章節 42: Obadiah
"Emergency! Emergency! Need backup at Stark Industries Headquarters!" Coulson's voice cut through the silence. "Romanoff, we need you to come in."
"Are you kidding? I'm working," Natasha replied, annoyed.
"This takes precedence," Coulson insisted.
"For fuck's sake, Coulson," she muttered, slipping her phone away and putting on a sorrowful expression as she walked back into the room.
Seeing Liam, still seated and smiling, she muttered to herself, "Almost got to the point where I could get more information. Ah, well. There's still a week left to continue."
Liam looked concerned, standing up as Natasha approached. "What happened?"
"It's my mom. Something's come up," she said, voice filled with 'sorrow'.
"Is she alright?" Liam asked.
"She had another episode. I have to go," Natasha said, turning to leave.
"Let me take you to the hospital, then," Liam offered, while summoning Incursio around him.
"No need, I'll go there myself," she replied, not looking back.
Liam cast the Eldritch Constraints spell, creating a whip, and smiled. "What a shame. I was enjoying this farce."
Natasha felt chills go down her spine, she rapidly turned around but it was already too late.
In an instant, the whip wrapped around her legs, binding them together. Liam pulled hard, causing her to fall to the ground.
Caught off guard, Natasha barely registered what had happened. She glanced back and saw Liam in full armor—a massive gray suit with a red spear in his right hand and a sizzling, orange whip in his left.
"What are you doing, Liam?" she asked, her voice filled with 'panic'.
"You can drop the act," Liam said coldly.
"What do you mean, act?" Natasha asked, feigning confusion. "Liam, what's going on? How did you change all of a sudden?"
"I told you to stop the crap. I can't let you assist Coulson right now."
While he spoke, Natasha tossed electric shock pads at him. Liam didn't move as they hit him. "Electricity of this level has no effect on me," he said calmly. Bullets then hit his visor, bouncing harmlessly off.
"Bullets don't work either. You should stop struggling," he warned.
"What do you plan to do with me now?" Natasha asked, visibly frustrated.
"Nothing," Liam replied, crushing her phone in his hand.
"How did you figure it out?" she asked, still bound.
"Not hard, considering the amount of bugs you planted in my room."
At that moment, an explosion rang out from outside.
"You're going to stay quiet and watch the battle with me," he said, dragging her closer and lifting her up. She punched at his visor, but it didn't work, her efforts were useless against his armor. Once things had quieted down, Liam looked down at her.
"Are you done?" he asked.
Natasha didn't respond, taking it as confirmation, Liam used Neontote to create a hole in the wall.
"What are you doing?" Natasha asked.
"We're moving to a place closer to the fight," he replied.
"We are on the 18th floor, how do you want to get there in time? I can show you a shortcut down if you drop me." she said.
Liam smirked, standing at the edge of the hole he had created. "No need, we'll take the fast way down," he said, stepping off the building. Natasha instinctively shot a grappling hook, but he cut the line before it could pull her up. She struggled in his grip, but nothing worked as they fell.
They landed on a 12-story building, then Liam sprinted forward, leaping onto a nearby 10-story building. Finally, he landed on a building just three stories tall, stopping with a clear view of the Stark Industries entrance and roof. Liam set Natasha down, still constrained, and looked down at the street below, to see Pepper exiting Stark Industries.
'Just in time.' Liam noted. Liam could see Iron man still somewhat far away, Pepper's mouth moved as she held her hand at her earpiece. 'She's probably talking with Tony right now.' Liam thought.
The ground started shaking, a massive metal suit clawed itself up from under the ground.
"The Iron Monger." Liam said.
Iron Monger emerged, aiming his machine gun at Pepper. Tony was almost there. Tony's voice called out over his speakers, "Stane!" successfully getting Iron Monger's attention. He turned and opened fire on the approaching Iron Man.
Tony maintained maximum speed, colliding with Iron Monger's waist, and their momentum drove both of them through two walls, crashing onto a highway. They flew through the back of a truck before hitting the ground. Because of the impact from the ground, both suits were pushed away from each other.
