The Future Returned to the Proper Path

Fanny returned to his room in a sour mood. He could more or less understand Tony's emotion, but he and Tony hadn't met back then. There wasn't any reason to go and save him, risking ruining the plot progression that he was familiar with.

Their relationship had become better after the last few contacts, Fanny thought gloomily. He had wanted to remind Tony about Yinsen's hometown, but Tony interrupted him before he could finish speaking. He had no idea what would happen now.

Tony arrived at his ball around the same time, in a similarly bad mood. People around him were shocked at his appearance.

One of the reporters on the scene had sworn up and down that Tony wouldn't appear. His arrival was almost like a public slap on the face for that reporter, but nobody cared about a random reporter right now. They were all curious about Tony.

Obadiah immediately stopped the interview he was in and came to greet Tony after hearing that he had arrived.

"Hey, look who's here."

There was a surprise on Obadiah's face. He smiled and looked up and down at Tony before walking closer and hugging him. He grasped Tony's shoulder and posed for a photo.

"I didn't expect you to come!" Obadiah whispered to Tony.

"What kind of world do we live in that I have to crash my own party?" Tony frowned, lights still flashing around them. He freed himself from Obadiah's hands. "See you inside."

"Hey!" Obadiah stopped Tony, afraid that he would make another incident like last time in front of all these reporters. He whispered in Tony's ear, "Listen, just take it easy, alright? I think I got the board exactly where we want them."

"Yes, I got it," Tony replied curtly. He had no other intention of coming here; he just wanted a place to have a drink and lighten his mood.

Tony headed straight to the bar and asked for a drink. A man with a receding hairline approached him with a smile.

"Hello, Mr. Stark; I am special agent Coulson."

The agent of the flowing water, the iron-clad Coulson, appeared.

"Oh, right, right, you are that something..." Tony recalled that when he was rescued, some government department seemed to have come looking for him. However, thinking about that incident reminded him of Fanny and Yinsen, and his mood became even worse.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division..."

Coulson either didn't notice or didn't care about Tony's impatient expression.

"You need a shorter name!" Tony gulped the drink in his glass, his eyes darting between people at the party,

"Yes, a lot of people say so," Coulson agreed with a smile. He continued, "We understand that you are in a precarious position in your life, but we need to debrief you."

"There are still many questions that need to be answered. Why don't we make an appointment for 7 p.m. on the 24th, at the Stark Industry?"

Coulson saw that Tony didn't want to talk now, so he didn't pressure him too much.

"Alright, you got it!" Tony actually did not pay attention to what Collinson was saying. He just heard that the agent wouldn't bother him for now, so he agreed.

Tony finally found the target he was looking for amidst the crowd. Seeing her beautiful and astonishingly charming figure, Tony half-heartedly said, "I have to excuse myself; I'll go to my assistant and go, uh, go make a date."

After bidding farewell to the half-bald old man, Tony walked towards his assistant, Pepper Potts.

"You are so beautiful today; I almost didn't recognize you!"

Tony's mood had improved a lot by Pepper's beauty.

"Why are you here?" Pepper Potts looked at Tony in surprise, as if not expecting to see him here.

"I offended a little boy who knows some magic tricks. I didn't know what to do, so I went for a walk." Tony did not want to lie to Pepper, but he also did not want to talk too much about this matter. He changed the topic and said, "This dress is stunning. Where did you buy it?"

"Oh..." Pepper lowered her head shyly and replied unnaturally, "It's a birthday present..."

"Not bad!"

"You gave it to me!" Pepper tried her best to reply in her usual tone.

"Then I have quite the taste!" Tony was obviously used to this interaction, but there was still a charming atmosphere between them.

"Do you... want to dance?" Tony felt a little awkward just standing around with a beautiful girl like Pepper in front of him.

"Oh, no," Pepper replied, just as awkward.

"It'll be fun; come on!" Tony, the self-centered playboy, obviously did not know what rejection was. He pulled Pepper's hand to the dance pool.

Then there was a series of beginning and development of a story where the overbearing president fell in love with his female assistant.

Unfortunately, this story had no chance to properly see itself through. A reporter interrupted Tony when he was getting a drink, saying the words that Tony had stopped Fanny from saying.

Yinsen's hometown had been attacked by terrorists, equipped with the latest weapons that Stark developed.

Everything still moved according to the original timeline.

The photos in the female reporter's hand reminded Tony of what Fanny was about to say before. His face darkened. He abandoned all thoughts about Pepper to the back of his mind and rushed to find Obadiah to press him about the weapons department.

That conversation was unpleasant, as expected. Tony angrily returned back home, suspicion of Obadiah brewing in his mind.

Tony stared at his suit's facial panel in the studio, considering his next steps. He glanced at the phone beside him, which contained Fanny's number.

"I can find out the truth even without you!"

Tony finally decided not to call Fanny. They just had a quarrel, so asking for help right now would be a mistake. At least, his pride would not allow it.

Tony also recalled what Fanny said before leaving. He's not entitled to anyone's help. Fanny did not owe him anything; they weren't even friends anymore.

Tony looked over the information he had gathered on the screen with a dark and serious expression. He looked at the mask on the table again and said to himself, "The flight system has been tested. Next, let's test the weapon system!"

The next day, in a military base somewhere in Afghanistan.

The sky was filled with endless explosions, interspersed with the sound of bullet fire. A man wearing bright red armor was walking confidently amidst the exploding munitions he had caused: it was Tony Stark.

"That Trickster Brat shouldn't be able to do something like this. Breaking that chair was the most that he could do!"

Tony bragged to himself, using his magnificent handiwork to look down on Fanny, even though he wasn't sure about how dangerous Fanny was.

Just the portal spell alone was enough for him to list Fanny as the most dangerous and strange person he had met in all these years.

Testing the strength of the armor made Tony overexcited and overconfident. That led him to have an unexpected skirmish with the military fighter jets on his way back home.

Of course, Tony would never admit that he made a mistake and accidentally provoked the military. And to some extent, he really was curious to test how much faster his armor was compared to a fighter jet.