"We're under attack! UNDER ATTACK!"
BANG BANG BANG! RATATATAT!
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"He's not human! He's a freakin' monster!!"
"Bullets don't even scratch him!"
"Where the hell is my Italian cannon?!"
"Forget that, he tanked a freaking anti-tank round!!"
Inside the cave, Tony and Yinsen had been stressing over how to get the Mark I armor on without alerting the guards.
But then.
All hell broke loose outside.
Gunfire, explosions, and panicked screaming thundered through the mountain.
A brilliant flash of light,
Then silence.
Tony and Yinsen locked eyes.
Yinsen sprang to the metal door and peeked through the surveillance slit.
"Tony! Now's our chance! Not a single guard in sight!"
"Seriously?!"
"Holy crap !"
Tony tried to spring from bed but flopped onto the floor like a fish.
Recovering quickly, he reached under the bed and pulled out a crude homemade trip-wire bomb, duct-taped together from spare fuses and stolen scrap.
He taped it to the inside of the door handle.
One tug from the outside, and it'd blow, hopefully buying them enough time.
"Yinsen! Hurry! Help me suit up!"
"On it!"
Rewind slightly.
At the Ten Rings compound,
Leon had hoped to earn a "Perfect Stealth Infiltration" achievement.
But with his body's absurd defense and his infinite-ammo Desert Eagle…
He ended up playing full auto with a pistol.
Unfortunately, Leon's aim sucked.
He'd never trained with guns before, until recently, he was just a spoiled rich kid with the arm strength of a chicken.
It often took seven bullets just to down one target.
But with infinite ammo, who cares?
He sprayed like it was a damn machine gun.
Bullets rained like a storm.
The bald Ten Rings commander realized things were spiraling out of control. He barked at his scruffy second-in-command:
"This guy's no joke! Go get Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen, move them now! I'll catch up!"
"On it, boss!"
The underling nodded and rallied a team toward the cave.
Leon spotted the movement.
He fired a few shots, missed every single one.
So he gave up on subtlety.
His chest began to glow.
Three seconds of charging…
BOOOOOOOM!!!
A barrel-sized beam of searing white plasma exploded from his chest, slicing through the terrain like a buzzsaw.
He spun in place as the chest cannon rotated with him, sweeping the entire enemy squad in a half-circle inferno.
The scruffy lieutenant? Gone.
The bald boss? Vaporized.
The cliffside?
Melted like wax.
"Huuuuh…"
Leon exhaled, shoulders relaxing.
"Whew. That takes a lot outta me. Not really practical for constant use."
He looked down the smoldering slope of the outpost, entirely blackened, half-melted, scorched beyond recognition.
"But man… that power."
"Who's next?"
No answer.
The scorched wind howled through the ruined compound. Burnt flesh and melted boots littered the battlefield, and the stench made Leon wrinkle his nose.
He might've overdone it.
But hey, results.
=====
Inside the cave,
Tony and Yinsen were almost finished getting the armor on.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
"Yinsen, hurry! I think I hear footsteps!"
"Almost done! What next?!"
Yinsen locked in the final bolt and scrambled to the old computer station.
"Okay, run the power-up sequence! Press F11, wait for the progress bar, then Ctrl + I, and finally Enter!"
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The steps were getting closer. Every echo made Tony's heart pound like a jackhammer.
"Done! Tony, it's booting!"
Onscreen, the progress bar began to fill, 10%, 20%, 30%...
"YES!"
"Yinsen, hide, now! Once I'm up, I'll smash anyone who comes through that door and we'll be out of here!"
"Heh… You may not know this, but I was a hide-and-seek champion as a kid."
Even calm, scholarly Yinsen cracked a smile.
He slipped his slim frame into an empty missile casing, leaving no visible trace.
Tony grinned, nerves still high.
He kept one eye on the loading bar.
The other on the door.
'Come on. I'm ready for you.'
The loading bar hit 100%.
The lights flickered, then died.
Darkness.
Silence.
BOOM!
A massive thud hammered the steel door. A fist-shaped dent exploded inward
Outside
Leon examined his handiwork.
"Really? That soft? One punch didn't even break it?"
He sighed, then kicked.
CRASH!
The entire door launched off its hinges and into the cave,
BOOM!!!
Tony's trap bomb detonated on impact.
Leon was blasted backwards in a cloud of smoke.
"WHAT THE-"
"Right. Forgot about that thing!"
Cough cough!
Covered in soot but completely unharmed, Leon dusted himself off and walked inside.
He leaned casually against the stone doorway, arms crossed, and with a mix of sarcasm and swagger, called out:
"Hey, string beans, time to go."
But instead of a warm reunion,
A metal fist the size of a watermelon came flying at his face.
BANG!
Leon caught it with one hand.
Effortlessly.
"Whoa, hey!"
"Tony, it's me!"
"Your favorite little brother, Leon!"
"Bullshit!"
Tony growled inside the suit.
"Leon can't punch through steel like that! You're a damn imposter!"
Thanks to limited tech, the Mark I's helmet had no night vision.
In the cave's dim light, Tony couldn't make out Leon's face, especially not after that explosion.
To make matters worse, the blast had temporarily scrambled the suit's audio sensors.
So naturally,
He lunged.
BOOM! BAM! SWING!
Tony threw wild, heavy punches.
"Well, damn."
"I guess if logic doesn't work… we go with physics."
Leon sighed.
He sidestepped the clumsy haymakers.
And hit Tony with a no-frills, physics-defying uppercut that sent him crashing into the ceiling like a rag doll.
THUD!
Clangggggg…
Mark I armor clattered to the floor like junkyard scrap.
Dust settled.
Silence returned to the cave.
"Next time," Leon muttered, "maybe ask before you punch your rescuer."
Every 250 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter
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