Chapter 1880: Journey of the Madman (Fifty-Six)_1

About two hours later, Stark met Obadiah in the hospital ward. Looking at the familiar old man, Stark got straight to the point, "Could you fetch something for me from my coat pocket hanging on the rack?"

Obadiah was stunned for a moment. Stark's tone, complex and layered, took him by surprise. A sense of confusion and guilt bubbled up within him. Consequently, he instinctively followed Stark's instructions and fetched his coat. As his hand reached into the pocket, the peculiar texture of the object made his fingertips halt.

Obadiah extracted the object. It appeared to be a small piece of cloth, but the texture informed him that it was human skin. On recognizing the tattoo pattern, Obadiah's hand began to tremble violently.

He had once seen the same pattern on a black woman - Tony Stark knew the truth.

Taking a deep breath, Obadiah stood frozen for about half a minute before finally exhaling. He returned the piece of human skin to Tony's pocket and turned to his nephew, lying in the hospital bed.

"Explain this to me, Obadiah," Tony, staring into Obadiah's eyes, said. "I thought you were my only relative left."

"And I am, Tony." Obadiah's breathing quivered. He relaxed his grip around the coat, draping it over Stark's bedhead, sat at the bedside, and said, "I thought your situation would improve as you grew older, but it hasn't - it's steadily worsening."

Stark frowned deeply; he was perplexed by what Obadiah meant.

"The Stark Group is almost unable to protect you, Tony," Obadiah, with a serious look, said. "Or, because of you, the military must sanction the Stark Group. They want to obtain you."

Obadiah turned his head and added, "Don't naively believe that they will allow your world's smartest brain to be making guns and missiles in a private company. They're after something far more destructive."

Obadiah swallowed and continued, "Approximately three years ago, the military started progressively shrinking Stark Industries' contract orders, switching to the Osborn Group and Hammer Arms Industry. You know, Hammer was entirely propped up by the military."

"They have been continually weakening Stark Group's power, either to strike at you or, at the very least, force you to produce something of higher value for them."

"And you planned to kill me," Tony cut in.

"Because I didn't want the military to get what they want, not just for your sake." Obadiah's tone was astonishingly cold. "If superweapons become prevalent, the military will stop buying regular arms, and Stark's armaments industry will fall."

"So you'd rather kill me?"

Obadiah shook his head and said, "Tony, I don't share the grand ideals of you and your father. I simply want to be a successful businessman, and a good one at that, never offering buyers an all-in deal."

"With you around, no matter how much they pay, they'll be willing. Without you, they'll have no choice but to select me," Obadiah, his hand caressing the armrest, said. "And I will make them pay for earlier sanctions."

Stark's hand tightened around the bedsheet. Obadiah looked at Stark and said, "You showed your worth all too soon, Tony. Can't recall how long ago it was when I warned you. Do you think your father's dreadful state before his dying was coincidental?"

"Why can't they ever be content?!" Stark clenched his teeth. "Hasn't it occurred to them to let talented people do their jobs, bringing better lives to everyone, rather than constantly pushing them to either produce weaponry or become weaponry."

"This is the nature of a nation, Tony. Any cutting-edge technology in this world will first be employed in the military and medical fields. The use of advanced medical technology eventually serves the military, too. This is the human race, and you can't change anything."

Stark took a deep breath, his mind seemingly grasping something. He struggled to suppress the rage within himself, faced Obadiah, and said, "Your attack on me wasn't lethal, thanks to a mercenary who saved me."

Obadiah instantly showed a doubtful expression, though what he doubted was a little off-beat for Stark. "A mercenary saved you? Who is he? What mercenary organization is he from? Have you two met since then?" Obadiah asked.

"Is that really important?"

After a pause, Obadiah finally spoke, "Around the time of your attack, I received a phone call. The person on the other end only said one sentence, 'He knows.'"

Stark's eyes widened. He certainly understood the implication— Obadiah's plan to kill him had failed, and the plan had been exposed. The caller was letting him know that he should prepare for a second attempt immediately.

Stark froze. Suddenly, he sat upright, his body tense, and stared into Obadiah's eyes, "Do you know Alexander Pierce?"

Obadiah was taken aback by the question; he pondered over this familiar yet unknown name. Then he said, "Director Pierce, isn't he the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.? He's soon to retire though, what about him?"

"He's the one who saved me."

Stark sighed somewhat helplessly. It's not that he wanted to spill all to Obadiah, but the truth was, he couldn't sort out the complicated relations within the ruling class.

