Holding the Rear

Supporting the still-unconscious Yinsen, Tony trudged through the desert and found a large dune in the shade, where he could rest for a while.

He took off the heavy metal can. Walking through the desert in that thing was practically suicide; the forty-degree heat and dry air could kill him before he even realized it.

Not to mention he still had to take care of the unconscious Yinsen.

After laying Yinsen down, Tony sat directly on the ground, gasping for breath.

Everything that had happened lately truly felt like a dream, though not a pleasant one.

First, he had nearly been blown to death by his own missile, then he was kidnapped. When he woke up, an old man told him he would spend the rest of his life attached to a car battery. After finally making a plan to escape, the man who had saved his life sacrificed himself for him once again. Then came the strangest part of it all.

A talking cat had suddenly appeared in the cave and even saved his benefactor's life with a toothbrush!

"Maybe the bread they fed me was made with mandrake or something!"

Tony muttered to himself.

"Cough... cough! Tony... is that you...?"

As Tony pondered the situation and began growing suspicious of certain people, Yinsen woke up. Tony hurried to his side. "My friend! Yinsen! We got out! We're safe!"

It was truly something to celebrate. With the sudden release of tension, Tony lost his usual tight-lipped restraint and began babbling nonstop.

"Do you remember how you came back to life? Oh, right, did you see the Grim Reaper? Does he keep cats?"

Yinsen had barely awakened before Tony Stark bombarded him with questions, leaving his mind unable to process them for a moment. Still, he had indeed caught a key word.

"A cat? A... cat..."

Yinsen's unfocused eyes suddenly sharpened. He grabbed Tony's arm. "I did see a cat! It must have been a cat that devours souls!"

Tony had just been about to explain when a voice came from behind him. "I am indeed a cat, but devouring souls and all that is way too ridiculous, isn't it~"

When he turned around, the cat was crouching behind him. Just like before, he had no idea when it had arrived.

"Didn't you say you were staying behind to cover us?"

"Yeah!"

Tony:?

Leon:?

Watching Tony carry Yinsen into the sky, Leon's feline face showed a flash of astonishment.

If, if he remembered correctly!

That crudely made Mark I Armor hadn't seemed to complete its mission perfectly...

"I remember... they seemed to fall out of the sky..."

Fuck!

Then Yinsen...

But Leon worried for only a moment. Things were different now. Because of his arrival, Tony had not pushed that machine as hard as he had in the original plot. And when Tony left, he had not been as rushed and frantic as before.

Carrying an injured man, even someone as carefree as Tony would not fly around like a rocket firework.

Putting aside that pointless worry for now, since Tony Stark had made it out of that cave entrance, he was already safe. What remained was Leon's business.

With a twist, he returned to his original form.

His true body was still the most comfortable. Whenever he turned into a cat, he kept wanting to meow and lick his paws.

Picking one of the idiots shouting at the top of his lungs, Leon flashed in front of him and lifted him off the ground by the neck with one hand. "Tell me, do you know Mandarin?"

That was the question Leon actually cared about.

Because of Iron Man, Leon was fairly familiar with Iron Man's archenemy. Just as people who liked Spider-Man would probably know Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and the like.

Mandarin had appeared in Iron Man 3. At the time, Leon's impression of him had been that he was just an ordinary old con man.

But through explanations from netizens in the comments section, Leon had learned that the Mandarin from the movies was completely different from the Mandarin in the comics.

The comic-book Mandarin was also an ordinary human, without technology or mutations.

But he had magical treasures!

Mandarin's hands glittered with ten rings!

Every ring had a different function, and some were even powerful enough to instantly kill Iron Man in his armor.

And Leon?

How long had he had this cheat system?

What did he have?!

Who was the one cheating here?!

Of course, Leon had not gotten carried away and decided to steal someone else's treasures right away. With his current strength, he could not possibly be a match for that upstart Mandarin.

He was only asking. If he got an answer, he would remember it. If not, it made no difference.

The man Leon had lifted clawed wildly at Leon's hand, trying to draw more air into his lungs. But with Leon's current twenty-plus points of strength, how could an ordinary person resist? He could only kick helplessly as his gun fell to the ground.

"I couldn't tell you were such a tough guy!"

"What the fuck are you saying—oh! Sorry!"

Leon put down the unfortunate man, whose throat had been gripped so tightly that he could not even cry out.

Poor guy. He could not even catch his breath, yet he was being forced to provide intelligence.

Using what he considered a gentle tone, Leon lowered his head and looked at the man slumped on the ground, gasping repeatedly. "Do you know someone called Mandarin?"

The man rattled off a long stream of incomprehensible words while gesturing wildly. Leon scratched his head. There was a language barrier too?!

At that moment, the man picked up the gun he had dropped and fired at Leon's ever-changing mask.

Leon tilted his head slightly from the bullet's impact, then smiled.

"You're pretty impatient."

Five minutes later, Leon dropped the bald man's corpse.

It had taken one minute to kill all the mooks. The rest of the time had been spent talking to this bald guy.

Of course, the bald guy had done most of the talking. Leon's job had mainly been to stick senbon into the bald man's legs one by one.

It could not be helped!

He was the only one who spoke English, so Leon naturally could not let him go.

Wasn't it said that knowledge changed one's fate? The facts proved that learning one more foreign language could help you survive an extra four minutes at a critical moment!

The bald man had been pretty tough. He held out all the way until Leon asked his second question before honestly confessing.

Actually, he had wanted to hold out a little longer. But for some reason, that murderer seemed to know he could understand him and would not stop targeting him.

When Leon asked his first question, the bald man had still been planning to play along and offer some false information, perhaps with a few other ideas in mind.

But that devil had started by driving two long nails—kunai—through both palms, then stabbed two needles into his legs.

"Do you know Mandarin?"

Resolve! Pride! Dignity!

You can kill me, but you can't—AAAH!!!!!!

Why don't you ask again?! Who interrogates someone like this?! If he failed to answer within one second, four more skewers immediately appeared in his leg.

Seeing that the demonic killer was pulling out another huge pile of things from somewhere, the bald man wisely confessed. He even revealed his cooperation with Obadiah.

"See? I ask, you answer. That's the kind of cooperation everyone likes to see!"

The bald man, who had gotten two extra nails in his thigh because he spoke before Leon asked a question, was on the verge of tears.

Leon granted the bald man a quick death.

Leon thought he really was an adorable little angel!

After looking around the entire camp and confirming there were no living people left besides himself, Leon finally set it ablaze and strolled away.

So-called covering the rear meant cutting off the enemy's retreat.

That was right. Absolutely right!

A friend came over, so he might not be able to avoid a drinking session tonight. There might only be one update today.