Ivan Vanko

Li Yue's figure suddenly appeared in the living room of Tony's villa, all the way in Malibu.

"Welcome, Mr. Li Yue," Jarvis' robotic voice greeted Li Yue. He didn't understand why or how Li Yue had suddenly appeared in the villa, but he was already used to Li Yue's sudden appearance.

"Hello, Jarvis. What is Tony busy with?"

Li Yue didn't waste any time with formalities. He grabbed a can of Coca-Cola from Tony's fridge and drank it while nestled on the soft sofa.

Li Yue had been cultivating in Kamar-Taj for an entire month. Being a place dedicated to training, the food of Kamar-Taj was inevitably rough, although at least not unpalatable.

"Mr. Stark and Ms. Pepper are currently engaged in a heated discussion in the underground research laboratory," Jarvis replied. As expected of the most emotionally advanced Artificial Intelligence, Jarvis even knew when to use tact and save face for Tony.

"Would you like me to inform Mr. Stark of your arrival?" Jarvis asked Li Yue, who had made himself home on the sofa.

"No need, Jarvis. I'll just wait for them here," Li Yue replied.

"Project a game instead. It'll be quite boring to stay here doing nothing," Li Yue told Jarvis to project a game on the table, straightening himself.

...

Li Yue waited and played games for more than ten minutes before Tony and Pepper finally emerged from the underground laboratory.

Pepper was smiling when she and Tony came up the stairs. Tony then noticed Li Yue playing games on the sofa.

"Hey, it's been a month! You finally came back? Jarvis, why didn't you tell me that Li Yue came here?" Tony teased Li Yue before asking Jarvis.

"Sir, Mr. Li Yue said..."

"Don't blame Jarvis; I'm the one who told him not to bother you."

Li Yue ended his game when he saw Tony and Pepper. He waved his hands, signaling Jarvis to dismiss the projection.

Li Yue stood up from the sofa and walked to Tony and Pepper.

"Ms. Pepper, long time no see," Li Yue greeted Pepper first, extending his hand.

"Indeed, Mr. Li Yue." Pepper shook Li Yue's hand.

Li Yue and Pepper had a pretty good relationship, in no small part due to his rescue of her a while back.

"Alright, you boys, go chat. I'll have to get going; there are things to do in the company," Pepper excused herself after greeting Li Yue, leaving him and Tony alone.

The atmosphere significantly relaxed after Pepper left. They had truly become good friends—Tony might even place Li Yue above Rhodes in his heart.

"So, what have you been doing the past month? Why did you keep everyone in the dark?" Tony asked after the two of them sat comfortably on the sofa.

"Didn't I tell you? I went to learn magic."

"C'mon, now. I can still believe aliens, but magic is going too far," Tony replied skeptically.

"Oh well, I don't think I can convince you with words alone."

Li Yue pressed both of his hands down, and the entire villa shattered like a smashed toy house, slowly separating like an explosion in slow motion. The walls and roof folded into themselves, and the ground beneath them began expanding.

"Alright, alright! I believe you! Don't destroy my villa!"

Tony panicked when he saw his beloved villa being blown to pieces and the space inexplicably expanding right under his feet. He was scared shitless and immediately asked Li Yue to stop, afraid that his villa would be ruined.

Li Yue burst out laughing when he saw Tony panicking. This was the first time he saw Tony like this, and he thought it was very interesting, but he ultimately dispersed his Mirror Dimension magic, returning the villa to its normal state.

"Please, please tell me before you do something like that next time. I hate surprises." Tony sighed in relief when he saw the villa was safe and intact. "How did you do that? I saw you destroy the villa; how did you repair it in the blink of an eye?"

Tony being Tony, he quickly overcame his shock and examined the phenomenon that Li Yue created with scientific curiosity.

"This is magic, the culmination of my month-long study," Li Yue replied while taking a sip of Coca-Cola.

"That's magic? That's so cool! Where did you learn it? Give me the address so I can learn it too—I'll give you as much money as you want!" Tony pressed Li Yue, casually flaunting his wealth as usual.

"Forget about it; you should study how to improve your armor instead. It suits you better, and it's not like the technology is worse than magic," Li Yue rejected Tony. He didn't want to change Tony's path from technology to magic.

One iteration of Tony had actually become a Sorcerer Supreme in the comic books, but Li Yue can't guarantee that this iteration of Tony could do that. It's better for Tony to stay on the path of science and technology.

"You know what? You're right. A genius scientist like me is more suited to use technology to save the world," Tony readily accepted the rejection.

Of course, Tony didn't actually intend to abandon science for magic. The sense of accomplishment that he felt when upgrading his armor was incomparable.

However, Tony couldn't simply erase his curiosity about magic. Integrating magic into his armor technology would surely elevate it to a new height, Tony thought.

"Anyway, Tony, I didn't come here just to chat. Do you remember my warning to be careful before I leave?"

"Of course I do. I told Happy to lug around that portable armor everywhere I go, even though nothing had happened in the past month. Why, what's wrong?" Tony asked curiously.

"To be honest, I saw some fragments of your future. Parts of it included someone who secretly planned to attack you. That person also successfully assembled a miniature Arc Reactor—though it was relatively primitive compared to yours."

"That's impossible. I'm the only one who knows about Arc Reactor technology. There's absolutely no way that anyone else could make one," Tony firmly rebuked Li Yue's words in disbelief. He couldn't fathom how someone else could obtain the Arc Reactor technology.

"If you don't believe me, just look out for Anton Vanko and Ivan Vanko," Li Yue didn't insist that Tony believed him and instead told Tony about the two names.

"Jarvis, did you hear that? Find information about Anton Vanko and Ivan—wait, Anton Vanko? Have I heard that name somewhere before?" Tony felt a sudden sense of familiarity with that name. He then recalled where he had seen that name.

"Oh right, his name was in my father's keepsakes!" Tony facepalmed.

Jarvis then reported the result of its investigation...