No! I'll Do It Myself

"Tony, weren't we supposed to go to Las Vegas together? What are you doing?"

He effortlessly crushed the glass container holding the Mark I Reactor.

Handing it to Tony, Su Ming looked somewhat surprised at the disheveled Tony Stark sprawled on the floor before him.

That old Obadiah moved pretty fast...

He looked at the mechanical arm already operating nearby.

"This was the project Tony won an award for at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he was seventeen, right...? Look at that brain of his..."

Su Ming knew that even if he had not come, the mechanical arm Tony had built during college would have automatically handed him the reactor.

Looking at Tony again, his face was haggard and bluish, his hair a mess, and the blood flowing from his ears had already clotted black.

His once high-end short-sleeved T-shirt was ripped wide open across the chest, filthy and tattered, a stark contrast to his usual polished appearance.

"Tsk, tsk... Crawling over here must not have been easy."

Su Ming shook his head slightly. He had actually witnessed one of Iron Man's rare near-death moments with his own eyes.

Better to arrive at the right time than early.

After hesitating for several minutes at the foot of the mountain, Su Ming had ultimately decided to fly straight up. After all, he was already here...

A helicopter had also just left this place. Thinking about it now, it had to have been Obadiah.

Tony would not mind him barging in uninvited.

Then again, wait a minute~

Since when had he started caring about Tony's feelings?

Hadn't he spared the guy in the first place only because of the money?

"Am I being too nice, showing manners to a defeated opponent?"

Su Ming realized that his interest in the armor seemed to have affected his attitude toward Tony. That was not good.

After all, he was just an emotionless bounty hunter, and Tony was merely one client among many.

If Tony had anything special about him, it was only that he had an especially large amount of money...

With that thought, Tony Stark was no longer the imposing Iron Man in Su Ming's eyes.

He was a walking wallet, waiting to be slowly emptied...

Tony trembled as he painstakingly installed the Mark I Reactor into his chest. He let out a long breath and lay on the floor for quite a while before recovering.

Recognizing Su Ming's voice and knowing that he had saved him, Tony said weakly:

"Thanks, Crimson... Silver Duke, sir. Huff, huff~

As you can see... I wasn't doing anything. I got done in."

"Tony... Tony...!!"

Suddenly, an anxious adult male voice rang out, followed by James Rhodes rushing over, panting heavily.

Seeing Tony lying on the ground and a suspicious man in formal attire standing beside him, Colonel Rhodes immediately drew his pistol and aimed it at Su Ming.

"Who are you? What did you do to Tony? Tony! Tony!"

Su Ming said nothing. He merely gave Tony a casual look that said, You handle this, then stood still as a pine.

Click!

"Talk!"

Rhodes cocked the pistol, staring sternly at Su Ming.

"Listen, brother... He's not the enemy..."

Tony had finally recovered enough to speak up for him.

Seeing that Tony was back in better shape, Colonel Rhodes's tension immediately eased out of trust in him. He casually tucked the pistol into the back of his waistband.

"Where's Pepper? Is she okay...?"

Remembering something, Tony grabbed Colonel Rhodes by the arm and asked urgently.

When Obadiah had taken his reactor, he had said he would not spare Pepper. If Pepper had been hurt because of this, Tony would never forgive himself.

"We just spoke on the phone. She's fine. Five agents are with her—they're going to arrest Obadiah."

Colonel Rhodes explained what Pepper had told him during their call.

As mentioned earlier, after obtaining the evidence, Pepper had run into Phil Coulson while heading downstairs.

As a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Phil Coulson had been assigned to investigate Stark Industries' weapons-smuggling operation. He happened to encounter Pepper Potts, who had just obtained the evidence.

Pepper immediately reported it and handed all the evidence over to Agent Phil. S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly confirmed that Obadiah was the mastermind behind the weapons smuggling.

Recalling what Obadiah had said earlier, Tony realized that he seemed to have built an armored suit as well.

"This is bad..."

A cold glint flashed through Tony's eyes as he looked at Su Ming.

"Five people aren't nearly enough..."

As though he understood the meaning in Tony's gaze, Su Ming instantly put on a professional smile and asked warmly:

"Tony, do you need help? Order now and get a one-percent discount~"

Colonel Rhodes stood nearby, completely confused...

Order what?

What was this about?

How had the conversation suddenly become impossible to follow?

Remembering Su Ming's methods, Tony stared steadily at his handsome, heroic face.

So this was the face beneath the Crimson Silver Baron mask...

"Damn, I thought there'd be some flaw. Got my hopes up for nothing."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Tony said with pride and certainty:

"No, I'll do it myself!"

Rhodes unconsciously stepped forward twice. Watching Tony stand on the armament platform as a sleek suit of armor gradually covered his body, he exclaimed:

"This is absolutely the coolest thing I've ever seen..."

Though Su Ming said nothing, he watched Tony's entire armoring process without blinking and quietly sighed.

"...It really is cool!"

Tony, secretly observing the two of them, felt a flicker of pride in his heart. Pretending to remain calm, he said:

"It's decent... ^_^

Time to go!"

He raised a hand and blasted the luxury sports car blocking his way aside, then took two steps forward and turned around.

Su Ming rolled his eyes at the sight, utterly unable to bear it.

Tony Stark... At a time like this, he still had to show off.

That car had been sitting there minding its own business. What did it ever do to him for him to shove it aside?

And besides, others might not know, but Su Ming did~

The Mark I Reactor's output was nowhere near enough to support the new armor Tony was wearing.

That blast had been completely unnecessary!

Just wait...

Air Force Colonel James Rhodes had been hit point-blank by Tony's armored coolness, and he felt a little sour inside.

"Is there anything else I need to do?"

With the hiss of mechanical jets...

Tony Stark, who could not feel comfortable without showing off, had Iron Man's faceplate drop into place.

A voice with a cyberpunk mechanical reverberation sounded:

"Clear the skies."

Apparently, the time he had nearly been blown out of the sky by the Air Force while returning from Afghanistan had left an unforgettable impression on him.

Flames burst from the mechanical hands and feet as he shot upward. After a deafening boom, Iron Man vanished before the two of them—sparks crackled from the massive hole in the ceiling.

Through the hole overhead, several stars twinkled on the distant horizon.

Su Ming sensed that he might pick up another big order. Even if there was no job to take, how could he possibly miss such an exciting scene?

He gave Colonel Rhodes a slight nod.

"Nice to meet you! See you again, Colonel Rhodes."

Then he flicked out a throwing knife, his figure becoming a streak of light as he precisely flew through the hole Tony had smashed open...

"What the f...??"

Colonel Rhodes stared blankly at the two people who had flown away one after the other. Tony flying in armor was one thing—that was science.

That guy—damn it! He still did not even know what his name was!

He had nothing at all, yet with just a wave of his arm, he flew away too?? Was that science?

Rhodes instinctively imitated Su Ming's hand-wave—nothing happened! It was also kind of awkward.

It dealt no small blow to his worldview.

Looking at the luxury car he had driven here—the Audi R8—he suddenly found it far less appealing.

"No matter how good a car is, it can't fly..."

Then he abruptly noticed the unpainted, pure-silver armor hanging from chains nearby—and was completely stunned for a full five seconds.

Colonel Rhodes's body swayed several times. His desire to put it on was so overwhelming that he could not bring himself to take a step toward the sports car.

At that moment, he wished more than anything that he could fly out through the big hole overhead too...

After hesitating again and again, he gritted his teeth.

"Next time, I'm definitely putting you on, baby..."