章節 147: Clash of Iron -143
Tony could never have expected that by Sending in Pepper to gather the information he wanted that he would end up forcing the mastermind behind the scenes to make his move.
Stane quickly realized what had happened when he saw Pepper leave the office and the notification that some downloads had been completed. Those annoying government agents had managed to stop him from capturing her, which meant he needed to act fast.
He had wanted to get rid of Tony since he came back, but had kept himself back due to the generator, which could easily assure him enough profits to make up for any loss Tony caused with his antics.
Though now he was glad he had waited, the suit and those weapons were no doubt the greatest thing Tony had ever made. More than enough to make up for the losses, they would make him the most powerful person in the world.
Whoever he sold those suits to would become the new superpower, and with a suit of his own, he could do whatever he wanted. He might even just equip his personal army with them and take over the country; why bother being the richest person in the USA when he could be the ruler of America?
But for that, he needed that arc reactor; it was clearly too advanced for the useless men he paid far too much.
…
He could only thank the thrust Tony had in him. That even after upgrading the security system, he was still able to get inside without causing problems. After all he knew well just how difficult it would be to force his way inside. Not to mention that Tony would have plenty of time to get inside his suit.
So yeah, foolish Tony had once more made it far too easy to do this. He almost felt bad for the boy, but only almost. After all he had suffered far too much, sacrificed far too much to ensure that Stark industries was number one.
And all that, just for Tony to get the glory, the profits, he was the one that was paying the price, but no more, no it was time for Tony to pay, and for him, Obadiah Stane, to bask in the glory.
As he made his way into Tony's home, he couldn't help but be relieved when he saw he made it just in time. He wasn't entirely sure why Potts hadn't already called and warned Tony, but it would be a mistake she could soon come to regret.
With a bright smile on his lips, he clicked the button and saw Tony freeze up. He wasn't a monster, though, so he helped Tony lay back down.
"You remember this one, don't you?" He asked, showing off the device before turning it off. "Shame the government didn't approve of it. There's so many applications for causing short-term paralysis."
In the end, he couldn't help himself, standing over Tony like this, he just had to vent a bit of his grievances.
"Ah, Tony. When I ordered the hit on you, I was worried that I was killing the golden goose. But, you see, it was just fate that you survived that. You had one last golden egg to give. Do you really think, that just because you have an idea, that it belongs to you?"
There was something to magical about the glow the reacter gave off, like it was something out of this world. "Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?"
In the end, he just took the reacter and left Tony there to die, he had seen that boy as something of a kid once. To kill him with his own hands, he didn't want that, not if he could avoid it. So he just left him there, he would die soon enough, and with his death, a new dawn would break.
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What Stane didn't know and couldn't have known was that the entire thing was carefully watched by an unseen presence, little more than a collection of thoughts, invisible and undetectable. Yet Alexander Ricci, O5-1, watched it all.
He knew that he could do nothing, and if he did he would just end up with things going like they had in the movie, he could even ensure that happened since his near infinite funds had easily allowed him to buy a few of the people working on Stane's suit.
There was so many ways that Alex could deal with Stane once he got in that suit that calling it Stane's would be utterly wrong.
Yet that would be boring; no, he needed to give Tony a push to ensure that he would become someone useful as soon as possible, and for that, he just needed to arrange a little play for him.
It would be the first time he used this many of his abilities at once outside of testing, but he was confident that Tony, in his current state, wouldn't be able to see through any flaws on his end.
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Tony couldn't believe it, hadn't wanted to believe it; he had naturally suspected Obadiah; after all, he was someone powerful enough within the company to pull off the illegal sale of weapons, but he hadn't wanted to suspect him, so he had removed him from the list right away.
Now that came back to bite him in the ass. Using his own tech against him, leaving him paralyzed and to die, he didn't want this; he didn't want his legacy to be weapons; he promised those two, promised himself that he would be better.
Yet, suddenly, he heard someone moving, footsteps, of two people. Was he saved? He didn't think it would be Obadiah, and he would have already finished him off if he wanted. Yet he couldn't see them from where he was sitting.
"I really don't think we should be doing this. It's such a bad idea."
"Don't be such a coward; everything is gonna be fine."
The two voices confused Tony, they sounded like two children. But how could that be possible?
"If Dad catches us, we will be in so much trouble." The voice, a girl, said from somewhere beyond his field of vision.
"It's fine; If dad was going to catch us, he would know about it. Don't forget that he was the one who invented the time machine." The second voice, a boy, said.
Though if the idea of two random kids showing up suddenly in his home was strange enough, the idea of them being time travelers was even more crazy. Time travel was impossible. It just couldn't be done.
