By the time Tony woke up again, Leon had dragged him out of the cave along with the Mark 1 armor.
Yinsen, who had been hiding inside the empty missile shell, had also been pulled out after a thorough sweep by Leon.
After a painstaking explanation from Leon, Yinsen finally believed that Leon was indeed Tony’s younger brother.
When Yinsen saw the gruesome aftermath of the Ten Rings encampment, he would have believed it regardless—because it was utterly brutal.
Most of the Ten Rings militia hadn’t even left behind bone fragments; they were wiped out without a trace, dying horrendous deaths.
Before long, Tony, who had been knocked out by Leon, finally opened his eyes.
“Ow…
my chin!”
The Mark 1 helmet opened, and Tony winced in pain.
“Tony, are you alright?” Yinsen walked over, full of concern.
“Heh, at least I’m alive,” Tony chuckled bitterly.
Then he remembered something.
“Where’s that bastard who impersonated my brother Leon?
I’m gonna blast him to pieces!”
“Who are you gonna blast?”
Leon asked, returning after washing his face.
The early morning sunlight bathed his mature, strikingly handsome face—a mix of elegance and wicked charm—making one momentarily dazed at how such a handsome bastard could exist in this world.
“Leon!
Perfect timing, some guy was just pretending to be you…
Wait, Leon?!
What are you doing here?!” Tony gasped, staring blankly at Leon standing right before him.
“Because the bastard you said was impersonating me *is* me, my foolish big brother~” Leon smirked helplessly.
“But how did you…
get so insanely strong all of a sudden?
And what’s with that suit?
Are you doing cosplay?”
“Wait, did you inject yourself with Super Soldier Serum?
That’s got to be it!”
“No, that doesn’t make sense.
Super Soldier Serum shouldn’t be this powerful, right?
Plus, nine out of ten people who take it turn into lunatics, and the tenth goes half-crazy…”
Tony went through a mental storm, attempting to deduce the origin of Leon’s superhuman abilities using known facts, oblivious to the existence of the System.
“Alright, alright.
I’ll explain it to you later—it’s a long story.”
“Then make it short.” Tony was not about to let Leon brush him off.
If the power Leon possessed carried uncontrollable risks—like how the Super Soldier Serum amplified a person’s inner desires—Tony couldn’t accept that.
He had to nip any potential danger in the bud.
This was his only brother!
Left with no choice, Leon gave a brief account of how he nearly died after getting hit by a truck and somehow gained superpowers, conveniently leaving out the System.
But everything he told Tony was the truth, so Tony couldn’t find any flaws in his story.
“Nope.”
“What, you think I’m Superman?”
Leon laughed and nudged Tony’s chest with a fist.
The latter smirked.
“Great!
Then let your big brother show you what a real flying hero looks like.”
With that, Tony couldn’t wait to show off the Mark 1’s flight capabilities like a grown child.
He hit the ignition button on his left gauntlet to manually light the thrusters, and with a far-from-eco-friendly trail of greyish smoke under his feet, he rocketed into the sky.
“Woohoo!
Liftoff!”
“Leon, you see this?!
A suit that can fly a human—this is one of a kind!” Tony shouted with intense excitement, grinning ear to ear.
However, before he could gain much altitude, the Mark 1’s cobbled-together thrusters disintegrated mid-air.
Amidst panicked screams, Tony went into a freefall.
“Aaaaaaargh!!!!”
Seeing this, Leon slapped his forehead in exasperation.
“Look at you flexing and trying to fly.
Now look who’s crashing.”
“What do we do, Leon?” Yinsen turned to Leon instinctively, worrying aloud.
“If Tony hits the ground like this, he’ll definitely get hurt!”
“What else?
Catch him, of course.” Leon replied—he had to pamper his own brother, didn’t he?
Gauging Tony’s trajectory, Leon crouched and leaped over ten meters into the air, grabbing Tony in his armored suit, and acted as a human crash pad as they slammed hard onto the ground.
*CRASH!*
Even with Leon absorbing the impact, the sheer force shattered the crudely made Mark 1 into pieces on contact.
Pushing off Tony, who suffered only minor scrapes, Leon stood up and mocked, “Great flight.
Don’t do it again.”
“Uh, that was just an accident,” Tony’s lip twitched awkwardly as he stubbornly argued, “Once we get back, I’m definitely building an upgraded version.
When it blows your mind, don’t come begging me for one.”
“Hmph, as if I care.” Leon smirked.
“Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to fly on my own by then.”
This was how the two brothers usually interacted: neither would back down verbally, yet both cared deeply about the other.
“Um…” Yinsen raised his hand and asked weakly, “How are we going to get out of here?
All the Ten Rings armored vehicles are wrecked—most were melted into liquid iron.”
Hearing that, Tony immediately turned to Leon.
Leon didn’t disappoint; tapping his Bluetooth earpiece, he issued an order with supreme flair:
“JARVIS, bring the Jet Glider over!”
“Right away, Master Leon.”
“The Jet Glider?”
“You actually took that thing out?!
You’re crazy!” Tony marvelled, though realizing Leon’s physical capabilities were no longer what they used to be, it made sense.
But—
“The Jet Glider’s cockpit can only fit two people max…”
“Simple,” Leon shrugged.
“Squeeze in, we’ll make space.”
“Sir, it is wonderful to see you safe and sound.” JARVIS’s voice resonated from the Jet Glider’s onboard communications system.
“Oh, JARVIS, I’m so touched to hear your voice again!” Tony expressed his deep longing for JARVIS with slight exaggeration.
Without JARVIS around, every day had been pure torment.
After that, the three of them began piling together like a sandwich.
Tony in front, Leon in the middle, and Yinsen in the back—the seating arrangement was cheerfully settled.
“Leon, your gun is poking me!”
“Gun?”
“You motherfucker!”
“Let me know when you’re done.
Let’s go home.”
Amid Leon and Tony’s bickering, the Jet Glider smoothly glided away from the ruined Ten Rings base.
Half an hour later.
Something shifted beneath a pile of rubble in the ruins.
Soon, a bald man covered in severe burns crawled out.
Looking closely, it was none other than the leader of this Ten Rings outpost.
He was still alive.
When Leon fired his chest beam, the bald leader had immediately dove behind a stone bunker and slid into a dug-out trench underneath.
Though he was buried by falling rocks afterward, he managed to survive.
Despite his scorched skin and heavy exposure, he was alive for the moment.
Glaring ferociously in the direction Leon and the others had left, he snarled, “Stark!
Just you wait!”
“Wait for what?
How about right now!”
“!!!”
Having circled back, Leon appeared behind the bald chief like a ghost.
Piercing his chest with both hands, he brutally ripped him in two down the middle.
Iron Monger had been built because this guy salvaged the wreckage, so Leon had kept an eye on him the entire time and knew right from the start that he was hiding.
“I thought you were better at hiding.
You cost me a whole year’s worth of Cover Girls in a bet with Tony.”
Kicking the remains twice in frustration, Leon set them ablaze to thoroughly destroy all evidence before rejoining Tony and Yinsen, who were waiting nearby.