.
Physical brute force will prove ineffective.”
Before JARVIS could even finish his sentence—
*CRASH!*
A deafening boom echoed through the chamber as Leon swung the shield in his hand, smashing clean through the yard-thick reinforced concrete wall adjacent to the door.
“…”
JARVIS fell instant, stunned silence.
Leon casually shook out his shield and chuckled.
“This fucking door is harder than the wall, which means the wall just becomes the new door.
My big bro really isn’t thorough enough.
*That’s* what I meant by flexibility, JARVIS.
When he gets back, make sure to remind him to upgrade the wall materials.
It’s way too flimsy—who is that supposed to stop?”
After a brief flex, Leon ducked through the freshly smashed opening and stepped into the specialized garage Tony had built specifically for him.
The interior wasn’t overly massive, designed like a giant hollow cylinder with ringed walls hung with various manufacturing and modification equipment.
The smooth floor was paved with metal plating, spanning roughly a hundred square meters with a four-meter ceiling—a massive vault carved directly out of the subterranean rock face.
The most eye-catching feature was the behemoth resting quietly in the center of the room.
It was a massive, motorcycle-shaped machine, larger than a standard passenger vehicle.
This was an idea Leon had once seen in a dream.
Afterward, he had nagged Tony incessantly, coaxing the mechanical genius to use his absurd intellect to bring it into reality.
“Heh, sweet…”
Leon ran his hand lovingly over the icy metallic hull of the oversized vehicle—the Jet Glider—while JARVIS began reading out its specifications.
“In accordance with your imaginative concept, Young Master Leon, Mr.
Stark equipped both sides and the rear of the Jet Glider with multiple experimental arc thrusters.
Paired with the omnidirectional wheel hubs Mr.
Stark specifically engineered for this vehicle, the Jet Glider possesses maneuverability far exceeding any conventional motorcycle.”
“It is capable of performing extreme maneuvers, including but not limited to self-rotation, lateral drifting, and low-altitude hovering.”
“Furthermore, Mr.
Stark integrated an auxiliary submersible module, rendering it a true amphibious, land, and air tri-medium vehicle.”
“Maximum underwater speed: 100 km/h.
Maximum water-surface speed: 650 km/h.
Maximum land speed: 1,300 km/h.
Maximum air speed: 2,500 km/h.”
“The entire vehicle is electrically driven, powered by a medium-sized arc reactor.
Excluding mechanical wear and engine heat dissipation, it can cruise at maximum output continuously for one week on a full charge.”
“Wait a second—a medium-sized arc reactor?” Leon raised an eyebrow and cursed with a laugh.
“Tony, you lying bastard!
When I asked him to shrink the arc reactor down to use as a power source before, he swore up and down that it was impossible, claiming the tech was way too far ahead of its time.
Turns out he’d already finished it!”
“Young Master Leon, in truth, the day after you proposed the concept of miniaturizing the arc reactor, Mr.
Stark completed the design and fabrication of the medium-sized arc reactor,” JARVIS gently clarified.
Hearing this, Leon fell silent.
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t touched.
Tony really was a brilliant genius.
“JARVIS, initialize it,” Leon said, stowing his shield into his system storage and mounting the Jet Glider.
JARVIS remained completely silent regarding the shield vanishing into thin air from Leon’s arm.
Instead, he issued another warning: “Young Master Leon, the design of the Jet Glider is incomplete.
The forces exerted on the driver during acceleration and banking exceed three times those experienced by a fighter pilot.
An ordinary human cannot withstand it.”
“Do I look like an ordinary human to you?
Hurry it up!” Leon urged.
Time was ticking.
“As you wish, Young Master Leon.”
Seeing Leon’s absolute resolve, and considering his physical feat of demolishing a concrete wall with a single shield swing, JARVIS stopped pressing the issue.
With a roar akin to a fighter jet taking off, the Jet Glider’s dashboard screen and engine ignited simultaneously.
A six-meter circular section of the metal floor beneath it unlocked, slowly rotating downward with the Jet Glider to align with the launch rail.
At the same time, along the cliffside beneath the seaside mansion’s foundation—
*RUMBLE!*
The rock face split open to both sides, revealing an illuminated, sleek metal launch rail packed with cutting-edge technology hidden behind it.
*SWOOSH!*
A pitch-black rocket, invisible to the naked eye, shot out from the tunnel, hurtling across the low altitude of the Pacific Ocean at extreme speed toward Afghanistan.
It was Leon, riding the Jet Glider.
“JARVIS, handle the flight controls and customs clearances for me.”
“It is my honor to be of service, Young Master Leon.”