Battery

Tony fell for it after all.

When Tony returned safely, Obadiah actually felt a twinge of regret.

After all, he had watched Tony grow up and had always played the role of an elder by Tony's side rather well.

Although...

Tony had grown into a conceited, arrogant playboy...

Still, before this, Obadiah had done a decent job playing his part.

The problem was that Tony was simply too good at making money.

At his core, Obadiah was a businessman.

An exceptionally competent businessman.

For money, he could do anything.

That was why so many weapons under Stark Industries had been sold all over the world.

Openly or secretly. Legally or illegally.

As long as you paid, Obadiah dared to sell to you!

Obadiah knew that although Tony was a wastrel who did not care much about money or business, Stark Industries was ultimately Tony's company. In principle, Tony, as chairman and majority shareholder, was the one who gave orders to Stark Industries.

But in reality, Tony did not care about any of that. He was not even willing to attend shareholder meetings. Compared to the company's annual audit reports, Tony preferred Playboy Magazine.

That was precisely why Obadiah had been able to secretly sell so many weapons illegally without Tony knowing.

Over the years, under Obadiah's control, Stark Industries had earned enormous sums every year through the weapons Tony created. Every cent of that money was stained with blood!

Tony did not know any of this, but sooner or later, he would.

Obadiah understood that this was bound to happen. So he planned a weapons demonstration, claiming that health issues and meetings prevented him from attending, and had Tony appear in his place.

Then everything that followed happened.

When Tony returned, Obadiah had originally intended to proceed with the next step of his plan. But Tony's successful miniaturization of the reactor showed Obadiah an enormous business opportunity!

Then Tony told him that he would never sell it as a product.

That very night, Obadiah secretly brought his armed forces and mercenaries to the place where Tony had been kidnapped.

He wanted to know what had happened there, how Tony had escaped, and just how much power the thing in Tony's chest contained!

In that cave, Obadiah saw the destruction Tony—actually Leon—had created.

On one hand, Obadiah confirmed the value of that miniature reactor. On the other, as he looked at the corpses covering the ground, he became frightened by Tony's current way of doing things.

At that moment, Obadiah knew he absolutely could not cling to any fantasies.

So he found the crude Mark I Armor Tony had taken off and secretly shipped it back to the country.

While having the company's engineers copy it and rush production of an enhanced, larger suit of armor, Obadiah ran into another problem he could not solve.

"I only told you to make it smaller! That thing is already right there! I only told you to shrink it! Do you understand?!"

Pointing at the large reactor Howard Stark had left behind, Obadiah roared at his company's chief scientist, "Tony could do it in a cave with a hammer! I'm only asking you to imitate him. Is that so hard?!"

Facing the bald, bearded man's questioning, the bespectacled chief scientist helplessly spread his hands. "Not everyone is Tony Stark."

The armor was nearly complete, but Obadiah had no energy source to power it!

Deep in thought, Obadiah headed toward his office.

The moment he pushed open the door, he saw someone sitting in his office chair.

Pepper, Tony's most steadfast supporter. At that moment, Obadiah knew he had been exposed.

After casually chatting for a few moments, Pepper found an excuse and slipped away.

As soon as the door closed, Obadiah hurried over to the computer.

If Pepper had not found any evidence, he would not have to make a desperate gamble!

Obadiah could completely manipulate matters to isolate Tony at the shareholder meeting. At worst, he could simply leave Stark Industries with his shares. He could still be a rich man.

The computer booted up.

The files being viewed were precisely the ones he least wanted discovered.

The words "Download complete" shattered Obadiah's last shred of unrealistic hope.

"Why did I save such important, shady information on this computer?"

At that moment, Obadiah asked the exact same question as Teacher Chen on the other side of the ocean.

It was too late to say that now. Pepper might already have called the police and gone off with those black-suited men of unknown origin to do something.

He had to get the power source immediately!

At Tony's home, the equally troubled Tony sat alone on the sofa. He already had a suspect in mind. He could even almost be certain it was him.

But Tony still did not want to believe that the man who had watched him grow up, the person closest to him after his parents died, was the one responsible for all this.

The phone rang.

Picking up his phone, Tony saw the caller ID.

It was Pepper.

I hope my guess is wrong!

As he answered the call, Tony heard Pepper's voice—and a burst of piercing static.

Then he lost control of his body.

Obadiah ended the call in Tony's hand, then smugly waved the small device he was holding at Tony while wearing an earpiece.

"Remember this? Such a genius invention! Too bad the government never put it into production."

"Something that can temporarily paralyze an enemy is pretty useful, isn't it?"

Sitting beside Tony, Obadiah began one of a villain's traditional skills: explaining everything to the protagonist.

Seeing Tony's eyes widen, Obadiah felt the thrill of having everything under control and toying with his opponent. That was also why villains always ended up failing.

Removing the "battery" from Tony's chest, Obadiah said smugly, "It's a pity you won't get to see my armor. It isn't like yours, so..."

"Conservative."

Patting Tony's face, he said hypocritically, "It's a pity you dragged Pepper into this. I had originally intended to let her live."

With that, Obadiah picked up the case, abandoned the undoubtedly doomed Tony, and hurried away.

Pepper first called Tony's good friend Rhodey and told him that everything was Obadiah's conspiracy. Pepper then headed with Coulson to the place where Obadiah was making the armor, intending to destroy it.

Meanwhile, Tony staggered toward his workshop. There was another "battery" there. He had originally planned to destroy it, but Pepper had turned it into a gift for him. Now, that battery was his hope.

After struggling to crawl beneath the table where the battery had been placed, Tony no longer even had the strength to reach out.

He slumped to the floor in despair, feeling his eyelids grow heavier and his limbs weaker.

Is this... it...?

A mechanical hand held the battery and placed it beside Tony!

It was the little troublemaker that had been messing with him earlier.

"Good boy!"

After sincerely praising it, Tony smashed the glass case holding the battery with all his strength!

The battery was secured!

Looking back now, some parts of Iron Man's plot really did not make much sense. For example, why was Pepper always one step behind Obadiah?!

So I shifted the movie's plot around a little. With the protagonist absent, this feels more reasonable and does not affect the reading experience.

All right! I'm done talking. ←_←

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