Chapter 17 Iron Monger's "Pawns"
Every woman hoped for a prince charming in shining armor to bravely stand up and protect her from danger. The imaginary prince would gently come to her side and ask, "Did I scare you?"
Louise also had such a fantasy, but she was grown up enough to realize that it was but a fantasy. It almost never happened in reality, and the probability of it happening to her was smaller than winning the lottery.
Louise Lane was a reporter for a news agency. She was rather disliked by her superior, mostly due to an incident involving a bald, middle-aged boss that tried to rape her but received a kick between the legs instead.
The bald man had a vendetta against her since then. Today he sent her to do a street interview. Interview my ass! If she didn't need this job, she would've smashed the boss' ugly face with her high heels.
Louise didn't expect to hit the jackpot today. There was a battle between two robots in the street that she happened to be on.
Moreover, the robots came from the direction of the Stark Industries research complex. She felt that she had discovered a massive secret. She bypassed the bald boss and contacted the president of the agency directly to propose a live broadcast of the situation.
The president agreed with Louise's suggestion and promised a promotion and a raise for this stellar job.
This was a dream moment for Louise. She imagined that the bald boss wouldn't even be worthy to touch the dirt under her shoes after this promotion. Then she would be able to focus more on her job.
Her excitement was shattered by the oncoming danger.
...
Louise looked at the back of the figure in front of her. She didn't expect this fantasy-like plot actually happen to her. Her astonishment was quickly replaced by worries since the figure was facing a steel giant more than two meters tall.
Louise likely wouldn't forget the following scenes for the rest of her life. The small figure actually caught the massive robot's left hand with only his own right hand. He didn't take even half a step back from the impact. The sight was as shocking as a child holding back a rampaging elephant.
That's right; Li Yue had blocked Iron Monger's hands from reaching Louis, and with his own strength at that. Li Yue's physique had also grown exponentially through his training—he must be around ten times stronger than a normal person right now. His punch could easily border two tons of force.
Of course, this much strength was still nothing for a full-strength Iron Monger. But the current Iron Monger had been fatally damaged and tattered. Moreover, Li Yue's purpose was to let a hostage escape, not defeat the Iron Monger, so this much strength was more than enough.
...
Iron Monger had actually noticed that Li Yue didn't try to escape, but he didn't recognize Li Yue's figure in his panicked hurry. He had only chosen Louise as a hostage because women were easier for him to keep restrained.
Iron Monger obviously didn't expect that his hand would be blocked by Li Yue, the figure that he had ignored.
"So it was you! The one that ruined my everything! I will kill you this time!"
Iron Monger finally recognized Li Yue as the same person who had saved Pepper. Li Yue interrupted and enraged him twice; Iron Monger no longer hold himself back and used the full strength of the armor to kill Li Yue. The grab that Li Yue had blocked was a far cry from the full force of his fist that he unleashed right now. Any normal person would be reduced to red splatter on the road.
"What happened? Where did he go?!"
However, before he could unleash all that power, Li Yue suddenly disappeared. He frantically looked around with all his sensors and was shocked to find that he was hundreds of meters up in the sky, falling down quickly to the ground—right above Tony's gigantic red metal armor.
Li Yue appeared in front of Tony again.
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and greet your elder," Li Yue's words shook Tony off from his daze.
"...oh, alright, I'll handle him now."
Tony heard Li Yue's words and came back to his senses. He had not expected that Iron Monger would be crazy enough to attack an unrelated civilian. The shock delayed his reaction, but fortunately, Li Yue had been able to prevent any casualties.
...
Tony raised his hands, aiming his palms at the Iron Monger that tumbled down from the sky. An immense amount of energy gathered before being released as two dazzling pillars of light from his palms. The energy blast slammed on Iron Monger mercilessly.
This was the difference between Marvel's superheroes and DC's. Marvel's superheroes are merciless and would kill their enemies without hesitation whenever necessary.
Meanwhile, DC heroes advocated humanitarianism, insisted on keeping the moral bottom line, and would not take the initiative to kill the villain. Each had its own differences, and Li Yue could not comment much. Anyway, Li Yue wasn't the kind of person who would let go of his enemies.
Tony originally wanted to capture Obadiah and lock the old man up in prison, but all of his mercy dried up when he saw Obadiah almost killing Pepper.
Iron Monger couldn't do anything in his free fall. His armor was unbalanced from the loss of his right arm, making him tumble helplessly in the air. He could only watch as Tony fired the immense energy beams at him from the ground.
Boom!!!
Iron Monger exploded in the air like a beautiful firework.
Tony averted his eyes from Iron Monger's wreckage raining from the sky. He told himself that the bald uncle had deserved it for threatening Pepper and that this was the easy way out for Obadiah, but Tony still felt tightness in his heart.
The Iron Monger was his own uncle, but this cruel world forced him to end his uncle's life with his own hand.
...
Louise stared blankly at the Iron Monger as the armor exploded in the night sky. Her mood was rather complicated right now. She felt like the person that saved her was someone straight out of fantasy movies; the figure had disappeared in front of her eyes along with the black robot.
Suddenly, she heard a gentle voice beside her.
"Isn't my fireworks beautiful?" Li Yue flirted shamelessly.
"Very. Maybe I should treat you to a dinner for saving my life—if you want, of course."
Louise turned to the source of the voice. It was the same figure that had saved her and disappeared. She could barely hide the excitement in her voice.
"Of course. Although, as a gentleman, I should be the one treating you. May I be honored to know your name?"
"Louise Lane. You can call me Louise!"
Louise Lane? The name somehow sounded familiar.
...