Obadiah's Quickest Exit Yet

As the night deepened, the slightly tipsy Rhodey and Yinsen were picked up.

Only Pepper, Tony, and Leon remained in the mansion.

Leon sat on the couch after eating and drinking his fill, gazing at the rolling ocean beyond the window, his thoughts drifting.

Tony glanced at Pepper, who was clearing the dishes in the kitchen, then at the absent-minded Leon. He looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated, making his intentions rather obvious.

"Hey, Leon!" he finally called out.

"Hm? What is it?" Leon withdrew his gaze, looking slightly puzzled.

Tony glanced at Pepper. "Didn't you say you were going to see Obadiah tonight? When are we leaving? And don't let Pepper know for now, or she'll say it's too dangerous and threaten to quit if we go."

No matter how wildly Tony usually behaved, Pepper would at most keep working with a cold expression.

But whenever Tony's safety was involved, Pepper's most common way of trying to stop him was threatening to resign.

—Even though that threat had never worked.

"Then we'll wait until Pepper leaves." Leon casually glanced in the direction of Stark Industries.

"Anyway, Obadiah is still at the industrial park. Wait, he's... Damn it, Tony, we need to go now!"

Leon grabbed Tony and pushed him toward the door.

He did not forget to call toward the kitchen, "Pepper, Tony and I are heading out for a walk. We'll be back later!"

"Hm? Okay!" Pepper replied.

As they went out, Tony lowered his voice. "Wait, wait! What did you see just now? Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Obadiah is contacting his friends in Afghanistan!" Leon lowered his voice as well.

"What?" Tony froze, only for Leon to grab his arm and shoot into the sky.

The two quickly arrived at the Stark Industries complex.

At that hour, only a few scattered lights remained on in the office building.

Among them, Obadiah's office was brightly lit, like a burning torch in the night.

Leon floated outside Obadiah's office window with Tony.

The massive floor-to-ceiling window allowed them to see every corner inside clearly.

At that moment, Obadiah was seated at his desk with his back to the window, saying something to the computer screen.

"He's video-calling people from a terrorist organization?" Tony's expression darkened. "Can you hear what they're talking about?"

"Nothing good. You can listen for yourself."

Leon placed his hand against a gap in the floor-to-ceiling window and gave it a light shake. One corner of the glass lifted, and he caught it and pulled it back.

The entire floor-to-ceiling window came off without a sound.

Tony's eyes widened in shock once more.

But the voices from the office reached him the next second, leaving him no time to think of anything else.

"Our leader died because of your commission, so before we cooperate again, you must compensate us!" said the person on the other end of the computer.

Obadiah snapped back angrily, "You let Tony get away! And you still have the nerve to demand compensation from me?"

"I told your leader that he had to make absolutely certain Tony Stark was dead beyond doubt! What did he do, huh?"

"That has nothing to do with us. If you refuse to compensate us, we'll expose everything you did to Tony Stark." The terrorist resorted to his usual tactic.

Obadiah's gaze grew colder, as though he wanted to swallow the person on the other end whole.

"Aren't you afraid I'll stop supplying you with weapons?"

"Sorry, but since Tony Stark shut down the weapons division, you're probably useless now."

The terrorist was completely fearless.

He threatened again, "Will you pay or not? If you refuse, I'm sure Tony Stark would also be willing to pay for information about the real culprit."

Obadiah pressed his lips tightly together, the corners twitching as he tried to conceal his fury.

Yet a few seconds later, he suddenly burst into laughter, his smile warm and gentle. "Fine! Of course! I accept your demand for compensation, but I have one condition!"

"Go on!" The person opposite him immediately became excited upon hearing there would be compensation.

"I'll find a way to get Tony out of the country again. This time, you must kill him for me!"

Obadiah laid out his plan. "I'll give you a batch of Stark weapons. Use them to draw the media's attention."

"Tony just announced the shutdown of the weapons division. If a large number of weapons produced by Stark Industries suddenly appear on the battlefield, he definitely won't be able to sit still..."

The terrorist picked up where he left off. "I understand. Leave the rest to us. I guarantee that this time, the Ten Rings will perfectly fulfill our friend's request."

Obadiah smiled and ended the video call. "That would be wonderful."

With a beep, the call disconnected.

Obadiah sat silently in his chair, the smile on his face gradually cooling before turning increasingly savage.

His fury began to erupt.

Even while sitting still, he seemed ready to leap from his desk at any moment and devour someone.

"Idiots! A bunch of idiots!"

After a moment of silence, Obadiah finally exploded.

He shot to his feet, swept everything off the desk, yanked the mouse cord free, and smashed the mouse against the wall until it shattered.

