Mark spent a moment looking things over and quickly grasped how his golden cheat worked.
All he had to do was soak up sunlight to earn Sunlight Points, which he could then use to level up his superpowers.
The first power he’d unlocked was Super Brain.
Leveling Super Brain up to ten would unlock a new power.
And once he’d unlocked every power there was, he’d have strength to rival, maybe even surpass, Superman himself.
*If I end up with Superman’s power, no matter how dangerous things get in the Marvel world down the line, I’ll be more than capable of protecting myself!*
The thought sent a thrill through him.
**[Sunlight Points +1]**
Just then, he earned another point.
By his rough calculation, about five minutes of sunlight bought him one Sunlight Point.
*At that rate, if I soak up sunlight continuously for…
hm, about eight hours, I could get Super Brain up to level one.*
Mark counted it out on his fingers and arrived at that conclusion.
Ever since being reborn as a baby, Mark felt like his own brain had regressed right along with his body.
Not only had his thinking slowed down, but his mind tired easily, dragging him back into sleep at the slightest strain.
He was hoping that leveling up Super Brain would make up for that shortfall.
Just as Mark was happily watching his Sunlight Points tick upward, the nurse Daphne’s voice rang out.
“Rosalie, a newborn’s skin is very delicate.
He shouldn’t be left in direct sunlight for too long.
You’ll want to keep that in mind going forward.”
Even as she spoke, she’d already crossed the room and wheeled Mark’s bassinet over to a spot out of the sun.
“Okay, Daphne, I’ll keep that in mind,” Rosalie said from the bed, nodding solemnly.
“Waaah!
Waaah!”
Seeing his Sunlight Points stop climbing, Mark let out an furious wail.
But he still couldn’t control his tongue enough to speak, so naturally, neither woman in the room had any idea what he was actually trying to say.
Over the next two days, Rosalie reached out to another seven or eight media outlets, big and small.
But once each of them learned she had no evidence at all to prove any blood tie between Mark and Tony Stark, most of them walked away without a second thought.
Like Hollywood Weekly before them, none of them were willing to run a story with absolutely nothing to back it up.
Only one outlet, a small local paper called the San Fernando Valley Entertainer, took a few photos of Rosalie and Mark and said they’d consider running the story.
Judging by the name alone, it was clear this was nothing more than a tiny regional tabloid whose reach barely extended beyond the Valley itself.
Its influence was practically nonexistent.
And yet, even that was enough to leave Rosalie glowing with excitement.
“Baby, once word gets out, your daddy is bound to acknowledge you.
Then you’ll be the heir to Stark Industries!”
She leaned in close to Mark, her voice full of hope.
Mark pursed his lips, thoroughly unconvinced, thinking privately that Rosalie was living in a fantasy.
Over the past two days, listening in on Rosalie’s conversations with Daphne and the various reporters, Mark had pieced together the real story of her relationship with Tony Stark.
Two years ago, fresh out of college, Rosalie had come to Hollywood chasing a dream of stardom.
She’d been certain that with her looks, she’d become an overnight sensation.
But Hollywood never had a shortage of beautiful women, and the competition there was far more brutal than she’d ever imagined.
Unwilling to sink to the level of some other actresses and trade on her looks to get ahead, Rosalie never got her big break.
At best, she’d landed a role here or there with a line or two of dialogue, but most of the time, she was nothing more than background dressing without a single word to say.
Then, a few months back, at a wrap party for one of her film sets, Rosalie happened to run into Tony Stark, who’d shown up to support Hollywood’s reigning it girl, Cathy Dale.
Tony Stark had never confirmed it publicly, but Cathy Dale had spent the last two years carrying herself as his official girlfriend, and the tabloids loved reporting on the two of them being spotted together at hotels and shopping centers.
Partway through the party, Cathy Dale and Tony Stark had somehow gotten into a heated argument, and the two of them had parted ways in anger.
As Tony Stark was leaving the party, he’d noticed the strikingly pretty Rosalie standing off in a corner, and had openly invited her to join him.
Rosalie’s mind had gone a little hazy in the moment, and in a daze, she’d climbed into his car.
That same night, she’d ended up in a hotel room with him.
Rosalie had assumed this meant she was about to become Tony Stark’s official girlfriend, that she might even eventually marry him and become the lady of the Stark household.
But when she woke up the next morning, all Tony Stark had left behind was a check for fifty thousand dollars before vanishing without a trace.
She’d never managed to reach him again after that.
She had no personal number for him, and every call to Stark Industries got her nothing but a cold, “Do you have an appointment?”
She’d even gone to Stark Industries in person, only to be stopped by security right outside the building.
By then, Rosalie had all but given up hope entirely, until she discovered she was pregnant, and suddenly felt like her chance had come again.
Only this time, she no longer harbored any illusions about becoming Tony Stark’s girlfriend.
All she wanted now was for him to acknowledge the child as his own, and give the boy a better future.
Early the next morning, Rosalie had Daphne pick up a copy of the San Fernando Valley Entertainer from a newsstand.
Tucked in a corner on the very last page, Mark spotted a photo of himself and Rosalie alongside the article.
**[Twenty-one-year-old Rosalie Payne claims to have had a secret romance with Stark Industries president Tony Stark, and to have borne him a son.
She is calling on Mr.
Stark to come forward, acknowledge the child, and take on his responsibilities as a father.]**
The piece took up barely any space at all, and the paper had clearly been wary of a lawsuit, offering no verification of any kind.
The entire thing was just Rosalie’s own account, presented as-is.
Rosalie wasn’t thrilled the paper hadn’t given it front page treatment, but for now, all she could do was hope Tony Stark would see the article and come forward to claim his son.
Manhattan.
Stark Tower.
Wearing a pair of safety goggles, Tony Stark was in the middle of machining an electronic component with his robotic arm when Jarvis’s voice chimed in.
“Sir, there’s a news article I think you should take a look at.”
Tony set down his tools and pulled off his goggles.
The large screen in front of him lit up, displaying the San Fernando Valley Entertainer’s article about him.
Jarvis, at this point in time, wasn’t yet the powerful AI he’d one day become, just an early prototype.
Tony used him to monitor networks, TV stations, and newspapers across the country, and Jarvis reported back on any news concerning him the moment it surfaced.