At night, Harry arrived at Tony Stark's seaside villa as agreed.
This time, instead of taking the exhausting cross-country drive from New York to Los Angeles that had nearly taken a full day before, he came directly on his supersonic flying skateboard.
"Welcome, Mr. Osborn. Please place your flying device in the living room. Mr. Stark is waiting for you in the basement."
Jarvis's smooth, magnetic voice sounded in Harry's ear as he approached the door.
"Alright," Harry replied. He guided the flying skateboard down, powered it off, picked it up with one hand, and entered through the automatically opening door.
Clang.
Dropping the board aside, Harry followed the voice prompts leading him down to Tony Stark's basement.
"Knock knock."
Seeing Tony's back turned as he tinkered with an Iron Man suit, Harry rapped on the frame.
"Hey, you're here," Tony said, setting down his tools and turning around.
"Yeah." Harry glanced around for a chair and sat down. The place was as cluttered as he'd imagined.
"Want a drink?" Tony asked, moving toward the wine cabinet.
"Anything's fine," Harry said. He already knew Stark only stocked high-end liquor down here, so he didn't bother specifying.
"Ha…" Tony came over with two delicate glasses, the liquid inside gleaming amber under the light. He handed one to Harry and tossed back his own.
"So," Harry said, setting his glass down with a faint clink, "what did you want to talk about?"
Tony set his glass aside, too, his expression suddenly serious.
"It's about the armor you took away last night," he said.
"The armor?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Well, to be precise, that's not entirely correct." Tony's serious face twisted slightly, as if he'd just swallowed something bitter.
"It's not the armor itself, but the arc reactor inside it. That armor's design isn't exactly to my taste," he added, pouting as he shook his head.
"If you're worried I'll turn that reactor into a weapon, you can relax," Harry said mildly, swirling the wine in his glass.
"What?" Tony blinked at him.
"I didn't take your arc reactor," Harry explained calmly. "I destroyed it — along with the armor."
"Destroyed?" Tony repeated, clearly not following.
"Yes. But honestly, that armor taught me a lot," Harry said, smiling faintly.
"It's rare for me to encounter something I don't understand," Tony replied, raising an eyebrow and taking another sip. "That's one of them."
Harry chuckled. Tony Stark's personality was just as he expected — obviously curious, but too proud to admit it.
"It's one of my abilities," Harry said simply, catching Tony's attention at once.
"I can convert special items into energy — and absorb that energy into myself. That armor disappearing before your eyes? That was me."
Tony frowned. "Are you… a mutant?"
"Of course not," Harry replied, raising his hands lightly. "My powers didn't appear in puberty, and I don't have the so-called X-gene in me."
"That's good," Tony said, relaxing as he got up to pour himself another drink. "If the head of Oscorp turned out to be a mutant, the company's stock price would crash by morning."
He came back over, wine glass in hand, smirking.
"I want to see this ability for myself. Can you show me?" Tony said, drinking down the wine and getting to the point. He still clearly didn't believe Harry.
"No problem," Harry said with a grin. He'd been waiting for this.
His eyes drifted toward the sleek gold-and-red Iron Man armor displayed under the spotlight.
"That one — can I?" he asked, pointing toward it.
Tony bit his lip. "Does it have to be that one?"
"It's the most special thing you've got here," Harry said with a shrug.
Tony sighed. "Fine."
Harry smiled, stood up, and approached the armor with his empty glass in hand. Then he placed his palm against the chest plate.
"Ding dong."
"Item detected — Iron Man Armor Mark IV (60). Owner authorization granted. Convert item into points?"
As expected — because the suit belonged to Tony Stark, Harry normally couldn't convert it. But with Tony's permission, it was possible.
"Convert," Harry said quietly.
Instantly, the Iron Man suit vanished into thin air.
"Conversion complete. Remaining host points: one hundred twenty-five."
Harry calmly refilled his glass, sat back down, and took a slow sip.
Tony rubbed his eyes hard, then ran his hands through the empty display case — nothing.
"Jarvis!" Tony barked.
"Yes, sir," Jarvis's composed voice replied.
"What just happened?" Tony demanded. His newest armor had vanished right before him.
"Sir, your new Iron Man Suit Mark IV has disappeared," Jarvis reported evenly.
"I know that, Jarvis! I want to know how it disappeared!" Tony snapped.
"Sir, no unusual activity was detected," the AI answered.
Tony froze. He knew Jarvis's precision — nothing escaped his sensors, not even the faintest energy fluctuation. Yet this… nothing. No spike, no trace, no distortion. The suit had simply ceased to exist.
"I don't get it, Harry," Tony muttered. "How did you do that?"
"I honestly don't know the mechanism," Harry said evenly. "But I can assure you that armor's never coming back."
"Alright," Tony said finally, accepting the answer. He let it drop — at least for now.
"Sir, someone is attempting to hack into my system," Jarvis suddenly reported. The basement lights flickered violently, struggling for a few seconds before going dark.
"Jarvis? Jarvis!" Tony shouted into the gloom.
"Hey," Harry murmured, patting Tony's arm.
"Huh?"
"Someone's coming," Harry said, eyes narrowing toward the doorway.
A shadow appeared against the faint glow of the emergency lights.
"I'm Iron Man, Mr. Stark," came a deep, authoritative voice. "Did you really think you were the only superhero in this world?"
---
A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
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