Capítulo 356: Chapter 356: Revenge and Alarm
"Panting!" Finally getting a moment to breathe, Obadiah gasped for air like a drowning man. But hearing Ivan's question, Obadiah's body trembled slightly, fearful of Ivan activating the device again. Hurriedly, he responded, "He's at home, working on something, I visited but didn't enter his lab…"
"Is that so? Then I'm relieved..." Ivan nodded in satisfaction, controlling the legion of iron armors to take flight, as he himself entered the most fearsome-looking suit.
Compared to Tony Stark's armors, Ivan's were bulkier and larger but more ferocious in appearance. As a trade-off, Ivan's armors sacrificed agility and speed for power and firepower, which were significantly superior to Tony Stark's at the same level. This was evident from the massive, brightly glowing Ark reactors on each of Ivan's armors…
Soon after Ivan left with his legion, Obadiah thought he had been spared, but he underestimated Ivan's vengeful nature. Just as Obadiah thought he was out of danger and sought opportunities for revenge, Ivan, who had endured the pain and pressure of mechanical bugs and longed for freedom and retribution, would not easily let Obadiah off the hook.
Ivan truly intended for Obadiah to die! The pain just now was only the beginning!
"Aaaaahhhhh!!!" Just as Ivan departed, Obadiah screamed again, this time without the chance to faint, seemingly left only with death as his escape.
It's unclear how much time passed, but as Obadiah's screams gradually ceased, Ivan left too swiftly to notice the massive changes occurring at the base.
"Rumbling!"
The entire base trembled, walls and floors began rotating, locking down the facility, while powerful weapons from Stark Industries emerged throughout. As the largest arms dealer of Stark Industries, how could Obadiah not have prepared his base for such contingencies?
Indeed, Obadiah had prepared a failsafe for if he died in his base, assuming it would be due to an invasion. Upon his death, the base would lock down and use Stark Industries' weapons to obliterate any intruders.
Unfortunately, these preparations were intended for unknown intruders, not for Ivan. Thus, when Obadiah's systems activated, Ivan was already long gone.
However, what Obadiah didn't anticipate, not only had Ivan left before his death, but there was also something within the base capable of turning the tables, which he never got the chance to utilize…
As the base locked down, a green mask ejected from a corner. Its origin and purpose unknown to Obadiah or Ivan, who or any other visitor had overlooked it as a mere decorative item.
Now, as the mask popped out next to the freshly deceased Obadiah, it suddenly unleashed a dark power, latching onto Obadiah's face and taking over his body!
"Rumbling!"
This time, it was the sound of an explosion as Stark Industries' weapons discharged their firepower, leaving behind only the mask occupying Obadiah's body, effectively making it pay the price for taking over.
"An explosion?" The initial vibrations didn't catch Ivan's attention, but the subsequent loud explosion made him take notice. Even if the weapons weren't cutting-edge, their sheer number still posed a significant destructive force.
"Heh, seems I let you off easy. You didn't suffer for long, nowhere near the pressure and pain I endured!" Ivan, however, wasn't fully appeased by his revenge, feeling that the explosion had allowed Obadiah a too swift escape, which irked him.
"No matter, though you didn't seem to get along, killing your godfather is my first gift to you…" Ivan looked towards the location of Obadiah's base, his gaze flickering coldly as he smirked, resetting his sights, "And now, I have a new gift for you, Tony Stark… I wonder if you'll appreciate it?"
As Ivan spoke, his legion of iron armors split into three groups, heading towards Stark Industries, Tony Stark's mansion, and the busiest district in Los Angeles.
"Alert! Sir, numerous unknown armors have appeared at the commercial district and near Stark Industries, suspected to be hostile. Shall we engage countermeasures?" Meanwhile, deep within Tony Stark's lab, Tony and Morbius heard JARVIS's alert.
During this time, Tony and Morbius had been researching a new type of scientific vampire. Morbius hadn't caused any trouble, not just out of fear of Robert's strength but also because he realized that Tony genuinely wanted to help him escape his predicament. In fact, Tony's genius exceeded Morbius's expectations.
In a relatively short period, Morbius no longer felt the urge to feed, thanks to Tony developing a method to suppress his vampiric hunger. Although it wasn't a cure, the current Morbius
didn't feel weak and was like his old self again—no, even more normal than before since the old Morbius had a blood disease and wasn't nearly as robust or healthy. Now, Morbius finally felt like he was truly living as a human.
