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CHAPTER 27
🕑 Added 2025-06-22 15:36:53 +0000 UTCAs Pepper Potts raced away from Stark Industries with Agent Coulson, Obadiah Stane knew the game was up. Realizing he was exposed, he went directly to the company's large, central Arc Reactor. Beneath it, he had secretly built "Area 16," a cavernous, private laboratory dedicated to reverse-engineering Tony's genius.
When he stormed in, his top engineer, a bald man named William, and his team were having a heated but fruitless discussion.
"Mr. Stane," William said, his voice trembling slightly. "We've studied the schematics from the desert, but… what you're asking for is… difficult."
"Difficult?" Obadiah’s voice was a low growl. He was not in the mood for excuses.
"Sir, the power supply technology for this armor… it doesn't exist yet," William explained, trying his best to sound clinical rather than terrified. "To shrink that," he pointed at the building-sized Arc Reactor humming around them, "to the size of a fist… it's impossible."
The dam of Obadiah’s patience broke. He grabbed William by the collar, his face a mask of purple rage. "TONY STARK BUILT THIS IN A CAVE!" he roared, spittle flying from his lips. "WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!"
William leaned back in fear, his voice a pathetic whisper. "I'm sorry, sir. But… we are not Tony Stark."
Obadiah shoved him away, pacing anxiously. Then, he stopped. A cold, predatory stillness fell over him. If I can't build my own heart, he thought, a cruel smile forming on his lips, I'll just have to take his.
In San Francisco, Aidan finished the final notes for the Baymax movie's post-production. The heavy lifting was done. He leaned back and made a call.
"It's good to hear from you, Aidan," Yinsen's voice came through the phone, warm and full of life. "My town is rebuilding. There is hope again."
"That's good to hear," Aidan said. "Listen, I think our future entrepreneurial experience may be more difficult than we anticipated. The world is changing."
"It's okay," Yinsen replied calmly. "We just have to stay optimistic forever."
After hanging up, Aidan stared at another number on his screen. He was silent for a moment, then dialed. It rang, and rang, and went to voicemail. He frowned. Tony wouldn't ignore his call, not now. Something was wrong.
His eyes widened in realization. Stane.
He shot out of his chair. A cool silver motorcycle formed at his feet from a swarm of microbots. He leaped on as the rest of the bots formed the Archangel wings on his back. With a shake of his wings, the thrusters ignited, and he blasted into the neon-drenched night sky, a silver streamer disappearing over the city.
He arrived at Tony's Malibu mansion minutes later. It was dark, silent. The ocean at night is terrifying, he thought, looking at the black, churning water. It devours everything. He activated his sensors and scanned the sprawling villa. He found it: a single, weak life sign in the basement workshop.
The Archangel wings folded around him, forming a drill-like cone, its tip glowing with blue plasma. He descended, vaporizing a perfect circle in the roof and dropping silently into the workshop below.
Tony Stark was lying on the floor, pale and gasping, his chest a hollowed-out cavity connected by wires to the crude, cave-built Arc Reactor. Obadiah had come and ripped the heart from his body.
The moment he saw Aidan, Tony let out a final, shuddering breath and closed his eyes, accepting his fate. A moment later, he felt the familiar hum as the old reactor was plugged back into his chest. Energy, life, flowed back into him. He heard a sound above him.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Aidan's voice said, full of mock pity. "Oh my, who is this? It's too miserable! Did you drive a tank today? Because you look like you got run over by one."
"You're the one who's driven a tank, you little brat," Tony shot back, his voice weak but laced with his old fire.
"Don't call me a little brat," Aidan retorted. "You're the one who lives in a honey pot. Someone wants to kill you, they have to lick all the honey off first."
"No time to argue," Tony grunted, his strength returning. He stumbled over to his armor display and began suiting up in the gleaming red and gold Mark III. "I have to save Pepper."
"Is that just a backup power source?" Aidan asked, flapping his wings.
"Yes. I'm going. Follow me as soon as you can," Tony said. The suit fully charged. With a roar of repulsors, he blasted through the ceiling and into the night sky.
Aidan watched him go, a flicker of annoyance on his face. "Knew I should have prioritized the energy source first," he muttered. Tony's suit was still faster. He took to the air, following the distant trail of Tony's exhaust.
The battle was already raging when Aidan arrived. He saw Tony and the monstrous Iron Monger armor crashing through the city streets. Tony, his power levels critically low, managed to lure the lumbering behemoth into the upper atmosphere, hoping the icing problem that plagued his own early suits would disable Stane. For a moment, it worked. The Iron Monger froze and fell, crashing onto the roof of the Stark Industries building.
Tony landed hard beside it, his own suit sputtering and dying. The Arc Reactor in his chest flickered, its power critically low. The Iron Monger rose behind him, its red eyes glowing with malice, and grabbed him, its powerful metal fingers beginning to buckle the Mark III armor. The sound of groaning metal was deafening.
"You have a real gift for this, Tony! But you're a sentimental fool!" Obadiah's voice boomed through the speakers. The pressure intensified. Tony’s vision began to tunnel. He was out of power and out of options.
"Pepper... Kid..." he gasped into his comms, his voice strained and weak. "Aidan... if you can hear me... a little help... would be... great!"
On the street below, Pepper stared up in horror, her hand clamped over her mouth. Aidan stood beside her, his expression unreadable as he held his phone to his ear, the call patched through Tony's comms.
"Help is a strong word, Mr. Stark," Aidan's voice replied, unnervingly calm. "It implies a certain level of partnership. Are you ready to have a serious conversation about the future of your company? Perhaps starting with a formal, public apology to Dr. Yinsen for the suffering your weapons have caused?"
"What are you doing?!" Pepper shrieked at Aidan, her eyes wide with disbelief. "He's dying!"
Aidan ignored her. On the rooftop, Obadiah laughed. "Who are you talking to, Tony?! Your accountant? There is no one left to help you!" He applied the final, crushing pressure.
Just as Tony's world was about to go black, a flash of silver appeared in the night sky. A small, sleek arrow, impossibly fast, zipped silently behind the Iron Monger's massive head. There was a faint hiss-thunk—the sound of plasma vaporizing steel, followed by the sound of it piercing flesh.
The immense pressure on Tony's suit vanished. The light in the Iron Monger's eyes flickered and died. The colossal machine froze for a second, then crashed to the rooftop with a deafening clang of dead metal.
Tony, gasping for breath, pushed the inert behemoth off him. He stumbled to his feet, looking for the cause. He saw it: a tiny, perfectly cauterized hole in the back of the Iron Monger's helmet. He finally understood. He keyed his comms again, his voice full of exhaustion and disbelief.
"Never mind, kid," he breathed. "You… you already did."
"Oh?" Aidan's voice came back, laced with mock disappointment. "You figured it out. How boring." He turned to the stunned Pepper Potts on the sidewalk, a small, cold smile on his face. "He's alright now. You should go up and be with him."
Before Pepper could even form a response, Aidan stepped back into the shadows and, in the blink of an eye, was gone.
The next day, Aidan Parker sat on the sofa with Peter, eating potato chips and watching Tom and Jerry. On the screen, Tom, wielding a massive mallet, chased Jerry through a construction site in a symphony of cartoon violence.
"Brother," Peter said, his eyes glued to the TV. "I want one of those mallets."
Aidan didn't look away from the screen. "Don't look at me," he said, popping another chip in his mouth. "I want one too."
