Chapter 117

In Monaco.

The race was going on as usual, with cars speeding past.

Among the staff, there was a disheveled-looking person in an orange suit.

Ivan Vanko was waiting for his chance to seek revenge on Tony Stark.

He would create chaos and shout for Tony Stark to come out. If he brought his armor, they would fight; if not, Tony would likely stay put.

But that was his goal: to bring Tony down from his pedestal, to show that he wasn't invincible.

Looking at the screens, he saw Stark's car approaching, so he started making his way toward the track. There would surely be more pressure if he had one of Stark's employees as a hostage.

As Ivan leaped over the barrier, he heard several shouts telling him to stop. As he advanced, two cable-like objects fell from his sleeves, and his suit started to disintegrate as the whips became charged with electricity.

By the time he reached the middle of the track, he was left with only a roughly made suit and a reactor on his chest.

Ivan saw Stark's car approaching, so he moved to the side and slashed with his whip.

The front part of the vehicle was severed and rolled over several times before coming to a stop.

The cars behind also tried to brake, but they ended up crashing, causing some explosions.

Panicked screams quickly filled the area as people ran for safety.

"Stark!" Ivan shouted, calling out to Tony.

"Face me, Stark!" Ivan yelled, looking towards the stands.

As people realized that it was just someone provocatively calling out to Tony and not a terrorist, they calmed down and started watching Ivan, occasionally glancing at the sky, waiting for Iron Man to arrive.

After a couple of minutes, the atmosphere couldn't help but become somewhat uneasy.

At that moment, several guards arrived and surrounded Ivan, pointing their guns at him.

"Take off the suit and get on your knees!" the leader of the group shouted through a megaphone.

"That coward Stark doesn't dare to fight," Ivan jeered.

"Mr. Stark is on his way to Los Angeles; he left several hours ago!" the officer shouted.

Ivan's expression was truly incredible to behold. He couldn't help but hate Stark even more for making a fool out of him.

Pretending to remove the suit, he quickly used the whips to destroy the reactor as he raised his hands.

As long as he had the know-how to make a miniature arc reactor, someone would get him out of anywhere, and he didn't mind them using him if it meant revenge.

The guards quickly handcuffed him and took him away, along with his suit.

...

Damian was speechless as he watched the television. He was expecting some action, but everything ended anticlimactic.

He couldn't help but look away as he took a sip from the drink he had saved for the fight.

He wondered what had happened, why Tony wasn't there and had returned to Los Angeles.

In the end, he lay down on the couch and sent a message to Tony, asking what had happened.

At that moment, Emma stealthily approached and lay down on Damian's chest, gazing at him with an adorable smile.

"Honey, is something wrong?" Damian asked with a smile, hugging Emma.

"Nothing, I just wanted to be with Daddy," Emma said cutely, resting her little head against Damian's chest.

Damian felt himself melting at the sight of his daughter being so adorable. He couldn't help but hold her tightly while smiling.

Both of them ended up falling asleep on the couch.

Damian woke up to the sound of a camera taking photos. He opened his eyes and saw Ana taking pictures of him with a lovely smile on her face, which was unusual to see.

Chuckling softly, Damian pulled Ana's arm, causing her to fall beside him.

Ana embraced Damian with a slight smile while stroking Emma's hair.

"Thank you for the family you've given me," Ana whispered to Damian.

"What are you talking about? I should be thanking you," Damian said, kissing Ana.

"It's time for class," Ana said with a smile.

"Hm, let's go," Damian said, getting up and carefully leaving Emma on the couch to continue sleeping.

"Where are Alice and Ivy?" Damian asked, a little confused since the girls usually went everywhere together.

"Apparently, Emma told them to play hide-and-seek in the yard and took the opportunity to come and sleep with you," Ana said, laughing lightly at her unexpected cleverness.

"She probably saw you lying down and wanted to join you," Ana said, referring to Emma's clairvoyance.

Damian chuckled, thinking that Emma was also astute when she wanted to be.

Damian held another class and continued teaching everyone about runes. They had memorized most of the runes and only had some issues with the precision of drawing them.

...

Tony, who was flying back home to Los Angeles, was unaware of what had happened in Monaco.

He was still immersed in the joy of becoming a father.

They had been discussing everything until Pepper fell asleep. They wondered whether it would be a boy or a girl and what names they would give their child.

The jet soon arrived in Los Angeles, and Tony got off before getting into a waiting car to take them home.

Once home, Tony went down to his basement to continue working.

"Sir, something happened in Monaco after your departure," Jarvis said as he played several holographic images in front of Tony.

"Hm? Show me," Tony said, raising an eyebrow with curiosity.

Tony immediately grew serious upon seeing the reactor on the man's chest along with the electric whips.

He sighed, knowing that it would be a headache, but fortunately, he had already sent a suit to the country, so they couldn't say much.

Jarvis played the video, and Tony was even more surprised to see that the person was targeting him.

Nevertheless, he wasn't too worried; that makeshift suit posed no threat to him.

Looking at another image, he understood the origin of the hostility. His parents had worked together before Tony's father had Ivan's father deported.

Tony pondered for a moment before an idea struck him.

"Jarvis, have everything that belonged to my father brought home. We'll see what happened," Tony said, recalling that there were several things stored at the company.

It wasn't impossible that his father had removed Ivan's father from the picture for his benefit. In business, things often worked that way.

