LRAB Chapter 38: 38 It's Time to End This
Chapter 38: 38 It's Time to End This
Chapter 38: 38 It's Time to End This
Tonight, Los Angeles is bustling with noise and chaos.
The once lively downtown is now in complete disarray.
On the streets, flames are rising high into the sky.
An oil tanker that was set on fire surrounds the golden-red Mark III Iron Man suit.
"Perfect timing! Saves me the trouble of finding you, Tony!"
The massive silver-gray Iron Man suit slowly approaches.
"Thirty years! Thirty years of hard work! This company is everything to me! You can't stop me!"
Obadiah, piloting the suit, transforms into "Iron Monger," clashing fiercely with Tony Stark.
"You created the most powerful weapon ever, yet you became a foolish pacifist!"@@@@
"Your path is wrong! Since I can't correct you, I'll have to eliminate you!"
With those words, Obadiah extends the 20mm machine guns on his Iron Monger suit's arms and fires at Tony Stark.
"Click!"
The machine guns spark but jam...
"Seems like your weapon test failed," Tony taunts, firing two palm repulsor blasts that send Iron Monger stumbling back.
"I'm amazed... I thought you didn't have a spare arc reactor!"
"Iron Monger" regains its footing and opens its shoulder armor.
A missile launches from it.
"Your suit's design is so conservative, but mine's much more... extravagant!"
"Boom!"
The missile trails fire as it rockets toward Tony Stark.
"Boom!"
Tony dodges the direct hit, using the explosion's shockwave to leap into the air, deploying his flight systems to hover.
"Actually, someone suggested I make a spare. So, sorry to disappoint you."
"It's okay, Tony."
Obadiah answers with a smirk, "Now we're getting somewhere! Crushing you right away would be too boring!"
"Honestly..."
Tony starts, "I don't understand how you made something this big, ugly, and, well, useless."
"You'll regret saying that!"
At that moment, two bright streaks of light shoot into the sky, shining in the night.
"What's our next move?"Natasha asks.
"Do we keep heading toward those lights?"
"Wait, we might need to change our route."
Kagura Hitomi looks up at the sky, where the two lights are climbing higher into the night.
One of the lights suddenly disappears.
It's likely that Obadiah's rocket engines froze up at high altitude, causing his suit to crash.
Sigh... history always repeats itself.
Kagura had thought that this scene, with Obadiah chasing Tony Stark into the sky, wouldn't happen in this world.
Here, Tony Stark followed Kagura's advice and built a spare arc reactor, giving the Mark III enough power to keep fighting.
Meanwhile, "Iron Monger" had been tampered with by Kagura, its performance throttled and output limited, making it much weaker.
Tony could've easily overwhelmed Iron Monger on the ground, but maybe he just wanted to show off his ability to survive freezing temperatures at high altitudes.
While Kagura was lost in thought...
The holographic UI scans the sky and locks onto a target too small to be seen by the naked eye.
[Database match complete]
[Mark I Iron Man suit, upgraded version, codename "Iron Monger," Threat level: Medium, Hostile]
As the target is locked, the UI also marks its predicted landing spot.
"Sister, turn right ahead. Let's head toward the station."
Kagura Hitomi points toward Obadiah's crash site. "It's about 1 kilometer away."
"Got it."
Natasha says, turning the bike.
The sleek motorcycle veers, its tires screeching across the glittering streets, as they speed past pedestrians who can only gape in awe at the two beautiful women.
Arriving at the scene, they see a huge crater in the ground. The silver-gray Iron Monger suit slowly rises from the pit, shaking off the dirt and scanning the area for Tony Stark.
"Alright, this is it. I'm getting off here."
Kagura Hitomi says, dismounting from Natasha's bike and walking toward the Iron Monger.
"What are you going to do?" Natasha asks.
"I know you have superpowers, but that thing looks dangerous. Do you think you can handle it?"
Kagura Hitomi turns and smiles. "It's fine, Sister Natalie. I'm here to end this."