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Chapter 263: Tony, I'll Wait for You in New York
🕑 Added 2025-07-26 02:44:33 +0000 UTC"They’re coming in, Tony!"
"Don’t worry, Ethan. The activation will be completed soon."
Tony seemed calm as he suited up in his steel armor, but in reality, he was anxious.
About three months ago, Tony had come to Afghanistan with his good friend, Colonel Rhodes. This was supposed to be a pleasant trip, but somehow, his itinerary was exposed.
Now, Tony found himself kidnapped by a group of terrorists in a small, unknown cave, forced to help them build weapons.
But Tony wasn’t one to surrender. With Ethan’s help, he survived using electromagnetic means, while also devising a plan to escape this hellhole.
Soon, Tony came up with a solution: build a suit of armor.
While constructing the armor, Tony couldn’t stop thinking about a certain night four years ago. He couldn’t forget the words of the young man who had made him think of death.
"It seems I might really be going to hell."
Tony had thought about it more than once. If it had been before, he would have brushed it off, but now he truly believed it.
The terrorists’ weapons were all from Stark Industries. In a way, Tony was responsible for fueling these conflicts.
But Tony wasn’t the type to give up; he wasn’t about to accept his fate and wait for death.
His goal was to escape and eventually right all the wrongs he had caused.
His father, Howard Stark, was a hero who had stopped the war from spreading. Tony didn’t want to be the one to ruin his legacy.
Tony’s feelings about his father were complex. On one hand, he believed Howard had killed his mother, but on the other, he didn’t want to be inferior to him.
The sound of footsteps grew louder, and Tony’s anxiety grew. He glanced at the progress bar on the computer—it was almost done, just a few more minutes.
"I’ll buy you some time, Tony." Ethan looked at the computer quietly before his expression turned resolute.
"Hey, stick to the plan!" Tony immediately guessed what Ethan was thinking. "It’s almost done, don’t be impulsive, stick to the plan!"
Ethan smiled at Tony but didn’t say anything.
Silently, he moved toward the two terrorists they had just taken down, picking up their weapons. His plan was simple: buy Tony as much time as possible.
For Ethan, these past days hadn’t been so bad. He had lost all his family, and death didn’t scare him.
Maybe after he died, he would be reunited with his loved ones.
But Tony was different. He was young, capable, and powerful. If Tony stayed alive, he could change a lot of tragic futures, or at least prevent tragedies like his own.
Ethan didn’t hesitate. He took a deep breath, ready to act with his gun. But just as he was about to go, he paused. Tony’s eyes widened in surprise.
Beside Ethan, a golden light circle appeared, flickering slowly. Strange black runes slowly swirled around the light.
Ethan was stunned, and Tony was too.
Unlike Ethan, Tony swore he had seen this scene before!
This was something Tony would never forget, because it had appeared in his home four years ago, and at the time, Tony had thought he was dead!
"Could it be that I’m doomed this time, and they came early?"
Tony whispered in disbelief. The next moment, two figures stepped out of the aperture as it took shape.
One of them was very familiar to Tony—a young man in his early twenties. The other was a stranger to him.
"Who are you?" Ethan asked, trembling, looking at the two mysterious figures. His voice quivered as he tried to make sense of the situation.
"You’re too tired, take a rest first."
The mysterious young man glanced at Ethan and waved his hand gently. The golden power spread rapidly, and Ethan collapsed to the ground, dazed.
Tony took a sharp breath as he watched the scene. To be honest, he had no idea how this was done.
If Ethan hadn’t snored softly, Tony would have thought he was dead.
Tony swallowed hard, eyes fixed on the two figures, especially the young man. He couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
He remembered that after the young man left four years ago, he tried everything to investigate them. But Tony discovered that, aside from his memory of their faces, no surveillance equipment had ever captured them.
Even worse, no matter how he sketched or described their appearances, Tony always ended up drawing them differently.
Tony sighed, realizing he would never learn their identities.
But he didn’t sit idly by. He also tried searching through the social software he created.
Of course, there were no results. So, Tony began developing an intelligent AI terminal.
This was one of his most proud creations. In his words, it was practically omnipotent.
But what depressed Tony was the thought that he might have to give it away, and even worse, the person he had been waiting for hadn’t shown up yet.
Until today, that person finally appeared. But Tony didn’t want to see him at all.
Didn’t this mean he would definitely die in this hellhole?
How could Tony, with his new goals, accept dying here?
"Long time no see, Tony. It seems you’ve been living a good life these past few years," the mysterious young man—Noah—smiled at Tony, who looked like he’d seen better days.
Noah had been picked up by Coulson in London just a day ago. To be honest, Noah hadn’t planned to come here. He could have opened the portal.
However, Noah couldn’t stand Fury’s constant harassment and was bored from reading books in the temple, so he decided to come here for a bit of relaxation.
This time, Noah brought someone with him: Jason.
In Noah’s mind, what could an ordinary agent do in a city like this?
There were so many ways to gather information.
Noah brought Jason with him and had him hide in Coulson’s base, continuing his usual work.
But Noah didn’t expect Jason to be so efficient.
It took Jason only half a day to track Tony’s kidnappers, and another half a day to find their exact location.
When Jason reported in, Noah was stunned.
"Are you cheating or what?"
Noah, at level seven, had spent a lot of time pinpointing Tony’s location using his mental powers. The map was vast, and Noah couldn’t have done it at level six.
The gap between middle and high-level magicians wasn’t that big, but it was a crushing gap.
Noah, with his immense experience and extraordinary abilities, had taken a long time to do what Jason achieved effortlessly.
Jason was just an ordinary person, and Noah was a magician. Was this cheating?
Reluctantly, Noah decided to check it out. If it was the wrong location, he would let it go. If it was right, he’d deal with it.
"Thanks to you, I’m doing well," Tony said dryly, feeling like Noah was some kind of death bringer. "So, are you here to take me to hell?"
"Again, if you want, I don’t mind." Noah shrugged, glancing at the increasingly loud footsteps behind him. He sighed, "Here to find you?"
"Of course, what else would I be doing?" Tony responded, grumbling, and secretly checking the progress bar on the computer. It was almost 10% from completion.
"How’s my AI terminal?" Noah asked, unfazed by Tony’s actions.
"It’s done," Tony said, but he suddenly realized it seemed like he was worse off than a system.
Shaking his head, Tony continued, "Hey, I set a password for the system. If I die..."
"I won’t die, don’t worry," Noah interrupted, shrugging.
"Well, why don’t you open that damn portal and let us leave quickly?"
Tony breathed a sigh of relief, but soon grew suspicious. Noah hadn’t moved.
"This is your problem, not mine."
"What do you mean?"
"That’s exactly what I mean."
"Wardfake?"
Tony looked confused. What did this mean? Was Noah just going to check if he was alive before leaving?
Tony thought it was an incredible possibility when he saw Noah’s playful eyes, which seemed to say, "Yes, exactly."
But soon, Tony smiled slightly when he saw the source of the footsteps. The group of people entering froze, as though time itself had stopped.
"Is this magic?" Tony asked in disbelief, his eyes wide.
"What else?" Noah nodded. "It’s just a spell to immobilize. I told you, this is your business. Don’t die here. I’ll wait for you in New York, understood?"
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