[A few hours later – Horizon Island Lab]
Blue arcs of light snaked through the air as Tony adjusted two small cylindrical devices at opposite ends of the room. Each one pulsed faintly, synchronized to a rhythm only he understood.
He tightened the last coupling, wiped his hands on a rag, and muttered, "Alright, let's see if this thing makes history or turns my lab into Swiss cheese."
He grabbed a small plastic model car from a shelf, a leftover from one of his old experiments, and placed it carefully on top of the left-hand device.
Elena's hologram flickered to life beside him. "Teleportation trial number one. Containment field at seventy-two percent. Safety protocols active."
"Seventy-two?" Tony said, arching a brow. "You're really optimistic today."
"Statistically speaking, there is a twenty-eight percent chance this ends with a localized implosion."
Tony smirked. "Then it's a good day for science."
He pressed the button.
The air between the two devices shimmered. A low hum filled the room, building to a sharp, crystalline tone. The model car flickered like a bad signal, vanished in a flash of white, and—
Pop.
It reappeared on the opposite pad, perfectly intact.
Tony blinked. "Well, I'll be damned." He crossed the lab and picked up the car, inspecting it. "No structural damage. Zero molecular drift. You beautiful, tiny bastard, you actually worked."
He set the car down and tapped the side of one device thoughtfully. "Now if I can scale this without breaking space-time, we're in business."
Before he could start another test, the lab door slid open.
Johnny strolled in, sunglasses on, chewing a piece of gum. "Yo, Stark, you in here—"
He stopped mid-sentence as he saw the faint glow still fading from the teleportation pads. His eyes darted from the car to Tony, then back again.
He pointed at the pad. Then at Tony. "Wait. Is that what I think it is?"
Tony smirked, leaning on the workbench. "If you're thinking instantaneous matter relocation using controlled spatial distortion, then yeah. If you're thinking magic trick, no."
Johnny grinned. "You built a teleporter. Dude, you're actually nuts."
Sizzzle!
The toy car started melting in Tony's hand. "Time and space, huh? Delayed molecular breakdown." He threw it on the floor. The toy turned into a lump of plastic before turning to liquid.
"Well, there's a long way to go. Wanna help?"
Johnny cracked his fingers.
"You bet."
Tony dropped the melted lump into a containment bin. "Alright, so we've learned two things. One, teleportation works. Two, it melts the object."
Johnny leaned against the table, chewing thoughtfully. "Yeah, you kinda turned that thing into a fondue set. What's next?"
Tony swiped the air, pulling up a 3D schematic. "The issue isn't the entry or the exit—it's the route. The object's molecular structure destabilizes mid-transfer because space-time doesn't have a clear path mapped between two points. It's like sending an Uber through a collapsing bridge."
Johnny tilted his head. "So you need a better bridge."
Tony pointed at him. "Exactly. We need a guided corridor—a fixed channel through space-time that keeps the object anchored while it moves." He dragged two points across the hologram. Between them, a glowing arc appeared, pulsing with soft blue light. "Think of it as GPS for atoms."
Johnny raised a brow. "You're building cosmic Google Maps."
"More like StarkNav," Tony corrected. "Trademark pending." He walked to a secondary console and started recalibrating the energy emitters. "We'll use the arc reactors to generate a stable quantum field—a continuous energy thread between entry and exit. That thread becomes the route. No more vaporized plastic cars."
Johnny asked. "What's the challenge?"
Tony replied, "The challenge is keeping the field steady." He handed Johnny a datapad. "Here, manage the anchor frequency. If it fluctuates more than 0.3 percent, we'll lose cohesion."
Johnny grinned. "So, don't blow it up. Got it."
They got to work. Tony reconfigured the emitter nodes, each pulse syncing in perfect rhythm. Johnny monitored the readings, occasionally calling out values as Tony adjusted phase couplers and quantum stabilizers.
"Field strength at eighty-one percent," Johnny said.
Tony nodded. "Good. Let's push to ninety. This time we'll route the transfer through the energy thread instead of open space."
He grabbed a metal wrench and set it on the left pad. "Trial two."
The hum began again, deeper now, almost melodic. Light arced between the two devices, forming a narrow beam that shimmered like liquid glass. The wrench dissolved into energy, its particles stretching through the beam like silver threads.
Johnny's eyes widened. "It's holding."
"Don't blink," Tony said, eyes locked on the readings. "We're almost—"
Pop.
The wrench reappeared on the other pad. Tony rushed over, scanned it, and exhaled. "Molecular cohesion stable. Let's wait for a minute, just in case."
1 minute later...
Johnny let out a low whistle. "You did it."
