Battle with Iron Monger
While Xia Yu was waiting for Agent Coulson to sort out all those messy formalities, Tony Stark had already been ambushed by Obadiah Stane. Just as in the movie, Obadiah took the small Arc Reactor from Tony Stark's chest. He had used the Mark I blueprints to build the larger Iron Monger armor, and now all he needed was the small Arc Reactor to power it.
Obadiah Stane left. He had used ultrasound to immobilize Tony Stark for fifteen minutes. After finally waiting it out, Tony struggled his way to the lab. Looking at the Heart of Xia on the table, he said, "I didn't expect I'd need you to save me again."
Tony was in much better physical condition than he had been in the movie, so Dum-E missed his chance to heroically save his master. As before, James Rhodes arrived just in time. Tony asked Rhodes to work with him, then took to the air and flew toward Stark Industries.
Tony Stark was on his way at full speed when Xia Yu, Agent Coulson, and the others finally arrived. Pepper Potts led them to Obadiah Stane's hidden research facility in Section 16. A massive iron door blocked the entrance. Pepper swiped her card, only to find that access was denied.
"Is my card invalid?" Pepper said.
Coulson stepped forward and took out a small bomb. Just as he was about to place it on the lock, Xia Yu reached out to stop him. "No need to go to all that trouble." With that, Xia Yu thrust out his right leg in a straight kick. The explosive force sent the massive iron door flying seven or eight meters inward before it crashed to the ground.
As the group stared at him as though they had seen a ghost, Xia Yu shrugged. "I used too much force. I thought it was sturdier than that."
Xia Yu took the lead this time. He knew Obadiah Stane was inside, preparing to put on the armor. Coulson followed close behind, while the others drew their pistols and walked around Pepper. The last man in line gave the fallen iron door a gentle kick as he passed it. Apparently, he had thought it was fake.
The group searched inside and found a copy of the Mark I, only this one was bigger. Clearly, Obadiah Stane had been researching it in secret for a long time; he had even built a prototype.
Just then, two lights like car headlights suddenly lit up in the darkness ahead. Xia Yu knew it was Obadiah Stane in the Iron Monger armor. He shouted, "Watch out!" and shoved the stunned Pepper aside.
No sooner had he pushed Pepper away than a giant iron fist slammed down between them. Having missed, Obadiah Stane piloted Iron Monger out of the darkness, one step at a time. It was a behemoth standing over four meters tall.
Obadiah Stane's voice came from inside Iron Monger, sounding somewhat ferocious. "I know you. You're the bodyguard Stark hired. Didn't you say you wouldn't let me near Pepper? Go on, try stopping me again!" As soon as he finished, Iron Monger brought an enormous fist down at Xia Yu. Xia Yu stood still, wanting to test Iron Monger's strength. He stayed where he was as the fist, nearly as big as his upper body, came crashing down.
"Ahhh!" Pepper screamed in fright. Ratatat, ratatat! Coulson and his men were firing at Iron Monger's head to no effect.
Bang. There was no great noise, nor was there a gruesome spray of flesh and blood. Xia Yu reached out and caught the punch with ease. Apart from Pepper and Coulson, everyone stared at the scene in disbelief, even though they had seen Xia Yu kick the iron door away. The contrast in size was simply too shocking. If the ground beneath Xia Yu's feet hadn't cracked, they would have thought Iron Monger was an empty shell.
"I stopped you. What do you think of that?" Xia Yu looked up and said coolly to Obadiah Stane.
"Impossible! This is fake! Fake! Die!" Obadiah Stane couldn't accept that Xia Yu had so casually caught a blow from the Iron Monger he had painstakingly built. Like a madman, he sent punch after punch crashing down at Xia Yu.
Afraid Pepper and the others might get caught in the fight, Xia Yu used Lingbo Weibu to dodge Iron Monger's attacks while waving for them to hurry away.
Lingbo Weibu was an exceptionally graceful movement technique to begin with, and Iron Monger was relatively clumsy. Punching like that, it wouldn't have hit Xia Yu even if it wore itself out. So Xia Yu strolled back and forth within a few meters, completely at ease. Before leaving, Coulson glanced at Xia Yu and recalled the sight of his back as he blasted the pool water apart with a palm strike that day. A Huaxia idiom suddenly came to mind: an extraordinary bearing!
Xia Yu had no idea that his showing off had earned such high praise in Coulson's eyes. Dodging the fists, he mocked Iron Monger. "Are you feeling really angry? Do you feel like a fierce tiger who went out only to find he was actually a cute little kitten?"
"Sorry, that was too polite. Let me try another one. Do you feel the humiliation of thinking you've got 2.8 meters, then pulling down your pants and finding a little toothpick? Do you? Hey! I'm talking to you! Can you answer me? How rude. And you call yourself a major shareholder in a listed company? Pah!" As Xia Yu spoke, he spat on the ground to show his disdain.
Obadiah Stane went completely mad. A heavy machine gun rose from Iron Monger Armor's right arm and opened fire on Xia Yu.
Xia Yu hurriedly dodged aside, the bullets sweeping along right behind him. Ratatatatatat!
Obadiah Stane was so angry he had lost his head. Why would a piece of technology like him trade punches and kicks with someone? "I'll kill you!" Obadiah's roar rang out amid the gunfire.
"Try hitting me first. We were fighting just fine, then you suddenly pulled out a machine gun and sprayed me with bullets. You can't take a loss." Xia Yu still had time to mock him, seemingly having forgotten how he had treated The Mandarin in the desert.
They had been at it for quite a while, so Pepper and the others should have been safe by now. Xia Yu found an opening and rushed toward the entrance. Fighting inside was too dangerous. There was a large Arc Reactor on the first floor, and it would be trouble if it got blown up.
Obadiah Stane followed close behind. When Xia Yu reached the entrance, he actually saw Pepper still standing there. No matter how close they were, Xia Yu now had the urge to curse. I've been holding him off in there all this time, and you still haven't left? What are you thinking? What are you staying here for? To give me a buff?
Fortunately, Tony Stark arrived just then. "Leave him to me," he told Xia Yu. "Get Pepper out of here first." With that, he flew toward Iron Monger.
Xia Yu scooped Pepper up and flew away using Qinggong. After putting four or five blocks between them and the building, he set her down. "I'm going to help. Be careful and don't run around." Without waiting to see whether anyone was around, he raced back toward the battlefield at full speed.
Just as he was about to reach it, he saw Tony Stark taking Iron Monger up into the sky.
Xia Yu slapped his forehead in frustration. He couldn't compete with someone who could fly. It seemed he needed to get himself a suit of armor too. What could he do? He would wait on the roof of Stark Industries. Since they had gone up into the sky as in the original story, they would certainly come down as they had in the original story too. Xia Yu headed back toward Stark Industries.