Chapter 38: A New Home

The portal closed leaving Isaiah with Happy and Tony in an unknown place. The boy looked around the room with a raising look. It was a large room. If he were to guess, it was almost five times the classroom he and his teacher used. And his classroom was big! Percy's apartment could fit in this room many times over. He could see many pieces of furniture such as a large study desk as well as a Queen size bed. He saw a TV mounted on the wall facing the bed. One of the walls of the room was not a wall, but a large window that covered a side of the room. Outside, he could see a vast expanse of water. that he could only assume to be the Pacific Ocean due to their location.

He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and saw that it was Tony.

"Welcome Isaiah to the Stark Mansion. This will be your new home from now on!" the man said with a bright smile.

Isaiah smiled,

"Thanks, Tony."

The boy looked around some more.

"This will be your room from now on." the man said and the boy almost choked on air.

"This will be my room?" he asked shocked.

"Yeah, this was supposed to be a guest room, but it will be your room from now on. I'm sorry there isn't much here, but on the bright side, you can customize it however you want."

The boy turned to Happy who confirmed it with a smile.

"Wait, this was a guest room? How many are there?"

Tony raised an eyebrow,

"I think there are five or six guest rooms like this." the man said nonchalantly.

Isaiah looked at the man as if he grew a second head before chuckling.

'Right, this man is one of the richest men in the world. Well, I better get used to this new life.'

"Let's get you settled in. Although, I don't see any luggage. Don't tell me you forgot them."

Isaiah smirked,

"I don't forget Tony. I already have everything with me."

Tony raised an eyebrow,

"Where?"

"In here," Isaiah said as he showed off the ring.

"I was wondering what that ring was. You're saying that your ring has a pocket dimension!? How are you able to create an artificial pocket dimension and attach it to an artifact! know it's magic, but there must be some kind of explanation." the man asked quickly.

"This ring was created by Solomon himself who was a master sorcerer and had the same ability to use mana."

"King Solomon?"

"The one and only."

"Damn." The man said impressed. "Well, since you already have your stuff inside that ring, let me show you around the house. Follow me."

Isaiah followed the man outside of the room with Happy right behind them. During the whole tour, the father showed the boy around. Isaiah was honestly taken aback by how big and luxurious the mansion was. He also saw many robots performing chores around the mansion. Tony had told him that the whole operation is controlled by Jarvis so he never had any servants or anything.

"That's so cool!" the boy exclaimed.

Tony laughed,

"I know, right?"

He had shown Isaiah the living room, which was even bigger than his bedroom, the kitchen, the entertainment room, the workout room and many many more. Isaiah was honestly overwhelmed by the sheer wealth of this man.

Tony also showed the boy his workshop. He could've sworn he saw sparkles in the boy's eyes when he saw the workshop making the man smile.

'Looks like we have a common passion.' Tony thought as the boy looked around his workshop in awe.

"You like it?" he asked.

The boy rapidly nodded,

"Yeah. Because of (Intuitive Aptitude), I'm able to easily learn stuff so I sometimes ask Teacher to get me broken or thrown away stuff for me to learn or try to repair. I would sometimes get them myself and keep them in my ring.

"Damn. Maybe, I'll show you a thing or two." Tony replied.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was lunchtime,

"Have you had lunch, Isaiah?" the man asked.

The boy who was looking at a robot arm looked up and shook his head,

"No. I haven't eaten yet."

"Then let's get some take-out. Do you want Chinese? Indian? maybe a pizza."

However, the boy looked at the man,

"What's take-out?"

Tony looked at him confused,

"It's food made in some restaurant and brought here. Have you never had any?"

"A bulb lit up in the boy's head,

"Oh. Like McDonald?"

"Yeah. So you do know about it."

"Well, I only had Mcdonald's once. Otherwise, all I ever eat is food served at Kamar-Taj. Although, I did try pizza once too."

Tony nodded,

"So Pizza sounds good?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, let's go! I'll order some pizza for us. Do you have a preference?"

Before the boy could answer, Tony suddenly said,

"You know. I'll order different kinds and you'll tell me whichever you like for next time."

"Huh... okay."

