Obadiah already had the will to die.
What difference is there between a capitalist being ruined and being dead?
Rather than being thrown in jail, he might as well fight a glorious final battle.
As he watched fate accelerate toward him, a cruel smile appeared on his face, "You still dare to come over? Just what I want!"
Obadiah barely pushed the Iron Monger's two giant arms, planning to lock Corin tightly the moment he got close.
Then go see God together with this annoying guy.
When Corin's exaggerated expression grew larger in front of his eyes, Obadiah had even swung his arms around behind Corin.
BOOM!
Crack~
As if hit head-on by a train, the iron suit shattered in an instant, and inside it Obadiah heard the sharp sound of his own bones breaking.
Even though his hands were still firmly carrying out the mission of hugging Corin, the mech's connection points had long been broken and could no longer provide him any boost.
In a split second, Corin's feet kicked directly onto the Iron Monger's chest.
In a daze it seemed like he heard a shout?
With his brain blank, Obadiah had only one thought at this moment, 'What does haiya mean? Why did he yell it with such enthusiasm? Is he crazy?'
Obadiah spewed blood wildly, and with the broken mech turned into a shooting star, falling straight toward the giant energy reactor at the center of the Stark workshop.
The laughable thing was that this reactor was something Obadiah had specially developed to provide energy for the Iron Monger.
But they didn't have the ability to shrink it to a size that could fit into the mech's chest.
Zzzz! Zzzz! Zzzz!
The reactor became violently unstable as soon as a foreign object entered.
Huge arcs of electricity destroyed all kinds of facilities inside the lab.
Obadiah's no-longer-young body instantly turned to dust in the torrent of energy, but the Mark 2 reactor reached the point of collapse.
Buzz~
A flash of white light and the entire New York City was as bright as daytime.
Right after, a mushroom cloud rolled into the sky, and the massive shockwave pushed everything it touched outward with overwhelming force, destroying everything in its path.
The Stark workshop campus was razed to the ground in less than a minute.
———
One minute earlier Tony had still been enjoying the sight of Obadiah being mercilessly crushed.
He didn't know he was right on top of that big reactor.
When he saw the shattered Iron Monger plummeting into the reactor at high speed, Tony's butt tightened, "Holy shit!"
Not long after, he became a lump of metal bouncing around inside the shockwave.
Even with armor protection, there was still very little he could do.
Tony could only clamp his faceplate shut, tightly cover his hands that had removed the armor, curl up his body, and let the shockwave carry him all over the place.
———
New York had another big news story.
People could not ignore that streak of white light lighting up the sky last night, not to mention the huge explosion that followed.
"Is it the end of the world?", this was the imaginative crowd.
"War has started?", this was the belligerent crowd.
Most ordinary people's reaction was, "Son of a beach! New York actually has earthquakes too?"
In short, the strong explosion at the Stark workshop once again pushed Tony Stark into a storm of public attention.
And at this moment Tony was lying in bed wrapped in bandages.
Multiple fractures, soft tissue bruises all over his body in varying degrees. At the same time, dense wounds covered him.
This wasn't mainly from the fight with the Iron Monger, but mostly from the explosion's impact.
Tony Stark, who had become a gasping mummy, now only had a pair of eyes that could move.
Blankly staring at Corin in front of him, he spoke in a resentful tone, "Mr. Silver Duke, thank you. The money will arrive soon."
Pepper, standing beside him, couldn't help saying, "But Tony, the Stark workshop campus is destroyed."
To this, Tony could only give a bitter smile.
That's right, a mere 200 million was nothing compared to the entire Stark industrial campus.
But if Corin hadn't stepped in in time, Tony probably wouldn't have made it through this at all.
After all, Tony had also thought of using the reactor to deal with Obadiah.
This outcome didn't seem wrong.
'It was just money ಥ‿ಥ '
———
When Corin saw that the explosion was too big and Tony, so close to the center, might just die on the spot, he suddenly remembered the bill hadn't been settled yet.
"That won't do!"
He activated super vision and searched hard for Tony's figure.
Finally he found a foot with a metallic shine in the ruins, and only then did he carry Tony back to Stark Tower.
Luckily for Tony, Corin's eyesight was far beyond that of any rescue personnel.
If it were someone else, Tony wouldn't have been treated so quickly.
Before Pepper arrived, Corin gave Tony a bath, put him into a new suit, and threw away the original pile of ragged scraps that no longer even looked like clothes.
Hearing the two speak, he casually shrugged, "Tony, the agreed 200 million, I'll give you a 1 percent discount so it's 198000000 dollars. You know the account. I'm off~"
Yes, the reason he needed to personally see Tony receive treatment was because he was afraid that if Tony died there'd be no one to pay the bill.
After getting the promise, Corin left with peace of mind.
After Pepper learned Tony was saved and out of danger, her resentment rose again, "Tony, what is this 200 million about? The campus is destroyed, our financial chain is on the edge of breaking, and at this time you're telling me you even owe someone 200 million?"
"Potts, listen to me..."
———
[Manhattan Hotel]
When Corin woke up, it was already the next afternoon.
Casually throwing on a bathrobe, eating the rich breakfast Alyssa delivered, Corin turned on the TV.
Reports everywhere were all about last night's incident.
["Hello viewers."]
["I believe you're all very concerned about the explosion that happened last night at the Stark campus."]
["Now please watch the detailed report…"]
On TV they replayed footage of Tony wearing the iron suit fighting the Iron Monger, and even the part of Tony saving a car full of kids was shown frame by frame.
This made New Yorkers excited once again.
Because their city had another superhero, Iron Man.
The media's ability to stir things up was professional.
The surveillance footage basically told everyone that even when overpowered, Iron Man fought with everything he had to protect their lives.
Although Spider-Man and the Crimson Silver Duke had gotten all the attention before, the sudden appearance of Iron Man fulfilled all tech-loving guys' desire for mechs.
Among the public, Iron Man's popularity shot up, rapidly rising and becoming second only to the Crimson Silver Duke.
That's right. The Crimson Silver Duke still covered only half his face, and was insanely handsome.
In comparison, even though Iron Man was handsome too, he didn't really match most women's aesthetic.
In the superhero popularity rankings, Corin still firmly held first place.
———
[One Week Later]
[Stark Industries Press Conference]
James Rhodes, in his crisp Air Force uniform, stood in front of the microphone reporting on the industrial accident at Stark.
"According to unconfirmed reports, a prototype robot malfunctioned and severely damaged the reactor. Fortunately…"
The TV showed the official explanation, and Pepper fixed Tony's tie while tearing off the last bandage on his nose.
Agent Phil handed Tony an alibi document, "You were on a yacht at the time. We have port records proving you were at Avalon all night, plus testimony from your 50 guests."
To protect Tony, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s stance was to oppose Tony revealing his identity.
Not only did they prepare an alibi for him, they even arranged Obadiah's disappearance thoroughly.
Holding the S.H.I.E.L.D. speech notes, Tony Stark stood at the podium.
Looking at the countless reporters and cameras aimed at him from below.
When he tried to make the media believe Iron Man was just a bodyguard in a suit, Christine Everhart, a reporter who knew Tony well, raised a question.
"I'm not the type to be a hero…"
Rhodes realized something was wrong and quietly reminded Tony to read from the notes.
"Oh, okay, alright."
Facing the reporters again, a spark shone in Tony's eyes, "In fact... I am... Iron Man."
The room erupted instantly.
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