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When Obadiah saw a foot in a slipper appear before him and looked up past the hairy leg to see Tony's face, the shock he felt was no less than what Takumi felt when he saw Natsuki sitting in someone else's BMW!
"Tony, how... how could you..."
"How could I come back, right? You damn traitor!" Tony sneered and kicked Obadiah in the chest.
Obadiah immediately let out a scream like a slaughtered pig!
This gave Tony pause, and he couldn't help but look at Ethan beside him, asking:
"Is it that our bodies are too tough, or is this guy's body really that weak? We were kicked around by a crowd in that cave and never screamed this pathetically. What is he howling about?"
Ethan, who had some medical knowledge, noticed something was wrong with Obadiah. He pushed up his glasses, crouched down, and took a closer look:
"No, he's not screaming like that because of your kick; it's because his sternum and ribs were already severely injured."
"Look, this part is caved in..."
Hearing this, Tony couldn't help but look at Ryan, who was sitting on the sofa as if nothing had happened.
To this, Ryan shrugged: "You only said you wanted him alive, not intact. It's only natural to get a few bumps and bruises during transport, right?"
Uh, that actually made a lot of fucking sense!
Tony was speechless for a moment and stopped worrying about whether the 'cargo' he wanted was intact.
It's disposable anyway, to be destroyed after use, so who cares if it's whole!
Tony used the tip of his foot to flip the still-screaming Obadiah over and said coldly:
"Stop screaming, Stane. You just have a cracked sternum and a few broken ribs. Compared to the harm you've caused me, this is far from enough!"
Saying that, Tony tore open the buttons of his shirt, revealing the large hole in his chest where a simple arc reactor was embedded!
However, Obadiah's attention was not on the bloody hole torn by the missile, but fixed on the miniature reactor embedded in the opening!
The shock he felt was no less than what Takumi felt when he saw that not only was Natsuki in someone else's car, but the car that man was driving was his own modified AE86!
It was the ultimate double betrayal!
Obadiah swallowed hard, momentarily forgetting the pain in his chest as his breathing became rapid:
"Is this an arc reactor? You actually succeeded... you succeeded in taking the technology Howard left behind, which hadn't seen a breakthrough in thirty years, a step further—no, a giant leap further..."
Knowing that Tony could now miniaturize the arc reactor to this extent meant it could be fully applied to the energy market. The profits it would bring to Stark Industries... hiss—
Obadiah gasped at the astronomical number of zeros he roughly envisioned, and then his face immediately shifted into a mask of heartbreak:
"Oh, Tony, you must have misunderstood something. I was your father Howard's dear friend and brother, your uncle! How could I possibly harm you!"
"During the two months you were missing, I was more anxious to find you than anyone. I called the Military almost every day to apply pressure, telling them they must find you!"
"If it weren't for the fact that I needed to stay and protect the Stark Industries your father founded for you, I would have wanted to go to Afghanistan to find you myself!"
"Believe me, no one in this World loves you more than I do. I've always looked at you as my own child!"
Looking at Obadiah, who could still maintain a look of sincerity even at this point, Tony would have actually believed his bullshit if he hadn't seen the video Ryan gave him!
But unfortunately, facts speak louder than words!
Tony raised his hand and snapped his fingers: "Jarvis, show him!"
[Yes, sir.]
As Jarvis's voice echoed in the empty living room, a blue holographic projection was cast in front of Obadiah.
The content of the video was, naturally, Tony tied to a chair by the Ten Rings Gang, sending a threat to Obadiah on the other end.
In the video, the Ten Rings Gang denounced Obadiah for deceiving them and not telling them the real target of the assassination.
If they had known the target was Tony Stark, the price would have been much higher!
That was why the Ten Rings Gang recorded this video to blackmail Obadiah once more, forcing him to send them a large amount of high-quality weapons produced by Stark Industries!
But unexpectedly, the Ten Rings Gang went back on their word in the end, keeping the weapons but not killing Tony as promised!
Obadiah's face turned incredibly grim as he watched the video. Knowing he could no longer make excuses, he couldn't help but grit his teeth and roar in anger:
"I never should have trusted those damn Terrorists. They're all a bunch of untrustworthy bastards!!!"
Hearing this, Tony stepped on Obadiah's chest and sneered again:
"Heh, what right do you have to talk about them? Aren't you also a hypocrite who betrays friends and everyone else just for your own interests?"
"Those who betray others are bound to be betrayed in turn!"
"Now, I'll ask a question, and you'll answer it. Do you understand?"
This time, even with Tony stepping on his chest, Obadiah didn't scream anymore. Instead, he endured the pain and said with disdain:
"It's been decades, Tony. Why are you still as naive as when you were twenty-one and your father Howard just died? It's so naive it's pathetic!"
"What makes you think that since I'm already a dead man, I'll tell you anything you want to know?"
"So eat shit, Tony. You won't learn a single thing from me!"
"And do you think I don't know? You're still going to die, and in the end, you'll die a death a thousand times more painful than mine, hahahaha!"
As he finished, Obadiah pointed at the arc reactor in Tony's chest and let out a maniacal laugh.
As the second-in-command of a top-tier weapons company, Obadiah was naturally not an idiot who knew nothing.
On the contrary, he was actually very smart to have been able to build Stark Industries alongside Howard.
And having always tried to replace Howard Stark, he paid special attention to everything Howard left behind.
Including the prototype of the arc reactor!
So he naturally knew what the core material of the arc reactor was—it was Palladium!
And Palladium causes lethal damage to the human body!
By embedding the miniature arc reactor into his chest, Tony had undoubtedly placed a slow-acting poison inside his own body!
As time passed, Tony's body would be slowly eroded by the palladium toxin until he finally died in agony!
So the arc reactor was both the cure for keeping the shrapnel near Tony's heart in place and a poison that could take Tony's life at any moment!