"In the meantime, why don't you bring out your stuff and put it in your room."

"Okay!"

Isaiah then walked into his room. He walked up to his bed and touched the bed.

'It's so soft.' he thought when his hand practically melted into the mattress. The bedsheet was also very soft.

He then saw two doors. One beside the TV and the other one beside his bed. He opened the first one and realized that it was a walk-in dressing room. His room in Kamar-Taj could fit in it while still leaving a little space! Closing the dressing room door, he went for the other door and opened it. Inside, he saw the biggest bathroom he had seen in his life. There was a large bathtub that could double as a jacuzzi, a shower that could fit almost four adults, two sinks and multiple closets. The floor was covered in a beige carpet.

In Isaiah's opinion, it was all too much. But! This was his life now and his teacher had told him to explore his new life which means getting used to all these luxuries. However, she also told him to stay humble and not let it go to his head because, in the end, this was given to him.

At that moment, he remembered something,

"Ah, right! Percy also knows about me and Tony, right? I better call him and thank him for telling Tony."

From his ring, he grabbed the bucket of water. Luckily, since it was lunchtime, the sun was at its highest point in the sky giving the boy easy access to the sunlight The fact that he had a window wall also helped a lot. When he materialized a water ball, Jarvis's voice suddenly appeared in the room startling him.

"Sir Isaiah, may I ask what you are doing?"

"What the!" the boy exclaimed.

Caught off guard by the voice, Isaiah lost his focus and the water ball splashed on the ground wetting the floor. The boy snapped his head towards the ceiling,

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir Isaiah. I apologize for startling you. However, I would like to ask you what you were doing since this is the first time I see you using your abilities other than your portal ability."

Isaiah pinched the bridge of his nose,

'This is going to need some getting used to since I can't sense him at all.'

Over the years of learning and training, he has refined his ability to sense energies. Now, he could sense the presence of any energies within a 35-meter radius. and he is now able to sense the life force of people. Although he needs to really concentrate since Life force is present almost everywhere and differentiating it between living beings is quite hard. However, Isaiah was still unable to identify people using their life force or, in other words, their chi.

'One day, I'll be able to do it though," Isaiah thought before speaking to Jarvis.

"I'm just using water magic to create a way to communicate with my friend.

"Water magic?"

Isaiah raised an eyebrow,

"Did Tony not tell you that Magic exists? It's how I created my portals?"

"I was not aware of the existence of Magic. I shall update my database."

Isaiah furrowed his eyebrows as he thought of something. He decided to try something. Ever since he learned about the tracker from Tony, he wondered how technology faired against the Mist.

"Jarvis, wait a sec."

"Yes, Isaiah?"

Isaiah took out a pouch from his ring and looked inside, there were only a few drachmae left.

'I'm gonna have to find a way to acquire more.'

The boy took out a coin and lifted it in the air.

"Jarvis, what do you see?"

"I see a gold coin, sir."

"Really?"

"Yes, sir."

"I see." the boy nodded.

'That means technology is not affected by the Mist, but only humans.

"Can you take a photo? And is there a way to show it to me through an electronic device?"

"Yes. To show the photo, I could turn on the television in your room sir. Is that what you want?"

"Yes, thank you, Jarvis."

Soon the TV turned on and the boy could see himself at a high angle holding the drachma.

"Alright. Don't turn it off. Do you know where Tony currently is?"

"Yes, he is in the living room. Sir has just finished ordering the pizza. Do you want me to call him in your room, Isaiah?"

"I'd appreciate it if you could do that."

A few minutes later, he saw Tony walk in.

"Hey kid, you okay? Jarvis told me that you needed me for something."

"Yeah. I just wanted to ask, if you can tell me what I'm holding in my hand in the photo." the boy replied as he pointed at the picture.

Tony looked at the photo and answered,

"You're holding a quart-wait. Wait, hold on. This feels like a déjà-vu."

The man reached for his pocket and brought out the glasses his son has given him before putting them on,

"Ah, so it's a drachma. Why are you asking me?" Tony asked.

"Because, when I asked Jarvis, he got the answer, right."

"What? Really? Jarvis?"

