Leo swiftly followed Tony back into the laboratory, the familiar hum of machinery a constant backdrop. Indicator lights on the analytical equipment were blinking faintly, signaling the completion of the biological processes.
Tony strode toward the main console and tapped rapidly on the display screen. The nearby medical analyzer whirred loudly, ejecting a thick stack of reports detailing the findings.
More than a dozen densely packed pages spewed out, filled with technical medical shorthand. Leo picked one up and started scanning the contents:
'White Blood Cell Count… Red Blood Cell Morphology… Hemoglobin Concentration Gradient… Lymphocyte Ratios and Percentages… Eosinophil Count and Differentiation… Alanine Aminotransferase Levels… Homocysteine Detection Profile…'
A dense, baffling array of professional terminology and complex data reports instantly made Leo's head spin. He couldn't decipher the meaning of the numbers, only the overwhelming feeling of complexity.
Tony, however, was in his element. He ignored the physical printouts, casually pulling up the digital data stream on his primary screen. He browsed through the metrics with a serious, focused expression, his eyes tracking rows of numbers with impossible speed.
Leo, accepting his defeat against the wall of medical jargon, stuffed the report back into the output tray. He looked around the lab for a distraction and found the massive, hurricane-proof window overlooking the Pacific.
Sunlight, now near its zenith, spilled mercilessly onto the vast azure sea, fracturing into countless shimmering golden ripples. The water resembled a massive piece of soft, crumpled blue silk, meticulously inlaid with interwoven gold threads. Jagged black reefs jutted out near the shore, looking like sharp shards of polished obsidian left behind by a giant.
For a moment, Leo, who had grown up seeing the smog and traffic of the city, was completely stunned. He stared blankly at a distant wave breaking over a lone reef, unwilling to tear his gaze away from the sublime beauty.
After a long silence, Tony walked up beside him, his gaze following the boy's. "How is it? Pretty compelling view, right?"
"Yes, Mr. Stark. It feels incredibly calming and… vast," Leo said, a genuine smile returning to his face as he looked at the ocean.
"That's why I chose this particular spot. The energy, the isolation, the view," Tony replied, a rare touch of genuine sentiment in his voice. "And this house? It only cost me a paltry 200 million dollars to build." He glanced out the window, a flicker of nostalgia crossing his expression, then stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Didn't even have this beard back then."
He glanced at Leo and muttered almost inaudibly, "And you certainly weren't here back then."
"Hmph. Mr. Stark, you finished reading those dozen reports that quickly? Did you manage to find anything unusual?" Leo challenged, turning back to the task at hand.
Tony looked at him with an expression of utter bewilderment. "Are you kidding me? I can't decipher most of that basic medical gobbledygook. That's why I build machines, not practice medicine."
He tapped the final summary screen. "However, the final conclusion report is clear: you are profoundly healthy. Your heart rate is robust, powerful, and utterly stable. Your blood oxygen saturation is slightly elevated, suggesting superior efficiency, but beyond that, everything is within the highest range of normal for your age."
Tony's confusion was palpable. "How? Your genetic profile hasn't changed, yet you possess strength that defies human capability! And what were those golden lights? Leo, your biology is a total enigma. I genuinely believe the only way to find out is to look directly into your brain structure."
Leo rolled his eyes dramatically. "Please, don't mess with the head. Let's refocus. We need to continue building the Mark II. Don't you want to achieve flight supremacy?"
Tony's technical focus immediately snapped back into place. "Right. Let's get back to the studio. That flight stabilizer isn't going to build itself."
They spent the entire afternoon in the lab. Following the optimized schematics, another flight stabilizer unit was rapidly replicated and integrated. After two successful, low-power tests confirming its structural integrity and functional output, Leo decided he had done his part. He ignored Stark, who was already deep into the next phase of micro-thruster design, and returned to his room.
Seeing the Mark II project firmly back on track and realizing he had sufficient raw material, Leo immediately focused on cultivation. He casually summoned a massive piece of commercial-grade titanium alloy—an alloy Tony was using for the inner suit frame—and began the absorption process.
Countless specks of golden, highly-concentrated energy surged into Leo's body. The vast majority still hammered into his meridians, pushing the already glowing vascular system to a peak of incandescence.
In the dimly lit room, Leo sat cross-legged, wearing only his vest. As the titanium dissolved, the constant infusion of energy caused his veins to radiate golden light all over his body, etching strange, complex, and almost mystical glowing patterns across his chest, arms, and neck.
More golden light started moving towards Leo's back, pooling and swirling. The specks of energy completely enveloped the small figure in the middle, making him appear terrifyingly sacred, like a diminutive, golden statue carved in a moment of intense power.
Leo, however, was completely unaware of the dazzling external display.
