20: Ten Rings

Obadiah Stane was having a very bad day. He had believed everything was in order, that things would go according to his plans. Even if Tony wasn't dead, that didn't matter; Obadiah was confident he could easily get rid of him.

Now he wasn't so sure. He had seen the images; they were on the news. Others might have no idea who or what the "robotic suit" was that helped in the attack on the Ten Rings.

Stane knew. He had been in contact with the Ten Rings since he was the one who asked for their help to get rid of the Stark brat. Of course, the stupid greed of one of their commanders had prevented Tony's death. That had infuriated Obadiah so much that he had promised to kill him himself.

It wasn't necessary; Tony had done it. Obadiah knew it had to be him. Raza had sent him some images of what they had managed to find in the desert after Tony's departure. It was rough and clearly made hastily, but the basics were there. Obadiah had planned to travel personally to see it, but recent events had changed that plan.

He entered his office with some sweat on his forehead, wondering if Tony would seek revenge against him in the same way he had against the Ten Rings. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and took a long drink. Nothing should go wrong, he told himself. Tony didn't even know he was the one who ordered his kidnapping.

Of course, they weren't on the best terms now and he surely suspected him a lot since he had somewhat confessed to being the one who sold those weapons illegally. But things weren't irreparable; he could fix this, somehow.

"You seem stressed" the voice from the darkness pulled him out of his thoughts, making him almost jump backward. He quickly turned his head to see two intensely red eyes staring at him from the darkness of his office, glowing like two beacons in the dark.

The figure stood up and casually approached him. As his face emerged into the light, his eyes reverted to an ordinary light brown, losing that supernatural glow.

The man stood beside him and took his own glass of whiskey, pouring it slowly.

"You..." Obadiah swallowed hard. He knew he would come but didn't expect to see him so soon.

"Surprised? You shouldn't be. With what's happened, things have become... difficult, if you know what I mean" The man walked over to the large window in Obadiah's office, looking out at the view with a subtle smile on his face, a smile that soon turned into cold fury.

"The Mandarin is not pleased with this, Stane. The Ten Rings have lost much of their influence in Central Asia. He wants answers, he wants those responsible to pay" He looked at him, his eyes glowing once more, radiating an inhuman heat.

"Tell me, are you responsible for this?"

Stane trembled, his throat dry and his hands starting to sweat. He shook his head quickly, almost stammering as he spoke.

"Of course not! I ordered Tony to be killed immediately, but it was his man, Raza, who was greedy. He let him live and now he wears that metal suit" It was better to completely deflect the blame; the Mandarin was not someone Stane wanted to cross, not in a million years.

The man smiled mockingly.

"You blame a dead man? You know the dead can't pay for their mistakes, so the living must"

Stane frowned deeply.

"What... what do you mean?" he asked hesitantly.

The man snapped his fingers, and a cloth that had been covering part of Obadiah's office fell. Obadiah hadn't noticed it before, given the size of his office, but now he saw it and what was behind it.

With wide eyes, Obadiah approached the metallic remains and picked up the steel helmet from the pile of cables and pieces.

"This is what you were going to steal from Raza. Certainly innovative, don't you think?" The man stood beside him, observing the remains of the Mark 1.

"How?" Obadiah turned in panic, realizing that his plans had been uncovered.

The man sneered but didn't respond. He took the steel helmet from Obadiah's hands and spoke clearly and coldly.

"The Mandarin will not tolerate more mistakes. The blood of his men flows over the grounds of Afghanistan like a crimson river. He wants revenge, and you will be the one to pull the trigger" His hands began to glow a bright orange that soon turned to a brilliant yellow.

The steel in his hands melted, dripping from between his fingers like water. Obadiah took two steps back in evident fear.

"I don't—" He tried to refuse, but eyes as fiery as flames stopped him from finishing his words.

"This is not a request. Either you kill Tony Stark and this "Defiant" or you will be the one to face the consequences" The man calmly wiped his hands with a handkerchief and then pulled something from an inner pocket of his chest.

Obadiah's eyes widened as he saw the vial glowing with an orange liquid inside.

"T-this is!?"

"Beautiful, isn't it? More power than anyone could imagine in the palm of my hand" The man took the vial and placed it in Stane's hands.

"The latest and improved Extremis formula, a completely stable serum... No matter how, you have to kill them both, do you hear me?" Stane nodded, feeling the heat emanating from the vial in his hands.

He held it tightly, almost fearing it would be taken away. The man smiled and patted his back.

