Trip to New York

New York, the capital of the world. The bustling metropolis during the day, and the Gotham of the night.

The fast-paced hustle and bustle here surpassed imagination. The golden lights of the Empire State Building, like a lighthouse, the bustling Wall Street, the endless flow of traffic, and the Statue of Liberty standing on Liberty Island outlined the shining silhouette of the entire city, embodying the American Dream, or rather, America itself.

"Alright, Padawan," Tony, holding a dark red gold-lined briefcase, put on sunglasses from his chest pocket with one hand, and looked spiritedly at the familiar Kennedy Airport in New York, "Welcome to New York."

"I'm not so sure if New York welcomes me," Baia swiped her tablet, "Let's go pick up our luggage and then take a taxi to Wall Street—"

"What? No. Forget about those, we're not doing anything boring today."

"Then where are we going?" The girl looked up at him.

Manhattan, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

"Hey, don't be stupid!"

Baia pretended to be lifted up by Superman under the wax statue of Superman and stuck out her tongue.

"Do you think Bruce will be here?"

"I should be here. Why should he?"

"To be honest, I don't really want to be made into a wax figure. It looks quite terrifying."

"You're so short, it saves materials," Tony looked down at the sparrow.

"You're so rude!" Baia jumped up to attack him.

As a result, there was indeed a wax figure of Bruce in the wax museum. Baia took a photo with Bruce's wax figure and posted it on her social media. Dick even gave her a thumbs-up, which Tony commented as "the dumbest thing done today".

Times Square.

"The cheese in this place is terrible, I can't get rid of the taste of scrubbing pots all week," Tony commented while drinking cola.

"You've just insulted the act of scrubbing pots. I can't believe your evaluation of this place is so high."

"In my New York, it's really delicious. It seems that Keste Pizza & Vino isn't that reputable in every world!"

Bronx Zoo.

Several long-haired monkeys gathered in front of the glass curtain wall and stared at Baia. Tony didn't hesitate to mock, "Maybe they think you're one of them too, go over and recognize your relatives by blood."

"Why don't you move in and live with the red-bellied pheasants? You look like a family with them too," Baia retorted.

Broadway.

"Are we watching 'The Producers' or 'Chicago'?"

The girl checked the evening's schedule slightly.

Tony patted her, "Are we watching 'The Lion King' or 'Wicked'? It's better to choose the former. I'm worried you might empathize with the wicked witch."

"I'm already 16," Baia folded her arms, "I'm your partner, not a child!"

"I won't take a partner to the zoo."

"Isn't it because the pheasant joke didn't go well?"

When they came out of Broadway, it was already ten o'clock in the evening.

In the end, they watched "The Producers."

"Following this line of thought," Baia began to conceive "The Producers' Board", "we should find the most outrageous CEOs, engineers, and operators, and then release the worst products. Maybe we'll succeed."

"In my opinion, we've already completed the first step."

"For example?"

"For example, the most outrageous Baia Wayne," Tony wanted to pat the girl's not very smart head, but worried that she would get shorter with each pat, so he refrained.

As the sky darkened, New York City became even more magnificent. Under the cover of night, Tony could put on the Iron Man armor again and soar in the familiar night sky.

As for whether he would be detected by radar, it depended on how many geniuses like Timothy Drake there were in this world.

For Tony, there was a missing building here that should have been there, proudly bearing "STARK", and later, "Avengers". But that didn't matter much. It would appear here soon.

The golden-red armor cut through the night sky of New York, overlooking the familiar night scene. There was only a slight difference between the two New Yorks, which made him feel so relaxed.

"Do you see? When Stark Industries starts to turn a profit, we'll be listed there." Landing on the rooftop, Tony pointed to the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, brightly lit.

"Maybe it's too early to think about these things," Baia shouted in the wind to make sure Tony could hear her. Although Gotham and Metropolis were two of the largest cities, the feeling here was quite different from New York. She felt a bit cold, but standing high and overlooking the city was addictive.

Tony protested, "Come on, have a little confidence in my intelligence, okay?"

"Speaking of which, how much startup capital do we have left?"

"Uh, maybe enough to buy two dozen donuts." Tony recalled. After all, conducting research could be costly. Spending millions without any tangible results was normal. But because he planned to bring over some projects from the original Stark Industries that were already in production, it wouldn't be that expensive.

