“Pleading for your former boss?”
Linus was in no hurry to agree.
“Baby, caring about another man’s life right in front of your own man…
aren’t you underestimating me a little too much?”
“No, I’m not.
I didn’t mean it that way.”
Potts gasped softly, her chest heaving.
“I just don’t want to owe him anything.
After ten years of my youth, I don’t want to walk away bearing the reputation of someone who stood by and watched him die.”
“I won’t be able to live with myself if I watch him die.
But if I save him, then he and I will be completely even.”
Linus cupped the back of her neck with his large hand, pulling her close until their noses touched.
“You think you owe him?
You threw ten years of your hard work to the dogs.”
“And now you want to use what belongs to me to buy that waste of space his life?”
Potts’s cheeks burned as she rushed to explain.
“I’m yours.
I’m yours from head to toe.
I just want some peace of mind.”
“Linus…
please.”
Linus let out a deep, low chuckle, the vibration of his chest transferring to the woman in his arms through the fabric of their clothes.
He pinched her delicate chin with his long fingers, forcing her to look up.
“Prove it to me.
Say something sweet.”
Shame flushed Potts’s face all the way to her ears.
Biting her lower lip, she whimpered softly.
“Hubby…”
“Good girl.”
Linus smiled.
“But I never make a losing deal.
If you want me to step in, you have to pay a deposit first.”
A layer of mist gathered in Potts’s eyes.
“What kind of deposit?”
Linus’s gaze swept over her lovely red lips.
“When we get back to the hotel tonight, you have to cooperate with me on those more…
extreme things.”
“A fair exchange.
Help me make some progress.”
“Haven’t you been drooling over my body for a long time anyway?
Don’t cry and beg for mercy when the time comes.”
Potts knew exactly how dangerous those “adult things” Linus spoke of could be.
But on the holographic screen, Tony was slammed hard against the wall by the Iron Monger once again, letting out a dull metallic crash.
She closed her eyes, completely surrendering.
“Fine, I promise.
I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.
Just go, please.”
“Now that’s a good girl.”
Linus leaned down and kissed Potts’s fair neck hard.
He intentionally applied pressure, sucking and biting at the delicate skin to leave a prominent red mark as his brand.
“Mm…”
Potts let out an unbearable whimper, her hands weakly clutching Linus’s broad shoulders.
Linus released her, lifting her off his lap and placing her gently onto the sofa.
He stood up, leisurely buttoning the top button of his shirt and adjusting his pitch-black Vibranium suit jacket.
Looking at Potts’s swollen, kissed lips, he spoke with a hint of casual indifference.
“For your sake, I guess I’ll have to get this suit dirty.”
Potts leaned against the back of the sofa, inhaling large drafts of fresh air as she watched Linus push open the office door and walk out without looking back.
In the hallway, Linus tapped the private communicator by his ear.
“Betty, locate the Sector One Manufacturing Plant.
Take over all surveillance permissions on-site.”
Betty’s lazy, seductive voice came through.
“Boss, are you really going to wade into this muddy water?”
“That guy Tony can’t even protect his own battery.
Wouldn’t it be better to let him be smashed into scrap metal?”
“That won’t do.”
Linus stepped into his private elevator.
“Potts just promised me some very nice conditions.
I have to play the part.
Send me the coordinates.”
“Received.
Boss, if you get your clothes dirty, I’ll help you wash them tonight.”
Betty added the last line with heavy innuendo.
***
On the streets outside the Sector One Manufacturing Plant.
The road had been plowed open by a massive force, leaving a trench half a meter deep.
Asphalt and rubble were scattered everywhere, a roadside fire hydrant was snapped in half, and a geyser of water shot high into the air.
Pedestrians had long since fled, screaming in terror.
Tony, wearing his silver-and-red, not-yet-fully-completed Mark III armor, was being choked by the Iron Monger’s massive metal hand.
He was pinned flat against the muddy road.
Because he was using his old, first-generation arc reactor, the armor was severely low on power.
The light on his chest flickered unsteadily, on the verge of going out at any moment.
Sitting in the cockpit of the Iron Monger, Obadiah let out an incredibly arrogant, booming laugh through the external loudspeaker.
“Tony!
You useless piece of trash who can’t even keep his own company!
Did you really think making a toy would make you a savior?”
Tony gritted his teeth, activating the repulsor in his palm and firing an energy blast at the Iron Monger’s chest plate.
But the Iron Monger’s armor was incredibly thick.
An attack of this level only left a black scorch mark on the surface, failing to cause any real damage.
Obadiah swung a massive mechanical fist back and smashed it directly into Tony’s faceplate.
The head armor of the Mark III caved in significantly, and warning alarms blared frantically in Tony’s ears.
