Chapter 86: The Death of Obadiah
"He went to his workshop to put on his iron suit. You can wait here."
Wolverine pointed to the staircase behind him.
Obadiah narrowed his eyes and immediately ordered:
"Kill him, then go downstairs and bring Tony up."
"Yes, boss!"
The lead mercenary raised his gun and fired a shot directly at Wolverine's forehead.
"Bang!"
The bullet hit Wolverine's forehead with precision, but what happened next left everyone stunned.
The bullet didn't kill the man in front of them. Instead, it was squeezed out of his forehead and fell to the ground.
"Damn, young people these days have no patience at all."
Wolverine placed his glass of wine on the table, extended the claws from his hands, and crossed them in front of his chest. He then charged into the group of mercenaries, ignoring the hail of bullets.
Taking out the leader first, Wolverine leaped in front of Obadiah, ignoring the mercenaries' attacks, and thrust his claws into Obadiah's chest, killing him instantly with a swift and precise strike.
At that moment, Tony, now suited up in his Iron Man armor, flew out from the workshop below and joined the fight.
"Damn, gunfire!"
Coulson, who had just arrived at the mansion's entrance in his car, heard the intense gunfire inside and quickly drew his gun, rushing into the mansion.
"Wait here, don't move. I'll go check it out."
After instructing Pepper and George, he sprinted into the mansion at full speed.
"Tony!"
Pepper, seeing the bloodied bodies of the guards at the entrance, immediately showed a look of fear.
She then turned to George.
"Mr. George, please save Tony."
She knew that if the enemies had breached the mansion's defenses, Coulson alone wouldn't be able to handle it.
Only George, the magician who could make bullets curve, had the ability to save Tony.
"Don't worry. Tony isn't the weak playboy he used to be."
However, George showed no concern.
Pepper didn't know that Tony had already created the Mark suit. With the power of the Mark suit, ordinary people were no match for Tony.
Plus, Tony had Wolverine in his prime by his side.
Sure enough, after stepping over the bodies of the security guards and entering the mansion's grand hall, they saw Tony, unharmed in his Iron Man suit, and Coulson, who was utterly stunned.
George didn't see Wolverine and assumed he had temporarily hidden himself.
"So it was Obadiah. It really was because of him."
Seeing Obadiah's body in the hall, clearly pierced through the chest by steel claws, and connecting it to the earlier Hydra attack, George had a rough idea of what had happened.
"You're back. There was a little accident, but I took care of it."
Tony took off his helmet, revealing his face, and spoke with an air of nonchalance.
"Tony, I'm so glad you're okay!"
Pepper, tears streaming down her face, rushed over and hugged him. After seeing all the bodies along the way, she had been terrified.
Tony, caught off guard by Pepper's embrace, paused for a moment before a peculiar smile appeared on his face.
Honestly, the person he trusted most in the world was Pepper. She was the only one who truly cared about his safety.
After experiencing life and death, he had developed some special feelings for her. Perhaps they could take their relationship further.
"Oh, I just don't want to have to find a new job."
Once calm, Pepper stepped back and handed the USB drive to Tony:
"This contains all the evidence of Obadiah's crimes, as well as videos of his transactions with the terrorists who kidnapped you. But now it might not be needed.
By the way, this is Agent Coulson, the one I mentioned."
"Hello, Agent Coulson. As you can see, this is self-defense."
Tony took the USB drive, pointed at Obadiah's body, and greeted Coulson with a nod.
Then he glanced at George, who gave him a meaningful look. Tony immediately understood and didn't specifically acknowledge George.
"Of course, Mr. Stark. What is that on you?"
Coulson looked at Tony's Mark suit, his face full of curiosity.
Tony, a playboy, had managed to take down so many elite mercenaries—who had easily killed the mansion's guards—using this Iron Man suit. It was unbelievable.
This suit was clearly a groundbreaking weapon of destruction.
"Oh, this? It's my latest invention, a high-tech prosthetic."
Tony pointed at his Iron Man suit and replied with a straight face.
Coulson was stunned:
"You're sure it's just a high-tech prosthetic? Then what about these people?"
"Of course, it's a high-tech prosthetic. It helps me move more easily.
As for these people, I took them down. Didn't you know I studied Wing Chun?"
Tony led the way out of the hall:
"Alright, that's not important. Let's go somewhere without the smell of blood and talk about what your Strategic Whatever Agency does and how it's connected to my father."
"It's the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division."
Coulson followed Tony out.
"Don't you think that name is too long and awkward?"
"It is a bit long. You can call us S.H.I.E.L.D."
"That's much better."
George signaled Pepper to follow them out, while he headed down to Tony's workshop.
Sure enough, he found Wolverine there, drinking.
"What happened?"
"Here's the thing..."
Wolverine explained everything that had happened after George left.
"When the fight was almost over, I noticed you were nearing the entrance. To avoid exposing my identity, I hid."
"You did well. Coulson is a seasoned agent. He would definitely recognize you. It's best we don't expose ourselves to the government at this stage."
George nodded, then took Wolverine upstairs and flew him out to an X-Jet hidden in the sky. After dropping him off, George returned to the hall.
"Zombie Drift!"
"Scourgify!"
With a wave of his hand, George moved all the bodies into a pile and cleaned the hall with a cleaning charm. After ensuring that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents wouldn't find any traces of Wolverine, he stood at the door, pretending to be a bodyguard.
About half an hour later, Tony and the others returned to the hall.
"You cleaned up fast!"
Looking at the spotless hall, Coulson gave George a curious look.
To clean a blood-stained hall so thoroughly in just over half an hour, this guy's skills were top-notch. Had he been wrong about him?
But even if he was an elite security expert, there should still be some records of him.
Or did he have some other special identity? Could he be connected to the third-party force the director mentioned, the ones who rescued Tony?
"Since my father was once part of S.H.I.E.L.D., I'll leave the rest to you."
Tony handed the USB drive to Coulson, changing the subject.
Coulson didn't dwell on it further and spoke earnestly:
"Don't worry, Mr. Stark. We'll handle the rest. In a few days, you just need to hold a press conference and announce that Obadiah died in a plane crash tonight."
(End of Chapter)