The unexpected turn in the battle left Feeney feeling irritated and frustrated. Watching Tony get pulled back into a hand-to-hand fight by Obadiah, Feeney stopped hesitating and began preparing a portal.
Focusing all his attention on guiding the energy, he soon opened a wide portal not far from where the two were fighting.
Feeney had to admit his talent wasn't all that great. By the time the portal had fully opened, not only had Obadiah spotted it, but the reporters had too.
Fortunately, Tony finally came through. After a great deal of effort, he managed to move the battlefield right beside the portal.
Looking at the snowy white landscape on the other side, Obadiah knew Tony's ally hadn't opened some strange circle just to show it off. He realized he'd underestimated the help Tony had brought along.
At first, he'd only wanted to keep Tony from escaping. But now that the battle had gone on this long, Obadiah was starting to think about how he could escape himself—even if it meant abandoning Stark Industries.
As long as he had the Miniature Arc Reactor technology and the armor, he could make a comeback—and come back stronger than ever.
Tony might have been smarter when it came to technology, but Obadiah believed he was more ruthless and vicious in a fight. In the end, he was sure he could defeat Tony. But first, he had to survive.
Unfortunately, although the Iron Monger was stronger than Tony, shaking off the Mark II and escaping wasn't easy. And since the Iron Monger was so bulky, Tony couldn't simply drag it through the portal, either.
Watching Tony keep struggling without getting anywhere, Feeney sighed helplessly. As expected, he couldn't rely on anyone but himself.
After calming his mind and focusing, Feeney stared at the Iron Monger and concentrated on reinforcing his intent. He used the Golden Great Deduction Technique.
"Moving Portal!"
The crackling portal began to move at a visible speed, soon appearing right in front of the Iron Monger. Tony saw it and immediately exerted more force to restrain the Iron Monger, making sure it fell through with him.
Worried Obadiah might fly back out, Feeney hurried to the portal, leaped through, and then closed it.
The battered battlefield was left with only an excited reporter and the others staring at one another in disbelief.
"Where is this?"
In an instant, the surroundings had turned into a frozen wasteland. Obadiah couldn't help panicking, but before Feeney could answer, the computer system in his armor had already identified their location.
"Mount Everest!?"
Inside the armor, Obadiah stared in bewilderment. One second he'd been in New York, and the next he was on Mount Everest. If he hadn't experienced it himself, he'd never have believed it.
"Let the second round begin!"
Tony announced with a playful flourish, then charged at Obadiah. This time, Feeney didn't sit out. He joined the fight too.
The heavy weapons on both armors had nearly run out during the earlier battle. Now, they were mostly left to fight hand to hand—and Feeney had no reason to be afraid of that.
Feeney conjured the Ring of Kaggador with both hands as a weapon and used the agility of the Soaring Skill to harry the Iron Monger, attacking from one side and then the other. Obadiah found it agonizing.
"Who are you, anyway? What did Tony offer you? I'll give you twice as much!"
Obadiah had finally realized how bad his situation was and was beginning to panic. He even tried to recruit Feeney.
Feeney couldn't be bothered to answer. So much had happened today that he was exhausted. All he wanted now was to farm enough experience and go home to get some proper rest.
The Ring of Kaggador was a basic Kamar-Taj spell, but it was still powerful enough to break steel armor. And the Iron Monger hadn't been designed to cope with the extreme cold.
Under the two of them, the Iron Monger was soon battered and covered in damage.
"Tony! You can't do this to me! I was your father's best friend. I watched you grow up! I—I was the one who managed your company!"
Obadiah's panicked voice came from inside the Iron Monger. He'd realized that if things kept going this way, he was bound to lose.
Tony said nothing. He only held back a little in his attacks. He'd once thought of Obadiah almost as family, and even after coming back, he'd never imagined Obadiah was behind the kidnapping.
After developing the Miniature Arc Reactor, he'd only told three people about it: his best friend, Rhodes; his most trusted assistant, Pepper; and his closest family member, Obadiah Stane.
"Hey, whatever you're planning to do with him, get him out of there first. You can think about the rest afterward."
Noticing that Tony seemed distracted, Feeney couldn't help reminding him. In a movie, this would be exactly the sort of moment when the hero got taken by surprise and counterattacked.
Tony came to his senses. This wasn't the time to get lost in his thoughts.
