[Third Person's PoV]
Momo stared at her reflection on the ever-moving sea. But she wasn't really looking at herself—her gaze lingered on Tony's reflection beside hers. His sharp jawline, the blue irises hidden behind his red-tinted glasses, and his ebony hair being pushed back by the rushing wind.
As she continued to admire him through the reflection, Tony glanced down and caught her staring. He smiled—his signature confident smirk curling across his lips—then gave her a playful wink.
Momo let out a small scoff, followed by a lighthearted chuckle.
"Want to see something cool?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I doubt anything you show me could top the things I've already seen you do," Momo replied, a teasing edge in her voice. It was something she'd picked up after spending most of her childhood with both Tony and Melissa.
"Wow!" Tony exclaimed dramatically, staring at her with mock offense. "Did you really just say that to me? You've grown bold, Ms. Yaoyorozu. I can't believe you basically called me boring! I'll take that as a challenge!"
Momo laughed and, without thinking, hugged him tighter. Her arms wrapped more securely around his neck. "Maybe it was~" she teased.
"Oh, you're so on!" Tony declared.
Suddenly, a force field shimmered to life around them, and before Momo could react, Tony dove—plunging them both straight into the water.
"Wha—" Momo began to cry out but stopped herself when she realized they were dry and completely safe. What shocked her even more was that she could breathe—perfectly fine.
Another realization dawned on her: even during their high-speed travel earlier, she hadn't felt short of breath.
"How am I breathing normally? Are we going to run out of air eventually?" she asked, eyes wide with wonder as they descended deeper.
They swam alongside schools of exotic fish and radiant sea creatures—nothing like seeing them from the surface.
"Nope, we're good," Tony replied. "See those energy reactors around my joints?"
Momo looked and saw the pulsing blue lights embedded in his major skeletal points. They looked like mini-reactors radiating controlled energy.
"Yes?" she answered.
"They're creating the bubble around us. But besides that, they also function as air generators, allowing me to breathe in any situation. Like, for example…"
His grin widened.
Momo's instincts flared. "Tony—wait!"
But that was the last thing he did.
With a sudden burst, Tony rocketed upward, shattering the water's surface and soaring into the sky. The sound barrier shattered behind them, but Momo wasn't fazed. Tony quickly explained, "The shield is laced with vibranium—it absorbs the kinetic energy we generate and feeds it back into the suit. That's why inertia doesn't affect us!"
Momo opened her mouth to respond—but no words came out.
Before she could even register the madness of his explanation, they broke through the atmosphere.
They were in space.
Momo floated briefly from Tony's arms, eyes wide, her breath stolen by the view. But then, at the center of the blue reactors around Tony's joints, a faint pink light glowed. Gravitons. They gently pulled Momo back into his arms.
He set her down within the lower part of the protective bubble.
She landed softly, her feet touching the solid surface inside the shield. Slowly, hesitantly, she reached out and pressed her hand against the transparent sphere.
Before her was the Earth—blue, green, and breathtaking. Suspended in the blackness of space. The sight left her speechless.
She turned toward Tony, who floated down beside her. He gave her a knowing look, dipping his head slightly with a confident grin. "Now you see who you were challenging."
Momo couldn't help but smile, her lips tugging into a lopsided grin as she let out a breathless laugh. "Remind me never to challenge you again."
Tony smugly rubbed his nose while Momo spun around, eyes wide in awe, taking it all in.
Then, without warning, Tony scooped her back up into his arms. Momo let out a small yelp, her cheeks flushing as she wrapped her arms back around his neck.
"Please warn me before you do that," she muttered.
"And miss out on your cute little cries?" Tony said, smirking. His voice was playful, full of that mischievous charm only he could pull off.
The thrusters beneath Tony's feet flared to life as he dove back down, the protective sphere around them igniting into a brilliant blaze as they re-entered Earth's atmosphere.
They plunged straight into the ocean, crashing into the water with an explosive impact. A towering column of water erupted skyward while steam hissed off the surface where the superheated shield met the sea.
Tony didn't stop. They kept descending, deeper and deeper, until they were once again surrounded by the vibrant life of the underwater world. With a sudden blast from his thrusters, they shot through the ocean like a missile.
Momo watched with wide-eyed amazement, completely enchanted by the marine ecosystem around them. Schools of fish scattered as they passed, and for a while, they traveled alongside a pod of orcas. Their sleek black and white forms sliced through the water with grace, vanishing and reappearing in the dim light of the deep.
They passed an enormous sperm whale, its immense body making them look like specks of light in comparison. And just when Momo thought it couldn't get more surreal, Tony followed the whale as it ascended—soaring out of the water in a magnificent leap.
Tony weaved around the beast in the air, performing dizzying loops and spins that made Momo laugh uncontrollably. A blast of mist erupted from the whale's blowhole, drenching the outside of their shield.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, Tony and the shield turned completely invisible, and they rocketed skyward—vanishing into the clouds.
…
Momo blinked and found herself in Paris.
The sky was painted in deep orange and amber tones as the sun dipped below the horizon. The calm hush of the city at dusk created a picturesque backdrop, casting a golden glow over cobblestone streets and elegant buildings.
She stood in front of a display window, admiring her reflection. Dark sunglasses concealed her eyes, a beautiful white silk scarf wrapped elegantly around her neck, and a colorful beret perched stylishly on her head.
Adjusting her glasses, she turned toward Tony and asked, "Alright, how do I look?"
Tony gave her two dramatic thumbs up, wearing a dead-serious expression. "French."
"Exactly the look I was going for," Momo replied smugly, lifting her chin and giving a proud smile.
Then, her expression faltered slightly. "And why, exactly, do we need disguises?"
"Because," Tony leaned in and whispered, "we're international criminals now."
Momo's cheeks flushed as he leaned away, placing a finger over his lips and adding in a hushed voice, "We have to look the part, or people will start suspecting us."
"Right… you're playing way too into this," Momo said with an amused look.
"Of course I am. I'm just trying to make our date a little fun," Tony chuckled.
"I don't think illegally breaking into a country qualifies as fun, especially when we're training to be heroes," she said with a wry grin.
"Momo," Tony said, gently taking her hands and interlocking their fingers, "by the end of this date, if I haven't made you into an international war criminal, I'll consider it a failure."
Her blush deepened at the sudden intimacy, but her expression quickly dropped at his follow-up.
"Wait… what?"
Tony didn't respond. He simply turned and began walking confidently forward, their hands still linked.
"Uh, Tony?" Momo called after him.
He kept marching.
"Please answer me. You're worrying me here."
"…"
"Tony!?"
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