Marvel: Playing Iron Man, Falling In and Out of Love with Jinx

Blue Rose Manor, Family Head's Receiving Room.

Steven glanced up at Duke, his expression filled with disdain and displeasure. His plan was already in motion. If it succeeded, he would gain immortality, youth everlasting. He would be freed from this decaying body, and everything in this world would be within his grasp.

But now, at the critical moment, Duke appeared as a glaring variable.

What was his sister thinking?

Did she think he was too old?

Did she see him as a burden?

Unwillingness welled up inside him, bitter and unrelenting!

Gripping the armrests of his wheelchair tightly, Steven let out a sharp huff. He pulled a small lever on the side of his chair, the motion triggering a series of gears, one setting another in motion.

The spring-powered mechanism propelled his wheelchair, and him along with it, slowly toward the door.

"Boy, are those eyes on your head just for decoration?"

Steven rolled up to Duke. Beneath the silk scarf around his neck, age spots had begun to creep up his throat.

He was old, far too old.

So frail it looked like he might drop dead at any moment.

"Of course not, sir." Duke stepped aside politely, offering a slight bow. Steven snorted again and tilted his chin, rolling himself out of the room with mechanical clicks.

Duke watched the old man leave, his thoughts churning. That old bastard was getting desperate. Even if this was the Arcane timeline, the ending would be the same.

He was seeking death.

"Sorry, Duke," Dakora said softly, walking up beside him. "Grandfather isn't usually like this. Maybe he's just in a bad mood today."

"It's fine." Duke tucked his hands into his coat pockets and gave her a gentle smile. "He's elderly. A little respect is the least I can offer."

He added with a knowing look, "Time is short, after all."

He strolled over to Camille, pulled out a chair, and sat down on the opposite side of the tea table.

"Is there anything you need me to do?"

Camille's eyes remained fixed on the bubbling kettle. Without looking back, she replied, "The best thing you can do is focus on your research."

"Didn't you say you were willing to give everything for your work?"

"Absolutely. I promise you, my creation will bring change to the Ferros family, and all of Piltover."

Duke pulled his hands from his pockets. His eyes burned with determination. Camille finally turned to face him.

This young man's passion and fire reminded her of someone from sixty years ago.

But Duke was different, he truly loved his creations.

"Then go, create without fear, Duke."

Camille turned back to her kettle. "The Ferros family will be your strongest pillar."

"As you wish, Madam."

With a confident stride, Duke walked out. Dakora gave Camille a quick nod before hurrying after her new uncle. Camille lifted the kettle, paused, then set it down again, glancing toward the door.

"The water's overheated..."

"But Steven, don't let your actions overheat too."

"I don't want it to come to that."

Eight days later.

Inside a secret Ferros laboratory...

Duke, now dressed in a work uniform with a toolbelt brimming with equipment, hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, drills, stood over a workbench. Everything you could imagine was there.

On the bench lay thirty pristine blocks of shimmering rune steel, looking like silver ingots stacked neatly.

Beside them were anti-magic stones, Piltover-imported, Demacia-crafted, each one chalk-white and uniform like sculpted plaster.

The desk was also crowded with scaled-down motorcycle and robot prototypes, along with a full bucket of blessed silver, the same enchanted metal Vayne used to tip her bolts, ideal for dispelling magic.

"Theory checks out. Time for practical application."

Duke set his book aside and approached the table. He picked up an anti-magic stone, holding it carefully in his palm.

Perfect texture. No bubbles. Whoever forged it had skill.

"Quality stuff. Shame about the cost."

He glanced around the lab. The liquid metal he had acquired via lottery was pulsing restlessly in its specialized container, occasionally morphing into mechanical parts on its own, as though it were alive.

Duke had fused the liquid metal with nanite-enhanced alloys and fed it the remains of Arcee, the Autobot.

Now fused, the substance had taken on a new life, transforming even inside its containment unit.

Since entering the lab, Duke hadn't left in eight days. He had asked Dakora to deliver a message to Collin's workshop, then stayed inside, eating, drinking, sleeping, and working in the lab.

In that short time, he had burned through over a million Gilders.

And his project was only halfway done.

All materials were prepped, the final challenge remained: integrating alchemical, Hextech, and clockwork technologies into one cohesive whole.

Time was running out. The Iron Man mission countdown was ticking. He felt the urgency with every beat of his heart.

The anti-magic stones, rune steel, and blessed silver were just anti-mage solutions.

Anti-magic stones absorbed mana and could be used like batteries once full, ensuring his creation's energy supply.

Rune steel and blessed silver gave his invention anti-demon, anti-sorcerer capabilities. He had even drawn up specialized offensive modules targeting those types of enemies.

He had also secured a copy of Jayce's research notes, at the cost of Dakora persuading Councilor Mel to back Jayce's next experiment.

Three days ago, Duke successfully synthesized an artificial Hex Gem.

In terms of understanding Hextech, he had now surpassed Jayce.

Jayce had stumbled into success, his obsession with magic led him to a random shard containing mana, from which he reverse-engineered the Hex Gem.

Duke guessed that shard might have been a fragment of a Hextech Prime Crystal.

Jayce was just incredibly lucky.

"Time to work with you lot."

He weighed the anti-magic stones in his hand and turned to the lab equipment. Mixing solutions, burning, dissolving, filtering, evaporating, Duke used every method at his disposal to reduce the stone to a fine powder.

Fully suited for safety, he took no risks. Just a single flake on the skin could drain his mana dry and knock him out cold.

Most of the powder would be mixed into alchemical solution, his creation's blood.

The rest was used to carve runes into the rune steel, enhancing its null-magic effects. Blessed silver was layered onto the rune steel's surface.

The final result would become the armor and weapons of his creation.

Duke finally exhaled in relief as he examined the completed gunblade and armor plates.

"Weapons and armor, done."

"Now comes the most crucial phase."

He approached the pulsing vat of liquid metal, hefted ten liters of the shimmering mass with one hand, and poured it onto the ground.

It flowed like water, then shaped itself into a motorcycle.

In an instant, it transformed again, into a mechanical beast with a dragon's head and a hunched spine.

"Main body's stable. Time to merge the three techs."

Wiping sweat from his brow, Duke tossed aside the towel, grabbed his blueprints, and reviewed the plan.

Clockwork tech would form the skeleton, thousands of wind-up mechanisms would provide raw, brute strength.

Alchemy would form a self-sustaining energy loop, circulating alchemical blood through synthetic veins.

And the Hextech Prime Crystal, his core and heart. As long as it remained intact, his creation would be immortal.

"Clockwork as bones, alchemy as blood, Hextech as heart, now we begin the real work."

Duke stepped into the forge, flames roaring. He began melting ingots in the crucible.

"Final phase, commence!"

He hefted a hammer, watching the furnace blaze reflected in his eyes like twin stars.

Meanwhile, at Piltover's harbor...

A young man with curly hair and desert-worn skin stepped off a ship, gazing at the vibrant, majestic city ahead.

He exhaled a long breath.

"Uncle, I've arrived in Piltover. I wonder if you'll see this moment."

Patting the pack at his side, his eyes hardened with resolve.

"I'll deliver your painting to her, my promise to you."

He unfolded the painting. In it, a woman with flowing silver hair smiled beside a chair, standing in front of a fireplace.

"To Camille Ferros."

To be continued...

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