Rain slashed diagonally across Malibu Canyon as Tony stared at holographic projections flickering like deranged fireflies. The numbers mocked him:
Punch Velocity: 31.2 Mach
Thermal Output: 6,200°C
Cryogenic Range: 2.3-mile radius
"Let me get this straight," Tony's coffee cup trembled, "you can outrun my missiles, melt through battleships like butter, and freeze the entire Santa Monica pier..." He gestured wildly at the storm. "...and you're dissatisfied?"
Leon hovered above the flooded testing field, raindrops vaporizing six inches from his skin. "Heat vision's barely functional." Crimson beams lanced from his eyes, slicing through stormclouds. The resulting thunderclap rattled Tony's molars. "See? Can't even focus it below wide-area mode."
CRACK-BOOM
A lightning bolt redirected itself into Leon's outstretched palm. "Superconductive nervous system's neat though."
Tony's eye twitched. "Neat. He says it's neat."
"Next test!" Leon blurred, reappearing with an anvil-sized chunk of lead. "X-ray vision trial."
"Wait!" Tony ducked behind the vibranium-reinforced console. "JARVIS said your photons can ionize air at—"
ZZZAP
The lead block glowed cherry red. Leon's ocular beams narrowed to hair-thin filaments, drilling through the metal. "Ninety-two percent opacity. Useless against promethium alloys."
"Useless?!" Tony's scream blended with the sizzling downpour. "You just achieved controlled nuclear transmutation!"
Leon shrugged, tossing the molten lump away. "Try the freeze breath."
Tony input commands with violent keystrokes. A drone hauling a shipping container marked STARK INDUSTRIES - EXPERIMENTAL descended. "This better not end like the garage."
Leon inhaled.
The storm stilled.
Tony's breath fogged instantly. "J-J-JARVIS? T-t-temperature r-read—"
"Ambient thermal energy reduced to 12 Kelvin within 0.47-second exposure window."
The container's steel walls screamed as they contracted, crumpling like soda cans. Leon exhaled through his nose, creating a glittering ice sculpture of Tony's face mid-eye-roll. "Still can't target individual molecules."
Tony chipped at the ice sculpture with a wrench. "Know what I can't target? My will to live after this."
The tests escalated:
1. Sonic Clap Trial• Result: Shattered every window in Malibu County• Leon's critique: "Lacked directional focus"2. Hypersonic Flight Endurance• Result: Created accidental plasma wake that blacked out Long Beach• Leon's note: "Need better friction resistance"3. Tactile Telekinesis Assessment• Outcome: Disassembled Tony's Lamborghini into floating components• Verdict: "Precision limited to molecular bonding thresholds"
As twilight bled through stormclouds, Tony lay sprawled across broken equipment, Mark III's chestplate scuffed beyond recognition. "You realize SHIELD's gonna subpoena me for those blackouts?"
Leon hovered cross-legged, scribbling equations in midair with heat vision. "Tell them to bill Darkseid."
"Who?"
"Exactly." The Kryptonian glyphs glowed briefly before evaporating. "We're playing chess with pieces we can't see."
Tony sat up slowly. "This obsession with 'more power'..."
"...is why we'll survive the checkmate." Leon landed softly, bio-field parting the rain around them. "Now about that promethium alloy..."
Somewhere beneath the mud, JARVIS pinged Pepper's phone with an automated alert: **"Recommend immediate psychiatric intervention. And popcorn."**