"Is that how it works?" The girl asked nervously just outside his field of vision.
"Pretty sure, yeah; I mean, surely there would be no reason for Uncle Rhody to save him if we got found out, right?" The boy said, trying to sound confident but Tony could hear the uncertainty in his voice.
"But didn't we come to help dad? So why would Uncle Rhody have to do it?" The girl did ask an excellent question.
However, the real question was still, who were these kids? Uncle Rhody? No way, right, they couldn't possibly be his kids, could they? Though it would make some sense, after all only he would be able to invent time travel.
Tony pushed himself to the limit, and turned his head, allowing the two kids to appear inside his field of vision. And what he was shocked him. It was not really the appearance of the kids but the fact that they apparently had a small box with an arc reactor with them.
There should only currently be two of them, one taken by Obadiah and the other down in the basement, but this was clearly different, an entirely different design; rather than the normal design, this one seemed to have a glowing triangle inside it.
The girl was the first to notice him looking at them. She yelped and hugged her brother. "Morgan! He saw us!"
"Eh… I'm sure it's fine… I mean… he never mentioned it in any of his stories, so he must have forgotten." The boy, Morgan said.
As Tony looked at the boy with his blond hair, he couldn't help but be reminded of Pepper. Didn't she also have an uncle or something called Morgan?
Tony's mind raced, trying to piece together the bizarre scenario unfolding before him. These kids, Morgan, and his sister, had a striking resemblance to Pepper, and the arc reactor they held was clearly based on his own design. Could they be his children from the future? It seemed impossible, yet here they were.
"Morgan, I wanna go home." The girl said, hugging her brother's arms.
"Fine, let's just leave the reactor here, and then we can go back home. I promise he won't even know or remember any of this. I'm sure it was Strange who made him forget, like with spiderman." The boy said as he placed the reactor down onto the floor.
"Are you sure leaving that here is a good idea? Won't it mess up the future?"
"He would make this one in a year or two, so it won't change anything… I think. Anyway, you said you wanted to go back, to hold on tightly, and we go on go, not on one." The boy said as they started a countdown, and then, at go, they both pushed something that looked like a watch and straight up disappeared.
Tony was shocked at the sight, more so at the dull glow of the reactor on the floor. He wished he could have asked him, talked with him, find out if they really were his kids from the future. But maybe the reactor was a clue, after all apparently it was something he would make soon.
That was something for later. Unless he stopped Stane and saved Pepper, those two kids would likely never have been born if Pepper had been the mother, which he had a feeling she might just be.
With a grunt, he forced his body to move and pushed himself onto the floor. Crawling over slowly and fit it inside his chest. It fit perfectly, almost like it was indeed made for him. Or perhaps by him.
He couldn't help but marvel at it. He could almost feel his entire body fill with energy. It was amazing, which shouldn't be a surprise if it truly was something he had made.
By the time Rhody came to help, Tony was already getting suited up. Jarvis was online and everything was ready to go.
"Tony! Thank God you are alright. Pepper called and said you might be having problems." Rhody said as he came rushing inside the workshop, admiring Tony's look as he got suited up. "This is the coolest thing I have ever seen."
"Where is Pepper?" Tony couldn't help but ask.
"She is with five agents, about to arrest Stane."
"That isn't going to be enough." Tony muttered he didn't know what Suit Stane had built, but he was sure that it would be more than what a handful of agents with guns could handle, which meant he needed to get there fast.
"I gotta go to her; she is in danger." Tony said as he got ready to leave.
"You need me to do anything?"
"Keeps the skies clear." Tony said before blasting off.
…
"How is the new reactor holding up?" Tony asked Jarvis as he was flying across the skies. He didn't like using new tech like this, which he knew nothing about, but he also knew that the Mark 1 reactor wouldn't give enough energy for what he needed.
"The reactor gives off far more energy than even the mark 2; energy output is at least eight times higher and highly stable. So far, it seems to be a remarkable improvement to the old one; I can't help but be curious where you got it from, sir."
"Keep an eye on it. Record its performance and increase my speed to the max, I need to get there as fast as possible."
"Understood sir, increasing flight speed."
The new upgrade to increase speed for increased energy consumption were working great, better then Tony had expected, the new reactor really did solve a few problems her had envisioned due to that upgrade.
Tony soared through the sky, the new arc reactor performing beyond his wildest expectations. He could feel the power coursing through his suit, and for a moment, he allowed himself a sliver of hope that he might actually pull this off. He pushed the suit to its limits, rocketing towards Stark Industries where Pepper and the agents were confronting Stane.
