A Different Tony Stark

Under the scorching heat of the desert sun, a certain playboy can be seen lying almost dead but not quite.

He's supposed to be dead when the former owner of the body fell face first from an almost 500 feet drop.

"Argh!!" He abruptly got up and exclaimed from the excruciating migraine that came with it.

"Shit!! That old man! Can't he treat a reincarnator better!?" He openly complained to the one who gave him a second chance.

"I know I was the one who decided when he offered to remove the bad luck on me but… he didn't have to beat me up. That was extremely pain--" He continued to grumble but his voice trailed off as he noticed that he was inside an extremely enclosed space.

"What the f*ck is this!? My head is stuck!?" He complained as he mustered all his strength as he tried to stand and get his head out of the sand. But the suit he was currently wearing was too heavy for him. With no other choice, he just rolled to the side and let gravity help him. Fortunately for him, he was in an inclined space so he slid down a little and his head was finally out of the sand.

Finally seeing a little light, he immediately tried to pry open what's blocking his face. "Damnit, I'm in the middle of nowhere. Can't you reincarnate me somewhere else? Anywhere is better than this place…'

"…"

[Generating a random perk for reincarnating…]

"Oooh!"

As he laid there on the sand, a semi-transparent holographic screen suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Ancient Kryptonian Physiology, or is it?]

'What the…!? That old man better keep his promise. Are you giving me a special power or not!?'

He resisted cursing the old man out loud again as he held back his countless complaints as he clicked on the name of his reward.

[Ancient Kryptonian Physique: The Physiology of the first Kryptonians in existence that can absorb energy exponentially. While having no actual limitation, this physique allows the host to absorb any kind of energy to gain strength permanently like Solar, Cosmic, Kinetic, Electric, and even Magical energy. This physique has no weaknesses of the Kryptonians that lived later. For the Ancient Kryptonians, a kryptonite is a great piece of jewelry.]

All of his complaints were cleared, all of them didn't matter at this moment.

"I'll be Superman!! But way better! It's also permanent!? No limitation!? Fuck! That would be broken!"

Despite all of his complaints earlier, his confidence surged.

[Do you want to change your physique? Y/N] 

"Of course, yes." He clicked the corresponding button.

[Warning! This process will be painful.]

"Argh!!"

'Say that warning before I make my choice!!! Don't you know how warnings work!?!?' He could only grit his teeth and complain in his mind as he fought the excruciating pain enveloping his whole body.

'Fuck! I can't sleep here!'

[The memory of the previous owner of the body has been processed. Transferring…]

!!

He fainted as the pain intensified.

He didn't wake up until a few hours later.

Fortunately, his new physique helped him survive the cold, he doesn't feel cold. Nighttime in a desert can be very dangerous to unprepared travelers since the average temperature can reach even lower than -3.9°C (about 25°F).

He noticed that his body was adjusting well because he felt less and less cold as time went by.

But that doesn't matter to him right now, he's more intrigued at the memory he just gained.

"So I am now Tony Stark, the playboy genius. Well, the best version of Tony has finally been born!"

"I don't know if I should still make some Iron Man suits…" Tony muttered as he effortlessly extricated himself from the prototype version of Iron Man suit.

"Argh! F*ck! My whole body feels sore…" As Tony stood up, he noticed something fell beside him. "Isn't this…?"

Tony picked up the mini arc reactor together with a few shrapnels on the sand. As his physique transformed, all the foreign and dangerous elements were forced out, not to mention healing his new body.

"This is even better. System." Tony said as threw the shrapnels and casually pocketed the mini arc reactor on his cargo pants.

The familiar screen appeared but he didn't expect what words appeared.

[Good thing you survived it kid so I wouldn't see you so soon. For the meantime, cheerio~]

Then the screen disappeared.

"That old man…" Tony smirked. "Status."

…

Nothing came up.

"System."

…

"Status open."

…

"System open."

…

"Open sesame."

...

"Tch! Still nothing?"

He spent a few minutes guessing but nothing happened except for inventory. That's the only thing he got left from the system earlier.

"I guess the system is gone. It's just a one time thing. Fine, I'll explore these powers on my own then."

Tony then picked out a piece of his armor to use it as a mirror.

"Yup, RDJ, just more handsome, taller, and more buffed?" He wasn't sure as he couldn't check his new body before his physique changed.

"Oh well… There's no need to dwell on unimportant things." Tony shrugged and faced the Mark I Prototype. "Now what to do with this?"

He's thinking of either destroying it or taking it as souvenir together with the prototype Mini Arc Reactor.

---

Meanwhile, back in California, a certain man was having another celebration by himself for finally having the Stark Industries to himself.

"It's really great that Tony's gone. The company is steadily rising." He said as took a sip on his glass of whiskey.

"Who said that having contacts with terrorists is a bad thing?"

Then he laughed, a villain laugh.

What a cliche.