"Yes sir. What Isaiah was holding was a golden coin. Am I missing something perhaps or do you need to buy some glasses, Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, you're missing a lot buddy. We'll explain it to you later."

Tony then turned to Isaiah,

"Does that mean Technology is not affected by the Mist?"

Isaiah shrugged,

"I guess so?"

"I can work with that." whispered the man.

Isaiah narrowed his eyes,

"What are you thinking?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking about countermeasures against those monsters just in case, I happen to run into them."

"Oh. Then you can ask me for help, you know."

"Sure, I'll do just that." suddenly, Tony frowned,

"Wait. If Technology's not affected by the Mist, why didn't Jarvis tell me that it was a camp instead of a strawberry field?" he said as he glared at the ceiling.

"I apologize, Sir. But I too was seeing a strawberry field at the time. It must be because of that barrier they had which you mentioned must have illusionary powers. It must've been strong enough to deceive even me."

Tony narrowed his eyes and turned to Isaiah who shook his head,

"I didn't research the barrier so I can't tell you anything."

Tony sighed,

"Well. It doesn't matter now. Anyways, the pizza is going to be here in a half-hour."

The man noticed the puddle of water on the floor,

"What happened?"

Isaiah looked at where he was looking at.

"Oh!" he quickly manipulated the water and poured it into the bucket. "I was about to fill the bucket to call Percy when Jarvis startled me."

"I apologize once again, sir Isaiah."

"It's okay, Jarvis."

Tony nodded,

"Oh well. I'll leave you to your call."

"Thanks, Tony."

The boy said and the man left the room. Isaiah activated his magic formation and waited for the rainbow to be created. Once it did, Isaiah tossed the coin and asked for Percy Jackson.

He was soon greeted with an unusual sight. It was Percy eating lunch with his mother. They soon saw the Iris message and Percy exclaimed,

"Isaiah! How's it going, buddy?"

"Hello, Isaiah." Sally also greeted the boy.

"Hey, guys. Do you not have school today, Percy?" the boy asked.

However, Percy shook his head,

"Nah. Today is an off day. So what's up?"

Isaiah gave a small smile,

"I just wanted to thank you and Sally."

Percy raised an eyebrow, but both Jacksons had knowing smiles,

"A few days ago, I had some life-changing news and I heard that you guys were the ones who helped."

Sally and Percy then grinned widely,

"So he found you." the teen said.

Isaiah nodded,

"Yeah. Imagine my surprise when Tony freaking Stark comes up and tells me he's my father."

"So he really is your father?" Sally asked.

Isaiah nodded,

"Yeah. Even my teacher confirmed it. So thank you very much," the boy said sincerely.

"It is no problem, Isaiah. We were happy to help."

Percy suddenly had a smug look,

"Now I can brag that I'm friends with the son of Tony Stark. It'll be amazing! Mwahahaha!" the teen said as he finished with a cringe evil laugh.

"Please don't. We still need to sort the papers out. And we intend to keep me a secret for some time at least. Technically, I don't even have an identity. I'm officially dead or something."

"Ah, right. Because of Kathmandu." Percy replied as his smile fell a little.

"Yeah. Anyways, check this out!" Isaiah said with a smirk and moved away from the Iris-message for them to see a portion of the room.

"It looks awesome! Where is this?"

"The Stark mansion."

"The what now?"

"You heard me."

Percy abruptly stood up from his seat,

"No way! For real! That's so cool!"

"Percy, sit your butt down!" the mother immediately scolded him and the latter complied without any hesitation.

She then spoke,

"That's amazing, Isaiah. How are you feeling though?"

Isaiah put his hands in his pockets,

"I feel pretty good, you know. I finally got to meet my biological father."

Sally nodded with a sympathetic smile,

"Yeah. It must be great to finally meet your father. So are you going to live with him or are you going to atay at... huh... what's it called again Kamaaar... Tug?"

"It's Kamar-Taj, mom." Percy corrected her.

Sally nodded,

"Ah, that's right. Kamar-Taj. Thanks, son." she said to her son before turning to Isaiah, "Sorry dear. Yes, Kamar-Taj. Will you be returning there?"