It was night in New York, but morning on Mount Everest—the coldest time of day.
The howling snow and wind were fierce and bitterly cold, icing over both of their steel armors. They were covered in white, and the Iron Monger in particular seemed to grow more sluggish by the minute.
Feeney's Possessed by Evil Spirit, however, looked just as it usually did, thanks to its newly acquired resistance to freezing temperatures.
Obadiah grew more and more frantic and finally tried to escape. The Flight System kicked in, flames trailing exhaust as they burst from his feet and melted a fair amount of snow.
The Iron Monger's heavy body needed much more energy to fly. They'd already been fighting for quite some time, and even the Miniature Arc Reactor couldn't keep going forever.
Obadiah hadn't been flying for long when his energy began to run low.
"Don't push me!"
Seeing Tony and Feeney still intent on chasing him down, Obadiah shouted in a near frenzy. He'd only just gotten everything he wanted. His dream hadn't even begun, and already it was about to be crushed.
"Obadiah, come out and come back with me to face justice!"
In the end, Tony appealed to the years they'd spent together and called out to him.
Facing justice was practically a death sentence for him, so Obadiah refused. He figured he could still salvage the situation. Glancing at the Snow Mountain in the distance, he used the last of his energy to fly toward it.
He planned to trigger an avalanche to stop the two men behind him. He might get caught in it too, but this was his last chance.
Watching Obadiah suddenly speed up and flee, Feeney was confused. He wanted to stop him, but honestly, Obadiah was faster than him with the Soaring Skill. Catching up was out of the question, and there was no way he could get ahead of him.
As for Tony, the Iron Monger was already running low on energy. How much could the older model have left? If Tony gave chase at full speed, he might end up taking Obadiah down with him. With Feeney there, he didn't need to risk that.
"What's he trying to do?"
Seeing Obadiah make a beeline for the mountain, Feeney asked Tony, puzzled.
"I don't know."
Tony was just as baffled. He couldn't figure out what Obadiah was thinking. Feeney had opened the portal, and Tony hadn't even known about it. There was no way Obadiah could have set up an ambush on the mountain or anything like that.
But once they reached the foot of the mountain, they soon understood what Obadiah was up to. He'd fired several missiles into the mountainside.
"He's trying to trigger an avalanche!"
Feeney and Tony said in unison, both turning pale.
As expected, the massive explosions shook the mountain. Snow cascaded down in huge waves, but Obadiah didn't even look back as he charged straight toward the avalanche.
"Damn it!"
Feeney cursed under his breath, annoyed. If Obadiah made it into the avalanche, they'd probably get buried too if they followed. But waiting in the air for the avalanche to pass might give Obadiah a chance to escape.
But what Obadiah was doing was definitely risky. If anything went wrong, he could get buried and never make it out.
Feeney's job now was to make sure that didn't happen.
He quickly flew over to Tony. Watching Obadiah draw closer and closer to the avalanche, he said at once, "Think of a way to get me within five meters of him."
Tony acted immediately. He grabbed Feeney, used the last of his energy, and accelerated into a charge. In an instant, they nearly overtook Obadiah and pulled up in front of him.
But after that, Tony's energy was almost completely spent. His flight became erratic, and with the avalanche bearing down on them, his situation grew dangerous.
Now beside Obadiah, Feeney had no time to worry about Tony. He began using his skill through a tiny but deep wound he'd made earlier in the Iron Monger.
Within five meters, anywhere in his line of sight—he could summon anything he wanted. It was a skill he'd once considered completely useless!
'Sumire's Fried Chicken Roll' x3
'Sumire's Fried Chicken Roll' x3
'Sumire's Fried Chicken Roll' x3
At a rate of three per second, it took only a few dozen seconds to fill the Iron Monger with Sumire's Fried Chicken Rolls. But he wasn't done yet. Feeney immediately added:
"Your systems will fail in the low temperatures. You will be unable to start them!"
By the time he finished, the avalanche was almost upon them. Without looking back, Feeney hurried to Tony, grabbed him, and flew straight up, watching as the avalanche swallowed the Iron Monger whole.
Hmm... I remember someone mentioning an avalanche in a comment on an earlier chapter. This chapter was written quite a while ago and had been sitting in reserve; the plot was planned in advance... Also, please vote!!!
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