Chapter 534

While the scarred woman was still busy dealing with the local authorities inside the bar, Tony smashed through a window and scrambled outside.

Then he ran.

With his hands cuffed behind his back, running was less graceful than it sounded. He stumbled down the road like a particularly panicked penguin, barely managing to keep his balance.

He hadn’t gone more than a few steps when a man climbed out of a parked car.

Red flashes of energy flickered beneath the man’s skin.

Tony immediately recognized the sign.

Enemy.

It was the same phenomenon he’d seen in the woman inside the bar.

He spun around and sprinted in the opposite direction.

The man drew a pistol and took aim.

A muffled gunshot cracked through the street.

Tony ducked instinctively and threw himself behind a parked car.

For several seconds, he waited for the pain.

Nothing.

He cautiously checked himself.

No bullet wound.

Had the guy actually missed?

Tony pressed himself against the rear of the car and slowly raised his head above the trunk.

His eyes widened.

The man who had just been aiming at him was now sprawled on the pavement.

A huge black vortex-shaped wound had been carved into his back, constantly shedding tiny particles of darkness into the air.

He wasn’t dead.

Red energy continued to pulse beneath his skin, and his body twitched violently, but he was incapable of doing anything else.

Nobody escapes my sight.

On a nearby rooftop, Dottie slung her sniper rifle across her back and opened the compound lenses of her tactical visor.

At the critical moment, she had fired.

The bullet, compressed from pure shadow energy, had struck the man hard enough to cripple him. Worse for him, the shadow energy had invaded his body. Every time he tried to circulate the power of the Extremis inside himself, the foreign energy gnawed away at it.

Dottie looked down at her handiwork with a cold smile.

Then she flicked the grappling hook mounted on her wrist.

The hook caught a streetlight below.

She tightened her grip and swung down, landing lightly before walking straight toward the fallen man.

She seized him by the hair and lifted his head.

Then she raised her left wrist to his nose and mouth.

A stream of black vapor poured from the device.

The man’s body convulsed again.

He inhaled.

The dark vapor spread through his bloodstream, visibly racing along his veins and branching throughout his body.

Within moments, his eyes went vacant and his muscles locked rigid.

If not for the faint rise of his chest and the weak beat of his heart, he could have been mistaken for a corpse.

The targets were simply too dangerous.

They could explode without warning.

Dottie hadn’t considered one sniper round sufficient, so she’d followed it with a dose of shadow poison gas.

Now she was satisfied.

This one wasn’t going anywhere.

Tony, still crouched behind the car, watched from cover.

Then he recognized Dottie.

It wasn’t only because they’d fought side by side during the Battle of New York.

There was also the small matter of Tony’s private suspicion that she might be his sort-of-aunt.

Or something.

He hadn’t quite figured that part out.

"What is she doing here?"

Before Tony could make sense of anything, a familiar voice came from beside him.

"You look pretty pathetic right now, Tony."

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin.

He whipped around.

Evenson was leaning against the car with his arms folded, smiling as though he’d just stumbled across an amusing roadside attraction.

"How did you get here?"

Tony took a moment to calm his pounding heart.

"I came to collect my wages," Evenson said, shrugging. "And while I’m here, we should discuss my bonus."

He tapped one finger against Tony’s handcuffs.

The metal instantly crumbled into a pile of rust.

"I didn’t need you to rescue me."

Tony stood, brushed the dirt from his clothes, and gave Evenson an indignant look.

"I had everything under control. Trust me."

Evenson rolled his eyes.

Then he nodded toward the opposite side of the street.

"Is that your new girlfriend?"

Tony looked.

The scar-faced woman from the bar was walking straight toward them.

And judging by the heat in her eyes, she seemed very interested in Tony.

"No."

Tony swallowed.

"She’s the enemy."

"Mm-hmm."

Evenson nodded.

And did absolutely nothing.

Tony stared at him.

"What are you doing?"

The woman was getting closer.

Evenson remained perfectly relaxed.

"She’s the enemy. Take her out!"

Evenson gave him an amused look.

"I thought I’d let you handle it yourself."

Tony’s eye twitched.

This man had to be doing it on purpose.

"I don’t bother personally dealing with small fry like this!"

"All right."

Apparently satisfied that he’d teased Tony enough, Evenson finally pushed himself away from the car and sauntered toward the woman.

"Ma’am," he called casually. "Here’s your chance. Kneel down, put your hands behind your head, and you won’t get hurt."

The woman’s lips curled into a cold smile.

"Hmph."

Her hands immediately turned red-hot, glowing like steel fresh from a furnace.

She lowered her body, preparing to pounce.

Evenson chuckled.

"Those are some seriously hot hands."

He raised his right hand.

And lifted it slightly.

The woman’s expression changed.

Something inside her had gone terribly wrong.

The energy within her body suddenly slipped completely out of her control.

Then it began to surge.

"Ah..."

Her entire body glowed bright red.

White light erupted from her mouth as she screamed.

She was seconds away from detonating.

Evenson calmly turned his hand over.

Then he slowly pressed it downward.

The energy inside the woman gradually settled.

The blinding light faded.

Her body returned to normal.

She dropped to her knees, gasping for breath.

"You..."

She stared up at Evenson in terror.

"Who are you?"

Evenson opened his mouth.

"I..."

A whistle split the air.

A miniature missile streaked down from above and detonated beside the woman.

But there was no fire.

No heat.

Instead, the blast released a concentrated shockwave.

For one brief instant, the air itself seemed to warp.

When the dust settled, the woman was lying flat on her back, foam spilling from her mouth.

The concussive force had knocked her unconscious.

Only then did Farrell descend from the sky.

She hovered above the street, suspended by the enormous mechanical wings mounted to her back.

Evenson scratched his head.

Couldn’t she have waited until he’d finished talking?

Apparently not.

Across the street, Tony stared at Farrell.

Two massive steel wings spread behind her, each equipped with a turbine glowing with an eerie blue light. Her entire body was enclosed in armor.

Tony narrowed his eyes.

Then muttered under his breath,

"She should really be paying me royalties."