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"Hey! Jimmy! You're back."
A familiar voice came from the sidewalk.
Peter Parker had just finished his newspaper route when he spotted the red bird perched on Jimmy's shoulder.
"Oh man, what is that? An eagle. Why is it red? Hold on. Let me get a picture and figure out what species this is."
Peter was already pulling out his phone.
Jimmy barely had time to react.
"See you later, Happy."
Happy Hogan nodded as he handed Jimmy a thin document.
"Oh... Almost forgot, this is for you. Tony had it arranged. That is the legal ownership certificate for your red bird."
He hesitated, then added.
"There was also paperwork for a brown bear, But I guess that is no longer necessary."
Jimmy blinked.
"All right.. Thanks, Tell him I appreciate it. I will stop by tomorrow."
Happy waved and drove off.
Only then did Jimmy turn back to Peter.
Peter had found a stick, skewered a piece of bread onto it, and was cautiously offering it to Horus.
"Hey! Peter! If you already know it might be an eagle, you should also know that it eats meat."
He sighed.
"Please do not tease it with bread. Horus might start thinking humans are stupid."
Peter froze.
"Oh... Oh... It's name is Horus. So it really is an eagle, It is a little small, but it is incredible."
His eyes lit up.
"Can I pet it?"
"No," Jimmy replied immediately. "I would rather not explain why you lost a finger."
Peter laughed awkwardly.
"Fair enough, So, About work. The newspaper thing did not really pan out."
Jimmy raised an eyebrow.
"But I did find something else," Peter added quickly. "I am delivering papers now. Aunt May said if I earn enough money for a decent lens this summer, she will help me buy a secondhand camera."
His voice grew more animated.
"If I get a camera, I can take street photos of Iron Man and sell them to the papers; That should cover tuition supplies when school starts again."
Jimmy stared at him.
This kid really had ambition.
In the most chaotic way possible.
"Oh. Right," Peter said suddenly. "I brought you something."
Jimmy opened his pack and pulled out two enormous pinecones.
These were not from any North American forest. They were unmistakably from Middle-earth.
"Whoa," Peter said. "Those are huge. Looks like your trip paid off."
"It did," Jimmy replied. "And the day after tomorrow, I am checking out a warehouse. If the next publishing payment comes through, I am buying it."
Peter's eyes widened.
"You mean like a base."
"Exactly."
"That is awesome."
---
After Peter left, Jimmy unpacked and started cooking.
When Yinsen returned home, Jimmy stepped out of his room.
"Welcome home." Yinsen smiled faintly.
"Good to be back."
---
The next day, Jimmy arrived at Stark Tower.
The massive power generation structure at its base had already been completed.
Clean energy. Stable output. Scalable enough for the city and precise enough for laboratories.
From a business standpoint, it was perfect.
Pepper Potts was in no rush, The buyers would come.
Jimmy took the elevator straight to the top floor.
Tony's office.
He waited in the reception area, holding a glass of juice in his hand, with Horus standing calmly on his shoulder.
The door slid open.
"Well, look who finally decided to show up."
Tony grinned.
"Our bestselling author himself. Come here. Let your uncle take a look at what you dragged back from wherever you vanished to."
"Haha! Seeing you safe really is the best news I've had all week!"
Tony laughed as he stepped forward.
Jimmy did not respond immediately.
Instead, he calmly placed two small metal chips on the table. They had been pried out of his blades.
Tony's smile froze.
Jimmy nudged the disabled chips toward him.
"I'm not against safety measures," Jimmy said. "But you could've told me. I need some privacy. If you do things like this, how am I supposed to accept your gifts in the future?"
Tony coughed lightly.
"Well… " It's not exactly like that," he said, a little too quickly. "That tracker barely sent anything back. Just a few training clips. I was worried about you."
He straightened, confidence returning.
"And you're a kid. Since when do kids need privacy? If I didn't know where you were, how could I have arranged the legal permit for Horus?"
Somewhere between his second and third sentence, Tony had gone from apologetic to completely self-righteous.
Jimmy sighed.
"All right. I admit it. I owe you one. Thank you."
This time, the words were sincere.
Tony waved it off. "No problem. But seriously, that bird eagle, falcon, dragon thing what species is it? Red isn't exactly standard."
"No idea," Jimmy replied. "Oh, right. I brought you something."
He reached into his pocket and placed a dull silver ingot on the table.
"Some metal. See if you recognize the alloy. It might help with your armor."
Tony barely glanced at it.
Metal was metal. He did not believe any alloy could surpass Stark Industries' work.
Except for vibranium, there was nothing he could not replicate.
"Oh, by the way," Tony added casually, "I heard you got straight A's. Any thoughts on college?"
Jimmy thought for a moment.
"I'm interested in biology, Animals. Plants. That kind of thing."
Tony frowned. "That's a waste. Why not engineering, or physics?"
Jimmy smiled faintly.
"I don't want to spend my life standing behind your name."
…
After a bit more conversation, Jimmy declined Tony's invitation to stay for dinner.
Tony was clearly riding a high.
He had not yet discovered the palladium poisoning. That was not something Jimmy could bring up casually… not yet.
Fortunately, there was a solution. That conversation could wait.
Without Yinsen's death, Tony lacked some of the weight he would later carry, less restraint, and more impulsiveness.
That was fine.
Tony Stark would grow into Iron Man in time.
But one thing Jimmy would never allow—
There would be no snap.
Morgan Stark would not grow up without a father.
…
Back home, Jimmy finished writing The Lord of the Rings and sent the complete manuscript to the publisher.
With nothing else pressing, he tapped his fingers against the table.
Training aside, he was… idle.
"Maybe I should take another look at that warehouse Peter mentioned."
He asked Peter for the owner's contact information and made the call.
"Oh, that warehouse," the man said. "I'm not renting it anymore. If you want to buy it, that's negotiable."
His tone was sharp.
"I don't have time to show it to you. Last time, you kids wasted an entire afternoon."
"All right, Mr. Vincent," Jimmy replied calmly. "If I buy it, what price are we talking about?"
"Buy it?" Vincent scoffed. "Do you even have that kind of money?"
"Yes," Jimmy said. "Do you have time to meet? We can talk details. The café on Seventh there's a bank next door. If we agree, we can handle everything immediately."
There was a pause on the line.
It was clear that Peter and Ned had thoroughly tested Mr. Vincent's patience.
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