Tony waited for about an hour before a truck and several workers brought several sealed boxes and a model to his house.

Tony looked at the model with curiosity before reviewing several old recordings.

He played the videos while going through his father's notebooks and notes.

As he reviewed the notes, Tony heard his name in the video and watched as his father rudely removed him from the footage.

Tony rolled his eyes as he thought it was typical.

Suddenly, the video changed, and Tony looked in astonishment at the message his father had left him.

He had never shared affectionate words with his father; he assumed they were both too proud for something like that.

But seeing his father tell him that he was his greatest creation made Tony chuckle slightly, as even though his daughter wasn't born yet, he already felt that way about her.

Once the video ended, Tony remained silent with a faint smile as he gazed into space.

Tony didn't know how long he stayed in that position until he snapped back to reality and stood up.

"Jarvis, scan the model. Let's take a look at the key to the future," Tony said with a smile.

Jarvis quickly scanned the model and projected a manipulable image for Tony.

Tony hummed a tune as he looked at all the buildings in the model and wondered where his father intended to go with this.

"Remove the roads," Tony said thoughtfully as he stepped back and observed the model from a distance.

"Remove everything, leave only the pavilions, and use them to structure protons and neutrons," Tony said, narrowing his eyes as he believed he had discovered something.

Quickly, a sphere with hundreds of points resembling a solar system formed.

Tony expanded the sphere and looked around with amazement. He couldn't help but let out a slight laugh.

"Almost 20 years dead, and you're still giving me lessons," Tony said with a smile.

"Theoretical element should be able to replace Palladium; it's just impossible to synthesize," Jarvis said.

Tony made a dismissive sound as if he disagreed.

"Bring the things we need and prepare the armor," Tony said before putting on his damping suit and standing on the platform.

Several mechanical arms quickly suited him up before he began reconfiguring the place to build a particle accelerator.

Tony made a ruckus as he drilled holes in some walls and destroyed part of the floor to access the electrical system.

With all that noise, Pepper, of course, woke up and came downstairs, confused. At first, she woke up scared, but Jarvis reassured her that everything was fine.

Pepper toured the house and finally found Tony in the basement, arranging some black metal tubes.

"Tony? What are you doing?" Pepper asked, surprised.

"Darling, I'm working on a project. Do you want to see it?" Tony asked with a smile.

"You had to make a mess in the house?" Pepper asked, almost amused, seeing him give an innocent smile despite the destruction.

"It was necessary. I'm materializing a new element," Tony said, repressing his smile as he awaited Pepper's astonished expression.

"What?" Pepper asked, unable to believe what she had heard.

"You created a new element? How long did I sleep?" Pepper asked, feeling confused.

"My father discovered this element; he left it for me to materialize," Tony said as he finished arranging and stabilizing the particle accelerator.

"Wow," Pepper said as she watched Tony work. She walked behind him, found a seat, and watched him while resting her head on her hands.

Tony finished assembling the particle accelerator and prepared the core.

Before activating it, he handed Pepper a pair of goggles to protect her eyes.

Tony activated the accelerator, and there was a growing hum.

"Prismatic accelerator initiated," Jarvis said as the lights in the accelerator started to increase in speed.

"Peak energy point," Jarvis said. There was a loud hum, and the accelerator trembled slightly.

Tony quickly approached and, wearing his suit, rotated the prism, causing a laser to emerge from the accelerator and approach the core gradually.

The laser touched the core, and there was an even louder hum. Pepper covered her ears as she looked at the bright light.

The core became saturated with energy before Tony turned off the accelerator and approached the core.

He took it in his hand and examined it closely.

"Congratulations, sir. You have created a new element," Jarvis said.

Tony took the core and placed it in a new reactor with a triangle in the middle.

"Triangular?" Pepper asked, who had come closer to look. The reactor was spinning and resembled a beating heart.

"The reactor has accepted the modified core; I will begin running diagnostics," Jarvis said.

"I'm just testing a new concept," Tony said with a smile as he gently embraced Pepper's waist, and they both looked at the core.

"What makes this reactor different?" Pepper asked curiously.

"It seems to replicate some of the energy of the Tesseract. It's a cube with mystical powers," Tony said. According to the information he had read, his father had studied the Tesseract and had tried to create clean energy through it.

"Mystical powers? Do you believe in things like that?" Pepper asked, half teasingly. Tony had always been a man of science.

"Yes, I didn't believe it either, but magic and supernatural things exist in the world," Tony said, carefully taking Pepper's hand.

"I've seen things like that, I've even fought someone like that. That's why I need to make my armors stronger; I must protect you and the little thing in your stomach," Tony said to Pepper, knowing that she didn't particularly like him using his armors.

"It seems like there are many things you haven't told me," Pepper said, looking at Tony sternly.

"I just didn't want to worry you. I promise I'll tell you everything now," Tony said, kissing Pepper's hand.

"You better," Pepper said, nodding.

"I'll tell you about the time I fought a man who's over a thousand years old," Tony said with a proud smile.

"He was a really tough opponent. In the end... it was a draw, and we both walked away," Tony said, coughing a little.

"Hah, a draw?" Pepper said, laughing at Tony's uncomfortable expression.

"Just wait until I have my new armor. If I see him again, I'll give him a beatdown," Tony complained.

"Well, take off the armor, and let's go eat something," Pepper said. It's still strange for her to see him in the armor.

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