The Final Battle of Iron Man 1

"Haha, heaven's secrets must not be revealed."

"Why didn't you grab him just now?" Tony asked.

"If I grabbed him, how would we save Pepper Potts? We just need to follow him."

Tony suddenly understood. "Leave tracking him to me."

As he spoke, he opened a holographic display, which quickly showed the bald man's car route.

In truth, Apocalypse knew without tracking that the bald man had returned to the company. Still, to guard against the butterfly effect, it was safer to follow his car.

Tony put on his armor and flew out.

Just then, Colonel Rhodes called. "Tony, Pepper Potts just called and told me to send five agents to your company, but we can't reach her now. Do you know what happened?"

"It was my uncle Stane's doing," Tony said. "Pepper Potts is probably trying to arrest him. I'm on my way to find him."

"Do you need any help?"

"Clear the airspace! If you see anything flying in the sky, don't interfere. Oh, and if you see someone jumping around in the sky, don't provoke him."

"Uh... jumping around in the sky?" Colonel Rhodes was baffled.

If there were aircraft in the sky, that would not be strange given Tony's technological prowess. But what the hell did jumping around in the sky mean? And he had warned them not to provoke him? Was there really someone in this world the United States military could not afford to offend?

Apocalypse did not know about their conversation. For everyone else's safety and to land precisely, he controlled his strength, jumping only a few hundred meters at a time. He rapidly rose and fell, hidden in the night.

Tony, on the other hand, was far more high-profile. The flames from his armor stood out sharply in the darkness and were quickly detected by the military. Fortunately, Tony had given them advance notice; otherwise, fighter jets would certainly have come to intercept him.

The bald man's luxury car drifted to a stop before Stark Industries Tower. Without even locking the doors, he hurried upstairs.

"Tang, according to infrared scans, Pepper Potts is being held in the basement, with more than a dozen armed guards around her. Fuck, they're Stark Industries security! I'll leave Pepper Potts to you. Stane is mine. After all, he has deep ties to my family. Letting me end this will count as an explanation to my father."

"Fine. Be careful. The bald man's equipment might not be any weaker than yours."

With that, the two split up.

Following the holographic map Tony had given him, Apocalypse charged into the underground levels.

As soon as he reached the first floor, he found several agents holding guns and carefully advancing. Clearly, they had come to rescue Pepper Potts.

Apocalypse spotted an old acquaintance among them—Coulson.

Coulson was an extremely important figure in the Marvel Universe. Though he was not a superhero, he appeared in many major events.

He would eventually die at Loki's hands, but before dying, he had blasted Loki once with an energy cannon.

In another timeline, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he became director and led another group of superpowered people against Hydra and all manner of villains. Quake, Skye, whom Apocalypse liked very much, was among them.

"Hey, Coulson."

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

The highly tense agents all swung their gun barrels toward Apocalypse.

Coulson asked, "Who are you?"

"You don't know who I am? Didn't Director Nick Fury tell you?"

His battle against Abomination and Hulk on the streets of New York should have been entered into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files. Did Coulson not have the clearance to know?

Just how high had Nick Fury set the classification level of his file?

Still, that did seem to fit his style.

Nick Fury was extremely cautious. In the original plot of The Avengers 1, he sent Captain America, Black Widow, and the others to rescue a S.H.I.E.L.D. ship. Black Widow had secretly been assigned a mission that even Captain America did not know about.

Captain America eventually discovered it, and after returning, he even argued with Nick Fury, saying that such arrangements would endanger the team...

That showed just how cautious Nick Fury's methods were.

His file had probably not been opened to Coulson either.

"Sir, whoever you are, please step back and leave immediately. Otherwise, we will consider you a threat," Coulson said.

"Suit yourself. But at this pace, when are you going to find Pepper Potts?"

As he spoke, Apocalypse walked straight past Coulson and the others.

Coulson shouted, "Shoot his legs."

"Rat-a-tat-tat..."

Several bullets struck Apocalypse's legs.

United States agents really were domineering. Any slight refusal, and they opened fire.

If he had not known Coulson was one of the good guys, Apocalypse would have probably thrown them all out.

But saving Pepper Potts came first, so Apocalypse did not make trouble. He stomped his foot.

"Boom..."

The floor collapsed outright.

Upon reaching the second basement level, Apocalypse delivered another kick.

"Boom..."

