Currently, Tony was flying at full speed, heading directly to where Obadiah was. Unfortunately, Tony knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his suit functional for much longer.
“How are we doing?” Tony asked, glancing at a holographic screen that appeared in front of him.
“Sir, the suit is at 48% power and dropping. The chest piece wasn’t designed to sustain flight” a slightly robotic male voice informed Tony.
“That’s more than enough. Keep me updated” Tony replied, accelerating his flight even more.
At that exact moment, while various thoughts raced through his mind, a call from Pepper appeared on the holographic screen in front of Tony. Without hesitation, he signaled for the AI in his suit to answer the call.
“Hello?” Tony asked, indifferent.
“Tony! Are you okay? Obadiah... he...” Pepper said on the other end, stumbling over her words.
Tony noticed Pepper was nervous, something evident in her voice. Even though he was praying to arrive in time, he knew things didn’t always go as he wanted.
“Sweetheart, just calm down a bit and tell me what happened” Tony said in a calm yet urgent voice.
However, no matter how long Tony waited, there was no response from Pepper. Only a metallic noise, like something large moving, echoed from the other end of the line. Tony didn’t need to think long to understand what that really meant.
“Damn it!” Tony cursed, increasing his flight speed even more.
It didn’t take long for Tony to reach the location where Obadiah was. When he spotted him, he saw that he had a gun pointed at Pepper. With his heart racing, Tony accelerated and shouted Obadiah's name. Then he collided with him, dragging him into the busy street where cars were passing by, even at night, as if the day would never end.
***
(Are you sure you don’t want to help? You seem like you want to fight) Sara thought to Prime.
They were both on top of a building, watching the battle between Tony and Obadiah. Although Prime was relatively far from the confrontation, it felt like he was watching everything up close, from a VIP box. He could barely comprehend the extent of his senses and how far they could truly reach.
“I’m fine. Right now, I don’t plan to intervene; I’m curious to see how far Tony can go with his suit. Honestly, I’m impressed with how much he’s improved it since coming back from the desert” Prime commented indifferently.
After these words, Prime slowly appeared next to Sara. She, who had been transformed before, was now in her human form, wearing a neutral expression. She wasn’t really focused on the fight happening in front of her; in fact, Sara found this confrontation less intense than the ones she had faced before.
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“By the way, doesn’t it look like Tony is getting his butt kicked?” Sara said next to Prime, a teasing smile on her face.
Hearing Sara’s words, Prime let out a brief laugh. As she had pointed out, Obadiah’s armor looked much more physically robust compared to Tony’s, which made Prime even more intrigued about how Tony would handle the situation. Of course, he would intervene if he saw Tony in serious danger.
As Tony and Sara watched the fight unfold, they exchanged a brief glance when Tony flew with his armor. Prime was surprised to see that Obadiah’s armor could do the same. How was Obadiah keeping up with Tony? Wasn’t his armor supposed to be too heavy for that? Prime just observed the situation, reflecting on these thoughts.
“Isn’t that dangerous? Honestly, if Obadiah manages to grab him, Tony won’t stand a chance” Sara commented beside Prime.
Prime shared Sara’s concern, but from his perspective, Tony was aware of the situation and had chosen to act anyway. In short, Prime believed Tony probably had a plan in mind.
“Let’s wait. I don’t think Tony is acting thoughtlessly” Prime explained, watching the situation closely.
As they climbed, Prime focused his vision and noticed something strange: Obadiah’s armor was slowly freezing, while Tony’s appeared to be in normal condition. This made a small smile appear on Prime’s lips. Even when Obadiah grabbed him and Sara looked genuinely worried, Prime continued to observe the situation.
Suddenly, Obadiah began to fall while Tony kept flying as if nothing was happening. Prime turned his gaze to Sara, who wore a confused expression. Although she should also be able to see the situation, she probably hadn’t noticed that Obadiah’s armor was freezing, likely due to her nerves.
“What happened? I thought Tony was in deep trouble, but suddenly the big guy started falling!” Sara asked, confused.
Prime didn’t respond to Sara’s words. Instead, he disappeared again, and now transformed, Prime and Sara watched intently as Tony descended. It was evident that Tony was probably running low on energy, which fit Prime’s criteria for a life-or-death situation.
“Come on, I think it’s our time to help” Prime said, starting to jump between the buildings. With his speed, he estimated he would reach the location where Tony and Obadiah were in just a few minutes.
(Prime, look!)
Almost reaching the site, Prime paused for a moment upon hearing Sara’s words. She was shocked, and rightfully so: from where there had been darkness, a pillar of light erupted, reaching the skies. Prime was momentarily taken aback by what was happening, but this only made him hurry his steps even more.
Loud booms from small explosions echoed as Prime arrived on the scene. He quickly spotted Tony, who was on the rooftop. His armor was damaged, with several pieces missing, including part of his helmet. Seeing this, Prime began to seriously think that maybe he had overreacted by not intervening.
Another explosion occurred as this thought crossed Prime’s mind. Realizing the situation was becoming dangerous for Tony, he rushed over just before a big explosion happened. Prime lifted Tony and jumped, knowing that while he wouldn’t be affected by the explosion, that wasn’t the case for Tony.
***
Pepper looked around, startled by the explosion, and ran as fast as she could, still dealing with the reactor overheating after following Tony's orders. But no matter how much she searched, Tony was nowhere to be found. Worry consumed her, and she feared he might actually be dead.
As these thoughts tormented her, Pepper jumped when something suddenly fell in front of her. As the dust began to settle, she was able to see what had fallen.
“Tony!” Pepper exclaimed, running toward him.
However, she quickly stopped when she noticed something in front of Tony: a figure with red skin, wearing a white hood covering its head. It was taller than Pepper but still a bit shorter than her. In short, the presence was terrifying, and that became even more evident when the creature lifted its face.
Intense eyes and a mouth filled with rows of teeth stared back at her. Pepper was so terrified that she couldn’t even scream. Her legs gave out, causing her to fall to the ground as she stared at the monster in front of her.