The Man of Steel in Marvel

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The next 48 hours turned the lab upside down.

Jiro stood at the center holographic console, hands moving constantly, surrounded by a whirlwind of rotating parameters.

Tony became the ultimate lab assistant, fabricating components with mind-blowing precision.

"Make the vibranium layer even thinner," Jiro said without looking up.

"The Uru crystal lattice has to match this angle exactly."

Tony gritted his teeth. "You sure this curvature won't trigger quantum decoherence?"

"Ran 642 simulations," Jiro replied, casually pulling up a string of equations. "Compensate with this magnetic field."

When the final component snapped into place, Jiro hovered his hands over the reactor.

His eyes glowed gold, and his heat vision fired in precisely-timed pulses, welding critical points down to the picosecond.

"Activate it."

Vmmmm...

All the electronic equipment in the lab shut down at the same time.

Inside the central reactor, a single photon suddenly appeared—then two, then four… multiplying exponentially.

Tony instinctively stepped back half a step. "Oh my god…"

A miniature golden sun was born inside the reactor. Its glow was gentle, but it radiated terrifying amounts of energy. The data screens started flashing wildly:

[Energy Output: 1.28 million megawatts][Stability: 99.999%][Projected Runtime: 12,000 years]

"This is…"

Tony's voice trembled a bit. "Did we just create… unlimited energy?"

Jiro reached out and gently touched the reactor's protective casing. The light of the artificial sun flowed between his fingers. "The key to pushing human civilization forward."

Tony suddenly grabbed Jiro by the shoulders. "You have to tell me—this kind of tech… this kind of thinking… how do I get a brain like yours?!"

The golden glow in Jiro's eyes slowly faded, replaced by a mysterious smile. "Next time. For now…"

He pointed to the energy monitor, which had just started blaring an alarm. "We need to deal with the heat issue first—unless you want to turn Manhattan into a volcano."

Tony stared at the temperature curve, which was already spiking into the danger zone—and suddenly burst out laughing. "Ha! Let's do this! JARVIS, fire up all the cooling systems!"

A few hours later

The artificial sun burned steadily inside the reactor, its golden light casting a warm glow across the entire lab.

Tony Stark stared at the numbers on the screen, absentmindedly tapping his fingers on the desk. There was a spark of excitement in his eyes—along with a tiny bit of awe he probably didn't even realize was there.

"1.28 million megawatts…"

He murmured, "That's enough to power the entire East Coast. And…"

He looked over at Jiro. "Are you sure this thing's not gonna suddenly go nuts and blow us all to hell?"

Jiro crossed his arms and leaned against the workbench, smirking slightly. "As long as the magnetic containment field holds, it's safe."

"Oh, well that's so reassuring," Tony rolled his eyes—but the grin tugging at his lips gave him away.

He reached out and tapped the reactor's shield. The glow of the artificial sun rippled slightly, then stabilized again.

"So… besides being the world's most expensive power bank, what else can this thing do?"

"A lot." Jiro straightened up and walked over to the holographic console. With a flick of his fingers, he brought up a new set of data models.

"For example…"

He traced an energy path through the projection. The energy from the artificial sun was redirected into a brand-new structural model, creating a blazing beam of light.

"Directed energy weapon?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Nope." Jiro shook his head. "Cross-dimensional energy transmission."

Tony froze for a second—then quickly leaned in closer to the projection. "Wait, wait… are you saying… you can send this energy somewhere else directly?"

"In theory, yeah."

Jiro nodded. "I've fused solar energy in a way that makes it incredibly adaptable. If I can control it precisely enough, it can mimic the properties of any dimension's energy. To be exact—it can imitate magic."

Tony's eyes lit up with wild excitement. "Jiro, what do I need to do to learn magic?!"

"Sir, you've been working non-stop for 72 hours," JARVIS reminded him.

"Who cares?!" Tony waved him off.

"We'll talk about it later. For now, let's finish this first." Jiro chuckled, not arguing further.

He walked up to the projection, his eyes glowing faintly gold as his super-powered brain calculated the optimal flow of energy in real time.

The two of them fell silent. The only sounds in the lab were the hum of the holograms and Tony's occasional muttered cursing.

Three hours later...

"All right!"Tony slammed his hand down on the virtual confirmation button. The model inside the hologram instantly collapsed inward, forming a perfect closed energy loop.

"Wanna try it?"

Jiro nodded and reached out to the control terminal of the reactor.

The artificial sun's energy surged into his body, flowing like liquid gold.

He drew a circle in the air with his hand.

Buzz—

The space around them rippled slightly. A golden spark burst forth in the middle of the circular device, then quickly expanded into a stable round portal.

On the other side of the portal was a desolate red desert under a weird purplish-red sky.

"Is that... Mars?" Tony squinted.

"Nope," Jiro shook his head. "It's the Mirror Dimension."

Tony whipped his head around. "Wait, seriously? We just used tech to open a magic dimension?!"

"The line between science and magic was always blurry," Jiro replied, pulling his hand back as the portal slowly closed.

"That was just a test run. The real applications come later."

Tony stared at the now-quiet ring device, then suddenly broke into a wide grin. "Jiro, do you realize what this means?"

"Hm?"

"You just made history," Tony said, eyes practically glowing with excitement.

"No, not just history—you redefined what's possible with energy!"

Jiro gave a small smile but didn't say anything.

His super-hearing picked up something unusual high in the sky—a faint energy ripple moving toward New York at insane speed.

"Tony," he said suddenly.

"What is it?" Tony noticed the change in his tone and frowned.

"We've got company," Jiro said, looking up toward the ceiling. His vision pierced through layers of metal to see the sky above.

"And they're not friendly."

Tony didn't hesitate. He immediately activated the suit-up protocol. "JARVIS, activate tower defense protocols! Scan the skies over New York!"

"Unknown flying object detected, sir," JARVIS replied.

"Energy signature does not match any known Earth-based tech."

By then, Jiro was already hovering in the air. The golden lines on his black armor glowed faintly. "I'll go check it out."

"Wait!" Tony called out. "Don't go full lone-wolf again! Make sure you call me this time!"

Jiro glanced back with a smirk. "Then suit up, mustache man."

Before Tony could reply, Jiro turned into a streak of black light and shot straight up through the lab's skylight.

Tony stared after him, muttered a curse under his breath, then sped up his own armor deployment.

"JARVIS, deploy the Mark VI nano suit. Full weapons hot!"

"Sir, that armor hasn't been tested yet."

"Well, now's the perfect time, isn't it?"

"System ready, sir."

Tony tapped the wristband on his arm twice. The armor surged out like a tide, wrapping around his body in an instant. The moment the faceplate snapped into place, the power core roared to life.

He took a deep breath, bent his knees slightly, and fired up the thrusters.

"All right, alien bastards…" His voice crackled through the comms, full of excitement and anticipation.

"Welcome to Earth."

"....."