[Bonus Chapter] | Chapter 22. The Moment of Life and Death.
"... All units, be on the lookout. Two speeding vehicles, one black ... and one red sports car.... They were last seen on Third Avenue, near West Fordham Road to Fourth Street heading East ..."
"Copy that!"
"Hey, Taylor, we got another one."
"What is it this time?"
"Some guys racing nearby."
"OK. Let's go!"
...
[Reputation points from Tony Stark +55]
Having managed to shake off Tony's sports car once again, Ryan couldn't hide the grin on his face as he looked at the ever-refreshing reputation points on his data panel.
As people have said, it's good to challenge Tony once in a while, but it's fun to provoke Tony all the time.
A main character deserves to be a main character. Looking at the soaring reputation points in the system, Ryan figured that if he did this once or twice, he would be able to save enough points for the next [Black Iron Treasure Box].
Wee-woo-wee-woo --
While Ryan was driving the car, thinking about how to collect more points from Tony, there were some sirens coming from behind his car. The black and white car behind him signalled the arrival of the NYPD.
"So bothersome. Aren't the police usually the last ones to arrive on the scene in these situations?"
Ryan looked behind him at the police car that was chasing him and groaned silently in his heart. However, his feet didn't slow down at all. He slammed on the brakes in the middle of the rush and then made a turn. With a dazzling drift, he changed directions and brushed against the pursuing police car.
"Fuck!"
"Is he making a movie or something?!"
"... We need back up ... He's more troublesome than we thought ..."
...
"Sir, I think you've got a problem."
Inside the sports car, Tony watched the GPS on his phone screen when Jarvis's warning suddenly rang in his ears.
"What's the matter?" He raised his eyebrows, but before Jarvis could answer, the sound of a sharp siren coming from the distance had informed him of the situation, "Oh, right."
"Jarvis, help me get rid of them."
"Yes, Sir."
With Tony's command, Jarvis immediately listed a vast amount of route data, marking the movement of all the police cars in the vicinity, "Next junction, turn right, after that turn left at the traffic lights ..."
"Copy that."
...
Wee-woo-wee-woo --
Wee-woo-wee-woo --
"Did you call for backup?"
On the other side, Ryan drove his car to shake off the pursuing police cars, but before he could relax for long, the shrill sirens sounded once more and multiplied.
Turning his head, he looked at the police cars that surrounded his own car. Ryan still looked indifferent. He stretched out his hand and pressed the music button, listening to the brisk rhythm coming from the earphones. His body's rhythm followed the music's rhythm as he watched the gap between the cars get narrower and narrower. He suddenly pulled the handbrake and changed directions again. With the rear wheel spinning, he managed to escape from the encirclement of two police cars calmly.
[Reputation points from NYPD officer +0.05]
[Reputation points from NYPD officer +0.05]
'Stingy!'
Looking at the numbers presented on the data panel, Ryan subconsciously sighed.
Getting used to Tony's reputation points at fifty or sixty a pop and then looking at the reputation points from the New York cops that couldn't even add up to a single digit left Ryan with a huge sense of disparity.
It was easy to change from frugality to extravagance but difficult to change from extravagance to frugality.
Inside the car, Ryan shook his head and sighed.
But at that moment, a familiar red sports car suddenly appeared from the alleyway at the junction in front of him.
'Tony?!'
"Sir, be careful."
Inside the car, Jarvis did his duty to caution, but obviously a little too late in comparison to the situation at hand.
Tony: "Damn it!"
With a tragic car collision on the horizon, Tony Stark, the future Iron Man, might reach his final conclusion before he even sees the notorious gauntlet and become a world-saving superhero.
In the other car, Ryan's expression tightened as a fierce drum beat played in his ears, and his hands quickly moved. At the next moment, the car underneath his seat swept past the sports car and, with an ear-piercing scrape between the two cars, drove down the alleyway from which the sports car had emerged.
Creeeeck --
With the pungent smell of burning rubber, the tires left a long mark on the ground. Inside the sports car, Tony gripped the steering wheel with a stunned expression on his face.
"Sir, are you all right?"
With a question from Jarvis, Tony came back to his senses. Looking around him, he muttered, "I'm not dead?"
The moment just now was so shocking and dangerous that he didn't even have time to react.
"Yes, Sir. You are not dead."
On the phone, Jarvis still sounded indifferent, "If the other driver wasn't skilled, you wouldn't be hearing my voice right now, Sir."
"Jarvis, you shouldn't say that to someone who just experienced a life and death situation. Normal people would comfort me or be tactful."
"Noted, Sir. I will try to include that in my database. I think you should be more like 'normal people' too, Sir. Your actions have been too reckless."
"Okay, okay. I know."
In the face of the A.I butler's blunt words, Tony nodded with a helpless expression.
After experiencing a near-death moment, he had completely calmed down and had lost all thoughts of chasing after the Phantom Thief. Now, the only thing he wanted to do was to find a place to get a drink, sleep on it, and completely forget this crazy night.
"By the way, Jarvis, who was in that car just now?"
"It's the Phantom Thief you've been chasing, Sir."
Hearing Jarvis's answer, Tony's emotions became a bit more complicated.
"Sir, a call from Miss Potts."
"Put me through." Leaning back in the car after parking, Tony answered casually without thinking about it.
"Tony, what the hell did you do?!" Jarvis connected the phone, and Pepper's anxious voice instantly rang out in the sports car." Happy called me. You actually left him in the middle of the street to ..."
"Pepper."
Listening to Pepper's familiar voice, Tony's originally furrowed brow gradually relaxed. The tension in his body finally relaxed.
"What's the matter, Tony?"
Noticing Tony's unusual tone of voice on the other end of the line, Pepper tensed up.
"I think... you're going to have to pick me up at the police station. It seems that I am in a little bit of a pickle."
Inside the sports car, Tony looked around at the police cars that surrounded him, as well as the serious-looking policemen who got out of their cars. He couldn't help but answer her with a wry smile.
...
-:Binge:-
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