As he approached the building, his sensors picked up intense heat signatures and the unmistakable sounds of heavy machinery. Stane was already in his suit, and it was wreaking havoc. Tony's heart pounded as he accelerated, preparing for the battle ahead.
"Jarvis, give me a visual on Stane," Tony commanded.
"Displaying now, sir," Jarvis responded, projecting a live feed onto Tony's HUD.
The image showed Stane, clad in a massive, hulking suit of armor, the likes of which Tony had never seen. It was crude compared to his own, but the sheer size and firepower it boasted were terrifying. The agents were trying to take cover, their bullets bouncing off the metallic behemoth with no effect.
Pepper was there too, standing defiantly between Stane and the agents, her eyes wide with fear but her stance unyielding. Tony's heart clenched at the sight. He couldn't let anything happen to her.
"Stane!" Tony's voice boomed through the speakers as he landed with a resounding thud, creating a small crater in the pavement.
Stane turned, a sinister grin spreading across his face as he recognized Tony. "Ah, there you are, Tony. I was wondering when you'd show up to the party."
Tony didn't waste any time. He fired his repulsors, aiming for Stane's joints, hoping to disable the suit quickly. Stane roared in anger, his suit absorbing most of the blasts but showing signs of damage. He retaliated with a barrage of missiles, forcing Tony to take to the air to avoid the explosions.
The override dodging system allowed him to avoid any attack that was projected to cause damage to his suit, allowing him to fully take advantage of his sleeker design and speed. Causing Stene to be unable to land any solid hits.
The only problem was that Stane had completely lost it, and clearly didn't care about causing collateral damage or the lives of innocent people. Something Tony couldn't just ignore, meaning the fight became a bit more difficult than expected.
"Jarvis, we need to find a way to slow him down," Tony said, dodging another barrage of missiles. "Analyze the suit's structure and find a weak point."
"Scanning now, sir," Jarvis replied. "It appears that his suit has no anti-freezing measures, so super high altitude should cause his suit to blackout, giving you enough time to disable it."
"Good thinking, Jarvis. Let's take this fight to the skies," Tony replied, immediately changing his flight path to ascend rapidly.
Stane, noticing Tony's sudden climb, laughed mockingly through his speakers. "Running away, Tony? You can't escape me!"
Tony ignored the taunt, focusing on gaining altitude. As he climbed higher and higher, the air grew thinner and colder. His own suit, equipped with advanced heating systems, managed to keep him operational. He glanced at his HUD, watching as Stane's suit struggled to follow.
The sheer bulk of Stane's armor made it slower to ascend, and the lack of anti-freezing measures started to show. Tony noticed ice forming on the joints and the suit's movements becoming more sluggish.
"Jarvis, what's his status?" Tony asked, keeping his altitude as high as possible.
"His suit is showing significant signs of freezing. Motor functions are declining rapidly," Jarvis reported.
"Perfect. Let's finish this," Tony said, diving back down towards Stane.
Stane roared inside the suit as it lost power due to the effect of the freezing, becoming little more than a metal coffin. Tony wasted no time charging the powerful weapon on his chest, taking full advantage of the amount of power the new reactor produced to charge it up to a critical level and unleashed it all at once. Causing Stane and his suit to explode in midair.
The explosion from Stane's suit lit up the night sky, a fiery bloom against the darkness. Tony felt a surge of relief and exhaustion wash over him as he descended back towards the ground. He landed gracefully, his suit's servos whirring softly as he touched down next to Pepper and the agents.
Pepper rushed to him, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and relief. "Tony, are you okay?"
Tony nodded, his suit retracting to reveal his face. "I'm fine, Pep. It's over."
The agents began securing the area, making sure there were no lingering threats. Tony watched as the remnants of Stane's suit were gathered up, the twisted metal a stark reminder of the battle they had just fought.
Pepper looked at him, her eyes full of concern. "What happened, Tony? How did you get here so fast?"
Tony glanced at her, then down at the arc reactor in his chest. "It's a long story. Let's just say I had a little help from the future."
Pepper's brow furrowed in confusion, but she didn't press him further. "I'm just glad you're okay."
Tony smiled, feeling a sense of peace wash over him. He knew there were still challenges ahead, but for now, he was content knowing that he had saved the people he cared about.
Agent Coulson slowly approached them. "Stark, I believe its time we had that chat you have been pushing off." He said, nothing that this whole thing would cause a lot of trouble. The fight on the road had left many a car ruined and people hurt.
While it could have gone far worse, it thankfully didn't so they should be able to cover things up relatively easily, as long as Stark was willing to play along.
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