"Tony Stark?" Lucas asked, his voice tinged with disbelief. "Iron Man?"
Inside, Lucas was screaming. A thousand alpacas were stampeding through his mind.
This timeline is cursed.
First, Gwen Stacy exists in the wrong decade. Now, Tony Stark becomes Iron Man without the trauma?
"What is happening?" Lucas thought. "Did I merge with a bootleg universe? Is this the 'Direct-to-DVD' timeline?"
He stared at the sleek armor. It looked perfect. It looked like the MCU version. But the context was all wrong.
"Yes," Tony's voice came through the speakers, dripping with swagger. "I am Iron Man. Tony Stark."
Tony was enjoying this. For weeks, he had been the one sweating over Lucas's diary, panicking about Ultron and Zombies. Now, the tables had turned. Seeing the "all-knowing" Transmigrator look confused? Priceless.
"It doesn't make sense," Lucas muttered, mostly to himself. "You look like the Robert Downey Jr. version. You shouldn't be... this advanced yet."
Tony's heart skipped a beat. He knows about the actor.
"Why can you fly?" Tony deflected, firing back with his own question. "My sensors show no jetpack. No anti-grav boots. How are you doing that?"
Lucas floated there, arms crossed, looking at the technological marvel in front of him.
"Humans can fly," Lucas deadpanned. "It's perfectly logical."
Tony nearly choked inside his helmet.
"Logical?" Tony sputtered. "In what universe is a human flying without assistance logical? That violates every law of aerodynamics!"
"Maybe you just haven't seen enough of the world," Lucas smirked. "There are plenty of people who can fly. Some can even travel through space without a suit."
"Space?" Tony's eyes widened. "Without a suit?"
"Captain Marvel," Lucas thought. "Thor. Silver Surfer."
"You're Iron Man," Lucas said, regaining his composure. "But you're still thinking small. The universe is a big place."
"Who are you?" Tony asked again. "And don't give me that 'Superman' nonsense."
He knew the name was Lucas Chen. He knew everything about him. But he had to play the game.
"Want to know my name?" Lucas grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes behind the glasses. "Catch me first."
"If your hot rod can keep up with me, I'll tell you everything."
"Oh, you're on," Tony said, his competitive streak flaring up. "Prepare to eat my dust, Flyboy."
BOOM.
Lucas vanished.
He didn't just accelerate. He exploded forward, tearing through the cloud layer like a bullet.
"Chase him!" Tony shouted.
The Mark 2 thrusters roared to life. Tony pushed the throttle to max. The G-force pressed him into the seat.
"Jarvis! Speed check!"
"Target is moving at Mach 2, Sir," Jarvis reported calmly.
"Mach 2?" Tony gasped. "Is he insane? The friction alone should cook him!"
"Target's skin temperature is... normal," Jarvis noted. "He appears to be immune to atmospheric friction."
Tony gritted his teeth. The Mark 2 could hit Mach 1 comfortably. Mach 2 was pushing the structural integrity. But more importantly, it was pushing Tony's integrity.
He wasn't a trained pilot. He was a billionaire in a metal suit. At Mach 2, a sudden turn would turn his brain into jelly.
But Lucas? Lucas was weaving through the clouds, doing barrel rolls, looking back and laughing.
"He's playing with me," Tony realized. "He's not even trying."
"Jarvis," Tony panted, sweat stinging his eyes. "Divert power to thrusters. Let's see what this baby can really do."
"Sir, structural integrity at 85%. G-force warning."
"Just do it!"
The Iron Man suit surged forward, a streak of gold in the grey sky.
Ahead of him, Lucas looked back.
"Not bad for a tin can," Lucas thought. "But let's see how he handles the vertical."
Lucas angled his body upward. Straight up. Toward the sun.
He ascended like a rocket.
Tony followed. But as the altitude climbed, the air thinned. The repulsors struggled. And the icing problem...
"Sir," Jarvis warned. "External temperature dropping. Ice formation detected on control surfaces."
"Icing problem," Tony whispered, remembering Lucas's earlier comment. "He knew."
"Deploy flaps! Break the ice!"
Tony stalled, tumbling for a moment before the ice shattered and he regained control.
By the time he leveled out, Lucas was gone.
Just a speck in the sun.
"Damn it," Tony cursed.
"Sir," Jarvis said. "He left a message."
"What?"
"On the HUD. He used sign language before he accelerated out of range."
"What did he say?"
"He said: 'Nice try, Tin Man. See you around.'"
Tony floated there, humiliated but exhilarated.
"He's fast," Tony admitted. "Faster than the suit. Faster than sound."
"But," Tony grinned, "now I have data. And data is all I need."
"Jarvis, start working on the Mark 3. We need more speed. And better G-force compensation."
"And maybe," Tony looked up at the sun, "we need to look into this 'Bio-Gravitational' flight. If humans can fly... I want to know how."