Chapter 7: The Return of Iron Man
Ben stood behind a two-way mirror in Stark Industries' executive level, watching the press conference setup below. Pepper had kept her promise—he was safe, fed, and about to witness history. His hands shook not from his child body's weakness, but from the sheer unreality of it all.
"Tony Stark. The actual Tony Stark is about to walk through that door."
His adult mind warred between fanboy excitement and the dark knowledge of coming threats. This moment—this exact moment—would change everything. The birth of the modern superhero age, spoken into existence with four simple words.
The press corps below buzzed with anticipation, cameras positioned to capture every angle. James Rhodes stood near the podium, looking like a man preparing for disaster. He clutched prepared statement cards that Ben knew Tony would ignore completely.
"Stick to the cards, Rhodey. He won't, but you'll try."
The door opened, and Tony Stark entered.
Even through the mirror, his presence was magnetic. The man who had stared down death in an Afghan cave, who had built impossible technology with his bare hands, who carried the weight of his own transformation in every step. The arc reactor's faint glow was visible through his shirt—the heart that would save and slowly poison him.
Ben's breath caught as Tony approached the podium, that familiar confidence masking exhaustion and trauma that only someone who knew his story could recognize.
"Here it comes. The moment everything changes."
Tony sat down, glanced at the prepared cards, then looked directly into the cameras. Rhodes leaned forward, desperation clear in his voice.
"Stick to the cards, Tony."
Tony's pause stretched for an eternity. Ben could see the decision forming, the weight of revelation against the burden of lies. Then Tony's jaw set with familiar determination.
"The truth is..."
Another pause. The room held its breath.
"I am Iron Man."
The room erupted. Cameras flashed like strobe lights, reporters shouted questions over each other, and chaos bloomed from four simple words. Ben watched Tony's face through the mayhem—relief mixed with terror at what he'd just unleashed upon the world.
Ben's System suddenly convulsed with activity, text scrolling rapidly across his vision:
[TIMELINE INTEGRITY: STABLE]
[MAJOR CANON EVENT PRESERVED]
[CALCULATING REWARDS...]
[REWARD: 10 STANDARD TICKETS, 3 PREMIUM TICKETS]
[SPECIAL RECOGNITION: NON-INTERFERENCE BONUS]
Ben's jaw dropped. "The System rewards me for NOT interfering?"
The implication was staggering. He wasn't supposed to prevent events—he was supposed to guide them, shape them, ensure they happened while protecting the people he cared about. The System wanted him to be a guardian of destiny, not its destroyer.
"That changes everything about my role here."
As the press conference devolved into controlled chaos, security began ushering people out. Tony disappeared through a side door, probably heading for his office where Pepper would be waiting with a thousand urgent concerns about the fallout from his revelation.
"Ready to meet your future father?" Pepper's voice came from behind him.
Ben turned, his carefully prepared adult eloquence abandoning him completely. "I... yes. Maybe? He's really Iron Man and I knew but I couldn't say because it comes out wrong like banana hammock wrong and—"
"Slow down." Pepper's smile was gentle. "He's still just Tony. A little more complicated now, but still just Tony."
"Just Tony. Right. The man who'll save the world a dozen times over."
They walked through corridors that hummed with post-announcement energy. Staff members rushed past with phones pressed to their ears, stock prices probably fluctuating wildly, the entire corporate machinery of Stark Industries adapting to their CEO's bombshell revelation.
Tony's office was a sanctuary of controlled chaos when they arrived. He sat behind his desk, tie loosened, looking like a man who'd just jumped off a cliff and was hoping his parachute would open.
"There's someone you should meet," Pepper said simply.
Tony looked up, and Ben found himself face-to-face with Iron Man. His hero. His future father. The man who would teach him that with great power came the choice to do better.
"Hi, I'm Ben, and you're awesome—I mean, uh, I sneaked into your building to help, but I can't explain how I know things because it comes out wrong, like banana hammock wrong, but I drew pictures, and—"
Ben realized he was rambling and forced himself to stop. Tony blinked, looked at Pepper with raised eyebrows.
"Is this the kid from the security footage? The tiny ninja?"
Pepper nodded. "Ben Parker. Age ten. Homeless for three weeks. Enhanced abilities. Impossible knowledge about your research. And he infiltrated our building to warn you about palladium toxicity."
Tony studied Ben with those sharp, assessing eyes—the same look he'd give to a particularly interesting piece of technology. Ben felt dissected, analyzed, catalogued. But underneath the scrutiny was something else: curiosity mixed with recognition. This kid had broken into his building to help him. In Tony's world, that meant something.
"Show me these pictures."
Ben pulled out his drawings with trembling hands. The crude sketches of armor, arc reactors, and crucially, the one showing Tony clutching his chest in pain with dark veins spreading from the reactor site—his desperate attempt to illustrate palladium poisoning years before it would manifest.
Tony examined each drawing with increasing intensity. His genius mind needed no verbal explanation—the images spoke clearly enough. Arc reactor technology. Armor schematics remarkably detailed for a child's work. And warnings about problems he'd barely begun to suspect.
"Kid, how do you know about the palladium issue? I haven't even fully confirmed..." He stopped, fingers flying across his tablet. "JARVIS, pull up security logs from yesterday. The workshop."
The holographic display showed Ben placing his sticky note on the palladium research cabinet. "Check for toxicity." Written in a child's careful script.
Tony's expression shifted from skepticism to something approaching awe. "This child somehow knows about a problem I'm just starting to understand."
He looked at Ben with new intensity. "Who are you, really?"
Ben opened his mouth to explain—dreams of the future, knowledge from another world, the weight of knowing what was coming—but the words wouldn't form. His speech restriction held firm, protecting the secret that would sound like madness if spoken.
Instead, he said simply, "I see bad things that are going to happen. And I want to help stop them."
The honesty in his voice, the desperate sincerity of a child trying to save someone he admired, broke something loose in Tony's chest. This boy reminded him of himself at that age—brilliant, driven, carrying knowledge that felt too heavy for small shoulders.
"Pepper, I think we need to keep this one close. Really close."
[QUEST COMPLETE: GAIN PEPPER POTTS' TRUST]
[REWARD: 3 PREMIUM TICKETS]
[NEW QUEST: BECOME PART OF TONY'S INNER CIRCLE]
[REWARD: 5 PREMIUM TICKETS, 2 LEGENDARY TICKETS]
Tony made an impulsive decision—the kind that had defined his entire life. "Ben, how do you feel about staying in Stark Tower for a while? We'll figure out your... situation... and maybe you can help me with a few projects."
Ben's heart soared even as his adult mind screamed warnings about changing too much too fast. But the smile on Tony's face—the first genuine smile since his return from Afghanistan—made it worth any risk.
"I'd like that," Ben said softly. "I'd really like that."
The MCU timeline had just gained a new variable: a ten-year-old with a gacha system and a hero's heart. The consequences would ripple through history in ways none of them could imagine.
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