In less than five seconds, he had broken through two floors and reached the lowest basement.

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat..."

This time, it was not Coulson firing. The guards watching Pepper Potts opened fire directly.

"Hmph... traitorous bastards."

Apocalypse neither dodged nor evaded. In one stride, he closed in on an armed guard, snatched the MP5 from his hands, and squeezed it. It instantly became a lump of scrap metal.

They took Stark Industries' pay, yet kidnapped one of their own. Clearly, they had long since colluded with the bald man. Naturally, Apocalypse would not hold back any longer.

He reached out and gripped the guard tightly by the throat, lifting his entire body into the air. With a deft shake of his hand, every joint in the guard's body dislocated. He crumpled to the floor, completely unable to fight.

His training these past few days had not been in vain. While it could not improve his combat power by much, at least he was not like Hulk, capable only of raging and smashing.

"Rat-a-tat-tat..."

Another hail of bullets struck Apocalypse like raindrops.

They could not hurt him, but he could still feel the pain. His anger gradually rose, and he slammed both hands into the ground.

"Roar..."

The ground exploded apart, and the violent force sent every armed guard flying. They collapsed unconscious onto the floor.

Apocalypse smiled. Violence really was more straightforward.

No wonder Hulk always loved smashing things. The feeling of crushing everything was far too satisfying.

Pepper Potts was locked inside a storage room. Apocalypse called inside, "Stand against the wall. I'm going to smash the door."

With a deafening "Boom!", the heavy steel door flew off and crashed into the opposite wall.

"Tony sent me to save you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Pepper Potts said. "Where's Tony?"

"He went to settle things with the bald man. Let's get out first. This is no place to stay."

As he spoke, he wrapped an arm around Pepper Potts's slender waist and leaped upward.

He landed right in front of Coulson.

Looking at the gun barrels before him, Apocalypse frowned. "Are you sure you still want to shoot? I'm not always this patient."

Coulson hurriedly signaled for the other agents to lower their weapons. Since first seeing Apocalypse, only a few dozen seconds had passed, yet Apocalypse had taken at least several hundred bullets. Other than slightly torn clothes, he was completely unharmed.

Angering him any further would be nothing but courting death.

Besides, Apocalypse had rescued Pepper Potts, so he should be one of them.

Hmm... he had seemed to mention the director just now. Once they returned, Coulson could ask the director who this man was.

With that thought, Coulson gestured to Apocalypse. "Thank you for your help. Miss Potts, we should leave quickly."

By then, rumbling sounds were already coming from outside. Clearly, Tony and the bald man had begun fighting outside as well.

The street outside Stark Industries.

It was already a complete mess, littered everywhere with shattered wreckage.

Many pedestrians screamed endlessly, while Tony and the bald man's battle had spread to a distant highway, destroying who knew how many cars along the way.

Trying to save a mother and child in a car, Tony fell into a disadvantage and was pinned down by the bald man.

The bald man's armor gave his voice a rough, booming quality. "All these years, I've been supporting you while working myself to death at the company. Otherwise, did you think being a playboy and sleeping with women everywhere was enough to run a company? And now... you want to take away the work of my entire life?!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Massive mechanical legs stomped down again and again on Tony, who lay on the ground.

Fortunately, Tony's armor was no pushover. Though he was being beaten without any ability to fight back, it could at least protect him.

"Boom..."

The bald man lifted Tony and smashed him into a bus, punching straight through its middle.

"Whoosh..."

A small missile fired from the bald man's armor and bombarded the bus.

Tony was blasted high into the air.

If his armor's defenses had not been so formidable, the shockwaves would have killed him long ago.

Such a huge disturbance had long since caught the military's attention.

Just as a military communications officer was about to notify the relevant departments, Colonel Rhodes pressed him down. "No need. This is only an exercise. Keep observing."

This left Tony in a miserable position. He had thought his armor could crush the bald man's, so he had told Colonel Rhodes not to interfere.

Who would have thought that although the bald man's armor was less advanced than his, its weaponry outclassed his by several levels? Now, no one was coming to help.

After all, the bald man's armor had been designed for killing from the start, unlike Tony's.

Seeing that things were going badly, Tony had a sudden idea and immediately ordered, "JARVIS, take me up at full power."

"Sir, you only have 15% power remaining. I'm afraid..."

"I know. Do it!"

At once, white flames burst from the armor as it shot toward the sky.