"Damn it… it was that blueprint."
Stark's expression hardened as the realization hit him. Now he understood why Obadiah Stane's armor was so devastating—it was built from his own designs, salvaged from the cave. But the battle wasn't over. He couldn't dwell on it. Stark engaged with renewed focus, desperate to take Stane down.
Unfortunately, brute force wasn't enough.
His current Iron Man suit wasn't designed for pure destruction. It was crafted as a protective tool, not a war machine. Stane, on the other hand, had no such reservations.
Thinking fast, Stark initiated a risky maneuver. He shot upwards, climbing into the sky, hoping to exploit the upper atmosphere's freezing temperatures. It was a tactic he hoped would slow the Iron Monger's heavier suit.
"You think you can run? I won't let you escape!" Stane barked through the external comms. "But I've got another pest to squash first… Without that bug, you probably wouldn't have made it back alive."
His chanical gaze locked onto a rooftop nearby—where Kurogai Alexander Blackwood stood, silently observing the battle like a judge at an arena.
Stane's rage flared.
He had already investigated who had been supporting Stark behind the scenes. Only a few individuals had the ans and ability to enter and exit Stark's ho so freely. Kurogai was one of them.
The massive Iron Monger pivoted its boosters and launched off the ground, barreling toward the rooftop like a missile. He wasn't just attacking Kurogai—he was trying to erase him.
"No! Obadiah!" Stark shouted through the comms. He had realized Stane's intention and tried to intercept. He banked toward the rooftop with everything the thrusters had, but it was too late—Stane was closing in fast.
But Kurogai didn't move.
Instead, he tilted his head and smiled, amused. "You've made the worst decision of your life."
There was no fear in his voice, just calm finality.
He stood up, and in that instant, the ticking of the Clock of Ti echoed faintly in his mind. His heterochromatic eyes shimred gold, the pupil ring rotating smoothly.
First Bullet.
Instant Speed.
In a flash, Kurogai disappeared from where he stood—and reappeared at the Iron Monger's flank.
He drew back a fist and threw a casual punch.
Boom.
The result was anything but casual.
The Iron Monger was sent hurtling sideways like a teor, crashing into the concrete below and carving a massive crater into the parking structure. Debris flew, and dust mushrood into the air.
"…Okay. So I guess you didn't need my help after all," Stark muttered, coming to a hover mid-air. His systems blinked with proximity warnings, but his focus was elsewhere—on Kurogai.
Even behind his helt, Stark's eyes widened.
Jarvis couldn't track the movent.
Not even his suit's high-speed sensors had captured Kurogai's dash. One mont, he was there, the next, gone. And then a suit strong enough to crush tanks had been flattened in a single strike.
"This guy… is on another level."
It was terrifying, but in a way, it was reassuring. Soone like Kurogai existing in the shadows made Stark wonder how many other threats might be watching Earth—but also how many protectors there were.
The Iron Monger groaned as its bulky form began to rise. The armor creaked loudly, and sparks danced from the joints. Where Kurogai had struck, the armor was caved in—dent lines spiderwebbed outward, and the stabilizers flickered.
Yet Obadiah still climbed out of the crater.
Panting, straining, but standing.
His expression had changed.
Gone was the arrogance.
Now there was only fear.
"Who the hell are you?!" Stane roared, his voice shaky behind the modulation.
Until now, he'd believed Kurogai was just another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Maybe so underground consultant, maybe a magic user—but nothing that posed this kind of threat. When he'd stolen the cave blueprints, all he found was partial data. He never expected the one who helped Stark escape… was a monster in human skin.
"You're the fool who ca after without doing your howork," Kurogai replied flatly. "You should've asked around."
Stark descended slowly, landing next to him. "He doesn't know who you are… Wow. That explains a lot."
Obadiah's brows twitched.
"What do you an?" he barked.
"He's known as the Heterochromatic or The Eyed One," Stark said. "You ever hear of the guy who dismantled Hydra single-handedly?"
Obadiah's eyes widened in disbelief.
He had.
There were whispers in the darker corners of global intelligence—rumors of a boy with otherworldly power who tore through entire Hydra compounds, toppling their assets one after the other. It wasn't clear how true those reports were, but the na stuck: Him, The Eyed One.
A living weapon.
And now he was standing calmly before him—no armor, no backup, no flashy suits—and he had just broken Iron Monger's chassis with one hit.
Obadiah's instincts scread at him to retreat.
He had no shot at winning this fight.
This wasn't Stark, a tech genius still learning to fight. This was sothing else entirely.
"Didn't you say you were going to crush ?" Kurogai asked quietly, now floating down beside the ruined ch. "I'm still here."
Stane froze.
That tone wasn't mocking. It wasn't even angry.
It was bored.
And that terrified him more than any battle cry.
He took a half step back. Every system inside the Iron Monger warned of critical failures. He couldn't fly. He couldn't run. He was a man locked in a tal coffin, facing down a walking storm.
Kurogai lifted his hand again.
But this ti, he didn't strike.
He looked at Stark. "Your call. Want to finish this yourself?"
Stark glanced between them. Obadiah, shaking inside the damaged suit, no longer looked like a threat—just a man who'd overreached and now realized the cost.
He took a breath. "Yeah… I've got this."
Kurogai stepped aside.
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