Chapter 63: Tony's Friendship Level Shoots Up
Ethan set the car down gently on the ground first, then turned his attention to Obadiah's towering suit.
One-handed, he locked the Iron Monger in place with magnetism.
Tony was out of the car the instant it touched down, bolting for Pepper.
His eyes were wild with worry. He pulled her in and wrapped her up like he was trying to put his whole body between her and the world.
A wave of delayed terror washed through him. A minute later and Pepper would have been gone.
He couldn't let himself picture a life without her.
Pepper clung back just as hard, like he was the only solid thing in the universe.
There was still a flicker of shock in her eyes. She couldn't quite believe she was safe. If she couldn't feel the heat of Tony's body, the beat of his heart — she might not have believed any of this was real.
"Hey. Hey. You two want to just get married right here, or...? You're doing this now?" Ethan walked up, his voice teasing, but his attention was mostly on the hulking suit still hanging in the air.
"So," he said, looking between Tony and the Iron Monger. "You want me to handle this, or you want to do it yourself?"
Tony peeled himself off Pepper long enough to turn his anger outward. He stared up at the suit.
"Why? Why would you do this? I never wanted to believe you were capable of this."
Inside the Iron Monger, Obadiah's voice came back flat and cold.
"I have had enough of you. That company should have been mine. And it would have been, if it weren't for your damn mutant friend sticking his nose in!"
"If I can't have it — nobody walks out of here!" Obadiah's voice tore itself ragged as he slammed the suit's self-destruct sequence. If he couldn't win, he'd take them all with him.
Ethan moved instantly. He snapped the suit up higher with a pulse of magnetism, holding it suspended.
He watched the plating flush red, felt the heat building inside it. He knew what was coming. So he shoved — hard — launching the whole thing skyward.
A heartbeat later, the night split open with a roar.
Fire tore into the sky. A wall of heat rolled outward.
The afterglow of the explosion lit the whole city. Residents spilled out of their homes, heads craned back, staring up at the brilliant fireball burning over them.
Ethan drifted back down to earth with perfect composure.
When the noise finally died, he landed, watching the smoke thin out against the stars.
"You know," he said quietly, to no one in particular, "even without me, you were never going to pull it off."
It was addressed to a man who couldn't hear him anymore.
From his spot on the ground, Miles watched Ethan float down out of the sky, watched the casual elegance with which he'd just defused an exploding war machine, and felt something like awe settle over him.
He wanted that. He wanted to be the kind of person who could handle things like that. He made himself a quiet promise, standing there — he was going to learn from Ethan. He was going to get good.
Tony was looking up at the smoke, and his face was harder to read.
He and Obadiah had been at each other's throats at the end. But before the end, they'd been partners. A long time of partners. And now the man was gone, and Tony couldn't help feeling something for that.
"Alright. Let's go. We've got stuff to talk about." Ethan clapped his hands. Business now.
Tony walked over first. "Thanks, man. Seriously — I owe you one for tonight. Listen, that miracle pill of yours. Any chance I could get another one? Let me take it apart in the lab."
Clearly, the Senzu Bean had gotten its hooks in him.
"Business first, Tony. Trust me — you're going to find his story a lot more interesting." Ethan hauled the still-zoned-out Miles forward by the shoulder.
Tony looked the kid up and down. He couldn't, for the life of him, spot anything special about this particular teenager.
He frowned. "Okay, fine, but we do this in the car. I'm not doing it standing here in a parking lot. I have to get Pepper home."
They were just about to pile in when federal reinforcements came screaming up. Leading the convoy was Tony's oldest friend — Rhodey.
Rhodey jumped out and strode straight at Tony, grabbing him by both shoulders, looking him up and down.
"Well. You seem to be in one piece. I've been sick the whole drive over."
From the second he'd gotten Pepper's distress call, Rhodey hadn't been able to think about anything but Tony. He'd gone to Tony's place first, found it empty, and tracked the situation out here. Seeing Tony upright and unhurt finally unclenched his chest.
"Heads-up though — you've got a press conference tomorrow. That explosion got everyone's attention."
Tony's face pinched.
He hated press conferences on principle. The thought of having to stand up and explain tonight made it worse.
But Rhodey was right. Came with the job.
Pepper, standing at Tony's shoulder, read his face and slid seamlessly back into assistant mode.
"Not a problem. I'll have the team start on tomorrow's conference right now. Tony will be there, on time."
Tony looked down at her. Some of the tension in his jaw eased off.
That was the thing about Pepper. With her running point, everything landed where it was supposed to land.
"If there's nothing else, we're heading back." Tony glanced at Ethan, then back at Rhodey.
Rhodey and Ethan traded a look and a nod — a small mutual I see you — and then Rhodey was waving his agents forward to start cleaning up the scene.
On the ride back, Ethan had Miles walk Tony through the whole parallel-universe thing. Pepper kept making little disbelieving sounds from the passenger seat — fair enough. For an ordinary person, it was a lot.
Tony, by contrast, was lit up. His eyes had that particular shine they got when his brain had found a new toy.
"So this kid got here through a rift in space-time caused by a collider — I would love to have a conversation with whoever built that thing. What a beautifully insane idea."
"So you can send him back?" Ethan asked.
"I'm not going to promise anything. I need to take it back to the lab. If I had the collider schematics, I could probably build you one." Tony was already looking at Miles. "Give me a little time and I'll have one."
He was running on confidence. Without the schematics it was going to take longer, sure. But Tony's whole theory of himself was that anything another genius could build, Tony could build.
Miles shook his head. "I don't have the schematics."
He'd been mid-fight with the Kingpin when this happened. It wasn't exactly the kind of thing you pack for.
Ethan saw Miles's face fall and jumped in.
"Don't stress about it. Tony here is one of the smartest people I know. Give him a little time and he'll figure out how to get you home."
Miles glanced up at Ethan. There was a flash of something grateful in his eyes. He didn't say anything, just gave a small nod.
Tony caught the compliment and the corner of his mouth twitched up.
"Don't worry about it, kid. You'll be hearing good news from me soon."
Something warm moved through Miles's chest.
He wasn't alone in this strange universe. He had Ethan. He had Tony now too.
Eventually, Ethan pulled up at the residence and dropped Pepper and Tony off.
Right before he drove away, Ethan tossed a folded sheet of paper at Tony — schematics, for a new element.
Tony skimmed it once, then looked up at Ethan, stunned. This — he hadn't even figured this out yet. Ethan was holding the answer to a problem Tony didn't know he couldn't solve.
Ethan laughed. "Don't look at me like that. Your dad invented it. And don't ask — I'm not telling you how I got it."
Then he turned around, steered Miles back to the beater, and rattled off into the night without looking back.
Tony stood there, watching the taillights recede, a thank-you caught somewhere in his throat. He had pride. He wasn't good at this part.
But Ethan had done a lot for him tonight. So under his breath, softly, Tony said it anyway.
"Thanks."
Then he turned and walked back into his house.
What he didn't see was Ethan up ahead, smiling to himself in the dark.
The System chimed in his head.
「DING!」
「Congratulations, Host! Tony Stark...」
「Congratulations, Host! Tony Stark's Friendship Level is now MAX!」
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