...
When Tony woke up again, he had already been moved out of the cave by Leon, along with the Mark 1 armor. Ethan, who was hiding in the missile casing, was also ferreted out by Leon through a carpet search.
After Leon's earnest explanations, Ethan finally believed Leon's identity as Tony's younger brother.
When he saw the tragic state of the Ten Rings Gang's stronghold, Ethan had no choice but to believe it, because it was simply too brutal.
Most of the Ten Rings Gang members didn't even have bone fragments left; their bodies were completely gone, and their deaths were exceptionally gruesome.
Not long after.
Tony, who had been knocked out by Leon, finally woke up.
“Hiss~ my chin!”
The Mark 1 helmet opened, and Tony grimaced in pain.
“Tony, are You alright?”
Ethan walked over, concerned.
“Heh, at least I'm still alive.” Tony gave a bitter smile, then suddenly remembered something, “Where's that bastard who impersonated my brother Leon? I'm going to blast him with a cannon!”
“Who are You going to blast?”
Leon returned after washing his face.
The morning sun shone on his mature, handsome face, which possessed both elegance and a hint of wickedness, making one feel a sense of trance. How could there be such a handsome bastard in the World?
“Leon, You came just in time, there was a guy earlier who impersonated You... Wait, Leon? How are You here?!”
Tony exclaimed in surprise.
He stared blankly at Leon, who appeared before him.
“Because that bastard You mentioned who impersonated Me is Me, My foolish Brother~”
Leon said with a speechless, mischievous smile.
“But You little rascal... how did You suddenly become so strong? And this suit, are You playing cosplay?”
“Wait, You didn't inject the Super Soldier Serum, did You? It must be that!”
“But that's not right, the Super Soldier Serum shouldn't have such powerful effects, right? And nine out of ten become crazy, and one is half-crazy...”
Tony brainstormed, using his known intelligence to deduce the source of Leon's extraordinary power, but he had no idea it was all due to the existence of the system.
“Alright, alright, I'll explain it to You slowly later, it's a long story.”
“Then make it short.”
Tony didn't intend to let Leon brush him off like that.
What if the power Leon had now carried some uncontrollable risk, like how the “Super Soldier Serum amplifies a person's inner desires”?
Tony couldn't accept that; he had to resolve the hidden danger as soon as possible.
This was his only brother!
No choice.
Leon could only briefly narrate the process of how he was hit by great fortune, almost died, and then gained superpowers, omitting the existence of the system in the middle.
But everything he told Tony was the truth.
So Tony couldn't find fault with Leon.
“Leon, can You fly now?”
Tony asked curiously.
“No.”
“You think I'm Superman?”
Leon smiled and punched Tony's chest, who grinned crookedly: “That's great, then let Brother show You what an aerialist is.”
With that.
Tony, like an overgrown child, eagerly demonstrated the Mark 1 armor's flying capabilities in front of Leon.
He pressed the switch on his left armguard for manual ignition, then his foot soles trailed a string of not-so-eco-friendly grayish-White exhaust as he shot straight into the clouds.
“Woohoo~ taking off!”
“Leon, did You see that? An armor like this that can carry a person and fly, mine is one of a kind in the World!” Tony shouted excitedly, smiling exceptionally happily.
However.
He hadn't flown very high yet.
The Mark 1 armor's cobbled-together Jet Glider directly disintegrated in the air. Amidst a panicked scream, Tony began to freefall.
“Ahhhhhh!!!!”
Seeing this, Leon helplessly rubbed his forehead: “Let You show off, let You fly, now You've crashed.”
“What do we do, Leon?” Ethan subconsciously looked at Leon, worriedly saying, “If Tony falls like this, he'll definitely get hurt!”
“What else can we do? Of course, catch him.”
Leon replied; he would spoil his own brother.
He aimed at Tony's landing position, crouched, and leaped over ten meters high. After embracing Tony, who was wearing the armor, he used himself as a cushion, and they both crashed to the ground with a thud.
Bang!!!
Even with Leon as a buffer, the powerful impact upon contact with the ground instantly tore the crudely made Mark 1 into pieces.
Pushing Tony, who only had a few scrapes, off him, Leon stood up and complained to him: “You flew very well, don't fly again next time.”
“Uh, this was just an accident.”
Tony's mouth twitched awkwardly, and he stubbornly said, “When I go back, I'll definitely make the improved version. By then, I'll look so cool in front of You, don't ask Me for one.”
“Hmph~ who cares.”
Leon pouted: “Maybe I'll be able to fly myself by then.”
This was the usual way the two brothers interacted.
Neither would admit defeat verbally, but in their hearts, they were softer than the other.
“Um...”
Ethan weakly raised his hand and asked, “How do we leave this place?”
“All the Ten Rings Gang's armored vehicles are broken, most of them have turned into molten iron.”
Upon hearing this.
Tony immediately turned to look at Leon. Leon did not disappoint Tony; he tapped his index finger on his Bluetooth earpiece and commanded with extreme Haki:
“Jarvis, bring the Jet Glider over!”
“Yes, Young Master Leon.”
The Jet Glider, parked five kilometers away, received the command and arrived beside Leon and the other two in just fifteen seconds.
“Jet Glider?”
“You actually drove this thing out, You're really crazy!”
Tony exclaimed, then suddenly realized that Leon's physical fitness was now far beyond what it used to be, so it was not difficult to understand.
But—
“The Jet Glider's cockpit can only seat two people at most...”
“Simple.”
Leon shrugged: “We'll squeeze in, there's always room.”
“Sir, it's wonderful that You are safe and sound.”
Jarvis's voice came from the Jet Glider's vehicle system.
“Oh, Jarvis, I'm so touched to hear your voice again!”
Tony expressed his deep longing for Jarvis somewhat exaggeratedly; every day without Jarvis by his side was torture.
Afterward.
Leon and the other two began to stack themselves like a sandwich.
Tony in front, Leon in the middle, and Ethan in the back—the seating arrangement was happily decided.
“Leon, your pistol is poking Me!”
“Pistol?”
“You X X!”
“Depart, go home.”
Amidst Leon and Tony's bickering, the Jet Glider slowly drove away from the Ten Rings Gang's stronghold, which had turned into ruins.
Half an hour later.
A movement came from beneath a pile of rubble somewhere in the area.
Soon.
A bald man with severe burns all over his body crawled out.
Upon closer inspection.
It was actually the leader of this Ten Rings Gang stronghold.
He was still alive.
When Leon fired his chest cannon, this bald man immediately found a pile of stones for cover and hid in a trench dug beneath it.
Although he was later buried by this pile of stones, he thus escaped death. Despite his burned skin and high radiation exposure, he was at least temporarily alive.
He looked in the direction where Leon and the others had left, his face twisted in a ferocious expression, and he said viciously: “Stark, You all just wait for Me!”
“Wait for what? Let's do it now!”
“!!!”
Leon, who had returned, appeared like a ghost behind the bald man, plunged his hands into his chest, and then brutally tore him in half from the middle.
Iron Monger was created because this guy scavenged parts, so Leon had focused on him from the beginning and had discovered him hiding.
“I thought You were good at hiding, it made Me lose a whole year's worth of cover girls to Tony.”
After kicking the body a few times to vent his frustration and then setting it on Fire to completely destroy all traces, Leon was finally satisfied and rejoined Tony and Ethan, who were waiting for him not far away.