Chapter 18: A Golden Goodbye
"Holy crap! A freaking Teleportation Scroll!" Mark stared at the dull gray item in Steve's hand, his jaw practically on the floor.
He knew he'd be able to go back eventually, but he never expected to get his hands on a way home so soon. It was unbelievable.
If he still dreamed, he'd think he was imagining this.
"I can finally go back..."
He gazed at the scroll, and images of the blocky world of Minecraft flooded his mind. It felt like a lifetime ago, a different reality altogether.
He could almost hear his own world calling him back.
The urge to leave was overwhelming.
But with that Mystery Island mod active, he had a feeling he might be back. So, before he left, he needed to tie up loose ends and make sure things were in order.
After whipping up some breakfast, he settled down in the living room with a plate of food and turned on the news.
Last night's events were all over the media. The Hulk vs. Abomination showdown was the main story, of course. And Mark had gotten his fair share of screen time. He wondered what the people of this world thought of him, risking their necks to film those videos.
But none of the footage showed the whole story. It probably ended with him and Hulk teaming up against Abomination.
Mark figured the military and S.H.I.E.L.D. had stepped in and censored things. Plus, things had gotten pretty crazy towards the end, and people probably weren't too keen on sticking around to film.
Still, that monster brawl had everyone talking. People were scared, and they wanted answers.
They wanted to know where those monsters came from. After all, the military had been experimenting with this stuff for a while now. Rumors were flying about secret government projects and bio-engineered creatures.
And then there was the mystery man who'd shown up out of nowhere. Was he a superhero? Another government experiment?
Besides the monster incident, there was a lot of buzz about Stark Industries.
First, there was Obadiah. Officially, he'd died in an accident, some kind of lab mishap.
With all the chaos at the company, Tony Stark had been forced to hold a press conference. He announced that Stark Industries was changing, getting out of the weapons business. No more building weapons of mass destruction. He hinted at a shift towards energy or something like that.
Of course, that was all still in the planning stages. Stark Industries was a huge company; it couldn't just change overnight.
During the press conference, reporters had grilled Tony about the Iron Man suit. They wanted to know who the flying metal man was, what his connection to Stark Industries was, if the company was working with the military.
Even though Mark's intervention had prevented a full-blown Iron Man vs. Iron Monger battle in New York, Stark, being the showman he was, had still flown around in the suit. People had seen him.
Stark wasn't exactly trying to hide, after all.
The military and the higher-ups had anticipated this and prepared a nice little speech for Stark.
But Stark, being Stark, skimmed through a few pages and got bored. He tossed the speech aside and said those famous words: "I am Iron Man."
The reporters went nuts, cameras flashing, trying to capture the moment.
"This guy..."
Some of the agents watching the press conference facepalmed. "We prepped fifty witnesses for him! Why didn't he stick to the script?"
As for Stark...
Right after he said those words, his face fell. It was like he'd just remembered something important.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
He'd just recalled his first encounter with Mark. Mark had looked right at him and said, "Damn! Iron Man!?"
And with all the snarky comments Mark had made about palladium, Stark realized something. Mark had a weird fixation on palladium. He'd been making jokes about radiation from the start, and last night he'd even brought up the dangers of Stark's arc reactor, saying something about chlorophyll and puking.
Stark knew chlorophyll helped with heavy metal poisoning, and his arc reactor did have a problem with excess palladium. But how did a sorcerer like Mark know about that?
A wave of unease washed over him.
He didn't want to do this press conference anymore. He turned and walked away without another word.
He had questions, so many questions, for Mark. He'd been so focused on building the Iron Man suit that he hadn't thought about it before. But now, looking back, Mark's words and actions seemed... off.
It was like... Mark knew him too well.
"Hey, Tony, where are you going?"
Pepper and Colonel Rhodes followed him as he stormed off the stage. "What's going on?"
"Something came up. I have to deal with it now."
He was already getting into his car. "Pepper, handle the reporters. Happy, let's go."
"Where to, boss?" Happy asked.
"Mark's place!"
Stark said, "He should still be there!"
Happy floored it, and the car roared off towards the outskirts of New York City.
But when they arrived at Mark's house, they saw Nick Fury walking out, a grim look on his face.
"Tony Stark, the Iron Man himself." Fury walked towards him. "Looks like you're here to see Mark too. Unfortunately, we're too late."
"Too late?"
Stark was stunned. "He's gone?"
"He's gone." Fury nodded. "Left this place. Nobody knows where he went. Another universe, another timeline, who knows? We have no idea."
Stark felt a pang of disappointment. He had so many questions for Mark, so many things he wanted to know. Now, he had no one to ask. The uncertainty gnawed at him.
"But he did leave something for you."
Fury reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a golden apple.