[T/N: 🎊 HAPPY NEW YEAR chaps! 🎊 May this year be Healthy and Productive for you! Enjoy~]
["Remaining power 2%. Starting emergency backup power."]
Because its engine had shut down, Iron Monger could not move. Wrapped in a thick shell of ice, it fell far away into the brightly lit New York City.
The flames at Tony's hands and feet suddenly sputtered out, and the heavy weight of the iron armor dragged Tony Stark downward as well.
The difference was, Tony still had a bit of backup power. When his speed reached a certain level, he could briefly activate the thrusters to cushion himself.
When Tony neared the rooftop of the Stark R&D workshop, the power finally could no longer provide any cushioning for him.
Clang!
Catching on a metal pipe, Tony crashed awkwardly onto the rooftop, wiping out once again.
Corin, whose gaze had never left Tony, watched him drop down in jerks and lightly landed on the eaves to the side.
Just in time to see Tony wipe out again, he smiled and greeted him, "Tony, how does it feel?"
Tony waved his hand like it was nothing, and the armor on his hand peeled off in response. He was getting ready to take off this suit that was running out of power.
'Phew~ falling from that high, Obie is probably in big trouble!'
Letting out a long breath, "Mr Crimson Silver Duke. Looks like even without you making a move, I can still handle everything…"
Corin's spider sense had already picked up that Iron Monger was climbing up this very building beneath their feet. He shook his head with a helpless smile, "Tony, don't be happy too soon~"
"Just like I said, place an order now and you can still enjoy a 1% discount."
Tony, who thought he had already dealt with Iron Monger, complained inwardly, 'What kind of discount is 1% supposed to be? And you actually have the nerve to say it.'
'I've got to find a chance to ask him what's going on in that head of his, why Obie's price is higher than mine.'
"Place an order? No way! I'd never place an order in this life—"
Before Tony finished talking, a huge figure suddenly appeared behind him, an iron fist howling straight toward his face.
Tony spun around quickly, saw it was Iron Monger, and froze for a second, 'This guy didn't die?'
His faceplate snapped down in response, his body dropped low, and while dodging the heavy punch he thrust out his palm, ready to fire back with a laser blast.
He suddenly realized his left hand didn't have armor at all, he had just taken it off.
Kicked away with one heavy boot, Tony, pushed by the last bit of power in the armor, leaped high and smashed a heavy right hook into Iron Monger's iron helmet.
No choice, it had to be the right hand. If he punched with his left, he'd break his bones.
Iron Monger, who hadn't suffered any damage even from a fall from ten thousand meters up, of course didn't care about such a light punch.
Both arms clamped down tight, crushing Tony hard against his chest.
Feeling the heavy pressure at his waist, Tony's eyes bulged and he couldn't catch his breath. He tried to activate other functions of the armor, but got Jarvis's merciless reply:
["Repulsor blast offline! Missiles offline!"]
Inside Iron Monger's helmet, Obadiah already wore a smile of victory.
Tony felt like his chest was about to explode. His rapidly spinning brain suddenly thought of something, and he shouted, "Tracer rounds!!"
Following Tony's order, the chest of the armor suddenly released hundreds of micro bullets, flickering with burning arcs as they sprayed out everywhere.
The two suits of armor clanged and rang as they were struck by the massive number of tracer rounds.
Corin, not far away, lit up at the sight and let out a heartfelt exclamation, "What a huge firework!"
———
Tracer rounds, also called flash rounds, didn't have much attack power, but right now they did their job.
Obadiah's eyes were stabbed by the exploding flashes of light, and he let out a pained groan. The strength in his hands naturally weakened, and Tony took the chance to escape from Iron Monger's passionate embrace.
He hid himself in a concealed spot and began thinking of a plan.
The armor no longer had any energy to support him continuing to fight. The chance of defeating Obadiah head-on was approaching zero.
At this moment, an idea came to Tony's mind, which was to have Pepper Potts go to the giant reactor beneath them and deliberately overload it through the controls.
