Obadiah's brow furrowed as he swung his arm backward in a sudden grab.

Rowan's expression remained calm. He bent low in a smooth crouch, his head brushing past Obadiah's arm as he slipped effortlessly out of reach.

"What?"

Obadiah's eyes widened in disbelief.

The Iron Monger armor, powered by an Arc Reactor, possessed immense strength and speed far beyond that of any ordinary human. How could he miss?

Frustrated and rattled, Obadiah lashed out with both arms at once, swinging like a great ape, smashing down at Rowan with full force.

But Rowan's lips curved into a faint smile.

Too slow.

Bracing both hands against the Iron Monger's massive forearms, Rowan twisted his body and slipped to the machine's rear right side in a blur of movement.

As he landed from his spin, the dagger in his hand shot forward like a viper striking, plunging hard into the armored neck joint.

Clang!

Sparks exploded as a deep gash tore across the Iron Monger's neck guard, slicing upward toward the helmet.

Inside the armor, Obadiah's blood ran cold.

That flash of steel had almost grazed his throat. If not for the wide, thick plating of his neck guard, he would already be dead.

A cold sweat broke across his back.

Panic took hold, and he spun quickly, swinging behind him to keep Rowan from striking again.

Rowan bent backward in a smooth arch, narrowly slipping under the sweep, and in the same motion, slashed his dagger toward the Iron Monger's elbow joint.

The forearms and upper arms were covered in thick plating, but the elbow joint was exposed, its mechanical rods vulnerable.

With one swift cut, Rowan's A5 dagger severed the left-arm actuator.

By the time Obadiah turned fully around, his left arm was limp and unresponsive, hanging uselessly at his side.

"Damn it! You cunning rat!" Obadiah roared, his voice a mix of rage and fear.

He leapt backward.

The Iron Monger's power output was immense, and with the aid of its back thrusters, his jump carried him more than twenty meters away.

Rowan's eyes narrowed he knew exactly what Obadiah was planning.

The man wanted to put distance between them and open fire with heavy weapons.

Rowan charged forward instantly.

In this body of flesh and blood, if he took a direct burst of gunfire, it would mean certain death.

Yet, incredibly, his speed matched Obadiah's retreat.

Obadiah had barely landed when Rowan was already on top of him, moving so fast his image seemed to blur like a leopard in full sprint.

"My God…"

Not far away, Hill, Pepper, and the two remaining agents stared, wide-eyed, completely stunned by what they were seeing.

The clash between Rowan and the Iron Monger had lasted barely six or seven seconds, yet the impact of the scene was staggering.

Rowan… was holding his own against the Iron Monger?

This was powered armor steel incarnate!

How could his movements be this sharp, this fast?

To Hill and the others, he appeared even more formidable than Hawkeye or Black Widow.

And the maneuvers he had just pulled off neither of those seasoned agents could easily replicate them.

Without sparing a thought for their shock, Rowan closed in on Obadiah and slashed toward his remaining arm.

Better to cripple one arm entirely than to merely wound both hands.

With one arm already disabled, taking out the other would cut the Iron Monger's combat ability by more than half.

Obadiah had just raised his arm, the built-in minigun sliding into place, when Rowan darted in so fast he seemed almost spectral.

Startled, Obadiah jerked back in alarm.

But even so, the minigun barrel and half of the armored palm around it were sliced clean away by Rowan's dagger.

Clang!

Metal shrieked as sparks burst from the wound.

Obadiah met Rowan's cold, razor-sharp gaze and felt as though he had plunged into an icy abyss.

In that instant, he finally understood why Rowan had stood his ground earlier, not even bothering to run.

Because Obadiah… was the prey.

The Iron Monger's secondary Kroll-alloy plating might have been tough, but against this dagger it was little more than paper. If he kept fighting in close quarters, his fate was sealed.

Shoving his arrogance aside, Obadiah fired his thrusters and shot upward in a burst of flame.

Rowan shielded his face with his arm, protecting his eyes from the searing heat.

When he looked up again, Obadiah was already hovering high above.

From his vantage in the air, Obadiah tried to bring his weapons to bear only to remember his left arm was useless, and his right-arm gun was gone.

"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath.

Then a glint of malice flashed in his eyes.

A panel on his left shoulder popped open, revealing a small rocket. A targeting laser painted a red dot on Rowan.

"Die!" Obadiah snarled.

The rocket's infrared lock-on was deadly once it had a target, escape was nearly impossible.

But Rowan had been watching him carefully since the moment he took flight.

Without the chance to fight up close, Rowan knew he'd be at a disadvantage.

The instant he saw the telltale shift of the launcher, he was already moving.

At his current top speed of 24.9 meters per second, he was like the wind itself.

"What…?"

Watching Rowan dart forward in an erratic S-pattern, Obadiah's expression froze.

Too fast the targeting system couldn't keep up.

"Rowan!"

Hill's heart lurched as she saw the rocket lock attempt, and she hurriedly called Fury.

Rowan glanced back at Obadiah mid-sprint, his eyes hard.

Fighting an airborne opponent was always a headache for a martial artist. If only he had telekinesis…

Unable to get a lock, Obadiah decided to fire preemptively either hit Rowan by prediction or break off entirely.

But just as he was about to fire, a gold-and-red figure burst from the rubble below, slamming into him and knocking the rocket's aim skyward.

"Tony!"

Pepper's eyes lit with shock and relief she'd feared a moment ago that Tony had been crushed to death.

"Damn, only seventeen percent power left!" Tony gritted his teeth as he grappled with Obadiah in midair. The old Arc Reactor he was using had no fresh palladium its energy reserves were dwindling fast.

"Good thing Rowan gave me a batch of third-grade Kroll alloy," he muttered, shaking off the dizziness. "Otherwise, I'd have been paste back there."

A moment earlier, Obadiah had slammed him into the ground over and over, then hurled him into the pavilion, leaving him battered and reeling. It had taken all his will just to get back up.