Reborn as Superman's Son, Ch 48

Chapter 48: Obadiah: Damn It, Nobody Told Me Tony Had a Superman Friend!

After school.

Peter Parker finally invited Eden to his home.

"Eden, this is my Aunt May."

"Aunt May, this is Eden, my best friend from school."

After returning home, Peter immediately introduced his good friend Eden to his aunt.

"Hello, Aunt May. My name is Eden Kent. I'm Peter's classmate." Eden smiled warmly as he walked toward this strong woman, greeting her respectfully.

"Oh! So you're Eden?"

"Peter talks about you all the time."

"He says you've helped him a lot at school."

"Come in and sit down, child."

"You must try Aunt May's homemade cherry pie."

Aunt May looked at Eden with delight in her eyes. Honestly, Aunt May had been hoping deep down that Peter could act like a normal high school student and bring his classmates home to visit. Today, her wish had finally come true.

"Okay." Eden smiled and nodded, following Aunt May's lead into the apartment.

Though the apartment was old, Aunt May kept it very clean. Eden made himself at home in the living room and picked up one of the pink and red cherry pies from the table that looked absolutely delicious.

"Oh my god! This is like dumping an entire jar of honey into a sugar bowl, then mixing in concentrated syrup and oral glucose." Eden's expression changed slightly after putting the bright cherry pie in his mouth.

Well, it seemed Aunt May did have her weaknesses. At least her culinary skills were definitely lacking.

"Oh, sorry, Eden. I forgot to warn you. My aunt is great at everything except cooking," Peter Parker whispered in Eden's ear after Eden forced himself to finish the entire cherry pie.

"We're even," Eden said quietly to Peter Parker as he wiped his mouth.

Eden was referring to the attribute percentages the System had gained by torturing the little spider's conscience.

"Haha." Although Peter Parker didn't know what Eden meant, he laughed anyway.

And so, Eden and the Parker family spent a wonderful but terrible-tasting afternoon together.

That night.

As soon as Eden left the Parker household, New York's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was swinging through the night sky, continuing to fight crime in the city.

"Hey! Since I'm in a good mood today, how about you return what you stole and I let you go? Trust me, you don't want to know how hard my punches are?!" In a dark alley, Spider-Man looked at several robbers in front of him, chattering away and displaying his talkative nature.

"Good night, my friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

Meanwhile, after Eden said goodbye to Peter, he returned to his apartment, fed the terrible cherry pie Aunt May had forced on him to the fat orange cat, then cuddled with it and went to sleep.

The next morning.

Eden instinctively opened his phone and was flooded with messages. First was the Daily Bugle headline. Unusually, it had nothing to do with Spider-Man this time. Everything revolved around one person—the 21st century's most playboy billionaire, the richest playboy, CEO of Stark Industries—Tony Stark.

[Shocking! The world's largest arms manufacturer Stark Industries CEO Tony Stark's first act upon returning is to hold a press conference announcing Stark Industries will no longer manufacture weapons?!]

[Guess how long before Stark Industries goes bankrupt after stopping arms manufacturing?!]

[Perhaps the world's future belongs entirely to Oscorp!]

"Classic Tony Stark—he came back and immediately became the center of the world, attracting all forces' attention." As Eden scrolled through his phone, he had to admire Tony Stark's efficiency.

Thinking of this, Eden pulled out Tony Stark's business card from his pocket. He felt he should find an opportunity to introduce Peter Parker to Stark. Eden believed Stark and Peter Parker would get along well.

The next month.

Eden spent a very leisurely time, going to school every day, petting his cat, doing volunteer work with Peter Parker during breaks, or visiting the Parker household to eat Aunt May's terrible fruit pies. Life was quite pleasant.

Incidentally, besides Peter Parker, Eden also met a chubby bald kid named Ned Leeds. This guy had taken leave a while ago to attend a Lego Star Wars exhibition.

Just when Eden thought his days would continue this happily—

That evening, Eden's phone suddenly rang.

"Phil Coulson?!" Eden glanced at his phone screen. Upon discovering it was Agent Coulson calling, he hung up without hesitation.

Eden figured a call from a S.H.I.E.L.D. ace agent like Coulson definitely meant trouble.

[Unfortunately.]

[Coulson's call has been rejected.]

[No one in this world can stop Obadiah's Iron Monger now.]

Just as Eden was about to go to sleep, a calm narration voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

"Who's talking?" Eden froze. As he sat up in bed, confusion flashed in his eyes.

"How could Obadiah's Iron Monger possibly defeat Tony's Mark armor?!" Eden murmured to himself.

[Regrettably.]

[Eden doesn't yet know that Obadiah Stane's Iron Monger armor in this universe has been upgraded with a total of three arc reactors installed.]

[Not only that, Obadiah has installed all the arc reactors Tony Stark currently uses—his active one, his backup, and the old commemorative one—into his own suit.]

[Therefore, one of this universe's future greatest Avengers, the great 'Iron Man' Tony Stark, is currently dying.]

Just as Eden was puzzled, the 'narration' voice in his ear immediately answered his confusion.

"Damn it!" Eden thought for about 0.5 nanoseconds before making his decision.

No matter what, Eden couldn't just watch Tony Stark die. Emotionally, the first thing Tony did after returning was draw the entire world's attention to himself and secretly erase all traces of Eden, allowing Eden to continue living the peaceful, undisturbed life he wanted.

Rationally, Tony Stark was one of the future Avengers' core members. If he was "taken out," forget whether this universe's timeline would collapse—even if it didn't collapse, who would carry the Avengers' burden in the future?!

With that thought, Eden's form vanished from the sky.

[Sigh.]

[Mr. Clark, I haven't told Eden about the problems this universe faces yet, as you instructed.]