Isaiah shook his head,

"Kamar-Taj is still and will always be my first home. I just got a second one. She told me to learn and experience life outside of Kamar-Taj within normal society."

Sally nodded,

"Your teacher is wise."

The young sorcerer chuckled,

"I guess a few hundred years of life does that to you. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you and repay you. Is there anything you want?"

However, both Jacksons shook their head,

"No need, dear. Just like I said to Mr. Stark. I was happy to help a father find his family."

Percy nodded,

"That's right. And you're my friend, Isaiah. You don't need anything in return when helping a friend out."

"Are you sure? I mean I want to repay you guys."

Sally shook her head once more,

"No thank you, Isaiah. If you really insist, then can you do me a favour?"

"Sure."

"Enjoy your life. Can you do that?"

"Enjoy my life. I'll see what I can do." the boy replied with a smile.

"Wait. Does that mean Mr. Stark knows about magic and us?" Percy asked.

"Yeah."

Percy had an excited gleam in his eyes,

"Tell me, how did he react!"

"And so Isaiah recounted he explained the existence of gods and monsters as well as the supernatural side behind the Mist.

Around a half-hour later, Jarvis's voice was heard in the room,

"Young sir, Mr. Stark wanted to inform you that the pizza has arrived."

"Who's that?" Percy asked confused by the sudden voice.

"That's Tony's Artificial Intelligence."

"Like a... robot?"

Isaiah swayed his head from side to side.

"You can say that."

He turned to speak to Jarvis,

"Can you tell Tony that I'll be there in a minute?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thanks."

Isaiah turned back to the Iris-message.

"Anyways, Before I go, I just wanted to ask if it's possible to get more drachmae."

Percy thought about it and nodded,

"Yeah, there is. At Camp, there is a shop where we can exchange mortal money for drachmae and vice-versa. You can ask Bianca if you want since she goes there every weekend."

"Sure, I'll do that. Anyways, i"'ve got to go. See you later, guys."

However, Sally stopped him,

"Wait, Isaiah. Would you like some of my cookies? They're freshly baked and right out of the oven."

*Rumble*

Isaiah's stomach immediately gave his opinion and the boy agreed,

"Well, I can't say no to that."

"Alright, I'll be back in a sec."

The boy created a small portal to fit his hand right into the Jacksons' dining room. Sally returned and gave him a box of popping-hot freshly-made blue cookies."

"Thanks, Sally. Bye guys! I'll see you next time!"

"Bye Isaiah!/Bye dear," they replied and Isaiah ended the call.

He could smell the heavenly smell of the cookies and his stomach protested and his mouth drooled.

'Not right now! After, eating pizza, Isaiah! Oh, it rhymes.'

He quickly put the bucket away and got rid of the mist before walking towards the dining room. There he saw Tony standing at a table opening pizza boxes. When he saw the boy, he smiled.

"Hey, Isaiah. The pizza has arrived. I got pepperoni and cheese, just cheese, vegetarian, and just mushrooms. You can take whatever you want."

Isaiah looked in awe at all the different kinds of pizza.

"Then, I'll take one of everything."

"Sure."

Grabbing a plate, they both sat down at the table and began to eat the succulent pizza with gusto.

However, Tony had a different idea,

"Kid, you know what? Why don't we watch a movie at the same time?"

"Hm?" the boy asked as his mouth was full of pizza.

"Yeah, what do you want to watch?"

"Can we watch, Transformers?" the boy immediately asked.

It was a new movie that came out a few months ago, but he hadn't had the time to watch it yet.

"Sure, I'll see if we can find it on Netflix."

"Netflix? What's that?"

"It's a streaming platform where there are all kinds of movies of your choice. They update every now and then to add new movies and such." Tony explained as he tried to find the movie.

Finally, there it was.

"Looks like we're in luck. They recently added Transformers. Let's watch it. Although I'll tell you now, it's really good."

And so the man put the movie and both father and son enjoyed their succulent pizza as they began a new chapter in their lives.

***

When the movie was finished, Tony put the plates in the dishwasher and let Jarvis do the rest.

"You know, I wonder if those Transformers exist, considering the fact that you said the Multiverse exists."