"Then I'll leave it to you. Remember, the Mandarin never forgets"

Obadiah watched Aldrich Killian's back as he walked away and left his office. The air rushed out of his lungs as if he had been holding it the entire time. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked again at the vial in his hands. He couldn't help but let a wide smile form on his face.

Not only that, he looked at the remains of the Mark 1 and the blueprints taped to the side. The Mandarin's men must have recovered them along with the pieces. If he had these two things, maybe... no! He could definitely do it!

He could get out of this. He would kill Tony and that stupid hero in tights. Then he would find a way to make the Mandarin kneel before him.

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Daniel returned to Smallville and entered his farm cautiously. He dragged his body to the living room and looked around. He didn't remember it being so clean; he could even see his reflection on the floor.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

He looked at himself, his suit covered in dirt and blood—definitely not a pleasant sight.

He had come back because he didn't think Harleen would be too happy if he stained her apartment with blood and dirt.

He saw the sunlight starting to come through the window; dawn was approaching. He decided to take a quick shower and maybe a nap. He wasn't physically tired, but he was mentally exhausted.

He heard the door open behind him and felt Carol rushing toward him. Before he could warn her, he felt her embrace him, almost hearing his ribs creak. "This girl... really doesn't know how to hold back eh?"

"You're back!" she almost shouted, a big smile on her face. Daniel looked at her and gave her a tired smile.

"Maybe you shouldn't hug me right now" he said, causing her smile to fade and her brow to furrow deeply. Daniel then pointed to himself, and it was then that Carol noticed the dirt and blood covering him. She looked at herself, realizing her clothes were already stained.

"Oh..."

Daniel gently pushed her away and looked at her. She had arrived quite quickly, almost at the same time as he did.

"When was the last time you slept?" he couldn't help but ask.

Carol brushed off some of the dirt and looked at him thoughtfully.

"Since we started training? Maybe a few days before that"

That was concerning. Daniel didn't know much about Carol's biology, but so far, she didn't seem much different from humans and Viltrumites. That's why he remembered what Harleen had said several days ago.

"You should start sleeping more, you need rest" Carol blinked in confusion and chuckled a little.

"No, we don't need to sleep" she said plainly. They never got tired, so why waste time sleeping?

Daniel sighed, went to his sofa, and slumped down on it, not caring if he dirtied it or not. Carol followed him and pouted as she watched him sit down.

"You know, getting stains out is quite difficult..." She gestured to the sofa, but Daniel simply waved his hand.

"Don't worry about that. I'll just buy a new one or something" Honestly, he didn't care right now.

"Let's not change the subject. You need to start resting. Physically, we may not get tired, but mentally, we still can" Carol sat beside him, studying his face, noticing something odd in his expression.

"If I say I will, will you tell me what's going on?"

Daniel stayed silent. He didn't exactly know what to say. How do you express the feeling that comes to you after possibly killing hundreds of people?

He looked at Carol. There weren't many people he could vent to these days. Harleen would probably be willing to listen, but he felt he had already burdened her enough. Adding more to her plate just didn't feel right.

He scratched his head, tousling his hair, thinking about his next words.

"When I started doing this, I told myself there would be no games, no second chances for monsters, and I wouldn't leave things half-done. I committed to doing whatever it takes, but now I'm not sure if that's right"

He looked at his hands. He had thought his resolve was stronger than this, that he was stronger than this.

Carol took his hand, staining her hand with red, the blood standing out starkly against her fair skin. Despite this, she didn't let go and helped him remove his gloves.

"When we met, you told me that you didn't accept a world like this, a world where people couldn't live without fear" She looked directly at him.

""Isn't it supposed that you should defy all injustice?" So why doubt? Those were nothing but monsters terrorizing people; their lives had no value. Getting rid of them was the right thing to do" Her voice was cold, and Daniel could see that she firmly believed in what she was saying.

"So don't worry, you're a hero. What you do is right and for the good of others. I'm sure those people in Afghanistan who had been living under their rule will be very happy now that they are free, and that's thanks to you, because you saved them"

Daniel thought about it. He didn't know for sure if it would be like that, but at least many families wouldn't have to worry about losing their children or parents, at least not at the hands of the Ten Rings.

"Maybe you're right" he said, not wanting to argue anymore.

"Of course, I am, because I know you're doing the right thing" she said. Carol didn't think too much about what Daniel had done. As she had said, she thought Daniel did what was necessary, whether he killed one person or a thousand didn't matter. In her eyes, his actions must be justified

Carol helped him to his feet.

"Come on, you need a shower" He let her drag him; his body felt heavy.

