Ultimate Iron Man

The next evening, the MIT campus buzzed with excitement as Dr. Anton Steele hosted an exclusive celebration in honor of the competition's participants. The event was held in the large hall on campus. The hall was filled with fancy chandeliers and banners that portrayed the university's history of creativity and innovation. It was full of students, professors, business leaders, and sponsors. Everyone was eager to meet the young star, who had suddenly become the center of attention.

Tony showed up a little late, wearing a navy blue suit that made him look both charming and self-assured. Dum-E, U, and Elena were safely back at Stark Labs, charging and undergoing routine diagnostics. As he entered, conversations paused, and eyes turned toward him. Tony acknowledged the attention with a casual wave and his trademark smirk before grabbing a drink from a passing server.

Dr. Steele approached, a warm smile on his face.

"Tony! Glad you could make it," he said, offering a firm handshake.

"Wouldn't miss it," Tony replied. "Though I hope you didn't throw this just for me. I mean, I know I'm great, but…"

Steele laughed. "The event is for everyone, but let's not pretend you're not the highlight. Well, enjoy the party."

"Tony! Over here!" called Rhodey, his best friend and one of the few people who could call him out on his antics. Rhodey was standing near a group of students, laughing at some joke Tony hadn't heard.

Tony grinned and joined him. "Rhodey, don't tell me you're stealing my spotlight."

"You mean your ego's spotlight?" Rhodey shot back, clapping Tony on the shoulder.

Tony chuckled but suddenly winced. A dull ache had been gnawing at the back of his head all day, and now the pain was increasing. He thought it as a lack of sleep—he hadn't rested properly in weeks, pouring every ounce of energy into the competition and Hydra.

As the night wore on, the ache intensified further. By the time Professor Steele raised his glass to toast the participants, Tony's vision blurred slightly. He steadied himself on the edge of a nearby table, masking his discomfort with a practiced smirk.

"Tony, you good?" Rhodey asked, his brow furrowing.

He waved him off. "I'm fine. Just... a little tired."

Rhodey wasn't convinced. "You don't look fine. Maybe you should sit down."

"I'm good," Tony insisted, his voice sharper than he intended. He didn't want to admit weakness—not here, not now.

An hour later, Tony's condition had worsened. The throbbing in his head felt like a hammer pounding against his skull. Lights seemed too bright, and every sound was too loud. He managed to find a quieter corner, leaning against the wall and rubbing his temples.

Rhodey found him again. "That's it. You're done for the night. Let's go." He looked worried. He knew how hard Tony pushed himself and now the party with big people gunning for him without giving him a break. Then there were those competitors. He thought maybe Tony was tired.

Tony opened his mouth to argue but faltered when a wave of dizziness hit him. He nodded with a sigh. "Fine. You win. My head is killing me. Take me back to my room."

Rhodey looped an arm around Tony's shoulders and helped him out of the party. By the time they reached Tony's dorm, his steps were unsteady, and his usually sharp wit had dulled.

Once inside, Tony collapsed onto the bed, groaning. "It's nothing, Rhodey. I'm just overworked."

Rhodey crossed his arms, staring him down. "You're not just tired. You look like you're about to pass out. Have you eaten anything today? Drunk any water?"

"Yeah. You know I never miss my food and water," Tony muttered, pulling a blanket over himself.

Rhodey sighed and went out, returning with a glass of water and some painkillers. "Take these. Then sleep. If you're not better by tomorrow, I'm dragging you to the hospital."

Tony took the pills begrudgingly, swallowing them with a grimace. "You're such a mom, Rhodey."

"Yeah, well, someone has to be," Rhodey shot back. "Get some rest."

"Thanks, man," Tony mumbled, already drifting off.

Rhodey waited until he was asleep, then slipped out of the room. There was no way he was leaving Tony alone. As much as his friend liked to think otherwise, he had a habit of making bad decisions and pushing himself too far. But to think he'd hear 'thanks' from Tony, well, that was something rare.

