Chapter 15: The Arc Reactor Theft - Part 1
Sunday night, 11:47 PM. Ben jolted awake from his Enhanced Hearing catching an unusual sound—the mansion's front door opening with an override code. Someone was entering who shouldn't be.
His System blazed red across his vision:
[CRITICAL EVENT: 'ARC REACTOR THEFT' ACTIVE]
[FAILURE CONDITION: TONY STARK DIES]
[SURVIVE]
Terror shot through Ben's small body like ice water. This was it. The moment he'd been dreading and preparing for. Obadiah had finally made his move.
Ben crept from his room, bare feet silent on the cold hardwood. His Web-Slinging ability tingled with warning—at higher levels, it granted minor danger sense, and right now every instinct screamed that death walked the halls of his home.
Following the sound, he reached Tony's workshop level just as he heard Obadiah's voice, sickeningly familiar, dripping with false concern.
"Breathe, Tony. Breathe."
Ben peered around the corner and his blood ran cold. Obadiah stood over Tony's collapsed form, holding a sonic device that emitted a low, paralyzing frequency. Tony lay on the floor, gasping like a fish out of water, his body completely unresponsive as Obadiah reached toward his chest with predatory slowness.
The Arc Reactor. The thing keeping Tony alive.
Ben's mind blanked with pure terror. This was real. Tony was dying, and he was ten years old against a full-grown man who'd just proven he was willing to commit murder.
Then his Enhanced Reflexes kicked in, his body moving before conscious thought could freeze him with fear. He grabbed the first thing he found—a heavy wrench from Tony's workbench—and hurled it with all the precision his Hawkeye's Aim could provide.
The wrench flew true, striking Obadiah's hand just as his fingers touched the Arc Reactor housing. The sonic device went flying, its paralyzing hum cutting off abruptly.
Obadiah spun around, his face contorting from false concern to genuine shock. "Who—the kid?!"
Ben didn't try to fight Obadiah directly—he'd lose instantly. His adult mind calculated odds while his child body acted on pure survival instinct. Instead, he used mobility.
His Parkour at Level 35 sent him scrambling up workshop equipment like a monkey, web-shooters firing sticky webbing at Obadiah's face, hands, feet. The webs were weak—Level 5 Web-Slinging meant they broke quickly—but they bought precious seconds.
"JARVIS, SECURITY!" Ben screamed, his voice cracking with desperation.
"Mr. Stane has administrative override," JARVIS replied with artificial calm. "I cannot—"
"OVERRIDE THE OVERRIDE! TONY'S DYING!"
Ben didn't know if that was possible, but desperation fueled the demand. He fired his crude EMP device at the sonic paralyzer, watching sparks fly as its circuits fried.
Obadiah, half-blinded by webbing, roared in fury and lunged at Ben with the speed of a man who'd finally dropped all pretense.
Enhanced Reflexes saved Ben's life—he rolled under the grab—but Obadiah's backhand caught him anyway, sending his small body flying into the workshop wall with bone-jarring force.
Pain exploded through him, but Enhanced Durability at Level 10 meant nothing broke. He staggered up, tasting blood, as Obadiah advanced with murder in his eyes.
"He's going for Tony again. I can't stop him physically. But I can be a better target."
"JARVIS, emergency power to workshop systems! Full brightness, full volume, everything!"
JARVIS complied without question, and the workshop exploded into sensory overload—lights blazing like miniature suns, alarms blaring, machinery activating in a cacophony of industrial noise.
In the chaos, Ben ran to Tony, his small hands reaching for the Arc Reactor—not to take it, but to protect it with his body. If Obadiah wanted it, he'd have to go through Ben first.
Obadiah grabbed Ben by the shirt, lifting him off the ground with one massive hand. "Stupid kid, you just made this personal."
But Ben's gamble had paid off. The commotion brought Happy running, the door crashing open as training and instinct overrode sleep.
Happy took one look at the scene—Obadiah holding Ben, Tony gasping on the floor, the sonic device sparking nearby—and his professional combat training kicked in.
"PUT THE KID DOWN, STANE!"
Happy's gun was out, aimed steady at center mass. Obadiah's face twisted through calculation and rage before settling on cold fury.
He threw Ben aside—Enhanced Durability saving him from worse injury—and ran, escaping through the workshop's vehicle exit like the coward he'd always been beneath the veneer of respectability.
Happy rushed to Tony. "Boss! Ben, get the Arc Reactor backup from the display case!"
Ben, battered but mobile, stumbled to where Tony kept his original reactor—the one Pepper had framed with "PROOF TONY STARK HAS A HEART." His hands shook as he brought it to Tony, the weight of the device feeling impossibly heavy.
[COMBAT ENCOUNTER SURVIVED!]
[MASSIVE EXP GAINS:]
[ENHANCED REFLEXES (MAX BONUS +500 EXP)]
[PARKOUR (LV. 38)]
[WEB-SLINGING (LV. 8)]
[ENHANCED DURABILITY (LV. 15)]
[HAWKEYE'S AIM (LV. 42)]
[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: COMBAT INSTINCT (PASSIVE, C-RANK, LV. 1)]
[REACT FASTER IN LIFE-THREATENING SITUATIONS]
[TOTAL POWER: 4,850]
Tony got the backup reactor installed, his color returning as the electromagnet restarted. His first words, still weak but filled with wonder: "Ben... you saved... how did you know?"
Ben, adrenaline crashing, couldn't stop the tears. "I TRIED to tell you! I tried so many times, but it comes out wrong, and I knew he was bad, and I was so scared—"
Tony pulled him into a careful hug, mindful of Ben's injuries. "You did good, kid. So good."
Happy was already on the phone with Pepper: "We have a situation. Stane just tried to kill Tony. The kid saved him."
In the distance, sirens approached—JARVIS had called the police despite Obadiah's override.
But Ben's Enhanced Hearing caught something else that made his blood freeze: the sound of heavy machinery starting up in a Stark Industries facility across town.
The Iron Monger was activating.
The fight wasn't over—it was just beginning.
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