Out of the corner of his view, he saw Pepper waving frantically in his direction. Then she pointed toward the two clashing Iron Men.
Message was clear. Take the shot.
James didn't budge.
"Sorry, lady," he muttered. "Still an intern."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh, that's a brutal fight," James muttered, watching through his scope. "I don't even know if they feel pain in those suits. Probably not — otherwise they'd both be dead by now."
It was more entertaining than a movie — a real-life mech battle, and James had front-row seats.
On the streets below, traffic chaos had erupted. Rear-end collisions, honking, and pileups. Civilians scrambling. James tracked it all, entertained — until Iron Man started climbing into the sky.
He grabbed his binoculars to keep eyes on him, but soon Stark flew too high for the lenses to track.
A minute passed. Then the two armored figures began plummeting back to Earth.
The Iron Monger — Obadiah's oversized suit — descended first, slowing just before impact by engaging his thrusters.
Tony wasn't so lucky. His suit sputtered halfway down, probably out of energy. He landed hard, rolling onto the roof of the Stark Energy Center.
James flexed his shoulders and refocused through his sniper scope. His chance was coming.
Down below, Tony Stark was clearly low on power and desperate to defeat Obadiah.
"Pepper, I need you to overload the arc reactor," Stark's voice came through the comms. "Blow the roof."
Pepper panicked. "What are you going to do?!"
"Hit every switch. I'll tell you when to flip it. Go — now."
Pepper ran back inside still on the call, only to be intercepted by Phil Coulson, dragging two wounded SHIELD agents out. He had gone in with five. Three were already dead.
"What's going on?" Phil asked.
"Tony wants me to overload the reactor! I need to—"
"Let me talk to him." Phil took the phone.
"Mr. Stark," he said. "You don't need to blow up the reactor. Just remove his helmet. We'll take care of the rest."
"Who the hell are you?" Stark's voice snapped.
"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. We met at the gala."
"Right... Wait, you mean someone's got a sniper trained on me right now?"
"Not you," Phil clarified.
Tony paused. "Okay. I'll try."
Using the broken cover around him, Stark moved. He ducked behind wreckage, flanked wide, and jumped onto Obadiah's back. From James's scope, he watched Stark rip the helmet wiring loose before getting thrown off.
The Iron Monger helmet deactivated, Forcing Obadiah to open the hatch and expose his face and upper chest.
[Projected Muzzle velocity: 853 m/s. Distance to target: 2,545 meters. Time to impact: 3.5 seconds.]
Cortana's HUD text appeared in James's eye.
"Phil, I need Stark to hold him still for four seconds," James said, already adjusting his scope.
Phil didn't hesitate. "Tony — stall him. Four seconds."
"What?! You couldn't get the sniper closer?" Stark barked, annoyed. Then, sighing, he removed his helmet and started talking.
"Hey, Obadiah. You really went all-in on that suit, huh? Doesn't look like something you designed."
"Does it even matter? It is still far superior than what you have now," Obadiah growled. With the hatch open, the upper body armor now exposed him from head to chest.
Target acquired.
James held his breath. The scope was steady. Adrenaline flowing. Everything else faded.
Bang.
The Barrett let out a massive explosive sound.
"One second…" James whispered.
On the ground, Stark kept talking. "You know, it's all crap, right? The design's clunky and you stole my arc reactor just to power it. You were never going to win."
Two seconds. The bullet whirled through the air with barely a resistance.
Obadiah lifted his leg to move closer to him.
"I give up!" Stark shouted.
Obadiah froze from his sudden shift of demeanor.
Impact.
The bullet punched a fist-sized hole through Obadiah's chest. He stared down in shock, lips parted trying to say a final word. The armor tried to keep him upright — but momentum took over. He tipped forward and collapsed with a crash.
Tony exhaled, the battle was over.
James began packing his rifle.
He descended the building, told the security guards, "Forget you saw anything. Surveillance is being handled. Don't save any footage. Or you'll get in trouble."
Not a threat. Just the truth.
He tossed the gear in the trunk and got back on the road, heading toward the Energy Center.
"Cortana, if the reactor doesn't blow up, will Stark's stocks still drop?"
[Possibly. Death of a founder and Iron Man's debut will shake the market. Unclear on how much.]
"Then when we get back, let's watch the numbers. If there's a dip, I'm buying a million more shares before Stark's press conference. That'll bring me up to five million total."
He parked close before calling Phil. "I need you to get someone to wipe surveillance from that building. So what's your status?"
"We're good. Just trying to figure out how to get Stark off the roof."
"I got it."
James climbed to the top and found Tony Stark lying on his back, chestplate flickering. The arc reactor embedded in his chest was dim — near dead.
James walked over to the Iron Monger armor, pulled the backup power core from the wreckage, and approached Tony.
"Hey. Want to plug this in yourself, or should I help you?"
He tapped the chestplate.
Tony groaned and opened the armor manually. "I'm not used to other guys undressing me... But you the one who fired that shot?"
"Yeah," James replied, handing over the core. "Thanks for the four seconds."
Tony inserted it and the arc reactor surged bringing him back to life, glowing bright. His suit was re-stabilized.
"Four seconds, Barrett... 853 meters per second... So you were 2,500 meters out?" Tony shook his head. "You couldn't pick a closer rooftop?"
"We didn't have clear intel. If I got too close and you went hostile, I'd be dead. When you showed up, I figured armor-piercing rounds wouldn't cut through your suit."
"Smart. And damn, that was a clean shot. Good thing you're not an enemy."