The next few days passed without incident, but Tony couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. The headache from the party had subsided, and he felt fine... Well, better than fine, actually. Yet, there was an undeniable strangeness in the way his mind worked now.

The world seemed sharper, more vivid. Numbers, formulas, and ideas danced in his head with a clarity that was almost unsettling. During his usual morning routine, he solved a Rubik's Cube in seconds without even realizing he was doing it. By the time he reached Stark Labs, he'd mentally restructured an entire prototype design that had stumped him for weeks.

It wasn't until the evening, as he sat in his dorm scrolling aimlessly through his tablet, that the realization truly hit him. He picked up an MBBS textbook that Rhodey was looking for, for some reason, and asked Tony to find one for him. Flipping through it, Tony decided to test his newfound abilities.

At first, it was out of curiosity. "Let's see what all the fuss is about," he muttered, settling into his chair. Anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacology... topics he'd never touched before, made perfect sense. He breezed through chapters on the endocrine system and surgical techniques, absorbing information as if he'd studied medicine his entire life.

Tony paused, staring at the book in disbelief. He closed it, then opened another, a dense text on molecular biology. Again, the information flowed into his mind like water into a glass. There were no barriers, no effort needed. It was exhilarating and terrifying.

Slumping back into his chair, Tony ran a hand through his hair, his expression dark. "What the hell is happening to me?"

This wasn't just intelligence; it was something more. His thoughts felt too fast, too clear as if his brain were running on a completely different frequency. He glanced at the stack of textbooks on his desk and then at the whiteboard in the corner, now filled with equations and schematics he'd scribbled without thinking.

"Okay, Stark. Think," he muttered to himself, rubbing his temples. "What changed? What's different?"

He replayed the last few days in his mind: the competition, the party, the headache. Was this a side effect of exhaustion? A freak reaction to something?

"Wait a sec!" Tony's eyes widened as a wild thought crossed his mind. "Ultimate Ironman?!"

He hadn't thought about those comics in years, not since he'd accepted his new life as Tony Stark. But now, the fragmented recollections, scattered, incomplete, and strange, began to piece themselves together.

The Ultimate Iron Man, the version from Earth-1610, had been a genius, just like him. He had been brilliant, driven, and always on the edge of something bigger. But there had been that moment—the brain tumor, a death sentence that couldn't be fixed, no matter how advanced the technology was. In the comics, the tumor had been an unwelcome death sentence that was discovered to be something far more dangerous: an infinity gem, embedded in his brain, transforming him in ways no one could fully comprehend.

Tony's hand instinctively went to his forehead. He felt it again now, a strange pulse beneath the skin. He wasn't too sure if it was his imagination or the result of his panicked state. The memory of the tumor, the inoperable one, mixed with the sudden clarity of the knowledge that had flooded his mind. The infinity gem. The Maker. It had all come back in a rush.

But this wasn't Earth-1610. He was sure about that due to Hank's behavior, his name and the ongoing events.

'Could it be?'

'Was Hank pretending to be a good guy or is he abusing Janet behind his fake face? Is he the MCU version or the Ultimate version? Ah! Damn it!'

Tony's head spun with the implication. Had he somehow inherited the same fate, the same affliction? But why now, and how had it triggered?

He looked at his reflection in the nearby window, his own face staring back at him... young, confident, a little too smug. But now with a glimmer of something unfamiliar in his eyes. A spark of understanding that wasn't his own.

The thought of the Infinity Gem sent a shiver down his spine. Was it possible that, somewhere along the line, this universe's version of Tony Stark had somehow absorbed the same fate as his comic counterpart? Or had it always been there, buried deep within him, waiting to awaken? Was it because he messed with the events of this reality?

Too many questions popped up in his mind, but this time he failed to find any answers.

"Fuck it!" Grabbing the jacked, he rushed out of his lab and took a cab straight to the hospital to get a check-up.

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[Read over 17 advance chapters] [No double billing]

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