Lynn shook his head at Tony's worried expression. "She's fine. She's staying at Natasha's apartment."
"With Natasha and Steve protecting her, she's not in any danger. As for me—Pepper asked me to find you, so I flew from New York to Tennessee yesterday."
He nodded toward the cheeseburger in Tony's hand. "Finish eating. After that, come back to New York with me."
Tony hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "I can't go back yet."
"The Mandarin's terrorist group is already targeting me. If I return now, I might drag Pepper into danger again."
"Lynn, Pepper is the most important person in my life. I can't keep putting her at risk."
He stood, meeting Lynn's eyes with rare seriousness. "That's why I need to take down the Mandarin and his organization completely. Only then will Pepper truly be safe... Buddy… I'm alone out here, my armor's broken, and I need you. For the sake of our friendship."
"Oh, come on, Tony—don't look at me with that deep, emotional gaze."
The way Tony said "I need you" sent goosebumps up Lynn's arms. "I respect everyone's life choices, but my orientation is perfectly normal."
"Damn it, there's a kid here—don't spout nonsense! And I already have Pepper!"
Tony spread his hands, then held out his fist. "So… we're doing this?"
"How childish."
He muttered it under his breath, but Lynn still lifted his fist and bumped it against Tony's.
"Oh—right. Here."
Lynn handed Tony a Sobering Potion. "I figured you might need this."
Tony's eyes lit up as he took it. "You're too thoughtful, Lynn. If you were a woman, then—"
"Hold that fucking thought or I'm killing you."
Lynn walked over to the battered sofa and glanced at the damaged armor parts spread around it. He raised his hand, appreciating the mechanical craftsmanship. "If you really want to thank me, then once this whole situation is over, give me a suit of armor."
In his previous life, he'd collected Iron Man figurines and helmets.
Now that he actually lived in the Marvel Universe, how could he not get a real Mark suit?
"No problem!"
Tony spread his hands, looking smug. "I already gave my best friend one, now you can also be considered as my close friend! Heh! I knew no man could resist the temptation of since and my armor. Not even you, Mr. Necromancer."
...
An hour later, in the town square—
A ruined wall stood in the center of town, covered in flowers and lit candles—clearly a memorial.
The dark, charred outline on the wall looked like the lingering shadow of a person caught in an explosion.
Tony glanced at Harley beside him. "The guy named Chad Davis lived near here, right?"
"Yeah." Harley crouched and gently touched the flowers. "He won a lot of medals when he was in the military."
"Then one day… people said he went crazy, made a bomb, and blew himself up. Right here."
Tony stared at the black human-shaped marks on the wall. "Six people died, didn't they? Including Chad Davis?"
"That's right."
Tony nodded at the boy's answer, then turned his gaze toward Lynn.
Lynn wasn't looking at the wall—he was staring at the flowers, but in truth, his focus was on the spirit of Chad Davis standing there.
Even though Chad Davis had been dead for a while, his spirit hadn't passed into the Realm of Death.
And he could still speak—barely, only fragments of words.
But that alone made Lynn's pulse quicken.
Because it meant one thing.
It meant Chad Davis's obsession was stronger than the purple-level obsessions Lynn had seen before—the ones left behind by young girls murdered by vampires.
The realization sent a spark of excitement through him.
Finally—he had encountered something above purple.
"I… not… murderer… Killian… killed… revenge…"
Hearing Chad Davis force out those broken words again and again, Lynn instantly understood: this was an incredible, unexpected gain.
And Chad Davis couldn't possibly be Killian's only victim.
If Killian had been running Extremis experiments in secret, then his base might contain even more spirits—and obsessions even stronger than this one.
The thought alone had Lynn itching to move, to take down Killian immediately and claim those powerful obsessions.
"This doesn't make sense, Lynn."
Tony stepped up beside him and pointed at the wall. "Six people died here, but there are only five silhouettes."
"Remember when Happy was attacked by those terrorists? Before he went under, he said the guy felt hot—like molten metal was running through his veins."
"I think Killian's running some kind of experiment."
Lynn nodded at Tony's words.
Just as he was about to speak, Harley piped up, "People in town say those shadows appear when the dead go to heaven."
"And Chad Davis was the murderer. He doesn't deserve to go to heaven. He did bad things—so he can only go to hell. That's why there's no shadow for him."
Tony shrugged and looked at Lynn. "Which means my theory is probably right. Killian's experiment might let people regrow limbs, but everyone taking part becomes a walking time bomb."
"And the one funding him has to be the Mandarin. If we're lucky, we can take them down in one go."
"No problem."
Lynn nodded at Tony's straightforward plan. "So what now?"
"Hmm… get clearer intel first. Then fix the armor."
Tony looked at Harley. "Alright, kid, you can go home. My friend and I have work to do."
"You sure you don't need me?"
Harley clearly didn't want to go home.
"No need."
Tony pulled his hat lower and spoke seriously. "Things are about to get dangerous. Your mission is to take care of my armor. Can you handle that?"
"Of course! No problem!"
Harley nodded hard. "I'll definitely protect it!"
After watching the kid run off, Lynn raised an eyebrow. "You're pretty good with kids."
"Of course. Don't forget—I'm the smartest man of the century. Coaxing a kid or two is easy."
Lynn: "..Dude.. don't say such things.."
"On a serious note," Tony then looked toward the bar. "When Harley and I were talking, he mentioned that after Chad Davis died, his mom started going to the bar a lot to drink away her grief."
"Maybe we can get some real information from her."