"You couldn't even keep a playboy from escaping, you worthless trash!" he roared, his voice making the windows tremble.

Outside the window, Leon glanced at Tony, whose eyes were blazing with rage, and knew Obadiah's performance could end now.

He took one step forward, bringing Tony into the room.

In a very polite tone, he said, "Well, how should I put this? Sorry for interrupting."

The sudden voice behind him brought Obadiah's roar to an abrupt halt.

"Who!? To... Tony?"

Cold sweat instantly broke out all over him. He spun around and found Tony and Leon standing before him.

Leon's expression was grim.

Tony, meanwhile, glared at him with reddened eyes.

Those always beautiful eyes were now filled with disbelief and the fury of being betrayed by someone he trusted completely.

"Tony and I heard everything you just said." Leon pointed at the computer. "Do you have anything else you want to explain?"

Panic was plainly visible on Obadiah's face, but a calculating man like him quickly suppressed his emotions.

He raised both hands, his lips trembling. "Oh, Leon, why are you two here so late? Well... actually, what just happened was a misunderstanding."

"Listen to my explanation. There are reasons for all of this."

Obadiah's mind raced at that moment.

Uneasily, he lowered one hand and pulled open a drawer. "It's because there's a force I cannot resist, one that threatened my life and demanded that I..."

"Kill both of you!"

Mid-sentence, Obadiah suddenly pulled a pistol from the drawer, quickly chambered a round, and aimed it at Tony and Leon.

"Put your hands up and back away!"

Obadiah, who had seemed as gentle as an elder only moments ago, transformed in the blink of an eye into a vicious thug.

"You'd better stop right now."

Tony pressed his lips together tightly. He raised his hands first, stepped in front of Leon, and backed away.

"Hmph. Tony, you still want to protect that little bastard even now? What touching family affection."

Obadiah's words only deepened Tony's anger.

He said coldly, "Obi... Obadiah, I, Ben, once thought you were one of the people I could trust most."

"Is that so? Tony, I'm truly touched to hear you say that." Obadiah kept the gun trained on Tony. "I would have loved to keep playing this happy-family game with you."

"But since you've already found out, there's no need for me to hide it anymore!"

"Tony, you were nothing more than a goose that laid golden eggs for me!"

"Do you know that I founded this company alongside your father? For the past thirty years, I've supported you as well, but what did I get?"

"Even that outsider behind you gets half the company. What about me?"

"Only by killing you—killing both of you—can I get everything I want!"

As Obadiah spoke, he waved his fist in anguish. "Everything should have gone that way, Ben. As long as you died in Afghanistan, Tony, Leon could have died in outer space too. But why did you escape? And why did you have to see everything tonight?!"

His eyes were bloodshot as he forced Tony backward with the gun. "You forced me into this! You drove me to a dead end, so I'll destroy everything! No one can stop me!!"

Tony stared at this uncle of his the entire time, his cheeks tense and his gaze filled with indescribable grief and rage.

The gun forced his head back, and at last, he closed his eyes.

"Do it, Leon." He no longer held out any hope.

"As you command, Boss!"

The moment Leon's voice fell—

Obadiah's neck was clamped by a large hand like an iron vise, lifting his entire body off the ground.

"You! Hrk! Cough, cough!" Obadiah's face rapidly flushed red from lack of oxygen.

His eyes bulged as he stared at Leon, utterly unable to comprehend what had happened in that brief instant.

Why had Leon, who had been behind Tony without even blinking, suddenly appeared in front of him and subdued him?

With difficulty, he raised an arm, trying to struggle further.

But Leon merely glanced at him, then casually tossed him out the window.

Three seconds later, a heavy impact sounded from outside.

It sounded like Obadiah had been smashed into peanut butter.

"Why bother?"

Leon remarked as he walked to the desk, first connecting his phone to a data cable, then plugging it into the computer.

The computers used by Stark Industries executives were generally not connected to the internet. To hack them, a manual connection was necessary.

What Obadiah had just done—directly connecting to the internet for a video call—was already a serious violation.

"JARVIS, hack this computer, gather evidence of Obadiah's crimes, and hand it over to the police. Note that he committed suicide out of fear of punishment by jumping from the building."

"Certainly, Young Master Leon!"

After assigning the task to JARVIS, Leon turned around and saw Tony still standing where he was, looking somewhat dejected.

He walked over and patted Tony on the shoulder.

"It's all over. Go back and get some sleep. If that doesn't work, ask out a few more cover girls this week to take your mind off it."

Tony's grief-stricken expression froze for several seconds. He could neither laugh nor cry. "You brat..."