Then he would lure Obadiah to the area above the reactor. The massive energy that would erupt when the reactor overloaded would turn everything above it into fragments.
But there was one downside to doing that, he would die.
Ever since he awakened that softness deep in his heart, Tony could no longer ignore the lives and deaths of ordinary people like before and just indulge himself in wine, women, and pleasure.
That trip to Afghanistan had opened a new door for Tony, the tycoon and genius. That feeling of saving people from fire and water had given his soul a kind of elevation.
If Obadiah killed him here today, then without a doubt, next Stark Industries would become a world-class war profiteer, and the number of people affected and killed in wars would skyrocket by orders of magnitude.
"I absolutely won't allow something like that to happen!"
Just as Tony's gaze gradually grew firm and he was about to carry out that mutual destruction plan, a jarringly out-of-place figure entered Tony's line of sight, making his spirit jolt.
It was Corin.
He hadn't expected that after eating and drinking his fill he'd still get to enjoy such a spectacular fight. Even though he hadn't joined in, he still felt the trip had been worth it.
Seeing that the battle was about to reach its end, Corin, who had already been rejected three times in a row, gave up on trying to drum up business.
Pushing a deal won't make a sale.
"Whether he lives or dies," He yawned. Corin was a bit sleepy.
Just as Corin was struggling with whether to watch Tony's fight to the end, his phone began to vibrate.
That upscale restaurant that only allowed customers in formal wear certainly didn't allow their phones to be ringing nonstop.
After leaving the restaurant, Corin had forgotten to switch his ringtone back on, so his phone had stayed on vibrate all this time.
Curiously picking up the phone and seeing the caller ID, Corin smiled, it was Tony Stark.
Lifting his eyes to look at Tony sneaking around and hiding in a dark corner, Corin couldn't figure out why this kid would call him in the middle of a fight. Could it be he'd thought it through?
["Hello, Mr Silver Duke..."]
Tony's deliberately lowered, slightly tired voice came through the receiver.
Corin watched Tony in the distance waving at him from the corner.
"Hi, Tony~ spacing out in the middle of a fight is not what a gentleman should do. What do you need me for?"
Tony, lightly mocked by Corin in passing, showed a bitter smile, 'Damn it, if I had a better option right now, who would bother calling you?'
["Let's make a deal! One hundred million! Take care of him for me!"]
While secretly watching Iron Monger searching around for him, Tony quietly named his price.
'So what if his price is higher than mine? At a time like this, only an idiot would care about those irrelevant things.'
Hearing Tony's offer, a hint of surprise flashed in Corin's eyes, 'This kid finally got it?'
He remembered that just a moment ago, a certain someone had been vowing up and down that he would never place an order.
"Tony, I still prefer you in your unruly, defiant mode. How about you switch back to that?"
Tony cursed inwardly, 'Fuck! This damn bounty hunter really has a nasty way of insulting people!'
But looking at Obadiah, who was getting closer, full of killing intent and with his suit's power still full, Tony no longer had any capital to maintain his pride, ["Two hundred million! Help me!"]
His voice, deliberately kept low, was slightly hoarse from urgency.
'Now that's a price with some sincerity~'
A satisfied smile appeared at the corner of Corin's mouth, and he became kind and friendly, "Delighted to be at your service, my esteemed employer."
———
Obadiah hadn't expected Tony, relying on that suit whose combat power was far lower than his, to slip around in his hands like a loach.
But after a round of fighting, it was clear Tony was running out of tricks.
Thinking that his long-held wish was finally about to come true, Obadiah felt a wave of pleasure all over his body,."Very clever, Tony, but today you can't escape death~"
BOOM!
Right at that moment, a thunderous crash came.
Before Obadiah could even react to what had happened, Iron Monger's bulky body was blasted upward by a huge force, rising even faster than when he had chased Tony just now at full speed.
Bounty hunter Cockroach, back on the clock!
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