"Holy crap! A Town Portal Scroll!!!"
Seeing the pale gray item in Steve's hand, Mo couldn't help but exclaim.
Mo had always known that he would eventually make it back, but he didn't expect his luck to be this outrageous — he could return immediately. Honestly, it felt almost surreal.
If it weren't for the fact that he hadn't had a dream since awakening his Stand, he would have thought he was still dreaming.
"I can finally go back..."
Staring at the homecoming scroll in his hand, Mo couldn't help but reminisce about the world full of blocks. Truthfully, it felt like a lifetime ago.
He could even feel that world, his world, calling out to him.
The pull was so strong that he didn't want to stay even one second longer.
However, considering the special nature of the Mysterious Island mod, Mo had a gut feeling he might return someday. So he gritted his teeth and took care of some unfinished business to avoid causing himself trouble later.
After quickly fixing himself some breakfast, Mo walked to the living room, sat by the coffee table, and began eating while watching the news.
The commotion from last night had indeed been massive. Now the media was flooded with reports about it — especially the monster battle between Abomination and the Hulk. Naturally, Mo had been captured on video as well. He couldn't quite understand the mindset of regular citizens in the Marvel world; even with their lives in danger, they still had the guts to stay behind and film.
However, although footage and videos had leaked, none of it showed the full sequence of events — it all ended right around when Mo and the Hulk teamed up to attack Abomination.
Mo figured this was likely due to the military and S.H.I.E.L.D. deliberately intervening. Plus, things had gotten really dangerous toward the end of the battle, so the citizens probably didn't dare keep filming.
Still, even the partial footage of the monster battle was enough to ignite fear and debate among the American public.
Naturally, people wanted to know where the monsters came from. After all, the military's history of shady experiments wasn't exactly a secret. Speculation ran wild — maybe it was another secret project gone wrong.
Beyond that, they were also curious about the mysterious newcomer: Was he a superhero? Or another freak created by the military?
Meanwhile, there were also major developments at Stark Industries.
First, regarding Obadiah: the official statement was that he had died in a lab accident — in short, he was gone.
With such a major shake-up, Tony Stark had no choice but to hold a press conference, even if he didn't want to. During the conference, he explained that Stark Industries would be shifting focus; they would no longer manufacture weapons — not in this lifetime. The company would likely transition into the energy sector instead.
Of course, this was still just a proposal. A giant like Stark Industries couldn't pivot overnight.
At the press conference, some reporters even gathered information about the Iron Man suit and bombarded Tony with questions. They asked about the flying robot and whether it had any ties to Stark Industries. Given that Abomination had recently gone berserk, the media wondered if Stark Industries was secretly collaborating with the military on experimental tech.
Yes, even though, thanks to Mo's influence, Obadiah and Stark hadn't reenacted their mecha showdown in New York like in the original story, Tony's high-profile antics — like flying around in the suit — still drew plenty of attention.
After all, Tony Stark never really intended to keep a low profile.
The military and higher-ups had anticipated this, so they handed him a carefully crafted speech to explain everything.
But, unsurprisingly, Tony barely skimmed the speech before tossing it aside in impatience. Without hesitation, he blurted out the most iconic line in Marvel history:
"The truth is... I am Iron Man."
The media immediately exploded. Flashbulbs went off like crazy — everyone was desperate to break the story.
"This guy is unbelievable."
An agent watching from below smacked his forehead: "I prepared fifty witnesses for him! Why can't he just stick to the script...?"
As for Tony himself —
After saying the line, he suddenly frowned, as if something had just occurred to him.
Then his whole body tensed up, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Yes — right after declaring himself Iron Man, Tony suddenly remembered: back when he first met Mo, Mo had blurted out, *"Holy crap, Iron Man."*
Connecting the dots, Tony realized Mo had been oddly specific in their conversations. Mo had also shown unusual concern about palladium — constantly joking about radiation and even bluntly pointing out flaws in Tony's arc reactor. Last night, Mo even offered to help if Tony ended up vomiting from drinking chlorophyll.
Tony, of course, knew chlorophyll could help mitigate heavy metal poisoning. And his reactor did have a palladium toxicity issue. But how could a so-called "wizard" with no scientific background know all that?
A wave of indescribable absurdity surged through Tony.
He realized that Mo's behavior had been suspicious from the start — the things he said, the way he looked at Tony, even his casual attitude — as if he knew Tony intimately.
It was unsettling.
"Hey, Tony, where are you going?"
Seeing Tony suddenly leave the press conference, Pepper Potts and Colonel Rhodes hurried after him.
"Something urgent just came to mind. I have to handle it immediately."
As Tony spoke, he was already getting into his car.
"Pepper, deal with the reporters. Happy, drive."
"Boss, where to?" Happy asked dutifully.
"To Mo's place!" Tony barked.
"He should still be home!"
Without another word, Happy slammed the accelerator, and the car roared off toward the outskirts of New York City.
However, when Tony arrived at Mo's place —
He caught sight of Nick Fury walking out, face like thunder.
"Tony Stark. The famous Iron Man," Fury greeted, stepping forward.
"Looks like you're here for Mo, too. But I'm afraid we're both too late."
"Too late?"
Tony froze. "He left?"
"No." Fury shook his head.
"He's already gone. As for where... no one knows. Could be somewhere in the universe, or another dimension. We have no clue."
Hearing this, Tony was at a loss for words. A heavy, suffocating feeling pressed down on his chest.
He had so many questions — and now, nowhere to ask them.
"For what it's worth, he did leave you something," Fury added.
"What?" Tony blinked.
Without a word, Fury pulled something from inside his coat.
It was a pure, golden apple.
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