Tony, I’ll Be Waiting for You in New York

"They’re coming in, Tony!"

"Don’t panic, Yinsen. Activation will be complete soon."

Tony looked remarkably calm as he secured himself inside a suit of iron armor, but in truth, he was just as anxious inside.

About three months ago, Tony had come to Afghanistan with his good friend, Colonel Rhodey.

It was supposed to be a pleasant trip, but for some reason, his itinerary had been leaked!

The result was that he had been kidnapped by a group of terrorists and locked in some godforsaken mountain cave, where he was forced to build weapons for them.

But Tony was not someone who would simply surrender. With Yinsen’s help, he had temporarily kept himself alive through electromagnetic means, and he had also been thinking about how to safely escape this hellhole.

Before long, Tony came up with a solution: build an Iron Man suit.

And throughout the process of building that Iron Man suit, Tony had been dwelling on one question.

He could not forget that night four years ago, nor could he forget the words spoken by the young man he had once treated as the Grim Reaper.

"Looks like… I really might be going to Hell."

Tony had thought that more than once. In the past, he had merely taken it seriously, but now, he completely believed it.

The weapons used by these terrorists had all come from Stark Industries. Bluntly speaking, Tony was an executioner who manufactured conflict.

But Tony was not about to give up so easily. Otherwise, after accepting that fact, he might as well have simply waited here to die.

All he could think about now was getting out of this hellhole, finding a way back home, and then putting an end to all these mistakes!

His father, Howard Stark, had been a hero—a hero who had stopped war from spreading!

Tony Stark did not want to become a sinner!

Tony’s feelings toward his father were extremely complicated. In his eyes, Howard had caused his mother’s death, which made him even more unwilling to be inferior to his father!

The footsteps grew louder and louder. Tony was becoming increasingly agitated, but after glancing at the progress bar on the computer, there was nothing he could do.

Just a little more. Really, just a little more. But that little bit would probably take several more minutes!

"I’ll buy you some time, Tony." Yinsen silently stared at the computer, then quickly put on a resolute expression.

"Hey, stick to the plan!" Tony immediately guessed what he was thinking. "It’ll be done soon. Don’t do anything rash, buddy. Stick to the plan!"

Yinsen smiled at Tony without saying anything.

He silently walked over to the two terrorists they had blown up, picked up their weapons, and prepared to buy Tony some time. His plan was simple.

Yinsen had been happy these past few days.

He had already lost every member of his family. Death was not frightening to Yinsen.

Perhaps after he died, he could return to his family’s side.

But Tony was different. Tony was not only young, but also someone with tremendous ability and power.

If Tony lived, he could change many tragedies. At the very least, tragedies like Yinsen’s could happen less often.

That was why Yinsen moved forward without hesitation.

Taking a deep breath, Yinsen hoisted the gun and prepared to leave. But he quickly stopped in his tracks, while Tony, behind him, widened his eyes.

Beside Yinsen, a golden ring of light began to flicker into existence. Strange black runes slowly revolved around it.

Yinsen was stunned. Tony was stunned too.

Unlike Yinsen, Tony swore he had seen this scene before!

It was a sight Tony could never forget for the rest of his life, because four years ago, this very thing had appeared in his home. Back then, Tony had thought he was already dead!

"Could it be… I’m definitely going to die this time, so they came early?"

Tony muttered in disbelief. The next moment, as the ring of light took shape, two figures stepped out from it.

Tony recognized one of them very well. He was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. As for the other, Tony had no impression of him at all.

"You…" Yinsen’s hand trembled slightly as he stared at the two mysterious men before him. He swallowed, utterly unable to make sense of what was happening.

"You’re too tired. Get some rest first."

The mysterious young man glanced at Yinsen, then lightly waved his hand. Golden energy spread swiftly outward, and Yinsen stiffly collapsed to the ground.

Tony sucked in a breath at the sight. Honestly, he had no idea how that had been done.

If Yinsen had not suddenly begun snoring softly on the ground, Tony would have thought the man was dead.

Tony swallowed and looked at the two people in front of him, especially the young man. Right now, he could not laugh at all.

Tony remembered that after this young man had left four years ago, he had tried countless ways to investigate them.

But to his dismay, Tony discovered that aside from his own memories of their appearances, none of the surveillance equipment had captured them.

