The open-air rooftop bar at the top of the hotel.
Tonight, it was reserved exclusively for Obadiah and the guests he had invited.
By the time Leon and Tony arrived, Obadiah had already been waiting for quite a while.
The food had gone cold long ago, but Obadiah seemed to have anticipated that, ordering mostly chilled dishes and desserts, everything Tony and Leon liked.
Candlelight flickered across the white tablecloth under the evening breeze, casting shifting shadows over Obadiah's bald head and that half-smiling, half-scheming face of his.
"Hey, Tony. Leon. My good boys," Obadiah greeted warmly. "You've kept this old man waiting."
"No choice," Leon joked with a grin. "We're just… built different. Endurance is kind of our thing."
Tony casually picked up an apple from the decorative fruit platter and took a bite.
"Obi, you really should've called a few young models over to keep you company while you waited."
"Oh, please," Obadiah laughed, patting Tony's shoulder after hugging Leon. "With these old bones? Spare me. I'd like to live a few more years."
"Fair enough," Leon shrugged.
"If you can live longer… who wouldn't want to?"
"Sit, sit," Obadiah urged enthusiastically. "I ordered everything you two love."
Then he sighed dramatically.
"Thank God… for bringing you back to me. Ever since Howard and Maria passed so suddenly…"
He looked at them with heavy sentiment.
"You're all I have left."
"Haha," Tony replied lightly. "Yeah. Thank God."
Then he frowned slightly.
"Where's Pepper? Why didn't she come with you?"
"Something came up," Tony answered. "You know her, always busy."
"That's fine," Obadiah said smoothly. "The important thing is that you two are here."
The three of them sat around the candlelit white round table, almost like an ordinary family dinner.
"Aah!"
Leon didn't waste a second. He eagerly cut off a piece of cold-roasted steak and popped it into his mouth.
He chewed twice…
Then suddenly froze.
"What's wrong?" Obadiah asked immediately, watching closely.
"Not to your taste?"
"No."
Leon swallowed.
"It's just… way too good."
"The aftertaste is intense."
And then, like a starving beast, Leon swept through the table like a hurricane, devouring everything in sight.
Even Tony's portion didn't survive.
The scene was so absurd that Tony and Obadiah, who hadn't even taken a bite yet, both stared in stunned silence.
"Burp!"
"!!!"
Leon let out a satisfied belch…
Then his eyes suddenly bulged wide.
Both hands clutched his throat.
Foam spilled from his mouth as if he'd been poisoned.
Then his eyes rolled back.
His head slammed onto the table.
And he went completely still.
"Leon?! Leon!"
"Obi… your food… has… p-poison…"
From the moment the poison hit…
To the moment Leon "died"…
It took only two and a half seconds.
Tony didn't even have time to react.
By the time he realized something was wrong, Leon already looked beyond saving.
Tony whipped his head toward Obadiah.
Buzz!
Obadiah casually pressed down on a small device in his hand, something that looked ridiculously like a… personal massager switch.
A specific-frequency infrasonic wave pulsed out.
Tony's neck veins bulged violently.
In an instant.
His entire body went numb.
Paralyzed.
He couldn't move at all.
"What a greedy little bastard," Obadiah murmured.
"You could've gone out so easily too, Tony."
"…Huh?"
Obadiah nudged Leon's "corpse," intending to take his seat and speak face-to-face with Tony.
But…
He couldn't push him.
It was like trying to shove a human-shaped iron block.
Heavy as hell.
Obadiah gave up.
Instead, he sat opposite both brothers.
And slipped naturally into the classic villain monologue.
"Do you remember this, Tony?"
He removed the noise-blocking Bluetooth earpiece from his own ear and held up the small device.
"Your portable infrasonic weapon."
"Too bad it was never approved for production, because infrasonic waves spread indiscriminately."
"But it's useful, isn't it?"
Obadiah smiled thinly.
"What a shame, Tony."
"Why did you and Leon come back?"
"If you'd just died out there… it would've been good for you."
"And for me."
"This wouldn't have to be so messy."
"The media downstairs…"
He gestured vaguely.
"They have no idea why I invited them tonight."
"After all, who would expect the Stark brothers, freshly returned from kidnapping, to be assassinated in public, under the brightest spotlight?"
Then his voice sharpened.
"And I, Obadiah Stane…"
"Will finally take Stark Industries for myself."
