Chapter 53: Iron Man Never Retreats

Rhodes said, "No, thank you, I don't smoke..."

Immediately after, he saw Stark take out a cigarette on his own and throw it into mid-air. Instantly, a light and thin armor composed of blue and silver was armed on his body. Rhodes swallowed his saliva and said, "Give me one, thank you."

On the other side, General Johnson had just crawled back into the cockpit of a huge robot. What appeared in his field of vision was a fist as big as a sandbag.

Iron Man was just about to deal with Johnson with Rhodes, but was blocked by the steel monster that stood up again. He heard Obadiah say, "Do you know? Most of the things I told you about your father in the past were not the truth."

"In fact, he smoked and drank, hung out with women, daydreamed all day, was good at sudden whims, and after messing up a bunch of things, he only let others clean up the mess for him."

"Those hero stories about him were all made up by me. He was actually a complete bastard."

"But do you know, when he was about to say some stupid idea again, how did I stop him?"

Iron Man had a bad premonition, but before he could answer, a fist as big as a sandbag appeared in his field of vision.

Looking at Iron Man who was sent flying, Little Spider rubbed his hands and said, "Alright, now the problem is, who should we help?"

Captain America patted his shield and said, "I think Obadiah makes sense. After all, he is Stark's elder, and he has more reason to beat him up than I do."

"But it's not good for us to just watch like this, right?"

"Then let's not watch. Let's go, there are still wounded people to be carried onto the ambulance."

On the other side, Iron Man crawled out of a pile of steel bars, dizzy and confused, and said, "Wait! Uncle... alright, Howard is a rotten person, and so am I! But I think there is a better solution than this method. I think we can sit down and talk! Or hold a board meeting or something, don't always solve problems with fists..."

"You are even less qualified to say this."

A roar from the steel monster, the huge robot jumped up and landed in front of him. The shadow shrouded Iron Man's armor. Obadiah said, "You will soon understand that this shell of iron of yours is useless, even if you change its appearance."

Iron Man was very helpless. Obadiah seemed determined to beat him up. His anger also rose. He said, "You will soon know whether it's just a change of appearance!"

As he spoke, he dodged the punch of that huge steel monster like a flying bird. Almost instantly, he flew behind the steel monster and punched it in the back.

The steel monster swung back, Stark dodged flexibly again. Although this armor of his was thinner, the power system was modified to be faster and more flexible.

He stretched out his palm, and the steel bars in the ruins began to tremble slightly, then flew up in an instant, pointing straight at the steel monster. Jarvis said to Stark, "The magnetic control system is still being upgraded and cannot be used at high frequency, and the energy is about to run out..."

Stark clenched his fist, and the steel bars shot toward the steel monster.

Obadiah obviously didn't expect this move. After all, Iron Man's style was originally that of a warrior. Except for the palm cannon, most of the time he was trading punches with enemies. But now, this silver and blue armor made him look more like a mage.

Following the swing of Stark's arms, the steel bars shot toward the steel monster quickly. Obadiah only had time to control the armor to dodge more than half of the steel bars on the left, but several still hit the right arm of his armor.

But he was much more decisive. At the moment of being hit, he jumped out directly by borrowing force and threw an uppercut at Iron Man in the air.

Iron Man's armor emitted a series of sparks. He was not to be outdone, directly dived in reverse, and punched the steel monster's neck. The steel monster swayed slightly, grabbed one of Iron Man's legs, and threw him out.

Iron Man was shaken until he was dizzy again. It just so happened that the place where he landed was the battlefield of Rhodes and General Johnson. Rhodes was also falling into a disadvantage. Iron Man shouted, "Come on! Swap opponents, let's start the second half!"

This was a correct decision. Rhodes's armor had stronger power, but he was facing General Johnson. That huge armor had eight tentacles. If the speed was not fast enough, he would be pulled out hard. It was indeed better for Stark, with this more flexible armor, to deal with it.

So, Rhodes stabilized his figure, directly pulled up and dived, and flew toward Obadiah's steel monster.

After choosing the right opponent, the battle situation began to clear up. Stark used high mobility to directly dismantle more than half of the tentacles on General Johnson's back. Without the tentacles to assist in movement, Johnson's armor became a real tin can and became Iron Man's sandbag. After a few punches, it started to spark everywhere.

The robots he summoned were also basically solved quickly by Stark using high speed.

On the other side, Rhodes, who was head-to-head with the steel monster, although uncomfortable, the steel monster's legs had already failed in the previous explosion. After a few rounds, the steel monster fell to the ground and seemed unable to stand up again.