Even worse, no matter how he tried to draw or describe their faces, he would always unconsciously end up drawing entirely different faces.

Faced with something so terrifying, Tony could not help sighing. He knew there was an eighty percent chance he would never uncover their identities.

But Tony had not been idle either. He had also tried searching through the social media app he had created.

Naturally, that had produced no results either, so Tony had honestly begun developing an intelligent AI system terminal.

It could be said to be one of Tony’s proudest creations. In Tony’s own words, the thing was practically capable of anything.

But what frustrated Tony was that he might have to give it away someday. What frustrated him even more was that the person coming to collect it had taken so long to show up.

Until today, that person had finally appeared, but Tony did not want to see him at all right now.

Didn’t that mean he was absolutely going to die miserably in this hellhole?

Now that Tony had found a new purpose, how could he be willing to die here?

"Long time no see, Tony. Looks like you’ve been doing well these past few years." Noah, the mysterious young man, smiled at the unlucky-looking Tony.

A day earlier, Coulson had picked him up in London and brought him here. To be honest, Noah had not planned on coming; otherwise, he could have simply opened a portal himself.

But Noah truly could not stand Fury’s nagging, and reading in the Sanctum all day was boring too, so he had decided to come out and relax.

Noah had also brought someone with him this time—Jason.

In Noah’s mind, what could an ordinary agent possibly accomplish?

This was not some major city with countless channels for gathering information.

So Noah had brought him along, intending to hide in Coulson’s base and continue doing whatever he wanted.

But Noah had not expected Jason to be this outrageous.

Jason had spent only half a day identifying the people who had kidnapped Tony, then another half day finding their exact location.

When Jason reported back, even Noah had been stunned.

Were you using cheats or something?

Even Noah, at Tier 7, had spent quite a while accurately pinpointing Tony’s location after scanning with his mental power.

That was only possible because Noah had reached Tier 7 and possessed such a terrifying body.

The map was so vast that Noah would not even have dared imagine doing such a thing when he was Tier 6.

The gap between mid-tier and high-tier might not seem that large, but in reality, it was a complete and utter crushing advantage.

Not to mention someone like Noah, who had accumulated strength for who knew how many years, especially with his terrifying body and time beyond that of ordinary people.

But you took a stroll outside and found him?

If that wasn’t cheating, what was?

You were an ordinary person, while I was a mage!

In the end, after thinking it over, Noah decided to come take a look. If Jason had found the wrong place, then so be it. But if he had found the right one, Noah would deal with it.

"Thanks to you, I’ve been doing pretty well." Tony had no intention of smiling. He felt that this guy really was the Grim Reaper. "So, are you here to take me to Hell?"

"Same as before. If you want to go, I don’t mind." Noah shrugged, listening to the increasingly noisy footsteps behind him before sighing. "They’re here for you?"

"Of course. What else did you think?" Tony replied irritably. As he spoke, he secretly glanced at the progress bar on the computer. There was about ten percent left.

"How’s my AI terminal coming along?" Noah asked, paying no attention to Tony’s little movement.

"It’s finished," Tony said directly, though he suddenly felt like he was somehow less important than a system.

Shaking his head, Tony continued, "Hey, I set a password on that thing. If I die—"

"You won’t die. Relax." Noah shrugged.

"Then why the hell aren’t you opening that damned portal so we can get out of here?"

Tony sighed in relief, but quickly questioned him, because Noah showed no sign of moving at all.

"This is your problem, not mine."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly that."

"What the fuck?"

Tony stared blankly at Noah. What did that mean?

Was he planning to take one look at Tony to make sure he was not dead, then leave?

Come to think of it, Tony found that possibility unbelievably likely, because Noah’s teasing gaze seemed to be telling him, yes, that was exactly what he intended.

But Tony soon revealed a faint smile, because the owners of those footsteps had already rushed in.

Tony thought, Now you can’t get away either, can you?

But very quickly, every one of those men who rushed in froze in place as though time had stopped.

"Th-This is magic?" Tony widened his eyes and asked in disbelief.

"What else would it be?" Noah nodded. "Just a Stasis Spell. I told you, this is your business. Don’t die here. I’ll be waiting for you in New York, got it?"

"…"

Third update~ Please send some recommendation votes and monthly votes~ Thank you, everyone!

Thanks to Chengchong Haishi Chenglong for the tip~ Thank you!