"Tony."
"I built Stark Industries with your father."
"I gave my entire life to this company."
"And in the end…"
His eyes flicked toward Leon's body.
"I get less than that useless womanizer sitting beside you?!"
Duang!!
"Gah, FUCK!"
Obadiah, in a rage, slammed his fist down onto Leon's head.
Only for his own hand to crack.
Bone fractured instantly.
Leon's skull?
Not even scratched.
"…I didn't want it to come to this," Obadiah hissed through the pain.
"But you two…"
"Your existence makes everything impossible."
With his injured right hand, Obadiah painfully pulled a white glove over his left.
Then drew a handgun from his coat.
Click.
Safety off.
The barrel leveled at Tony's forehead.
And then,
At that exact moment.
Leon, who had "died from poison"…
Rose back up.
He flipped the table upright.
"Hard to deal with?"
Leon's voice was calm.
"Then don't deal with it."
Bang!
Obadiah fired.
But the bullet,
Leon caught it in his bare hand.
And crushed it into dust.
"…Y-You…"
Obadiah stammered.
"How are you-"
Leon kindly supplied the rest.
"How am I not dead?"
He smiled.
"Guess."
"Guess my ass!"
Obadiah snapped.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
He emptied the entire magazine in panic.
Leon stepped in front of the paralyzed Tony.
Every bullet slammed into Leon's body like raindrops.
Pointless.
The only result was eight neat holes torn through Leon's shirt.
"How…?!"
"What the hell are you?!"
Obadiah collapsed backward, terrified.
The empty pistol slipped from his fingers and skidded to Leon's feet.
Leon bent down, picked it up.
And under Obadiah's shattered gaze…
He kneaded the gun like dough.
Then pressed his palms together.
Clap.
The pistol became a flat metal pancake.
"Stane…"
Leon's voice turned cold.
"You know nothing about power."
Thunk.
The metal disk dropped to the ground.
And with it…
Obadiah's last illusion of hope shattered.
Now…
He finally understood why Leon hadn't died in that car crash.
Why Tony had escaped the Ten Rings.
Because all along…
He had been the only one left in the dark.
He hadn't even realized…
That his partner had already created the ultimate weapon.
"Howard…"
Obadiah seethed, trembling.
"Was this part of your plan too?!"
Leon blinked, confused.
Why was this suddenly about their dad?
If Leon knew Obadiah had already convinced himself Leon's body was some secret Howard Stark experiment…
He would've laughed on the spot.
"Any last words?"
Leon stepped forward.
Obadiah said nothing.
He simply crawled backward on all fours, scrambling away like an animal.
But soon.
Leon stopped.
Because Obadiah had nowhere left to go.
Behind him…
Was the city's sea of lights.
And the hundreds-of-meters drop into open air.
At that moment,
Tony finally recovered from the paralysis.
Shaking, he stumbled to Leon's side, leaning on him for support.
And stared at Obadiah.
"…Why?"
Even paralyzed, Tony had been fully conscious.
He'd heard every word.
Obadiah let out a bitter laugh.
"Why?"
"There is no why, Tony."
"If you stay in that seat long enough…"
"You'll destroy yourself anyway."
"I'll be waiting for you in hell."
"Waiting my ass!"
Leon snapped.
"If you're gonna jump, then jump!"
"I gave you the chance, and you still think you're some kind of main character?!"
Shoom, BOOM!
Leon raised his hand.
Golden light flashed in his palm.
And Obadiah.
Was blasted off the rooftop by the radiant impact.
Obadiah was hurled off the rooftop by the blast of golden energy.
Thirteen seconds later…
A muffled thud echoed from below, like a firework detonating in a sandbag.
Judging by the sound alone…
There was a high chance that Obadiah had been reduced to a bloodied pulp.
"Oh my God…" Tony blinked, turning toward Leon with a mix of awe and exasperation. "Did you really have to go that fast? I still had questions."
"Blame me?" Leon shrugged, utterly unbothered.
By the time Pepper arrived, having printed out all the damning evidence from Obadiah's office computer, showing he'd colluded with the Ten Rings and hired assassins to target both Tony and Leon…
Leon had already slammed the lid on Obadiah's metaphorical coffin.
Efficient, to say the least.
Sometimes, plans just can't keep up with good ol' chaos.
Every 250 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter
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