After leaving Bucky at the foot of the mountain and placing a mark on him, Morin turned and left.
Bucky needed to walk his own road.
Only by seeking redemption himself could he truly move on from the past. Interfering now would only tangle things further.
The way Captain America handled it in the original timeline was clearly flawed. But Cap was human. Humans made mistakes. They had emotions, biases, reasons for their choices.
A perfect, purely rational decision only existed in an "ideal scenario."
And as everyone knew, ideal scenarios almost never existed.
"So next..." Morin thought. "Is there anything left?"
Tony didn't need watching. If Tony failed under these conditions, then he simply wasn't meant to be the protagonist. And Morin had already taken more than enough precautions to ensure his own retirement plan didn't go up in smoke.
Banner was walking his own path.
Bucky had his mission.
The major events were still far from their scheduled timeline.
As for that idiot Thor-he was probably still partying in Asgard.
Which meant the Avengers storyline was a long way off.
Thinking it through, Morin felt an itch.
Maybe it was time to open a new world.
Just as that thought formed, one of the marks he had set was triggered.
Tony's.
"...Huh?" Morin blinked. "Someone actually delivered a show right to my door?"
He casually waved a hand.
A massive screen unfolded in front of him, projecting Tony's location. At the same time, a bottle of soda, chips, sunflower seeds, and a deluxe bucket of fried chicken appeared in his hands.
He was fully prepared.
After all, being a spectator didn't mean you had to eat melons specifically.
Morin leaned back, satisfied.
Tony was no longer a rookie. He was a trained sorcerer who had received proper instruction from the Sorcerer Supreme.
How would he perform against enemies who thought he only relied on tech and armor?
...
"Sir, multiple missile launches detected," JARVIS warned, projecting a holographic display. "Target: the villa. Impact in ten minutes."
After the previous hacking incident, Tony had spent several days overhauling JARVIS.
This wasn't just a security patch.
It was a complete rebuild of his intelligence-gathering systems.
In the past, Tony only left backdoors in government systems for emergencies.
After realizing how deeply Hydra had infiltrated everything, he stopped playing nice.
If you won't govern, I will.
He no longer trusted governments or militaries.
So JARVIS quietly integrated into all of them.
Unofficially, of course.
By hacking the hell out of them.
The deepest integration was with the military network. Not long ago, Rhodey had asked Tony to upgrade Air Force security.
And it was perfectly normal for a network engineer to leave a convenient "maintenance backdoor."
The military wasn't completely helpless. They reviewed the system Tony delivered.
They found nothing.
Which made sense.
If they had the skill to find it, they wouldn't have needed Tony in the first place.
After the upgrade, Tony changed how JARVIS operated.
No more routine tasks.
JARVIS now monitored all suspicious activity.
Especially anything involving Tony Stark.
So the moment a military missile locked onto his villa, it was flagged.
"Bold move," Tony said calmly, sipping coffee. "Using a missile. Exposing deep-cover agents and risking my death... Don't they want my tech anymore?"
"Call Rhodey."
"Dialing Colonel Rhodes," JARVIS replied.
"Has our shut-in prince finally remembered the outside world?" Rhodey laughed as soon as he answered.
"What's a shut-in prince?" Tony asked.
"You. Haven't left the house in days. I just made it up. Like it?"
"Terrible," Tony said, stepping toward the mechanical arms. "How about 'Missile-Neutralizing Specialist'?"
"...Missile what?" Rhodey froze. "What are you doing now?"
"Because a missile is currently flying toward my house," Tony said as armor pieces locked into place. "And I'd rather it not blow up my home."
"...You serious? Where would a missile even come from?"
"A military base," Tony replied. "If I hadn't installed some monitoring, I'd be dead while drinking tea. JARVIS, send the data."
"Evidence sent," JARVIS confirmed.
"You handle the mole," Tony continued. "I'll handle the missile and whatever else shows up. Deal?"
The helmet slammed shut.
The ceiling opened.
Iron Man shot into the sky.
Morin even added background music to the recording.
He was filming everything.
Tony's takeoff was as cool as the movies-arguably better with the music.
Not that Tony knew.
Not that it mattered.
"You're serious..." Rhodey muttered, reviewing the files. His face darkened. "I'll scramble interceptors."
"No need," Tony said. "I know how hard it is to intercept a missile I designed."
"I'll take care of this."
"Your job is catching the spy. Alive."
"I have ways to get answers."
"...Alright," Rhodey said. "Be careful."
"I always am."
The call ended.
Tony smirked.
While the Magic Armor was still under development, Tony wasn't reckless. His current suit had been reinforced with multiple magical arrays.
Compared to fully integrated designs, these were slower, less durable, and drained power over time.
But they worked.
A Semi-Magic Armor.
As Tony flew out, specialized rounds struck his suit. High-powered rifle fire followed.
Sparks flew.
Fire burst.