Tony smirked. "We did it. And we're just getting started."
He pointed at the holographic beam still glowing faintly between the pads. "Now imagine scaling this corridor to planetary distance. Stable, directional, self-correcting—something that can find the shortest, safest route through space and time without tearing reality a new one."
Johnny grinned, tapping the console. "You're talking instant travel. Anywhere, anytime."
Tony nodded. "Theoretically, yeah. I just have to make sure the corridor doesn't collapse if we stretch it beyond a few meters. We'll need a way to predict the safest path before it opens."
Johnny tilted his head. "Like, a space-time weather forecast?"
Tony snapped his fingers. "Exactly. A predictive model built from gravitational maps, cosmic radiation data, and dimensional stability charts. We'll let AI handle the routing before the portal even forms."
He turned to Elena's hologram. "Elena, start compiling every deep-space telemetry feed we have. I want a complete three-dimensional curvature map of near-Earth and lunar space."
"Understood," Elena replied. "Estimated time to compile: three minutes."
Tony leaned back, folding his arms. "Once we have that, we'll test the first long-range jump. If it holds…"
Johnny grinned. "Then you just built the world's first space-time highway."
Tony smiled faintly, eyes gleaming with that dangerous mix of genius and thrill. "Nah, Johnny. We just built the on-ramp."
..
[Starfire Base] [Midnight]
Johnny went there and set up everything for the next stage.
The teleportation pads were already in place: Two metallic discs connected by a glowing energy conduit powered by portable arc reactors.
He dusted the sand off his jacket, adjusted his sunglasses, and looked up as Tony's holographic image flickered to life above the control station.
Tony's grin appeared instantly. "All good?"
Johnny smirked and gave him a thumbs-up. "Everything's wired and synced. Power readings steady at one hundred percent. You ready for this, boss?"
Tony leaned on his holographic console. "You're about to witness the first long-distance matter transfer in human history. Don't screw it up."
"Confidence inspiring as always," Johnny said, stepping back from the pads.
A humanoid robot stood in the center.
"Alright, Tony," Johnny said. "We're locked. Give me the go."
Tony's eyes flicked over the holographic data streaming around him. "Coordinates aligned. Quantum corridor stable. On your mark."
Johnny took a breath, then tapped the control key. "Engaging."
The pad beneath the robot flared. Light flowed along the ground in intricate patterns, forming a perfect circle before rising into a vertical beam. The robot's form rippled, breaking apart into streams of energy that threaded into the beam's center.
Their holographic feed showed the energy field bending, stabilizing, then stretching toward Horizon Island. Lines of code cascaded across his screens faster than the eye could track.
"Transfer initiated," Tony said. "Energy integrity holding at ninety-eight percent."
Inside Tony's lab, the second pad came alive. The corridor flared into view, glowing with fluid motion. Tony's eyes tracked every single data stream.
"Come on, baby," he muttered. "Don't fold on me now."
The beam compressed, converged, and...
The robot materialized. Intact. Standing perfectly still.
Johnny grinned as Tony moved the camera toward the robot. "We did it," Johnny said.
Tony checked the diagnostics. "Structural integrity one hundred percent. No molecular loss. No energy decay. Johnny, that thing just jumped from Egypt to the Pacific in under 10 seconds."
Johnny threw both hands in the air. "Hell yeah!"
Tony allowed himself a rare, proud laugh. "We just redefined travel."
Johnny looked down at the pad, shaking his head. "You realize what this means, right?"
Tony's grin widened. "Yeah. It means I'm going to need a bigger coffee mug, and you are going to the Moon and Mars to set up the teleportation devices for the next phase. After that, we'll start human trials. Which means, I'm going first and you second. Survival chances... Humm..." He thought for a moment. "...at 87% according to my present calculations."
"Well, 87% is pretty good. I mean, you'll figure something out, right? Like amp it up to 100%?" Johnny said with a grin.
"Well, let me see what I can do," Tony said as he stretched his arms. "Anyway, I'm going to bed."
"Yeah, well..." Johnny scratched his head as he looked at the top surveillance tower of the Starfire Base.
"Jane?" Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I kinda messed up our last date. I think I'll ask her out again."
"Right now?"
"Yeah. I mean, her room's light is on."
"It's freaking midnight, don't go knocking on her door. She'll kick your ass," Tony sighed. "Take your time, arrange your thoughts, then go. Talk it through over breakfast or lunch. Maybe act a little surprised, like you stumbled upon her by accident and... start with an apology."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Don't want to make her more angry. Thanks, man. See ya later," Johnny cut the line and sighed before walking toward his old room.
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