Isaiah, who was putting the uneaten pizza in the refrigerator, shrugged.

"Probably, I mean the Multiverse is infinite. There is probably a universe out there where there are robotic aliens who transform and fight each other. Heck, our universe could be a work of fiction for another one out there."

Tony paused,

"Really?"

"Who knows? Like I told you, the Multiverse is infinite. There is a universe for almost anything out there."

"Wow. That's not creepy at all."

"Meh. You get used to it."

"..." Tony didn't know what to say so he changed the subject, "By the way, have you finished settling in?"

Isaiah shook his head,

"No, I still need to take my stuff out of my ring."

"Alright, you do that."

Tony then grabbed something from his pocket and gave it to the boy who looked at it. It was a smartphone,

"A phone?"

Tony smirked,

"Yup, latest edition Stark phone!"

The boy looked at the man,

"You really love to put Stark on everything, huh?"

"Of course! Why shouldn't I name my invention after me? It's a rule in Inventing 101. So do you want me to show you?"

Isaiah shook his head,

"No need. Watch."

Isaiah held the phone in his hand. To Tony's surprise, blue circuit-like lines appeared from his hand which travelled on the phone covering it in multiple lines before adding away.

"There." the boy said with a satisfied smile.

Tony raised an eyebrow in confusion,

"There what?"

"I learned how it works. I also learned how it was made and its history as well as its components."

Shocked, the man asked,

"Is that your Intuitive Aptitude or whatever it's called?"

Isaiah had a smug face,

"Nope! That was a spell called (Structural Grasp). It lets me analyze any object down to its history and memories."

Tony whistled in amazement,

"Damn. That's like every inventor's wet dream."

"Wet dream? What's that? I heard someone mention it, but I never got to ask."

Tony froze as he cursed his slip of the tongue. He gave an awkward laugh,

"You'll learn it when you're older."

Isaiah looked at him with narrowed eyes before shrugging letting the matter go,

"Alright."

Tony internally sighed in relief.

"So what kind of stuff do you make? You're famous for being an inventor of all kinds, but I never really researched into it."

"Well, Stark Industries is a tech conglomerate. We make all kinds of tech, but its most profitable one is the weapon manufacturing section but it also researches in other fields such as finding alternative resources and improving civilian's life and such."

"Weapons?"

Tony looked at him,

"Are you upset?"

Isaiah shook his head,

"Nah. I'm not really concerned about normal humans and their fights. You do whatever you guys want. It is the policy of a sorcerer to not interfere with the war between humans unless they threaten the dimension itself."

"Right." Tony had to remind himself that the boy was not just his son, but also a Master sorcerer with impossible powers.

Normal humans are probably insects to him which made the man shiver slightly. This boy made Captain America, a man injected with the Super Soldier serum, look like a kid playing with babies during World War II.

'Ah! Suck on that, Dad. My son is better than your beloved Captain America!' the man thought with a smug.

Suddenly, Isaiah noticed several pictures above the fireplace. He saw a stern man looking very dignified along with another picture of a slightly smiling woman. They felt familiar with the boy for some reason.

"Who're they?" the boy asked as he approached the photos.

Tony looked where the boy was pointing and his smile fell,

"They... are your grandparents."

"My grandparents?"

"Yup. Howard Stark and Maria Stark. Howard was the man who created Stark Industries. He was also in the SSR working alongside Captain America during World War II. He was also my father. Martha Stark was his wife and my mother. They both died when I was 21 in a car accident and I took over the company." he said with a neutral tone before chuckling. "I would pay to see their reaction if they heard that they got a grandson. I heard grandparents are supposed to be doting to their grandchildren and spoil them rotten."

Isaiah smiled,

"I guess. What about people from my mother's side?"

Tony sighed as the atmosphere became morose,

"Unfortunately, your grandmother couldn't handle the shock and passed away from a heart attack. Your grandfather passed away two years later. Since Sarah was a single child, you have no uncles or aunts from her side. Your only living biological relative is me." he replied with a bitter side.

Isaiah nodded and smiled,

"I guess we'll have to stick with each other then, eh?"