He knew that Alexander Pierce was the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., but he wasn't clear about his faction or affiliations. Only Obadiah could figure this sort of information out.

Sure enough, Obadiah seemed utterly stunned by the news, remaining silent for a long time before cautiously responding, "To my knowledge, Director Pierce is not the sort to meddle unnecessarily."

Stark nearly revealed his dangerous conjecture, but it was so scandalously drastic that he ultimately refrained from voicing it.

Observing the timeline, Pepper received the location in the email but didn't go to his rescue; the email site logs didn't reflect any anomalies, and Stark fully trusted his own technological aptitude, so it was improbable anyone had hacked or intercepted the email.

So where did Pierce get the location of the abandoned base?

If the receiving end was not compromised, then the problem likely lay with the sender. The email was sent by Shiller, who was a Hydra operative and also had a high-ranking teacher and superior.

If anyone could monitor the messages sent by Shiller, it would be that superior who restored his identity and consistently gave him orders.

Then appeared Pierce.

The moment Shiller was restricted, this conjecture formed in Stark's mind, and that's why he was so terrified—this was the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

S.H.I.E.L.D. was established to combat Hydra, but now even the director was suspected of allegiance to Hydra. Stark didn't dare envisage the flare of shockwaves this news would unravel, potentially even altering the world situation.

But obviously Stark can't disregard this, because if Pierce is indeed a Hydra operative then he represents a severe threat.

But Stark had no concrete evidence. Pierce merely had to state that they had planted eyes amongst the locals who spotted Stark. There was chaos during the evacuation, so nobody paid attention to each individual's movements, and Pierce's sudden arrival could not prove anything.

Thus, the only one who could incriminate Pierce was Shiller.

Stark's mind raced with thoughts, wondering if Shiller would spare him in the end, proving he wasn't completely incorrigible.

Shiller would express his intention of saving people, indicating that at least some part of him also wanted to use Stark Industries' influence to return to civilized society, implying he wished to break free from Hydra. Therefore, he might be willing to become the incriminating witness.

Stark knew he had to rescue Shiller.

At the last venture, Shiller abandoned his superior's plan, allowing him to be successfully rescued. Additionally, without Shiller's expert medical skills, Stark might have died from excessive bleeding or infection in the cave. Shiller had saved him twice, and out of emotional consideration, Stark had to find a way to save him.

Moreover, if Pierce was quite possibly a Hydra operative aiming to leverage rescuing Stark to achieve something, Stark would not let him succeed; instead, he would devise a plan to turn the tide. Shiller, as an insider in Hydra, might possess incriminating evidence against Pierce. Out of self-interest, Stark also needed to devise a way to help him.

What was more important for Stark was that he observed that Pierce did not involve the police or military but let S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents take Shiller, implying he did not wish Shiller to face trial in court.

Considered along with Shiller's daunting strength, Pierce's intention was implicitly clear.

Even if Pierce was Hydra, having infiltrated for many years without causing any obvious chaos, he could be dealt with later. But if Shiller were to lose control, his superhuman strength might lead to many deaths, leaving him with no chance to return to the right path.

With this in mind, Stark grew increasingly anxious. He made up his mind and looked resolutely at Obadiah, stating, "Listen, Uncle, I can excuse your attempt to attack me as a result of overwhelming stress or possible manipulation by a heresy group. That's not important."

"What matters is, we both know this isn't over. As long as I'm alive, the military won't back down. Furthermore, Hydra, who orchestrated my second kidnapping, have their eyes on me, and there could potentially be even more people lurking around."

"I need your assurance that Stark Industries will stand united. We have to stick together, Obadiah."

Obadiah's eyes widened, staring blankly at Stark for at least two minutes as though not recognizing him before softly shaking his head and sighing, "Tony, you've grown up."

Obadiah stood up, uttering in disbelief, "In the past, you'd have charged at me in a rage, punched me and ordered me to leave Stark Industries immediately."

"I still want to punch you." Stark sat upright on the bed, lifting his head to look at Obadiah, "But we both know that's pointless. The enemy is much more powerful than we imagined; if we don't unite, even the slightest mistake could mean the end for us."

Obadiah furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, instinctively feeling that Stark hadn't told him the whole truth.

He knew his nephew; if Stark weren't under such enormous pressure of life or death, he would not display such maturity.

Unable to help himself, Obadiah stepped forward, placing a hand on Stark's shoulder and looking him in the eye, "Tony, tell me the truth, what did you really see in Afghanistan?"

Stark met his gaze for a moment before saying, "I saw a psychologist."