The sky was gradually darkening, and a crescent moon climbed into the sky.
The city of New York changed into gorgeous evening attire under the night, neon lights flickering.
After sending off the completely dumbfounded Nick Fury, Corin had Alyssa change into an evening dress, and the two of them went to a high-end restaurant for dinner.
Specially dressed up, Alyssa was elegant and charming at this moment. Looking at her boss in a full suit and formal wear, the little stars once again appeared in her eyes.
Corin was slowly and methodically cutting the steak in front of him, his movements as elegant as those of a noble prince.
The faint, almost invisible smile at the corner of his lips made Alyssa, a total face-addict, feel like she really could not take it.
You could tell that the boss was in a very good mood today. He had even specially ordered a very delicate set of dishes for the two of them.
Alyssa's thoughts had long flown far away. She was vaguely hoping that on this beautiful night, she could leave an unforgettable memory with Corin.
But when dinner ended and Corin told Alyssa to go back by herself, Alyssa finally realized she had probably been overthinking again.
"Scumbag Boss!"
That's right, after earning so much money from this trip to Afganistan, of course he had to properly reward his hard-working self when he came back, and of course, Alyssa as well.
"Hic~ I'm stuffed!"
Even though he was already worth over a hundred million, Corin still felt a bit of heartache when paying the bill. One meal had actually cost more than 30,000 dollars. [T/N: Tf? Outrageous.]
"It's easy to go from frugal to extravagant. The ancients really didn't lie to me."
Walking the streets of New York to digest his food, Corin did not choose to go back together with Alyssa.
Even though there were more than 200 million dollars lying in his account, Corin knew that money that comes easily goes even faster.
Those 200 million dollars, in front of the bottomless pit that was the system mall, could not even stir up a single splash.
Corin did not rush to exchange for talents, since he had not had time to properly study them yet.
On the other hand, he could not quite bear to see that long string of digits in his account instantly reset to zero.
"Let this money stay in the account and keep warm for a few more days."
Lifting his head, taking a deep breath of the slightly cool New York night air, he unintentionally saw the neon of Stark Tower.
"I wonder what that brat Tony is doing. He seemed to invite me to go find him."
Imagining the scene of trying on Tony's armor, Corin was itching to move. He went to a deserted corner, confirmed the direction, and then flew toward Tony's home.
———
A few hours earlier.
While tweaking the details of the armor, Tony was thinking back on Obadiah's behavior at the party and knew that he was the one leading the charge in the company to go against his orders.
'It is time to move against that old guy. Stark Industries can not keep helping the bad guys.'
"But I need proof."
Just then his assistant Pepper Potts pushed open the door and came in.
"I need you to do something. Go to my office, hack into the mainframe, and pull back all the recent shipping manifests. This is the password chip."
Seeing Pepper gave Tony an idea, which was to have his female assistant get the evidence for him.
But Pepper refused. She thought Tony wanted to mess around again like last time.
Tony going alone to Kunar to face the militant army had scared Ms. Pepper half to death.
She would rather quit her job than see Tony willfully throw himself into deadly danger again.
This time, Tony's face was rare and solemn, "When I was going around making money off destruction and corpses, you were there too."
"But now that I want to protect the people who suffered because of me, you're going to leave me?"
Pepper knew how much opposition there was in the company to Tony's decision to stop weapons development and sales. She also knew that other capital forces were eyeing Tony like hungry tigers, ready at any time to deliver a fatal blow. If she followed Tony's instructions, she would be pushing Tony into an even sharper, more dangerous situation, "Tony, this will get you killed. I can't give you that push."
In Tony's mind flashed the image of Dr. Yinsen risking his life, the miserable scenes of refugees that words could not describe, and the sight of terrorists with powerful weapons in their hands.
"If it weren't for this belief, I probably would have died a long time ago."
"I'm not crazy, Pepper."
"I've just finally understood my mission."
"And I know deep down… that I'm right."
The unrestrained, playboy Tony Stark now had a light in his eyes that had never been there before.
This moved Pepper Potts a little.
'Tony… seems to have changed…'
Leaving aside how Ms. Pepper, right in front of Obadiah, successfully got the evidence from the computer and happened to run into S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson.
Obadiah had already taken back the mechanical armor Tony had developed when he was kidnapped from the surviving Ten Rings militants and had upgraded and modified it, making it bigger and stronger.
But the one thing it lacked was the core energy source of the armor, the arc reactor.
No matter how much pressure he put on Dr. William, this was something he simply could not create.
"Tony Stark built this in a CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!" [T/N: Iconic!]
When Obadiah discovered that Pepper had copied the shipping manifests from the computer, he realized this would become the direct evidence sending him to prison, he panicked.
Stabbing a finger into Dr. William's chest, he shouted loudly.
Dr. William helplessly said, "I'm sorry, I'm not Tony Stark."
It was as if Obadiah could already see the scene of agents putting handcuffs on him. His mind was in complete chaos.
Looking at that mighty and imposing iron armor, it only lacked a reactor for the hollow space in its chest, and then it could move.
With it, Obadiah would never have to look at anyone's face again. If anyone dared disagree with him, he would simply get rid of them.
Simple and brutal, but extremely effective.
By then he would destroy everyone and everything that was bad for him, mainly Tony.
He would then become the true master of Stark Industries.
The raging flames of desire made Obadiah's eyes turn red, and suddenly they lit up, "Plunder~ what a beautiful word…"
———
Coming to Tony's bay villa for the second time, Corin did not rush to go in.
Lifting his head to look at the distinctively designed, high-tech mansion on the mountaintop, Corin's eyes showed a hint of hesitation.
'Should I just fly straight up… or use the normal way in?'
'Speaking of which, how does the normal way go?'
Tony had talked so nicely, but he hadn't even left a phone number. He couldn't exactly just kick the door open and walk in, right?
If he trespassed here and got shot by the owner, he'd deserve it.
If it weren't for wanting to try on that armor, who'd bother being this polite with him?
Standing at the foot of the hill, Corin got stuck on the question of how to go in and find the guy.
At this moment, inside Tony's home, the phone rang. The caller ID showed Pepper Potts.
"Done!"
Tony guessed Pepper had most likely succeeded and answered the phone.
Zzz!
A sharp, high-pitched sound rang out. Tony suddenly widened his eyes, veins bulging on his face.
["Tony? Tony, are you there?"]
Ms. Pepper's voice came from the phone, but Tony was unable to make any sound. His whole body was paralyzed.
A hand supported Tony's head and slowly laid him onto the sofa.
"Relax! Relax!", Using a simple device, Obadiah had temporarily paralyzed Tony's body and at the same time dug out the arc reactor in his chest.
"This is the last golden egg you'll ever lay."
Shaking the reactor in his hand, Obadiah turned and left.
Back when he was kidnapped, shrapnel had entered Tony's chest. Though Dr. Yinsen had removed the larger fragments, there were still shrapnel bits left in Tony's body that could not be removed due to technical limitations.
They could only be held in place at his chest by the electromagnetic force released by the arc reactor.
With the reactor removed, the shrapnel in Tony's body began to move bit by bit with every heartbeat, bringing him immense pain.
"Not good! I'm going to die..."
At the edge of life and death, Tony's brain raced. Using every ounce of his strength, he made it to the lab. His gaze laboriously shifted to the reactor he had built back then, which Pepper had carefully placed in a transparent box.
"Good thing I didn't throw it away."
Having thought of a solution, Tony stretched out his hand, desperately reaching forward, but he still just could not get that damned box, at this moment, a voice came from not far away, sounding like heavenly music to Tony, "Oh~ poor Tony, need a hand?"
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