The most important thing for people is to learn to be optimistic. Although this meant that Baia might have to cover expenses like round-trip tickets and accommodation from her pocket money, she wrapped her scarf a little tighter and said calmly, "Then before we go back, we'd better really get some donuts. I'm too cold."

Baia's accommodation in New York was at a hotel, because they were only planning to stay for a day or two, so there was no need to rent a place. The address was also chosen by the AI, ensuring some serendipity.

Although the chairman of the Stark Group, known for his idleness, thought of having an exciting nightlife to relieve stress, he decided to send the girl back to her accommodation first, considering that the activities during the day were all like those of parents with children.

"Do you know any famous dessert shops in New York? It's better if it's closer to our place. It seems someone can't handle the cold." Tony remarked.

"The person in armor has no right to say that I can't handle it."

"I'm not asking you. Friday, any famous dessert shops nearby?"

"The nearest one," Friday said, "Hmm, that might be a 'Deadly' dessert shop."

Because Baia had booked the hotel, Tony only found out how remote the place was when he followed Friday's navigation. They flew directly from the bustling Manhattan to the run-down Brooklyn, basically a place where the rich would never go. Tony didn't know what he had done to deserve Baia's retaliation like this, or perhaps Wayne Enterprises was on the verge of bankruptcy.

This couldn't be called a dessert shop, because it was just a small window, lit with very warm lights at night, and there were only two waitresses inside.

"Hi, Iron Little Darling." The black-haired beauty inside the window, with long curly hair and a prominent cleavage even in the cold early spring, greeted Tony and Baia as they approached, leaning against the window, "Want a little cake?"

The blonde girl beside her whispered, "Hey, don't give guests random nicknames!"

"If it weren't for seeing a cupcake in the display case, I would really think she's selling something else." Tony muttered.

"Sharp guy," the black-haired beauty said, "You guessed my side business right away."

"Don't. Do you sell cupcakes made of human flesh?" Baia felt uneasy.

"No, we're a legitimate cake shop," the relatively tall and slender blonde girl beside her hurriedly declared loudly, uncertain if she had just poked the black-haired lady a few times, "Very, very legitimate."

"Yeah, it's just that extremes beget contraries," the black-haired beauty chimed in.

"Oh my God, Max!"

"Do you have donuts?" Tony asked.

"Donuts!" Max said, "Um, think of it positively, we have some cupcake-like small cakes."

"Cupcake-like," the blonde girl, Caroline, whispered to her, "Are you talking about the one I accidentally poked a hole in the middle with a rolling pin?"

"You might as well say it louder, Caroline," Max leaned back against the window, raising her eyebrows, "Okay, this very stiff handsome guy, we only have small cakes and hot clerks. I mean, hot clerks and not very smart clerks. Hurry up, buy something or leave. The cold wind is howling, and the window wants to close."

Baia protested, "Hey, there's a minor present."

Max leaned over the window sill and looked out for a moment, smiling at her, "Oh, sorry, didn't notice you, little elf."

Tony also looked at Baia and shrugged, "See, I told you your hobbit identity couldn't be hidden."

Baia rarely felt the same kind of helpless rage as Damian when he was teased. There were too many unreliable adults present!

Caroline was a bit frantic, "Stop giving guests random nicknames! Are you a little high tonight?"

"You found out again," Max muttered.

Finally, the waitresses received their tips and wages, and Baia got her cupcakes, cupcake-shaped normal cupcakes, not the kind with a hole in the middle.

Tony mused, "This New York might be more interesting than I imagined."

"As long as you're sure your target for amusement isn't me, that's fine," Baia replied weakly.

"At least teasing you in New York is more interesting than in Metropolis."

"...Is there such a thing as home advantage in this?"

After all the fuss, Baia finally returned to her room. Although in the relatively dilapidated and chaotic Brooklyn area, this room was considered decent. She refined the product design she discussed with Tony on the plane, mainly written by Friday. After all, things like business plans, when edited under Tim's guidance, would generally look decent. As the saying goes, people can do anything when pushed, except solve math problems, especially when it comes to applied physics and chemistry.

Baia's standards were at the level of eating cupcakes while helping Friday correct a few grammatical errors, although there weren't many to correct.

What surprised her was that the cupcakes from that little shop were really delicious. Baia could tolerate street stalls and street food, but as someone skilled in baking and cooking, she was actually quite picky about timing and seasoning proportions.

Unexpectedly, the next morning, she ran into them again.