“Sir, structural damage has reached forty percent.
The right arm hydraulic system has failed, and the flight flaps are destroyed.
Power is at eleven percent, insufficient to sustain combat.”
Jarvis’s synthesized voice was filled with warning.
The taste of blood filled Tony’s mouth.
The technology he was so proud of seemed utterly weak and pathetic in the face of absolute size and overwhelming firepower.
His company was gone, Potts had left, and now he was going to lose his life here.
Obadiah controlled the Iron Monger to stand, stomping a thick mechanical foot onto Tony’s chest.
The screech of crushing metal rang out as the Mark III’s chest plate began to deform.
“This is the product of your closed-door work?
Stark Industries needs a War Machine, not a child’s toy like this!”
Obadiah pressed down harder.
“You don’t understand the future at all!”
Tony retorted, his eyes bloodshot.
“The future?
Your future is right under my foot!
For thirty years, Tony!
I’ve been cleaning up after your father and you like a nanny!
Today, I’m taking back everything that belongs to me!”
Obadiah raised the heavy Gatling gun on his right arm, pointing the barrel directly at Tony’s dimly flickering arc reactor.
The barrels began to spin, ready to spit fire.
Tony closed his eyes.
Surprisingly, the image that flashed through his mind was Potts’s resolute back as she walked away.
Right at that moment, a sonic boom shattered the night sky.
A pitch-black shadow leapt down from the nearby overpass, slamming squarely into the empty space between the Iron Monger and Tony.
The concrete ground cracked inch by inch, fractures spreading wildly in all directions.
The powerful shockwave shattered every window in the vicinity.
Amidst the flying debris, Linus stood with one hand casually tucked into his trousers pocket, while his other hand was raised with supreme indifference.
The armor-piercing Gatling rounds poured out.
Amidst the dense clang of metal, the armor-piercing rounds—which were powerful enough to shred an armored vehicle—were stopped dead by Linus’s bare palm.
Every bullet sparked against his hand, flattening into useless scrap copper and iron before dropping to the ground.
The machine gun fire ceased.
Obadiah, sitting in the cockpit and staring at his monitor, screamed.
“How is this possible!
What kind of monster are you?!”
Linus shook his hand, brushing away non-existent dust from his palm.
His Vibranium suit didn’t even have a single scratch on it.
Ignoring Obadiah entirely, he looked down at Tony, who was pinned to the ground, unable to move.
Linus shook his head, his tone filled with malicious mockery.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
“Tony, my boy, you’ve really hit rock bottom.
Getting your battery pulled by one of your own, and now getting rubbed into the mud.”
Through his damaged faceplate, Tony clearly saw the newcomer’s face, and his eyes turned red with rage.
“It’s you!
Linus!
What are you doing here!
Have you come to laugh at me?!”
Tony roared, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Linus let out a soft laugh, stepping forward with his long legs to stand beside Tony, looking down at him from a height.
“Your precious Potts was so afraid you’d die a pathetic death that she begged me in tears to save you.”
“As her current man, I can’t very well let my woman down.”
Linus crouched down, tapping Tony’s battered metal helmet.
“Oh, by the way.
To get me to step in, baby promised she’d thank me properly in bed tonight.”
“All those things she’s never tried before, she’s going to try them all with me tonight.”
Tony’s mind went completely blank.
These words were more lethal than any physical attack, stabbing brutally into the last remnants of Tony’s pride.
To save him, Potts had actually humbled herself and begged this bastard!
“Shut up!
I’ll kill you!
Get lost!”
Tony tried to scramble up, but his armor, completely drained of energy, refused to respond.
He collapsed heavily back into the mud.
Linus stood up and adjusted his cuffs.
“The woman you couldn’t handle?
Leave her to me.”
“The mess you couldn’t clean up?
I’ll handle that too.”
Ignored so thoroughly, Obadiah fell into a state of extreme rage.
He didn’t care who this man was.
Anyone who stood in his way had to die.
“Go to hell!
So what if you’re a major shareholder!
Both of you are going to hell today!”
The Iron Monger’s engine let out a deafening roar as its thrusters went to full power.
The three-meter-tall, multi-ton mechanical beast lunged forward with the weight of a mountain, swinging a massive mechanical fist straight down at Linus’s head.
The force of this strike could easily scrap a heavy tank.
Tony screamed out.
“Get out of the way!”
Linus stood his ground, not making a single move to dodge.
In the face of the oncoming giant metal fist, he slowly and deliberately reached out with a single hand.
“Dodge?”
Linus tilted his head, looking down at Tony on the ground.
“Keep your eyes wide open, Tony, my boy.”
“Let me show you what real power looks like.”