"You were set up? Tell me exactly what happened."
Qin Xiao suddenly stopped feeling so anxious.
After all, Frank had eaten a Logia-type Swamp Fruit—
unless someone used a very specific method to counter him,
it would be nearly impossible to kill him.
As long as Frank managed to escape, he could survive just fine on his own.
In fact, a Punisher without the restraint of protecting Tony Stark
was far more terrifying than one guarding him.
Those idiots probably had no idea they'd just unleashed a monster.
"This line might be tapped," Frank said tersely. "I'll head to Safehouse No. 3."
"Got it."
Qin Xiao ended the call and immediately absorbed the phone into his body—
his unique ability ensured it couldn't be tracked.
Safehouse No. 3
Frank started recounting everything that had happened over the past few weeks.
After Tony announced the closure of Stark Industries' weapons division,
the company's stock plummeted more than 55 percent the very next day.
TV pundits and reporters everywhere called Tony reckless, unstable, insane.
Tony, however, simply locked himself inside his Malibu villa.
No reporters could reach him.
Not even the board of directors could see him.
Obadiah Stane had come knocking several times,
but Tony brushed him off every single time.
Then, two days ago, Obadiah showed up again—
and this time, he didn't bother hiding his intentions.
"Tony, the company needs a new product to turn the tide,"
Obadiah said bluntly.
"What do you mean?" Tony's tone turned wary.
"That arc reactor in your chest."
Tony's eyes narrowed instantly.
"How do you know about that?"
Thanks to Qin Xiao's earlier warning,
Tony had never told Obadiah about the miniaturized arc reactor.
Yet somehow, the old man knew.
"Tony," Obadiah sneered, "whether it's Pepper or Colonel Rhodes,
we have ways of making them talk."
At that cue, several men entered from outside—
board members, military officials, and a handful of armed guards.
It was a full-blown confrontation.
Tony's face hardened.
He'd recently built a new arc reactor,
replacing the old one with Pepper's help.
The old core had been neatly packed away and stored in his lab.
He always knew the secret wouldn't stay buried for long.
If they knew about it now—so be it.
Obadiah's expression grew darker.
"Tony, recently there's been a man-shaped flying weapon
attacking terrorists across the globe—
it even shot down a military aircraft.
Did you really think no one would notice?
The Pentagon wants answers."
Greed flashed in his eyes.
A weapon capable of downing fighter jets—
that was true power.
He'd already recovered Tony's old Mark I armor from the desert
and had his engineers reverse-engineer the design.
A bigger, stronger suit was nearly complete.
All it needed was a compact, powerful energy source—
the mini arc reactor.
Everything else, his team could replicate.
Only that power core eluded them.
Today, he intended to claim it by force.
That was why he'd brought along loyal board members and military allies—
to corner Tony and make him surrender.
"Fine," Tony finally said, voice cool. "So you know.
But I'm keeping this. I won't share the tech.
Once it's perfected, I'll build clean-energy reactors for Stark Industries.
Use that to distract the media.
As for the Pentagon, Colonel Rhodes already issued a statement.
What else do you want?"
He flatly refused to hand over the reactor,
but still offered a reasonable out—
a peaceful way to defuse the situation.
At that point, Tony still hadn't decided to take Obadiah down.
He had already completed the Mark III armor,
and had secretly flown missions to wipe out terrorist cells—
acts that, unfortunately, had drawn military attention.
During one encounter, he even destroyed a U.S. fighter jet.
The military had brushed it off publicly as a "training accident,"
but Obadiah had obviously uncovered the truth.
Now, with the board and the military in tow,
Obadiah was staging a full-on coup.
"Since you've shut down the weapons division,"
Obadiah continued coldly,
"the arc reactor in your chest is now the company's greatest asset.
As Stark Industries' intellectual property,
it must be studied and replicated for research."
He wasn't asking anymore—he was taking.
ps: If you want to read more, join my Patreon/ deadsoul
i will drop 1 bonus chapter for every 40 powerstones