After Eden left, the narrator sighed heavily, reporting to a certain even more unfathomable existence.

[Well done, great Watcher.]

Then, in the ears of the Watcher responsible for this universe's narration, a voice similar to narration sounded.

Right—the gap between mortals and the Watcher was like the gap between the Watcher and Clark.

Under normal circumstances, the Watcher couldn't interfere with anything in the observed universe, unless threatened. But this was an exception.

Stark Industries Tower.

"Sorry, Pepper. It's my fault for dragging you into this. You might die here with me." In the ruined rooftop, Tony Stark lay against a shattered wall, tightly gripping Pepper's hand, his eyes showing both acceptance and regret.

Tony Stark wasn't afraid of death—that explained his acceptance. But he couldn't bear Pepper dying with him, which explained his regret.

"Don't talk, Tony. Deep breaths, stay conscious! You have to hold on. Coulson went to get help—we'll definitely be saved." Potts leaned against Stark's side, her face pale and covered in dust like she'd been through a fierce battle. Her business suit was torn to shreds. She gripped Stark's increasingly cold hands tightly, her eyes full of worry and heartache.

"Pepper, is there anything you want to tell me?" Stark held Potts' hand. His dry lips trembled slightly. He could feel his life slipping away with each passing moment.

In contrast, the emotions Stark had always hidden in his heart were erupting continuously. He didn't want to delay any longer—he wanted to confess something to Potts.

"I..." Potts took a deep breath. She could see the emotion reflected in Stark's eyes. She pressed her cracked lips together, seemingly making a decision. After all, they were at the critical moment of life and death—there was no need to hide anymore.

"Forget it, Pepper. Just listen to me first. Actually, I..." As Stark spoke, he used his last strength to lift Potts' delicate face and kissed her forcefully.

After that kiss, Potts froze completely.

"Pepper, do you understand now?" Stark was telling Potts his feelings in his own way.

"I..." Potts was still somewhat dazed.

"Dum-E." But Stark knew he had no more time to delay. While Potts was in a daze, he called out to his mechanical arm Dum-E and had it lift Potts into the air.

"Hey!" Potts froze, seemingly not knowing what Stark was trying to do.

"Goodbye, Pepper." Tony smiled. He took the opportunity to press a smart button beside him. Immediately, an unmanned aircraft ejected from the ruins and flew straight toward Potts.

The aircraft's front end was equipped with an infrared scanning device, which connected to the bracelet on Potts' wrist and secured itself to her body.

The bracelet on Potts' slender wrist was what Stark had put on her when he kissed her deeply earlier, gathering her attention.

"Tony!!" Potts seemed to want to say something, but unfortunately, under the aircraft's tremendous thrust, she spiraled into the sky.

"Haha. Don't blame me, Pepper! Now it's time for Iron Man's final battle." After watching his Pepper leave, Stark looked at his old creation, the mechanical arm Dum-E, and said, "Hey, Dum-E! Though I'd like my final battle to be more heroic, you know I don't even have the strength to stand up anymore. So I'm leaving my body in your hands from now on."

"Bzzt." At Stark's self-deprecating words, the mechanical arm seemed to understand him and helped lift Tony from the ground.

"Alright, Obadiah! Stop wasting time down there—I'm waiting for you at the top of Stark Tower for our final battle!" With Dum-E's help, Stark first restored power to the entire building, then opened his communicator and issued a duel invitation to Obadiah Stane, who was tangling with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents downstairs.

On the ground.

Obadiah was piloting the three-arc-reactor Iron Monger, suppressing the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. team with overwhelming firepower. Upon hearing Stark's words, he immediately stopped his right hand's spinning Gatling gun and looked up at the sky.

"Damn it. Stark's still alive?" Stane cursed. He ignored the agents' firepower and piloted the Iron Monger skyward.

"BOOM!!" With a thunderous roar, Stane arrived at the top of Stark Industries Tower. He looked at Tony leaning against the wall, barely alive, and roared angrily, "Tony, why can't you just die quietly?! Why must you come here and interfere with me? You're as annoying as your father!"

"Because you're wrong, Obadiah." As soon as Stane entered the range Stark had calculated, he immediately activated his contingency measures.

Instantly, unmanned aircraft emerged one after another from the Stark Industries Tower rooftop and rushed toward Stane's Iron Monger at incredible speed.

"Stop struggling, Tony. You think you understand your own armor's weaknesses better than anyone?" Facing the unmanned aircraft, Obadiah remained unfazed, calmly operating Iron Monger's shoulder cannons to shoot them all down from the sky.

"But I improved on your design, 'Genius' Tony Stark." After finishing this, Stane piloted Iron Monger into the air and landed directly in front of Tony Stark.

"Three arc reactors, Tony. THREE!" Stane looked down condescendingly at the dying Tony Stark, a hint of mockery in his eyes, and said coldly, "My science team calculated this suit has over ten times the power output of your pathetic Mark armor. You never stood a chance."

"Right behind you, Stane—right behind you!" Tony glanced at Obadiah as if he were an idiot.

"You're still trying to trick me, Tony?!" Stane snorted coldly. He certainly didn't believe Tony's words.

"BOOM!" Just as Stane was thinking this, a large hand punched straight through the side of Iron Monger's helmet and grabbed his head.

"What the hell is this?!" Stane's eyes gradually widened.

"BOOM!" With an explosive sound, the bloodied Stane was forcibly yanked out of the Iron Monger's cockpit.

"Damn it. Why didn't anyone tell me Tony had a Superman friend?"

When Stane left the cockpit, he finally saw clearly who the large hand's owner was! It was a young man in a black combat suit with a bright red cape behind him, the S on his chest strikingly prominent.