Inside the broadcasting studio of the Daily Bugle building, Garrett froze for a split second at the sight of the yellow-green vortex.
In that single moment, the vortex completely swallowed the bomb. Garrett had only just managed to raise the energy scepter in his hand.
In the next heartbeat, Tony Stark—Iron Man—who had been holding back for so long, finally moved.
The soles of his feet, his legs, his back, his palms...
Every single thruster on the Mark VI flared to life simultaneously. The sudden burst of speed created a visible, elliptical cloud of vapor in front of Tony—a sonic boom cloud.
At this moment, Tony Stark didn't care if his body could withstand the g-force of accelerating from a standstill to supersonic speeds. He only knew that the window of opportunity was fleeting; if he failed to seize it, Garrett could still use the others in the studio to threaten him.
BOOM!
Tony tackled Garrett around the waist, maintaining his speed as he slammed him directly into the wall on the far side of the studio.
Caught off guard by the tackle, Garrett instinctively whistled to call his Pegasus. However, the Mark VI was significantly faster than the winged horse; Tony simply hadn't been able to unleash its full potential before because Garrett kept flying toward apartment buildings and crowded areas.
Amidst a cloud of dust and debris, Tony held Garrett—clad in his pitch-black medieval knight armor—in a death grip. They tore through seven or eight walls in succession before finally bursting out of the building.
With his left hand still gripping the villain, the armor on the back of Iron Man's right hand slid open. The glow of a thruster ignited within, driving Tony's fist upward in a brutal, powered uppercut that caught Garrett right under the chin.
BANG!
The impact sent Garrett skyrocketing into the air.
It was true that his combat experience was exceptionally vast, but in the face of Iron Man's absolute power, that experience and skill became a joke.
Not everyone in black armor is Batman.
Tony looked up at Garrett, who had been launched into the sky. Under the influence of gravity, the villain began to plummet back down. Without his Pegasus, the naturally flightless Garrett let out a scream, his limbs flailing wildly as he hurtled toward the pavement.
Only at the very last moment before impact did Tony Stark swoop in and catch him.
"I need a list of every member involved in this project of yours," Tony said, staring into the metal helmet covering Garrett's face.
Garrett remained silent.
Clang!
Tony didn't coddle him; he dropped Garrett directly onto the ground, then reached down and ripped the helmet off his face.
"You can choose to stay silent, but that means you'll—"
Tony Stark stopped mid-sentence.
Nathan Garrett's face was covered in blood. His jaw was shattered into two pieces, and he was coughing up a constant stream of pink, frothy blood.
Evidently, the consecutive impacts through eight walls and Tony's powered uppercut had bypassed the protection of the armor. The massive kinetic energy transferred through the metal had left Garrett severely injured. It wasn't just a shattered jaw; his lungs were clearly punctured, as evidenced by the pink froth.
Looking at Garrett's state, Tony Stark almost suspected that there was just an ordinary human under that suit of armor.
"You..." Tony hesitated for a few seconds. He didn't feel sympathy for a criminal who had planted numerous bombs across Manhattan, but he was baffled as to why the man hadn't used memory-fiber lining from Parker Industries to dampen such high-intensity external impacts.
"The list..." Garrett spat out a mouthful of blood. "On the horse... with the Ebony Blade."
"The Ebony Blade?" Tony instinctively looked back toward the Daily Bugle building. The Pegasus was still hovering outside the studio.
During the battle, Garrett had used bombs, sonic weapons, and an energy scepter—weapons that were clearly technological in nature. This felt deeply inconsistent with his persona as a "Black Knight" in medieval armor.
"Yes," Garrett's voice was incredibly weak. "I always thought I would die one day on the path to restoring my family's glory... but I never imagined I would die so ridiculously."
"Vibrated to death because your armor had poor shock absorption? It is pretty ridiculous," Tony Stark said, watching Garrett warily with no intention of offering comfort.
Tony suspected the man might be feigning his condition to garner sympathy. This man was Hydra, after all.
"Hang in there. I'll get you to a hospital," Tony said. "Then we can have a long talk about your plan and Hydra."
"No." Garrett pushed Tony's hand away with what remained of his strength. "I have already brought shame to the Whitman family. Do not save me."
Tony Stark looked into Garrett's eyes, trying to determine if he was being truthful.
"I have only one wish, Iron Man. Take that Ebony Blade to Batman." Garrett's speech became suddenly fluid, his spirit seeming to rally—the classic "lucid interval" before death. "I have always suspected that Batman is a member of the Whitman family. My entire plan was just to meet him."
Tony flipped up his faceplate, frowning as he looked at Garrett.
"If he is a member of the Whitman family, give the Ebony Blade to him. The forged fragment in the Metropolitan Museum might be able to break the curse on the sword. That fragment came from the forge when Merlin the Wizard first crafted the Ebony Blade in the twelfth century," Garrett said. "If he isn't... then I beg you to give the sword to my nephew. His name is Dane Whitman."
"I will," Tony replied.
Hearing the answer he wanted, the light in Garrett's eyes slowly faded. His pupils dilated, his head slumped to the side, and the last of his breath left him.
Tony Stark sighed and sent an encrypted message to S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury: Garrett is dead.
Without waiting for Fury's reply, Tony took to the sky and returned to the Daily Bugle building.
The pitch-black Pegasus was still outside the studio, huffing anxiously and occasionally pawing at the air. A circle of Daily Bugle reporters had gathered nearby, eager to grab something off the horse's back for an exclusive scoop.
However, between the horse's flapping wings and its powerful, muscular legs, none of the reporters dared to actually step forward.
Whirrr—!
Tony Stark landed on the scene. Before the reporters could react, he raised his hand and fired a single repulsor blast, blowing a hole straight through the Pegasus's head.
The reporters shrieked in terror and scrambled out of the way, leaving Tony to walk calmly to the horse's carcass. He reached down and retrieved the Ebony Blade strapped to its flank, along with the Hydra member list.
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