Capítulo 23: Righteous Iron Man
In the Middle Eastern region of Gomira~
Due to the time difference, it was still morning when Tony arrived. After a brief search, he quickly noticed a village engulfed in flames.
He then saw a group of men wearing headscarves, armed with rifles, herding a group of children onto a truck.
"Hurry up! Get on!"
"Don't run! If you try to run, we'll shoot you!"
"Get on the truck, we're leaving soon!"
The terrified children, trembling under the watchful eyes of the Ten Rings members, obediently boarded the open cargo truck. They remained very quiet because the ones who didn't had already been shot dead.
Just then, one of the Ten Rings members near the truck, after ensuring all the children were on board, removed his headscarf, revealing a Western face.
He lit a cigarette, taking a slow puff.
"Once we finish this job, we can finally take a break."
The man beside him, after closing the truck door, took the cigarette from his companion and inhaled deeply.
"Yeah, after this, I'm heading back."
"Back? What's wrong?"
"I'm tired of all the killing every day."
"Yeah, I get that…"
The first man took the cigarette back, taking another puff.
"Earlier, there was a little girl, about the same age as my daughter, begging me not to kill her mother. But I did it anyway."
Even though they were part of the Ten Rings and committed many heinous acts, they were still human, with emotions and desires. Though their conscience was scarce, it wasn't completely absent.
As the two men conversed, suddenly, a beam of light descended from the sky, striking the truck that was just about to start.
With a loud "bang!", the truck's engine was instantly destroyed.
Immediately after, a red and gold robot landed on the ground.
The surrounding Ten Rings members, seeing this, immediately opened fire without hesitation.
"Ratatatat…"
Bullets struck the robot, but it was as if they were merely scratching an itch, only chipping off some paint.
Inside the Mark IV suit, Tony felt no tremors at all, which gave him a profound sense of security.
The previous Mark III armor was still too thin, and sometimes he feared it could be pierced by armor-piercing rounds. But the Mark IV? It could probably withstand a couple of hits from armor-piercing rounds.
After feeling out the Mark IV's armor, Tony raised his hand, and a repulsor beam fired instantly.
"Whoosh!!"
Two Ten Rings members were immediately blasted away, their fates uncertain.
Tony continued his assault, using his repulsors to take down the surrounding enemies one by one.
The children on the truck, seeing this, looked on in amazement.
"Wow, Superman came to save us."
"That's not Superman, it's a robot!"
"It's a super robot!"
In contrast, the two Ten Rings members who had been smoking earlier, upon seeing such a powerful enemy, immediately dropped their weapons and played dead.
For them, it was just a job for money—no need to sacrifice their lives.
"Whoooooshh!!"
After a short while, all the Ten Rings members who were still standing had fallen.
Tony scanned the area, feeling a bit disappointed when he didn't see any enemies left standing. It seemed not all members of the Ten Rings would transform into those praying mantis-like monsters.
So, he took to the skies again, searching for new enemies.
The children on the truck, seeing that all the bad guys were dead, immediately jumped off the truck.
"The super robot defeated the bad guys!"
"Awesome!"
"Mommy! Daddy!"
At that moment, the surviving relatives of the children rushed over from a distance.
"Sob…my child, thank goodness you're okay!"
"I thought I'd never see you again."
"Mom, it's okay now. Where's Dad?"
"Sob…sob…"
............
Hovering in the air, Tony was deeply moved by this scene. At that moment, he felt the true meaning of his existence.
To make the world a better place, to bring peace without pain or sorrow.
He felt as though he had evolved. If before, he had the idea of fighting criminals, it was more out of revenge against the Ten Rings.
But now, he felt he was no longer driven by revenge; he was truly fighting for world peace. After ensuring these civilians were safe, he finally flew away with peace of mind.
After a while, he seemed to have found the enemy's stronghold and even spotted a Stark Industries missile truck.
This immediately ignited his fury!!
But in the next second.
Suddenly, with a loud "bang!", Tony felt as if he had crashed into a truck, being violently flung to the ground.
Fortunately, the Mark IV had extraordinary shock-absorbing capabilities, otherwise, even if the suit remained intact, the impact might have killed him inside.
As he climbed back to his feet, he saw a tank not far away, aiming directly at him. He immediately raised his right hand, and a small anti-tank missile popped out of his arm.
The next second, just as the tank was reloading, he fired the missile and turned his head without hesitation.
"Whoosh…boom!"
The missile seemed to have hit the tank's ammo, causing a catastrophic explosion.
He then flew towards the missile truck.
Just as he was about to launch his attack, a group of Ten Rings members rushed out, firing at him.
"Ratatatat…"
"Boom…"
The unfortunate Tony was struck by a hidden portable missile, once again sent flying.
After getting up, he quickly extended both hands, firing repulsors continuously. But worried that the enemy might have more portable missiles, he kept moving while attacking.
In no time, the Ten Rings members were being wiped out, with no chance to fight back.
"Boom…boom…"
Minutes later, with the last explosion, the Stark Industries missile truck was also destroyed.
Tony felt a wave of satisfaction in his heart.
Just as he was about to take off again, he noticed three men who had been lying on the ground suddenly getting up.
"Roar…"
A strange growl echoed.
The three men's bodies began to undergo different mutations.
One man, with darker skin, developed black scales on his chest, similar to a beetle's shell.
An older man, with graying hair, grew six small claws from his lower abdomen.
The last man, the youngest and apparently a Caucasian, underwent the most significant change—his entire head transformed into an insect's, with countless teeth and compound eyes.
"Here we go again, seems like some kind of enhancement technology. But now it seems this enhancement can lead to any kind of insect mutation."
"Roar!"
Before Tony could think any further, the beetle-man charged at him.
He quickly raised his hand, firing a repulsor beam.
"Bang!"
A beam of light struck the beetle-man, but the man withstood it, not even breaking his skin.
"Oh boy, this is unexpected…"
Before he could finish, the beetle-man knocked him back.
"Looks like I'll need to reinforce the armor even more next time, or I'll be getting concussions from flying around all day."
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