Chapter 55: Exposed!

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"Get in touch with our friends in Afghanistan…Find out if he's still alive."

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That night, Obadiah Stane personally flew to Afghanistan.

By the time he arrived, it was past midnight, the darkest moment before dawn.

Under the shroud of night, a convoy of vehicles rumbled toward a dimly lit terrorist camp.

Ten minutes later—

A black, armored SUV was the first to emerge from the town, speeding away into the darkness.

Behind it, a sudden eruption of gunfire filled the air, sharp, relentless, merciless.

But within seconds, the cacophony abruptly ceased, replaced by a chilling silence.

Moments later, the rest of the convoy caught up to the black SUV.

Inside, Obadiah leaned back, unfazed, watching the scenery blur past.

He pulled out his satellite phone and issued a single, decisive order:

"Establish Sector-16 under the Arc Reactor facility. Summon our best engineers—keep it classified. I want to see a working prototype immediately."

The Plan Proceeds

During dinner, Lemu received the confirmation he was expecting.

[Target eliminated.]

Due to the time difference, Afghanistan was over ten hours ahead of the U.S.

By the time Lemu received the report, Obadiah had already cleaned up the mess.

The summary:

-The Ten Rings base had been wiped out.

-Obadiah had recovered the Mark I remnants.

-Scarface, the supposed leader, had burned to death in his tent.

Perfect.

Everything was progressing exactly as planned.

This one move alone meant that the profits from Stark Industries' stock manipulations would at least quadruple his current capital.

The next financial reports would cause another market shift, and Lemu had already prepared to exploit it fully.

To an ordinary person, money had a limit.

At some point, whether you had ten billion or a hundred billion, it was just a meaningless number.

No human could spend that much in a lifetime.

But Lemu wasn't just hoarding wealth for luxury.

He needed an immense financial foundation for something far more important:

-Pioneering new technological advancements.

-Building more advanced combat gear.

-Preparing for the inevitable crises of the future.

Because this world was filled with threats.

-HYDRA.

-Alien invaders.

-Thanos.

None of them were pushovers.

Superpowers and Wealth—why choose just one?

If he could have both, why not?

Everything in this world could be his wings, pushing him further toward absolute power.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR SUITS?!"

The sharp, panicked scream came from the underground workshop.

Lemu barely had time to take another bite of his meal before Pepper's voice echoed through the house.

Right.

They had just gotten back from obliterating a terrorist stronghold, and neither of them had cleaned up yet.

Their armor suits were still covered in bullet holes, scorch marks, and dried blood.

It was pretty obvious they had been somewhere dangerous.

….

The moment Lemu heard Pepper's sharp voice, his instincts screamed in alarm.

Crap.

His hand instinctively pressed against his forehead, and the piece of beef tenderloin he had been chewing froze in his mouth.

The battle-damaged suits.

They had left them in the underground workshop, completely unwashed, uncleaned— still covered in bullet holes, scorch marks, and dried blood.

Great.

The Living Room.

A tense silence settled over the three figures sitting around the coffee table.

The fireplace crackled softly, casting flickering shadows across the room.

Pepper Potts, still visibly shaken, stared at both men, her eyes reddened from worry.

It took her a long moment to steady her breathing, forcing down her emotions.

Finally, her voice came out calm—but dangerously cold:

"So. Who's going to explain?"

"I saw bullet holes. I saw blood."

Tony Stark tried to play it cool, lounging back in his seat, his fingers tapping against the armrest.

He blinked rapidly, clearly nervous, but kept up a casual facade.

"It's nothing."

"You've seen worse."

Internally, however—

I'm the boss. Why do I feel like I have to explain myself?

Lemu, on the other hand—

He nodded along with fake innocence, trying to shift all the blame onto Tony.

"Yeah, Tony's always like this. Nothing surprising."

The atmosphere in the room was as awkward as a student being caught skipping school and dragged to the principal's office.

One played dumb.

The other tried to shift responsibility.

Neither was fooling Pepper.

Her cold stare turned to Lemu.

"And you?"

"I saw your 'big toy' covered in blood."

Her voice was soft.

Her gaze was not.

Lemu instinctively twirled a lock of his hair, flashing a sheepish grin.

"Oh, that? That's not a 'big toy.'"

"It's, um… a whack-a-mole robot."

"We just went to Afghanistan… to, you know… whack moles."

Pepper's eyes instantly turned red, her expression crumbling into raw distress.

Her tears welled up, barely holding back.

"So you DID go to Afghanistan."

"The news about terrorists and explosions—was that YOU?"

Her voice broke.

"That was dangerous! You could have died!"

Lemu turned to Tony, begging for backup with a look that screamed—

'Go comfort your secretary!'

Tony glared back, his expression just as desperate—

'Why should I do it?! She's clearly worried about you!'

Lemu glared harder—

'Bullshit! She's obviously worried about you!'

A silent battle of wills.

Both refused to move.

Both refused to take responsibility.

Finally, Lemu caved first.

He was less stubborn than Stark.

He sighed, scooting closer to Pepper on the couch.

Gently, he took her hand, hesitating.

…Now what?

He had no experience with this kind of thing.

After a long pause, he finally said,

"I promise… no next time."

Hopefully, that worked.

….

The air in the room felt heavy, weighed down by the unspoken emotions lingering between them.

The fireplace crackled softly, its warm glow casting long shadows on the walls, but it couldn't chase away the tension that had settled between the three of them.

Pepper's red-rimmed eyes locked onto Lemu's.

Her voice was soft, but firm.

"You promise?"

Lemu nodded, his expression calm.

"I promise."

A harmless, comforting lie—

One he never intended to keep.

Because next time—

If there was a next time—

He'd just make sure she never found out.

Pepper didn't know the truth.

She didn't know that Lemu had a non-human physique, that getting shot wouldn't kill him, that he was more resilient than any human alive.

She only saw what everyone else saw—

A delicate-looking, seemingly fragile young man.

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+10 chapters on patreon.

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In deadpool on patreon.

Cyberpunk x David with System on patreon.

Yoriichi x Akame Ga Kill on patreon.

Naruto(characters) x Fate Holy grail war on patreon.

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If you want to read 10+ chapters ahead and unpublished fanfics you can check out my patreon or just take a visit.

[P].[A].[T].[R].[E].[O].[N]

http://patreon.com/Kazuma_trash