Rhodes walked to Iron Man's side and said, "I once heard my former superior, General old Andro, mention that he knew your father when he was young, but what exactly happened, I don't know."

"Howard, that damn despicable villain! He used orders from the military to prop up old Andro! Originally, I shouldn't have been a small Major General in the Air Force!"

"That doesn't matter anymore," Stark said. "Now you probably can't even be a Major General."

"Everyone knows that only Iron Man will build these robots. I used the technology you gave to the military. As long as..."

"No, I don't mean that. I mean, although Howard is a rotten person, I think he does have something worth learning. For example, finding a correct partner in the military. Of course, that's not you..."

"Aren't you going to close Stark's weapons manufacturing department?"

"Where did you hear that rumor?"

Johnson turned his head to look at Obadiah's armor.

"My uncle told you?"

"Then did he tell you that every Stark is like this? We are very fickle. Just a few minutes ago, I changed my mind. Not only will I not close Stark's weapons manufacturing department, I also plan to formally cooperate with the military. It just so happens that I have a few ideas about individual exoskeletons and medical auxiliary support systems..."

"No! You can't do this! Damn it, I've already promised Hammer Industries..."

"Idiots will always go to find another idiot," Obadiah's voice came from afar again.

Johnson's armor burst into a series of sparks. Obviously, he hammered something inside.

"It seems these armors were manufactured for you by that Hammer Industries, but with all due respect, these things have long been outdated."

"Yeah, you only gave Rhodes outdated technology." Johnson still didn't forget to sow discord even now.

Rhodes stood by and hugged his arms and said, "He just gave me a cigarette, a very fashionable cigarette."

Stark didn't talk nonsense with Johnson anymore. He walked to the paralyzed steel monster and opened the cockpit. Obadiah was lying inside. He looked like he hadn't suffered any injuries on the outside, but his complexion was very poor, looking like he was about to die.

"Doctor! I need a doctor!"

Shiler appeared in response. He spread his hands and said, "I guess, what you need is not me, this psychologist."

"Of course, but stop talking nonsense, hurry up and send him to the hospital."

The Symbiote said to Shiler in his mind, "His heart..."

Shiler touched Obadiah's pulse and found that his heart rate was indeed very wrong. Obadiah coughed and said, "The external energy core is not enough to drive such a behemoth..."

"Did you do something to your heart?" Shiler asked.

Stark anxiously tore open Obadiah's shirt and found that there was indeed a scar on his chest. He said anxiously, "Hurry up! Send him back to my lab first!... Damn it, this path of biological machinery simply won't work! That is simply overdrawing life!"

"You are as arbitrary as your father, never listening to people's opinions..." Obadiah said, but seeing the blood flowing down Stark's forehead, he finally said nothing.

"You send him back first. It just so happens that I know a pretty good neurosurgeon. You will see him at Stark Tower in a while."

After Shiler and Stark both left, only General Johnson and Rhodes were left on the battlefield. Johnson was cursing wildly: "You damn lunatic! Rhodes! Don't you know that a soldier's duty is to obey orders? I am your superior now! That old Andro retired and rolled away long ago!"

"Yeah, retired honorably with the rank of Admiral, and can get a high-paying idle job in Congress, holding a lot of pensions, went to Hawaii for two months last winter, and his granddaughter just got into Harvard..."

Johnson's armor made another violent explosion.

After a while, he said, "You will regret it, Rhodes. Stark has never been worth trusting. You will regret becoming his friend."

"They are selfish, sensitive, and suspicious. Sooner or later, they will destroy everything. They have a clever brain that can save themselves, but they won't save you, won't save a watchdog."

Rhodes took off the armor, walked out of it, and looked around.

This place had been completely beaten into ruins. Not far away, Little Spider was sending the wounded to the ambulance with Captain America. Most people evacuated in an orderly manner, but many were injured by the aftermath of the explosion during the escape, and they were just rescued.

New York is very big. The aftermath of this battle only affected a few streets nearby. On the road further away, vehicles and pedestrians were still bustling.

Soon, a purple-red glow lit up at the end of the sky. Dawn was about to come.

"You're right, Starks are a bunch of rotten people, impulsive, willful, never considering the consequences when doing things, waiting for others to clean up the mess for them, but Iron Man is different..."

Rhodes looked at the light at the end of the sky. He reached out, took off his epaulet, looked down at it, squeezed it on his fingertips, and then threw it onto Johnson's face.

"... Iron Man never retreats." ===== CHAPTER 54 =====