Liam watched closely from his spot. 'In the movies, no civilians had been harmed, but this world might be different.' He thought. Romanoff muttered something about helping civilians, but he ignored her, confident they'd survive.
(From here on is the the same fight from movie, this is the last time where there's almost no changes. You can skip until the end if you don't want to reread it.)
Iron Monger picked up a car with a family inside, smirking as he faced Tony. "I love this suit!"
"Put them down," Tony warned.
"Collateral damage, Tony," Obadiah sneered, walking closer.
Tony activated his chest ray, blasting a powerful beam that sent Iron Monger flying into an abandoned car. Tony caught the car, setting it down slowly, though the vehicle sped off, driving over him in because of fear and panic.
The car dragged Tony a few meters before he freed himself, lifting the back up to push it off him. He looked up, only to see Iron Monger charging at him, using his repulsor to jump over a car in his way.
The two stood face to face again. A motorcyclist approached, wanting to speed past them but Obadiah knocked the rider off by picking up the bike and swung the bike at Tony.
The impact sent Tony flying, smashing into an abandoned car, landing right in front of a bus.
Obadiah closed in, stomping on Tony and lifting him up. "For 30 years, I've been holding you up," Obadiah growled, slamming Tony into the ground and stepping on him.
"I built this company from nothing!" He lifted Tony again, holding him above his head before slamming him down into the bus.
Tony head hurt from all the impacts and could barely react. Obadiah took a few steps back and launched a missile, the explosion send Tony flying into the air. Struggling, Tony managed to stabilize his armor and use his repulsors.
"Impressive, Tony, you have upraded your suit," Obadiah said, walking over. "But I've made some upgrades of my own." With that, he propelled himself upward, both suits flying into the sky.
Watching from below, Natasha glanced at Liam. "Why aren't you helping Tony? Obadiah's done countless illegal trades and caused thousands of deaths."
Liam looked at her, noticing the burns on her hands from attempting to remove her bindings. He crouched beside her.
"Interesting how you know about those trades. Let me ask—why has SHIELD let him operate for so long?" he asked. "Besides, someone else will handle him. I'm not needed for this."
In the sky, Tony's suit was barely holding up. "Seven percent power, sir," Jarvis warned.
"Just put it on the screen, stop telling me." Tony replied in frustration, racing to gain altitude.
But he was too late; Obadiah caught up, grabbing Tony by the leg and dragging him down.
"You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced than yours in every way!''Obadiah laughed, raising his machine gun.
Tony looked at the frost gathering on Iron Monger's suit and smirked. "How'd you solve the icing problem?"
Obadiah paused, caught off guard. "Icing problem?" His suit flashed warnings as the systems froze.
''Might want to look into it," Tony said, knocking on Iron Monger's helmet. The giant suit let go and started falling towards the ground.
Tony looked at the Iron Monger falling, he heard the warning coming from Jarvis. ''2 percent power.''
Tony began to descend in bursts. ''We are now running on emergency backup power.'' Jarvis said, before crash landing on the roof of Stark Industries.
He slowly stood up and opened his mask, calling out, "Pepper.''
''Oh my god Tony, are you okay?'' He heard over the helmet.
''I'm almost out of power. I got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there." Tony responded.
After saying that he heard a loud thump, Obadiah reappeared, growling, "Nice try," and swung a fist at him.
Tony ducked under the first blow and put up his left hand, he noticed too late that his left-hand repulsor was broken. Obadiah's next punch hit hard, sending him flying backwards.
Tony managed to stabilize himself using his right hand and left leg repulsors, before charging in to land a hit on Iron Monger.
But Obadiah caught him, squeezing Tony.
"Jarvis, status report!" Tony gasped.
"Repulsors offline. Missiles offline," Jarvis replied.
Tony screamed, "Flares!"
The flares activated, blinding Obadiah. Tony used the smoke to hide behind an air conditioning unit.