"Armors? Isn't that your specialty?" Hearing JARVIS, Morbius was momentarily stunned, glancing at the armors displayed on the wall with a puzzled look towards Tony.
Having once fought Tony while under the mask's influence, Morbius knew the prowess of Tony's armors and had never seen such powerful technology in anyone else's hands, assuming it was exclusively Tony's advanced weaponry.
Given Tony's level of genius and intellect, far surpassing that of ordinary humans, Morbius wasn't surprised Tony could create such advanced weaponry, but the news of other armors surprised him…
"Alert! A group of armors is headed towards the villa district, intercept?" Before Tony could respond to Morbius, JARVIS's voice rang out again.
"Intercept!" Tony's expression darkened, quickly shifting from his biological research to the present threat, with a vague suspicion about what was unfolding.
"Scan those armors, see if they use first-generation Ark reactors, locate Obadiah's position, and scan for Ivan Vanko among those armors!" Tony quickly added to his commands.
Tony had some pre-planned measures for such incidents, considering his handover of Ivan to Obadiah was a test of Obadiah's loyalty.
From the investigation into Stark Industries led by Pepper and Jensen, Tony had discovered issues in the company's accounts and traced signs of Obadiah's involvement, which although not conclusively tying Obadiah to a past kidnapping, certainly raised Tony's suspicions…
Thus, using Ivan as bait was Tony's way of probing Obadiah, but he hadn't anticipated that Obadiah would actually collaborate with Ivan, possibly even seeking revenge!
The recent quiet had misled Tony into thinking his suspicions were wrong, but the appearance of these armors confirmed Obadiah's malfeasance…
"Yes!" JARVIS promptly responded. Under his control, numerous armors flew out from Tony's residence, and from within Stark Industries, more armors emerged, even enclosing Pepper and Jensen for protection.
Since Tony had prepared for such scenarios, he naturally included protective measures, especially in a dangerous world where even the relatively safe Stark Industries might not be entirely secure. Tony never limited his precautions just to himself.
"Sir, we couldn't locate Obadiah, but we've found his private accounts are depleted, with large cash transactions and purchases of high-end metal materials…" JARVIS reported swiftly. Although JARVIS couldn't pinpoint Obadiah, the recent activities didn't escape his investigation.
"We've also located Ivan Vanko, heading towards Stark Industries in one of those armors! And we've detected first-generation Ark reactors…"
"Going to Stark Industries? Is he coming for me, or what?" Tony's pupils dilated slightly, remembering how Ivan nearly killed Happy, which made Tony suspect Ivan's intentions weren't benign.
"Home is in your hands for now, armors will help you deal with those armors. Try not to demolish my house, and by the way, keep an eye on Happy; he's upstairs watching TV…" Thinking this through, Tony quickly suited up in his armor and took off, shooting into the sky through a dedicated channel towards Stark Industries.
Meanwhile, it hadn't been long since Ivan's legion was detected, thanks largely to Tony's explicit instructions for such a contingency. Ivan, unaware he had been spotted, controlled his legion towards three locations, heading himself to Stark Industries' headquarters.
Ivan clearly aimed for a climactic showdown with Tony, but he also wanted to inflict greater pain on Tony to vent his rage, not believing that someone like Robert would always be around to save Tony.
Honestly, Ivan hadn't always been this ruthless. In his last encounter with Tony, despite being surrounded by people, Ivan hadn't harmed the innocent, not even Happy, who he could have easily killed.
But now, changed by Obadiah's torture, Ivan's heart had darkened; he was solely focused on how to make Tony suffer. Ivan wanted to vent on Tony all the rage he hadn't fully expressed towards Obadiah, making Tony truly understand the pain of losing his closest kin.
"This is? Iron Man's new armor?" Under Ivan's control, the legion approached Stark Industries' headquarters, and despite the considerable number of armors in the sky, bystanders and Stark Industries' security didn't react, assuming, like Morbius, that the armors were Iron Man's, an invention of Tony Stark. Could Stark Industries' security really stop their own CEO's armors?
Therefore, the security personnel didn't react, even though the armors seemed slightly different from before, at most assuming these were new models developed by Tony Stark…
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
Only when
the glass of Stark Industries headquarters shattered did the security personnel realize something was amiss. Even if Tony didn't care about expenses, there was no need to smash his own building's glass like that. It wouldn't take much longer to land on the roof, and although Tony might do such things, it still felt strange…
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