BZZZZZZ—
The sonic reverberations still echoed in his ears, but Tony's consciousness was unnervingly clear.
He could feel the dampness of the lawn outside the villa, hear the triumphant echo of Obadiah's custom leather shoes on the floor, and even see every intricate tungsten filament inside the light fixture he had designed on the ceiling.
But he couldn't move.
His body was a puppet with all its strings cut, slumping heavily onto the cold floor, a thinking stone.
An unprecedented fear washed over him, not of death, but of this absolute powerlessness.
Obadiah's triumphant face leaned in close, his greedy gaze looking as if it wanted to swallow the reactor in his chest whole. The moment his cold fingers touched the reactor's casing, Tony's entire world froze.
"Now, it's mine."
Obadiah's fingers tensed. With the sizzle of brutally torn wires and the sickening squelch of flesh being ripped apart, the light in Tony's chest instantly went out.
The agony was overwhelming, but worse than the pain were the words.
*Get rid of him. Bring back the armor. Stark Industries will be ours.*
Pepper!
She found out the truth! She was in danger!
Rage, regret, worry… a torrent of emotions churned within his chest, threatening to tear him apart. He wanted to roar, to struggle, but only a gurgling, wheezing sound escaped his throat.
Clutching the glowing blue "heart," Obadiah rose to his feet, satisfied. He glanced down at the dying Tony on the floor as if looking at a piece of discarded trash.
He didn't even bother with a finishing shot. In his eyes, a Tony Stark without an Arc Reactor was worth less than a dog.
The footsteps faded. The door closed.
The world fell into a dead silence.
Tony's vision began to blur, his life force draining rapidly from the bloody hole in his chest.
*Am I going to die?*
*Just like this? Pathetically, right here?*
*No… Pepper…*
…
CRASH!
The villa's main door was violently smashed open.
"Tony!"
Colonel Rhodes's voice was laced with unprecedented panic as he practically stumbled inside. When he saw the scene in the living room, he froze.
Baymax was slumped in a corner, its white shell covered in black scorch marks, its adorable face screen completely dark—clearly the victim of a powerful electromagnetic or sonic attack.
And not far away, Tony Stark, his ever-arrogant friend, lay motionless in a pool of blood, a horrifying black hole in his chest, his breathing as faint as a silk thread.
"Dammit!" Rhodey's mind went blank, a chill shooting up his spine. He rushed over, kneeling beside Tony, completely at a loss.
"Medic… Ambulance!"
"Don't…" Tony squeezed out a few syllables with his last ounce of strength. "…no time…"
His eyes were fixed on the workbench.
Rhodey followed his gaze and saw the shattered glass display case. Inside lay a slightly crude, circular device.
"Proof that Tony Stark has a heart."
"This?" Rhodey instantly understood, snatching up the old Arc Reactor.
"Pepper…" Tony's lips moved, his eyes pleading. "…Obadiah… Section Sixteen… Protect her…"
With those words, his head lolled to the side, and he lost consciousness completely.
"Tony! Tony! Hang on!" Rhodey's voice trembled. He looked at the old reactor in his hand and the bloody cavity in Tony's chest. For the first time, the decisive Air Force Colonel, a veteran of many battlefields, felt his hands shake.
…
At the other end of Malibu, in Paul's room.
A shrill alarm shattered the silence without warning.
[WARNING! LIFELINE PROTOCOL ACTIVATED! TARGET: TONY STARK. VITAL SIGNS CRITICAL!]
[WARNING! BAYMAX OFFLINE! TRACES OF ULTRA-HIGH FREQUENCY SONIC ATTACK DETECTED!]
Paul shot up from his computer, his heart feeling as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.
He rushed to another computer, his hands a blur across the keyboard.
"Activate 'Magneto' surveillance one!"
The screen flickered, then displayed the feed from the Stark villa's living room.
Total chaos.
A fallen Baymax, and… Tony, lying in a pool of his own blood.
Paul's pupils contracted to pinpoints.
He wanted to run, to fly to his father's side at once. But a second later, a cruel reality nailed him to the spot.
He was just a fourteen-year-old boy.
No car, no driver's license. If he went out alone, he'd probably be mistaken for a runaway.
The sense of helplessness nearly drove him mad.
*Calm down! Paul, you have to calm down!*
He forced himself to take a deep breath, his mind racing faster than ever before. *Obadiah. It has to be him! He took the reactor!*
On the screen, Colonel Rhodes's figure appeared, slightly easing Paul's frayed nerves.
He saw Rhodey pick up the old reactor.
