Iron Man Ascends to Heaven

Seeing Sherlock bent over, looking miserable as the horrific scene and the fact that it was his first time killing someone nearly made him throw up his guts, Ethan finally felt that Sherlock was human, not some devil walking the earth.

As for the terrorists strung together in a long row, although Ethan had always felt Sherlock's methods were excessively cruel, he had no objection to killing them.

As a local who had come from this place, Ethan knew clearly that compared to Sherlock's methods, what these terrorists had done was truly inhuman.

However, just as the three of them gathered together, heavy footsteps sounded out. Accompanied by the clash of metal, a giant metallic figure appeared at the cave entrance.

"Sherlock, Ethan, I'm here to help you!"

Before the man arrived, his voice came first. Who else could it be but Tony?

But when Tony dragged the heavy Mark One to the cave entrance, the sight before him stunned him. He stood there as though his system had crashed, remaining motionless for a long while.

Beneath the steel mask, his face was filled with complicated emotions as he looked at Sherlock, who stood in the middle of the valley, supported by the man named John Wick.

From the circular hole that had suddenly appeared in the cave wall and the torrent of water that had poured through it, to John Wick's first reaction upon standing up being to curse Sherlock, to the fact that John Wick was now supporting Sherlock, who was nearly vomiting himself unconscious.

Every sign pointed to one conclusion: the youth named Sherlock possessed abilities Tony could not understand, and he was the one responsible for the hellish scene before them.

Most importantly, he was completely different from the Sherlock Tony remembered!

Seeing Tony standing at the entrance without moving for so long, Ethan walked over and patted the heavy armor on Tony's body before speaking.

"Wake up, Tony. Believe me, compared to the people impaled on those stone spikes, this scene can only be called deserved punishment, even if it isn't humane."

"Ethan, I'm not..."

Hearing Ethan's words, Tony instinctively wanted to say something, but Ethan quickly raised a hand to interrupt him. Pointing at the weapon crates bearing the Stark Industries logo, he said to Tony.

"Compared to those damned people, Tony, this is what you should be paying attention to."

Following Ethan's gaze, Tony quickly noticed that weapon crates from his company were scattered all over the valley. His face immediately filled with disbelief.

"That's impossible!"

He nearly shouted it instinctively, then immediately controlled his bulky, massive armor to smash open the two nearest weapon crates. Inside were two rockets he had designed himself and Stark Industries had manufactured, laid bare before his eyes.

"No, no, no, this isn't right! I've never sold my weapons to anyone outside the military! This isn't how it should be! It shouldn't be like this!"

As Tony spoke, he continued controlling the armor to smash open the nearby weapon crates.

But the living proof was right there before him. He had no choice but to believe it!

After taking a deep breath, Tony seemed to make up his mind and spoke to Ethan beside him.

"Ethan, take those two and leave first!"

Ethan froze upon hearing that. Then he looked toward Tony in disbelief and asked in confusion.

"What about you? Tony, after what happened here, those terrorists won't let you go when they return! You should leave with us, not stay here!"

Hearing Ethan's words, Tony's tone only grew firmer. He patted the armor on his body before replying.

"Don't worry, Ethan. I'll leave with you, but before that, I have to destroy all the weapons here! This place became like this because of me, so I have the responsibility to restore it to what it was."

Ethan wanted to say something more after hearing Tony, but Tony interrupted him again.

"Trust me, Ethan! I'm a genius. There are still far too many things in this world waiting for me. I won't leave my life here! Besides, we built what I'm wearing together. You know exactly what it can do. I'll be fine."

Hearing Tony's words, Ethan, who had still wanted to persuade him, gave up on the idea. He turned and walked toward Sherlock and John Wick.

After a brief discussion, Sherlock agreed to Tony's request without the slightest hesitation. Before leaving, however, Sherlock passed Tony a ring through a gap in the Mark One's faceplate and told him it was a tracking device, so they could find Tony later.

After being kidnapped, Tony had learned to be more cautious. Knowing that Sherlock and John Wick had come to rescue him, he did not refuse the so-called "tracking device." But given his current condition, he could only hold it in his mouth.

Seeing that Tony had accepted his tracking device, Sherlock left the valley with John Wick and Ethan without hesitation. Under Sherlock's guidance, the two supported Sherlock as they headed toward the underground base.

Halfway there, Sherlock suddenly stopped. He took three stools from his ring on the spot, along with a large amount of food and water. Without explaining anything, he simply sat down facing the valley.

Perhaps out of some inexplicable twisted sense of humor, Sherlock even handed John Wick and Ethan a pair of binoculars each. Yet no matter what, he would not tell them what they were for. He just kept eating the food in his hands, occasionally using his own binoculars to look toward the valley.

After quite some time, just as even Ethan was beginning to grow impatient, a violent explosion suddenly erupted from the previously quiet valley. A huge fireball rose into the air, actually forming a mushroom cloud in midair.

Within that mushroom cloud, a small black dot trailed thick black smoke as it flew toward Sherlock and the others. It quickly passed over Sherlock's head and flew deep into the desert.

Only then did John Wick and Ethan understand why Sherlock had stopped, and why he had given each of them binoculars.

It was simple: to watch Tony make a fool of himself!

After all, the posture Tony had taken as he flew over their heads had been truly hilarious.