Chapter 154: Klein Departs
Tony pushed hard, breaking free from Klein's grip. He raised his fist, activated the thruster on his wrist, and bang! punched Klein squarely in the face. Klein fell straight down to the ground, boom! The entire pavement was depressed due to the impact of Klein's body.
"Ah!" Klein cried out in pain, clutching his face. His face felt as if it were being corroded by sulfuric acid, an agonizing pain. Furthermore, as he breathed, the bug spray gas was inhaled into his body, feeling like molten lava flowing through his channels.
"That must hurt," Tony said, landing in front of Klein. This bug spray was the same one used against the Green Goblin last time. When he heard that a giant bug was going to attack Stark Tower this time, he thought about it and casually installed the bug spray into his suit. Moreover, this bug spray was a version personally modified by Tony; its bug-killing effect was more than ten times that of ordinary bug spray, specifically designed to deal with 'giant bugs' like Klein.
"Hah~ Hoo~" Klein endured the pain and struggled to his feet, the mandibles on his mouth opening to a full $180^\circ$. He had to defeat Stark! Because the organization had just told him that if he couldn't take care of Stark, he should say goodbye to his mother.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Klein shouted, charging toward Stark. He aimed his right arm scythe at Tony's left abdomen.
Tony immediately extended his left hand, intending to hit Klein's right hand with a repulsor blast to block Klein's attack. However, Tony never expected Klein to squat down in an instant. Klein dodged Tony's repulsor blast, slid under Tony's left arm, and lunged toward the surrounding crowd trying to escape.
"Damn it." Tony knew he had been tricked. Klein's target was the crowd, not him at all.
"Ah!" A mother tightly hugged her child, closed her eyes, and silently waited for death.
Bang! Klein's arm-scythe sliced past the woman and struck the ground beside her.
"No!" Klein couldn't bring himself to do it. He had intended to evolve and increase his strength by eating people, but when he actually tried to execute it, he found he simply couldn't.
Boom!
Tony reacted quickly, turning around and firing a repulsor blast at Klein's back. The powerful impact sent Klein flying to the side. Klein crashed through a window and fell into the room beyond.
"It's okay. Do you want a teddy graham?" Tony helped the woman up and joked with the child in her arms, trying to ease the child's tension and relieve their fear.
"Thank you!" The mother immediately ran off with her child.
Watching the mother and child leave, Tony turned his attention back to the room where Klein had crashed. He slowly walked toward it.
"Listen, I know some things about you from Peter. Although I don't know you well, from what Peter says, it seems you're a good teacher in their eyes." Tony spoke as he approached the room.
Then, the sound of things crashing came from inside the room, and an insect-like foot stepped out from beside a bed.
"I didn't expect Peter to tell you," Klein said self-mockingly. "I don't consider myself a good teacher."
"I trust Peter's judgment. Although his taste can be a little poor, he's generally a good judge of character." Tony criticized while also praising Peter's ability to size people up. If Tony ever found out about the Mysterio incident, he'd probably die of anger.
"Klein! Stop talking nonsense! Kill Stark quickly!" The people from the organization started urging Klein again.
"Shut up." Tony said softly. J.A.R.V.I.S. understood instantly and cut off the communication link on Klein's suit.
Inside the Car
Fzzzt fzzzt fzzzt~
"F*ck!" The man heard the sound coming from the communicator, ripped the earpiece from his head, and forcefully threw it on the ground. He knew Stark was responsible.
As for killing Klein's mother, they wouldn't do it. The mother was their only leverage right now. If they actually killed her, they would no longer be able to control Klein. Therefore, they wouldn't kill Klein's mother unless absolutely necessary.
Outside
"Alright, can we talk now?" Tony asked.
"Thank you." Klein also heard the fzzzt fzzzt fzzzt sound coming from his disconnected communicator.
"Are you clear about that organization now?" Tony asked.
Klein shook his head. "I know nothing about the organization, but with my relatively good hearing, I did hear some things they said about you."
"About me? Do they admire Iron Man too?" Tony smiled.
"They seem to want your Stark Industries. It seems they were also the ones who kidnapped you initially," Klein revealed. One time, he faintly overheard a few people saying that Stark was very lucky not only to survive but also to get the Iron Man armor, and similar remarks.
"Oh?" Tony pondered, if it truly was those people, then this score must be settled.
"What do you intend to do?" Klein asked. He wanted to know how Stark would react after learning this.
"It doesn't matter. My Iron Man suit is enough to deal with them." Tony completely dismissed the organization behind Klein. In his opinion, those people were just mere clowns. They only dared to threaten Klein from behind to deal with him; if they had any guts, they would show themselves instead of hiding in the dark like cowards.
"They are not as simple as you think," Klein kindly warned. From Tony's tone, he could tell that Stark was too arrogant.
"Trust me," Tony said. "If they dare to show their faces, I'll send them to jail to learn how to be good boys and girls."
"I hope so," Klein said, having nothing more to say.
"Uh... is it over already?" A red figure landed between the two. The newcomer was none other than Spider-Man Peter.
And a black figure, Silas, also appeared here, though he landed on a nearby rooftop ledge instead of the ground.
"No, Pajamas Boy, you arrived just in time," Tony reassured him.
Hearing "Pajamas Boy," Peter immediately retorted, "No, Mr. Stark, this is not pajamas."
"I know, it must be children's pajamas," Tony observed.
"..." Peter stood still, crestfallen.
"Looks like everyone's here?" Tony noticed Silas on the roof.
Silas gave a slight nod, acknowledging the greeting.
"Since everyone's here, should we move somewhere else to talk?" Tony suggested.
"No, I must return quickly, or my mother might be in danger," Klein refused Stark's suggestion. Those people would not let his mother go.
"Teacher Klein, please notify us immediately if anything happens," Peter quickly said.
"Mhm." Klein nodded, turned around, and left.
Silas looked down at everything, secretly summoned the Black Shadow Corps, and instructed them to follow Klein. He wanted to find out exactly who the organization behind Klein was.
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