"Pepper," Tony whispered into his comms.
"Tony,'' she screamed.
"This isn't working. We need to overload the reactor and blast the roof," Tony said.
''how are you going to do that?'' Pepper asked.
"You're going to do it," Tony whispered. ''Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I give you the go, you are going to hit the master bypass button and fry everything up here.''
"Okay.'' Pepper said, as she walked into the Stark Industries building again. ''I'm going in now.''
''Make sure you wait till I clear the roof. I'll buy you some time,'' Tony said.
Pepper found the circuits and started flipping the switches. Meanwhile, Tony jumped onto Iron Monger's back. ''This looks important.'' Tony said, ripping out wires from its neck. Obadiah blindly grabbed Tony and flung him onto the glass panels above the reactor.
Obadiah opened his suit, grabbing Tony's fallen helmet. ''I never had a taste for this sort of thing, but I must admit, I'm deeply loving this suit.'' He sneered, crushing Tony's helmet.
Obadiah continued as he walked closer to Tony. ''You finally outdid yourself, Tony. You made your father proud.''
"It's ready Tony! Get off the roof, Pepper shouted.
Obediah broke the glass under Tony, causing him to hang above the arc reactor.
''How ironic, Tony. Trying to rid the world of weapons, yet you gave it its best one ever!'' Obediah laughed. ''Now I'm going to kill you with it.''
''Pepper!'' Tony screamed, after Obediah fired his first missle.
''You ripped out my targeting system.'' Obediah noticed.
Tony shouted down to Pepper,''Time to hit the button!''
''You told me not to!'' Pepper screamed back.
''Hold still, you little prick.'' Obediah said, aiming his arm at Tony as he walked forward.
"Just do it!" Tony shouted.
''You'll die!'' Pepper shouted.
Pepper hesitated, but Tony insisted, "Push it!"
Pepper hit the button, activating the reactor. As Obadiah raised his rocket for a final shot, a red blur pierced through his head and armor. The reactor activated, sending Tony flying through the air. While Obadiah's body stumbled forward and fell, crashing into the reactor below.
-----
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章節 43: Chapter 43
Liam had been watching the entire fight from a distance with Natasha. Although she didn't have a good view because her bindings prevented her from moving around properly, leaving her with only a few glimpses of the action. Natasha glanced at Liam.
"Why aren't you helping Tony?" she asked. "Obadiah's done countless illegal trades and caused thousands of deaths."
Liam looked at her, noticing the burns on her hands from her attempts to break free. He crouched down beside her and replied, "Interesting how you know about those trades. Let me ask—why has SHIELD let him operate for so long?" He paused, glancing back at the fight. "Besides, I trust Tony to handle him. I'm not needed for this."
Natasha continued trying to 'persuade' him, she was trying her best to guild trip him. Realizing her tactics, Liam ignored her voice completely. 'Unfortunately for her, I have enough energy to make that spell last for days if I want,' he thought, then focused on the fight as Obadiah fell from the sky. The fight was finally reaching its climax.
He watched with interest, especially considering how little was revealed about Obadiah's fall in the movies—especially when comparing it to the scene where Rhodey nearly died from a significantly lower fall.
Liam watched as Obadiah got closer and closer. But just in time, Obadiah managed to activate his thrusters near the end of his fall, getting rid of most of his speed before hitting the ground.
The fight continued, and as Obadiah fired his first rocket, Liam noticed something wasn't right. 'This isn't how it went in the movies. If this keeps up, Tony won't have enough time for Pepper to save him,' he thought. Realizing the urgency, Liam grabbed his spear, pulling his arm back with full force. He hurled it with all his might, sending the weapon flying straight through Obadiah's head and his armor.
In the next instant, a massive blue beam shot into the sky. As the energy exploded, Liam saw Tony launched upward. 'Let's go, I have to check on him.'