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Tony entered his workshop with a cup of coffee in hand. After returning from Afghanistan, he had removed the Mark 2 and taken a long shower. He didn't think about sleeping, not now. This trip had brought certain revelations, and ideas had been pounding in his head, demanding to be implemented.

"I need to improve the reactor protection system" he massaged his chest, although barely noticeable, a red line crossed through his skin.

Not only there, his body had a lot of small wounds that had accumulated throughout the conflict. Fortunately, they could all be treated in private.

The destruction of the Ten Rings' bases, combined with his fight with "the monster," had taken a considerable toll on his body. He had been too impulsive, not properly testing the impact cushioning system, resulting in numerous bruises covering his body.

The Mark 2 wasn't better off either. Although it was an amazing piece of engineering ahead of its time, it wasn't indestructible. Tony himself didn't have much experience in handling it, although he learned quickly. That cost him several direct hits that he could have avoided, compromising its structure, making the accumulated damages too much to justify investing in its repair. It simply wasn't worth the cost.

That's why he started a new project, the Mark 3.

After witnessing firsthand what Defiant was capable of, he realized he had been underestimating him. The guy was a monster; Tony had seen all the weaponry possible within those bases hit him directly and barely ruffle his hair.

He had created those weapons, so he knew perfectly well what they were capable of, and none had even caused the slightest harm to him. Hell, they barely managed to scratch his clothes, which left him completely perplexed. What the hell was his suit made of?

The Mark had been designed with the best alloys he could get and the most resistant materials, yet it seemed like he had walked into a blender. Meanwhile, Defiant's clothes were almost intact in the end.

Of course, Raza had a lot to do with it, but the point still stood; his armor wasn't resilient enough.

"Jarvis, analyze all the data we have so far. Give me an estimate of how resistant Defiant is" he requested. A series of projected screens unfolded at his inquiry, calculations of hundreds of pages carried out in seconds, and soon Jarvis's voice was heard.

"Do you want the short answer or the long answer, sir?"

"Give me the short one. I trust you" There was no way Jarvis could be wrong in his calculations.

"There's no weapon, apart from nuclear weaponry, theoretically capable of harming him. Although there could be two materials capable of doing so" Tony almost demanded to recalculate until he heard the last part.

"One should be Vibranium, right? Considering its characteristics, there's no doubt it could stand up to him. But the problem is that the majority of it on the planet was used to make the most expensive frisbee"

Vibranium was and had been the most coveted material by the world's arms manufacturers. It was a shame that all that existed had been used and lost during World War II.

"Remember the rumors that spread a few years ago, sir? About the illegal trade of Vibranium on the black market?" Tony furrowed his brow. Of course, he remembered them. He had heard of them but hadn't taken them seriously, thinking they were just false rumors. And since he had been more occupied with dating models than attending to his company, he had never really thought to investigate them thoroughly.

Maybe it was time to change that.

"Tell me about the other one" he asked curiously. He had heard of Vibranium but never of anything comparable.

Jarvis then displayed the information in front of him.

"Adamantium..." he read through all the information Jarvis had on the synthetic material, theoretically indestructible. Nothing they threw at the little they had managed to create could damage it, not even nuclear weaponry.

One would think that such a discovery would have been more widely known and used.

The problem lay in the process of its creation; it was extremely complicated and costly. A single mistake would mean the loss of hundreds of millions. Additionally, shaping it was extremely difficult, and once hardened, it was impossible to reforge into something different.

Moreover, the method for synthesizing it was a closely guarded state secret. Now that he had turned his back on the arms trade, and therefore the military, obtaining the method to create it legally would be impossible.

Thinking about all this, several ideas began to flood his mind.

"Jarvis, pull up all the data recorded on my father's study of Vibranium" Maybe obtaining either of these two materials would be extremely difficult if not impossible, but no one said he couldn't create his own.

After all, someone accidentally created adamantium during World War II.

Tony didn't trust luck, so he knew this wouldn't be easy, but he was confident he could achieve it with enough time and effort.

On the other hand, he needed a more immediate solution. Problems wouldn't wait; his luck wasn't that good. So, he had to find a way to improve more immediately. As he contemplated this, his eyes met the holographic screens.

"Energy projection?"

An idea struck him; perhaps this could work.

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Note:

I don't know how there are authors capable of writing a daily chapter, they're probably half Chinese or something hahaha.

The next update of Still Defiant is now available on Patreon (patreon.com/EmmaCruzader) and soon there will be another chapter there, If you don't want to wait for a public update, you can take a look at it n.n