Tony chucked,

"I guess we do."

An awkward silence settled into the room when the boy broke it,

"I guess I'll... huh... put my stuff in my room?" he said/asked. The boy wasn't sure.

"Huh, sure. Sure." Tony replied.

"By the way, where's Happy?"

"Happy's my chauffeur, but he's also my bodyguard so he probably when to do a round of the mansion."

Tony noticed the boy had a confused look,

"What's up?"

"Is his name really Happy?"

Tony let out a snort of amusement,

"No, it's not. His real name is Harold Joseph Hogan and he is a former boxer. During his boxing day, because he didn't smile much, he received the name Happy."

"That's weird. Why do you call him with a name that defines the opposite of what he does?"

"I don't know kid. The world of boxing is weird. It was probably something to hype the crowd when they saw him or make him cooler, you know. Imagine getting beaten up by someone named Happy who never smiles. The-day-he-smiles-is-the-day-you're-dead type of stuff. I don't know, kid,"

"Huh. Can I fight him?"

The man looked at the boy horrified,

"You'll destroy him!"

Isaiah rolled his eyes,

"Obviously, I won't use any powers. It's like using a missile against a normal baby."

Tony cringed,

"Please don't put that image in my head."

The boy looked at him expectantly and the man sighed,

"Tell you what. Why don't I ask him and I'll arrange something if he's not busy. But," Tony quickly said when the boy had an excited gleam in his eyes,

"He's my bodyguard, so he won't have a lot of time. So I can't guarantee it. Deal?"

"Deal! It's not urgent anyway. I'll go put my stuff away. See you later!"

The billionaire watched the boy disappear.

'Sorry Happy, you've been a good bodyguard and a friend.

He then collapsed on a nearby sofa.

'Goddamn. This is weird and hard.' the man thought.

He pinched the bridge of his nose,

'I don't know the first thing about parenting. Why couldn't I wait a little longer!?'

He shook his head and sat up,

'No, I made a promise to Sarah. That's I'll be his father. I won't be like my old man and I already missed almost twelve years of his life.'

The man took out his phone and began to type on google. Usually, the man never asked to google anything. He's supposed to be a genius who knows the answers to almost anything. If he doesn't know, he would research it himself. Unfortunately, being a genius does not come with a manual on how to raise an overpowered child that can see death and magic you out of fucking existence.

"How... to... raise... an eleven... year... old child." the man said and pressed [Enter].

Soon multiple links to parenting appeared and he began to read them.

"I'll be there for you from now on, Isaiah. Just wait for me a little longer," he whispered.

"Are you thinking about Isaiah, sir?"

"Holy fucking shit, Happy!" Tony practically screamed and jumped when he suddenly heard Happy's voice behind him.

The latter's boss glared at him,

"Sorry boss." Happy replied with a hint of a smirk.

Tony then sighed and sat back down,

"Yeah. It's not even a day and it feels weird having a kid here. I don't know what to do with him. What if he doesn't want to stay or he starts to hate me. I heard kids start to become rebellious at their age. I mean I'm a prime example."

"It's just the first day boss, relax. Parenting is something you learn along the way."

Tony looked at the man with narrowed eyes,

"How do you know all this. Do you have a kid I don't know about? I've never seen you with a girl, though?'

Happy's eyebrow twitched before answering,

"I heard it all from my Ma before she passed away. And I can't have a girl because I'm busy taking care of you."

"Well, your Ma's a wise woman then" Tony replied, ignoring that last bit, before returning to his phone,

"I don't know if I'm ready?"

"Are you second-guessing yourself, Boss? Because it seems like you are when that boy gave his trust in you without hesitating a second."

"Huh?"

"From what I've seen. For him, you are a famous stranger with a reputation who suddenly came into his life and told him you were his father. Of course, with his powers, I'm sure he could have messed with your head to make you forget everything about him and continue with your life. But no, he chose to invite you into his world knowing the dangers lurking in it because he gave his trust in you."

Tony stayed silent as he mulled over his bodyguard's word.

After almost a minute of silence, the man turned to Happy with determined eyes,

"I guess, I'm just gonna not have to betray that trust."