Liam leaped towards Tony, catching him mid-air and landing on the roof of Stark Industries just before the building exploded behind them. He took one more powerful jump and landed on the ground nearby, setting Tony down gently. 'The arc reactor seems to be powered again by the energy from the overload, just like in the movies. His life shouldn't be in danger,' he thought, looking at Tony's unconscious, bloodied form.
"Tony!" he heard Pepper scream in the distance.
'Time to go,' he thought, leaping away from the scene.
Liam realized as he retreated. 'This was too close. I can't let myself ignore a fight like this again. Tony might become too reliant on me. But even if that's the case, I'll need to find another way to support him and others. I can't let this happen again.'
The reality check hit hard. 'Deep down, I've been watching him like I did with the movies, making sure things played out the same way. Tony could have died because of that mentality.' He resolved that this wasn't who he wanted to be.
With that thought, Liam returned to Natasha's side. Landing beside her, he looked at her and sat down. "I'll free you now, don't worry," he said. Then, in one big leap, he was gone. He remained nearby, he observed what was happening from greater distance.
Coulson had gotten his team out of the Stark HQ before the explosion and was now standing around Tony with Pepper. Minutes later, firefighters, police, and ambulances arrived on the scene. Tony and Pepper, with Coulson's help, had already been brought away to safety. Satisfied that things had stabilized, Liam finally left.
He arrived in a nearby alley, unsummoned Incursio, and opened a portal back to his room at the Sanctum.
'Then again, to adapt to this world, I have to be ruthless. I have to keep growing stronger, and for that, I'll have to keep fighting. I can't afford mercy on my enemies, and I won't,' he reminded himself. But he noticed that he hadn't yet tapped into Incursio's full potential.
'I keep thinking about evolving Incursio,' Liam realized. 'But why don't I focus on adapting to basic challenges—extreme temperatures, electricity. Instead of dodging punches all the time, maybe I should learn to resist them. Like a smith forging a weapon, I should focus on strengthening Incursio into something better.'
The memory of Natasha's energy pads resurfaced in his mind. 'Incursio had a basic resistance to them…but what if I can make it stronger? Same with high temperatures—I need to improve that, especially considering the Hell Dimension.'
Liam continued analyzing his plan. 'Technically, the molten lava from that hellish fiend was probably around 700–800 degrees Celsius. I should be able to train using the outer levels of a volcano, as surface lava temperatures are also only about 700 degrees. I'll also work on building resistance to the toxic gases that come with it.'
At the same time, Liam knew the importance of getting better at magic. 'Maybe I can combine the two.' He started smiling as an idea struck him. 'What if I use my astral form to study new spells and languages while my physical body, in Incursio armor, bathes in lava?'
It seemed doable. However, he hadn't forgotten his upcoming meeting with Fury in three weeks. 'Although, it won't be pleasant after what I did to Natasha,' he mused. 'Still, the experience was good. Having lived two lives has its advantages when it comes to mind games.' He couldn't waste any more time thinking over small things. His training had to continue.
As he settled into meditation, he pulled out his Latin language book in his astral form, studying for a while before heading to bed.
The Next Morning
Early the next day, Liam opened his laptop and typed: "Most unknown volcano in the world." After a quick search, he found an answer: The most unknown volcano is Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania. He looked at a few pictures online, noticing that none were taken up close.
"Yeah, this could work," Liam thought.
He used his sling ring to open a portal, stepping out onto the peak of the volcano. The sudden change in altitude caused Liam to gasp for breath because his body struggled to adapt. 'Incursio,' he thought, and his armor immediately wrapped around him, giving him some much-needed oxygen. 'Forgot about that. That's annoying.'
Taking a deep breath, he continued down the mountainside, getting closer to the mouth of the volcano. Once he reached the outer rim, he removed Incursio for a little bit, giving his body a chance to adapt to the lower oxygen levels. He slowed his breathing, allowing himself to get used to it gradually.
He wasn't yet close enough to be affected by the volcano's toxic plumes, but he knew he'd need to be able to get in and out quickly. 'I can't keep Incursio active for more than 20 minutes, so my training time isn't unlimited and I'll need to time it well.'
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