*Not enough! That reactor's power output is too low. It won't last long, let alone power the suit!*
Paul immediately dialed Rhodey's number.
"Uncle Rhodey! It's me, Paul!"
"Paul? I don't have time right now, your father is—"
"Listen to me!" Paul's voice held an unquestionable authority, nothing like that of a child. "Obadiah went to Stark Industries, Section Sixteen! Pepper is in danger! She might be heading there now! You have to get the new armor to my father, immediately!"
Rhodey was stunned on the other end of the line.
"How do you know that?"
"No time for questions! Hurry! Activate the red and gold suit and get it to him! Then you go to Section Sixteen. I need you to protect Pepper!"
Hanging up, Paul's gaze shifted to a third screen.
On it, a pink briefcase icon was moving rapidly across a map. Its destination was unmistakable—the Stark Industries campus.
"Pepper… please don't do anything foolish…"
He murmured to himself, his finger hovering over a virtual button on the console.
The button was labeled: [NINI].
Below it, in smaller text: [Battle Doll Mode].
…
Stark Industries, Section 16.
This was the most secretive research and development area at Stark Industries, off-limits to even most of the board members.
Pepper, along with several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, held her breath as she cautiously infiltrated the restricted zone. Coulson had believed her and provided maximum support.
The massive workshop was deserted, filled only with cold metal and complex pipelines, like the guts of a slumbering iron beast.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of machine oil and ozone.
"Over there!" one of the agents pointed to a huge platform in the center of the workshop.
As they drew closer, they witnessed a sight they would never forget.
A colossal iron suit, over four meters tall, stood silently on the central platform. Countless thick cables connected to its body, as if charging it. Its form was crude and savage, filled with a violent aesthetic that was the complete antithesis of Tony's sleek armor.
"Oh my god…" Pepper covered her mouth, her eyes filled with horror.
Just then, the cockpit in the suit's chest clicked and slowly opened.
Obadiah Stane's familiar face appeared inside, his features looking demonic in the eerie blue glow of the control panel.
In his hand, he was toying with the Arc Reactor that should have been in Tony's chest.
"Good evening, Miss Potts," Obadiah's voice boomed through the suit's external speakers, shaking the entire workshop. "Are you here for me? Or… are you looking for this?"
He held up the reactor, a cat-and-mouse taunt on his face.
Pepper and the agents turned pale, instinctively raising their weapons.
"Don't be nervous," Obadiah laughed, his tone dripping with contempt. "I just wanted you all to witness the dawn of a new era!"
He slammed the reactor into the recess in the suit's chest.
BOOM!
With a deafening roar, the suit's eyes lit up with a crimson glow. The immense energy surge snapped all the connected cables, sending sparks flying!
Iron Monger was awake.
It took a heavy step, each one making the ground tremble violently, the friction of its metal plates creating a teeth-grinding screech.
"Now, the game is over."
Iron Monger raised its mechanical arm, thicker than a man's torso. The Gatling gun mounted on it began to spin, its dark muzzle aiming at Pepper and the others, who looked as small as ants.
The shadow of death instantly enveloped them all.
At that critical moment.
BEEP!
The pink briefcase Pepper was carrying suddenly emitted a crisp sound.
To everyone's astonishment, the case sprang open on its own.
A dazzling pink light shot skyward!
From it, a female-form robot, entirely coated in pink paint, with lines that were both sleek and powerful, rose in a remarkably elegant motion. It landed steadily in front of Pepper, shielding her.
Its once-cute, large eyes were now replaced by a V-shaped combat visor, flickering with cold blue data streams.
[Nini Bodyguard Mode, activated.]
[Primary Directive: Ensure the safety of Miss Pepper Potts.]
Nini's voice was no longer soft and cute, but filled with a cold, mechanical resolve.
Obadiah stared at the suddenly-appeared pink robot, stunned for a moment, then burst into even more arrogant laughter. "Hahahaha! Another one of Tony's toys? You think this pink Barbie doll can stop me?"
Before he could finish.
BOOOOM—!!!
An even more terrifying roar came from above!
The workshop's sturdy dome was torn open by an irresistible force, creating a massive hole.
Moonlight, mixed with debris and steel rebar, poured down.
A streak of red and gold descended like a thunderbolt, smashing into the ground in front of the Iron Monger and kicking up a cloud of dust and smoke!
The dust settled.
Iron Man stood proudly, crouched in a classic hero landing.
He slowly looked up, the eyes of his helmet glowing with the white-hot fire of vengeance.
"Stane."
Tony's voice, filtered through the suit, was cold and brimming with killing intent.
"That suit of iron… the fit seems a little off."