The Death of Iron Monger (Part One)

Because of the energy limit of the Heart of Xia, Tony Stark ultimately took Iron Monger high into the sky. Two long trails of flame streaked through the air, and countless people saw the two suits of Iron Man Armor fly into the sky. With only seven percent of his energy left, Tony Stark was finally caught by Iron Monger at the maximum altitude.

Obadiah Stane, his anger at being toyed with by Xia Yu at the start swept away, controlled Iron Monger to grip the Mark 3 by the neck. He said smugly to Tony, "What else can you do, Tony? I'm bigger and stronger than you."

"Then how did you solve the icing problem?" Tony calmly asked in return.

"The icing problem?" Only then did Obadiah Stane realize that Iron Monger had started to ice over because he had flown too high. The propulsion system was losing response, and even the two lights in his eyes went out.

"Let me help you with that." Tony Stark playfully tapped Iron Monger on the head, knocking off a small patch of ice that covered it. Iron Monger let go of Tony Stark and began to fall.

Tony Stark's Mark 3 had also lost all its power. He could only activate a little backup power and fire the thrusters on his limbs from time to time to slow himself during the high-speed fall. After wobbling through that four or five times, he barely landed on the roof of Stark Industries. Xia Yu had just gotten into the elevator.

"Tony, how are you?" As soon as Tony landed, he connected to Pepper's call.

"I'm fine... Ah!" Before he could finish, he was seized by Iron Monger, who had reached the roof at some unknown point. Iron Monger had thawed out during his fall and regained power.

"Tony, are you all right? Tony?" Pepper was still calling out to Tony anxiously over the phone.

At that moment, Tony Stark was held firmly in Iron Monger's hands. Without power, the Mark 3 Iron Man Armor was like a toy for Iron Monger to batter at will. The Mark 3's outer shell was already being crushed out of shape by Iron Monger's hands. If this continued, Tony Stark would probably be squeezed into a pulp.

"Fire incendiary rounds," Tony Stark, unable to break free, ordered JARVIS.

The Mark 3 began firing countless small incendiary rounds. They landed on Iron Monger's head, burning out his targeting system and finally making him release his grip.

Tony took the opportunity to hide behind a stairwell exit on the roof. He spoke quietly to Pepper, who was still on the phone. "Pepper, I need help. Where's Xia?"

"He went to find you two. I don't know where he is. I... I'll call him now." Pepper panicked and hurriedly hung up to contact Xia Yu.

Xia Yu's phone had been broken by the vibrations back in Sector 16, so there was no way her call would get through. But Iron Monger was closing in bit by bit, and the roof was only so big. Tony Stark had nowhere left to hide.

With no other choice, Tony Stark rushed out while Iron Monger wasn't paying attention. Just like in the movie, he used his smaller size to climb onto Iron Monger's head and damaged as much of the armor at the back of his head and the wiring inside as he could. In the end, though, Iron Monger reached back and grabbed him, then slammed Tony Stark forward onto the skylight of the Stark Industries building.

It was a ring of tempered glass, directly above the large Arc Reactor on the first floor. The reactor had been built jointly by Tony's father, Howard Stark, and Anton Vanko. In the movie's original plot, Tony Stark and Pepper had worked together and used the reactor to take down Iron Monger, but this time Pepper was already several blocks away, and Tony had lost his chance.