"Old man Obadiah… good thing I was extremely cautious and didn't trust anyone back then!" Tony said to Banner and Rhodes.
"Hmm! No one expected that old guy to be this bold. Who knows how many weapons he's secretly sold?" Rhodes added, shaking his head.
But aside from Tony, the ones who remembered that time most vividly were Pepper and Coulson—both of whom had almost died at the hands of the Iron Monger.
Even now, Pepper still shuddered whenever she thought about it. Coulson, on the other hand, was used to brushing shoulders with death. Take the last time Thor came to Earth, for example.
The Destroyer Armor had been deployed. If Natasha hadn't picked up Mjolnir, and if Tony hadn't been caught up in a fight with her, most of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents present would have never made it out alive.
[In his underground garage, Tony stood in front of the camera. "Day 11. Test 37. Version 2.0. Because I have no choice. And because Benben is still moonlighting as a firefighter!"]
[Tony turned around, pointing at his robot assistant. "If you dare spray me again while I'm not on fire, I swear—I'll donate you to City University!"]
[With that warning issued, Tony began preparing for the next test. "Alright. Let's keep it steady. Stay focused. Starting at just 1% thrust."]
[He took a deep breath. "Ready—3… 2… 1!"]
[As the countdown ended, the thrusters in Tony's palms and feet ignited. He slowly lifted off the ground, hovering unsteadily as he fought to maintain his balance. Then, as the thrusters powered down, he gently landed back on the floor.]
["Great! Now relax! And stop pointing that thing at me!" Tony turned around to see Benben still holding the fire extinguisher aimed directly at him. "Seriously?! Do it only if I actually catch fire!"]
[Hearing Tony's scolding, Benben slowly lowered its nozzle—almost like a scolded puppy.]
After his first success, Tony felt a surge of confidence. He grinned. "Alright! Now boost thrust to 25%! Ready—3, 2, 1! Here we go!"
[Tony successfully took off again, hovering in place. "Okay… nice and steady—"]
[But within seconds, he lost control. His hands weren't positioned correctly, causing him to drift backward.]
["Hey! I didn't want to go this way!" Tony yelped as he flailed in the air.]
[Despite his efforts, he crashed into a parked car, sending a pile of papers flying everywhere. "My car! My car! My car! The table! Oh, God—!" Tony shouted as he barreled through his own workspace.]
[He barely managed to stop himself before hitting the wall. But as he extended his hands to stabilize, he was sent flying backward instead.]
[Tony let out a dry chuckle. "Ahahaha… not bad… not great either. Okay! End the experiment!"]
[Finally figuring out how to adjust, he carefully maneuvered back to his starting position and landed with a thud.]
[As soon as he touched the ground, Benben immediately raised the extinguisher nozzle again.]
[Tony panicked and threw out his hand. "NO! NO—AAAAAH!!!"]
[At the last second, Benben hesitated and lowered the nozzle in disappointment. Tony let out a deep breath of relief. The last thing he wanted was to get sprayed again.]
[Tony grinned. "Yeah! I can fly!"]
"Wow, I really thought he was gonna smash his head into the wall again," Second Gen Spider-Man chuckled.
"Oh, come on! He's a super genius! He wouldn't make the same mistake twice," Second Gen Gwen rolled her eyes at Peter's assumption.
"Alright, alright, I underestimated him." Spider 2nd Gen Peter admitted. He then sighed. "Seriously, though. He got this far in just eleven days? That's insane. Harry's armor took way longer, right?"
Gwen smirked. "Yeah! Unlike you, who never listens in class and still forgets things from your eighth-grade textbook…"
She never missed an opportunity to tease 2nd Gen Spider-Man about his lackluster academic habits.
And, as always, it worked. After every teasing session, Peter would actually go back and review his lessons—just so he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of her again.
Now, both of them were in college, attending Columbia University. They were practically campus celebrities—the Spider Couple who openly showed off their relationship.
Fortunately, after the whole copyright fiasco, Spider 2nd Gen Peter had firmly rejected all autograph requests.
But that didn't stop students from flocking to Columbia. The university had received a massive increase in applicants this year—so much so that they had to tighten their admissions process.
While 2nd Gen Spider-Man was waiting for Tony to crash into another wall, 1st Gen Spider-Man was way more focused on Dum-E—the adorably stubborn fire-extinguishing robot.
"Honestly, if I could, I'd want one too. It's so cute!"
"If you were the one being sprayed, I highly doubt you'd still think that," Uncle Ben said dryly.
"Aha! Yeah… that's true!" 1st Gen Spider-Man laughed.
By now, he had completely forgotten about the impending broadcast of his own embarrassing high school days. He figured… he'd deal with it when it happens.
[Meanwhile, Tony was hard at work adding the outer shell to the Mark II armor.]
[Holding up his new helmet, he called out, "JARVIS, you there?"]
["Always at your service, sir," Jarvis responded promptly.]
["Connect to alarm display. Import all selected programs from the system."]
[With Jarvis' assistance, Tony's helmet interface immediately lit up, displaying an array of analytical data across his vision.]
["Alright. How's it looking? Let's start a virtual test," Tony suggested.]
["File import complete. System is online. Resetting priority levels. Calibrating operational parameters now," Jarvis reported.]
["Run a full system check!" Tony commanded as he examined the data flashing across the HUD.]
["Yes, sir." Under Jarvis' control, the Mark II armor's components extended and retracted, going through a full self-diagnostic test.]
["Testing complete. Preparing to power down and begin data analysis."]
["Let's do this! Check the weather and air traffic control first! Also, start responding to ground control signals!"]
[Tony couldn't wait any longer—he wanted to take this thing for a ride.]
["Sir, I strongly object. There's still a lot of data that hasn't been analyzed—"]
["Jarvis! Sometimes, you gotta be proactive! Ready? Here we go! 3, 2, 1!"]
[As Tony's countdown ended, Jarvis reluctantly ignited the thrusters.]
[Tony adjusted his posture, aimed for the exit, and—after a quick spin—shot out of Malibu Villa at full speed!]
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