Internally, he remained seated in meditation, pushing his power upward. He felt like he had been walking on a wide, smoothly ascending road, but now, his progress was abruptly halted.
A massive, invisible threshold—the 50% limit for the Steel Bars enhancement—firmly blocked his upward ascent. It felt like an immense, unyielding concrete barrier that he couldn't push past.
The golden energy surrounding him followed his will, crashing against the barrier repeatedly, but each impact failed to breach the final wall. He was perpetually just a single molecule short of the breakthrough.
Time passed slowly, agonizingly. The morning sun rose outside the window, casting a warm light onto the scene.
Around Leo lay three large pieces of broken, inert metal—what would typically take a full two nights to digest had been utterly devoured in one night of hyper-focused effort.
At the same time, another piece of metal, drawn by Leo's powerful instinctual command, flew over and settled beside him. The absorption process intensified, pouring more raw, metallic essence into Leo's small body.
The complex golden patterns radiating from his veins shone even brighter, demanding entry across the threshold.
It was evening again, and Tony was still obsessively testing flight algorithms in the underground workshop. Pepper returned from her duties, placed a ready-made dinner plate on the table for Leo, and then swiftly left to attend to more administrative work.
When she returned an hour later, she noticed only one dish was missing from the table—the one she'd placed for Leo.
"Strange. Did Leo bring his meal down to Tony?" Pepper muttered, confused. She picked up her own dinner and walked toward the basement.
"Tony, where did Leo go? Have you two eaten anything?" Pepper asked, walking over to Tony, who was still typing on his computer.
"What?" Tony didn't even look up. "Today's takeout was garbage. Blacklist that restaurant, Jarvis."
"Tony, where is Leo?" Pepper repeated, her voice laced with growing anxiety.
"Oh, Leo. He's probably hiding in his room playing computer games. Super Mario, who knows. He's only eleven, isn't he?" Tony joked casually. "Leo and Mario, don't they look alike?"
Pepper looked around the messy studio, her maternal instincts kicking in. "Tony, he hasn't been down here at all, has he?"
"Really?" Tony finally looked up after finishing his last line of code. He stood up and glanced around the enormous space. "Oh, the kid isn't here. Are you sure he's not hiding in his room playing games, Pepper?"
"Tony, please! He's only eleven years old! What if he ran off alone and encountered one of those armed robbers the news was talking about?" Pepper's anxiety spiked, her mind immediately jumping to the extreme threat.
"Oh, those robbers are incredibly pathetic. They wouldn't stand a chance," Tony chuckled dismissively. He paused, seeing the look of genuine distress on her face, and relented. "Alright, alright. Jarvis, report on Leo's current status."
"Sir, Mr. Leo has been in his room for thirty-six hours and has not emerged. I have detected no audible noise originating from the room during this period."
Tony frowned instantly. "Thirty-six hours? What's he doing in there?"
"Sir, as you initially denied authorization to install surveillance within the bedroom, I must ask for explicit permission to perform a direct, non-invasive internal scan of the room."
"Yes. Scan now."
"I apologize, sir, but the internal scanning function is currently malfunctioning. I am detecting a strange, highly localized magnetic field within the room. Based on the field strength, it can be preliminarily determined that a massive, unknown energy body is present and actively emitting this localized energy signature."
Tony and Pepper exchanged a grave look. Their brows furrowed in identical expressions of technological alarm and worried confusion. Things were definitely not simple anymore.
Inside the room, the scene was bizarre: countless chunks of pulverized, dull metal lay scattered to one side, completely inert. The last remaining intact piece of titanium alloy floated silently beside Leo's meditating form.
Tony and Pepper rushed out of the lab and up the stairs, arriving at the locked door to Leo's room.
"Jarvis, open the door now!" Tony commanded, his voice sharp with urgency.
"The door lock has been disengaged, sir, but the door will not open automatically," Jarvis replied truthfully.
Stark stepped forward and shoved the reinforced wooden door with all his might. Though the lock was free, the door didn't budge an inch; it remained sealed, held fast by an unseen, incredible pressure—the subconscious application of Leo's Metal Control power, amplified by the immense energy trying to breach the barrier.
It was in that exact moment—with the physical world pressing against his confinement—that Leo opened his eyes.
Two blindingly bright, condensed golden beams shot out from his pupils. Simultaneously, the golden light that had been surrounding his entire body suddenly burst outward in an incomparably brilliant, physical blast of light.
It was as if ten military-grade flashbangs had detonated inside the room. Pepper, standing right outside the door, recoiled violently, seeing violent, intense streaks of golden light—the pure, raw energy of the Steel Bars (50%) breakthrough—exploding through the tiny gap around the door frame.
"Ah!!!" Pepper screamed, throwing her hands up to protect her eyes.