Tony was knocked into the ocean.
"Target hit. Status unknown," reported a Hydra soldier in scuba gear.
"Maintain observation," Zola said quietly, watching through body cams.
If Tony died, perfect.
If he lived, the footage would reveal his defenses.
Either way, it was valuable.
EMP rounds.
Incendiaries.
Armor-piercing.
A flawless plan.
If this were the old Tony, he'd be dead.
The problem was the "if."
Minutes passed.
The ocean surface remained calm.
Zola frowned.
The missile was his final contingency.
The field team didn't know about it.
If Tony was already dead...
The missile would kill his own men.
Abort?
What if Tony was faking it?
Zola hesitated.
He ordered a check.
Divers went under.
They found Tony instantly.
Glowing armor stood out on the sea floor.
Which meant-
The suit was still active.
That alone was terrifying.
But active armor didn't guarantee a living pilot.
Those rounds should have liquefied him from the shock alone.
The suit wasn't built for that.
Tony should have been dead.
They didn't know cheaters existed.
Then they heard a voice.
Distorted by water.
Cold.
Calm.
"Nice prep," Tony said. "You've been watching for days. I ignored you, hoping for something bigger. Turns out you're just cautious."
"So."
"Who are you?"
Tony knew they were Hydra.
He just didn't say it.
Hydra still believed they were hidden.
Tony planned to exploit that.
He would pretend ignorance.
Investigate quietly.
Expose them when it hurt most.
The thought was deeply satisfying.
The Hydra soldiers didn't respond.
Underwater, they couldn't.
They fired while retreating, but water neutered the shots.
Tony was untouched.
Not because the armor was perfect.
Because of magic.
His magical research ran deeper than his tech.
Magic handled what tech couldn't fit.
Tech conserved mana.
Magic enhanced tech.
Sword and Sorcery.
Perfect synergy.
Moments later, only waves remained.
Tony retrieved a camera.
The red light was still on.
"Don't bother cutting the feed," Tony said into the lens. "I know I can't track you this way."
"But it doesn't matter."
"I'll find you."
"And when I do..."
"I'll erase you."
He crushed the camera.
Deep underground, Zola's voltage spiked.
Arrogance.
But he wasn't worried.
He'd planned for this.
He focused on the missile.
Hijacked a nearby camera.
Let's see you stop this.
If Tony tried to dismantle it, Zola would detonate it remotely.
Even if it didn't kill him, it would erase his home.
Then Zola saw it.
Tony raised a hand.
A ring of sparks formed.
The missile flew into it.
And vanished.
Zola: "...??!!"
Not visually gone.
Gone.
GPS.
Telemetry.
Everything.
What was that?
A wormhole?
Tony Stark had wormhole technology?
Zola was stunned.
He knew nothing of magic.
So he searched for a scientific explanation.
And found none.
One breakthrough was monstrous enough.
Two unrelated ones?
What kind of monster had Hydra provoked?
...
Morin finished editing and sent the video.
Payment arrived moments later.
From JARVIS.
Tony had set up automatic payment.
No limits.
Money was infinite to him.
For what Morin taught him, no price was too high.
Tony just didn't understand why Morin insisted on selling videos.
A quirk of the powerful, maybe.
Tony watched the footage.
...Damn.
Morin's cinematography really was top-tier.
Meanwhile, Morin stood once more above the sea of stars.
"Alright," he thought. "What's next?"
He activated a New World unlock.
Stars churned.
Light flared.
One star drifted forward.
[World Selected: Transformers (Movie Universe)]
[Please Select: New Profession]
[Please Select: Travel Time]
[Please Select: Travel Location]
"Transformers?" Morin raised an eyebrow.
What man hadn't dreamed of owning a car that turned into Bumblebee?
He suppressed the excitement and checked the professions.
"Hacker... World Peace Organization Member... what is an 'Uploader'?"
"Uploader," Morin chose instantly.
By rule.
And by instinct.
Hacker was redundant.
World Peace Organization sounded like "physical diplomacy."
He passed.
"Time: the day before Sam tries to sell the glasses," Morin said.
"Location: Sam's city."
[Selection confirmed. Travel commencing.]
He felt a brief squeeze.
A tunnel.
Then he was standing on a street.
"...So that's the transition," Morin murmured. "Maybe I'll see more as I get stronger."
Excitement stirred.
He started walking.
Destination: phone store.
For the Multiverse Phone Exhibition.
On the way, he checked his new profession.
[Uploader · Entry Level]
Title Bonuses:
[Constitution +10]: You need stamina to cross mountains, oceans, and crowds.
[Camera: Seven-Dimensional Space]: Invisible. Indestructible. Automatically finds the best angles. No more social suicide holding a phone.
[Skeleton Key]: While recording near a vehicle, its key appears in your pocket. You're not planning anything illegal... right?
[Transformers Universe]
Morin smiled.
"Looks promising."