Iron Man Battle

Pepper's guess had not been wrong. Tony Stark was truly in grave danger at that moment, having been completely paralyzed by the sonic paralysis device Obadiah used before leaving.

Although the paralysis had caused Tony tremendous harm, it had also, by sheer coincidence, extended his life for a little while.

Under normal circumstances, without the magnet holding it in place, the shrapnel would have quickly slipped toward Tony's heart. With every heartbeat, it would have sent him one step closer to death.

But because his body was paralyzed, Tony could not move at all, and his heartbeat had slowed to its lowest rate. The blood throughout his body flowed more slowly, so the shrapnel barely moved, indirectly buying Tony more time.

Tony's prolonged stillness caught Jarvis's attention. After repeatedly calling out to Tony through the speakers without receiving any response, Jarvis drove a mechanical arm over to him.

The mechanical arm happened to be carrying a gift Little Pepper had prepared for Tony not long ago—a discarded Arc Reactor.

The Arc Reactor arrived with the mechanical arm. Tony was conscious at the time, and the moment he noticed it on the arm, he became excited. This was his only chance to stay alive.

Fortunately, the effects of the nerve paralysis were gradually fading as well. Tony quietly waited for his body to recover. The instant he felt he could move, he immediately climbed up and grabbed the discarded Arc Reactor from the mechanical arm.

Because the movement was so violent, it sent the shrapnel inside him toward his heart, and excruciating pain swept through his entire body.

Thankfully, Tony Stark moved quickly. Before he lost his strength, he placed the Arc Reactor inside his chest cavity. Once the electromagnet received power, it pulled the shrapnel back into its proper position, and Tony narrowly survived between life and death.

Gasping heavily, Tony looked at the mechanical arm controlled by Jarvis, his heart filled with emotion. Jarvis still needed a more advanced artificial intelligence system. At the same time, Tony made up his mind that he would upgrade Jarvis with a physiological monitoring system and an emergency medical system in the future. If he were ambushed again and no one was there to help him, Jarvis would have to take the field.

After resting for a while, Tony Stark walked toward the underground laboratory. He opened a hidden door, and after fingerprint verification, it swung open to reveal the items stored inside—dozens of brand-new Arc Reactors.

If Obadiah could see this, he would certainly cough up a mouthful of blood in fury. After all, he had risked everything merely to obtain a single Arc Reactor.

Yet Tony Stark had secretly manufactured so many of them without anyone noticing.

After replacing his reactor with a brand-new palladium Arc Reactor, Tony immediately felt light as a swallow. He moved his body lightly, then turned and walked toward another laboratory, where his Iron Man Armor was parked.

The Iron Man Armor was no longer the one that required someone else's help to put on. Tony Stark had developed an auxiliary device specifically for donning the armor. Now, all Tony had to do was strike a pose and wait for the device to operate.

Tony stepped into the dressing apparatus and assumed the preset posture. The mechanical arms then lifted various armor components and fitted them over his body. In just one minute, Tony had put on the Iron Man Armor. After adjusting the various parameters, he flew through the passage and into the sky, heading straight for Stark Industries.

On the way to Stark Industries, Tony received a call from Pepper. However, he had already located Pepper's position, and it was not far away. He adjusted his direction and flew straight toward her.

Pepper was startled when she saw Tony Stark descending from the sky. But as Tony's personal assistant, she had seen the Iron Man Armor he had been researching, so she quickly accepted the fact that Tony had appeared from the sky.

After Pepper and Tony exchanged a few words, Tony learned everything Obadiah had done. Although it was difficult to believe, he could not forget the ruthless expression Obadiah had worn when he left.

That look had truly shown that he wanted him dead!

Tony told Pepper to leave and prepared to handle the matter himself, putting family before justice.

However, Pepper had not gone far when Obadiah emerged from Stark Industries in his own armor. Driving the Iron Man Armor, Obadiah was brimming with confidence. As he walked, he shouted at Tony through the loudspeaker.

"Hey, Tony, I know it's you. You're actually still alive! Do you know how happy that makes me? Take a look at my Iron Man Armor. I call it Iron Monger. What do you think? Isn't it impressive?" As he spoke, Obadiah even twisted his body, letting Tony admire his Iron Monger.

Tony grew angry when he saw the armor Obadiah was wearing. Obadiah had shamelessly plagiarized him!

Iron Monger's rough appearance made Tony's heart sink. In terms of appearance alone, Iron Monger was undeniably imposing. It stood twice as tall as Tony Stark's armor, and its larger frame meant it could carry more weapons...

This isn't good, Tony thought. But when he noticed that Pepper had not yet left his sight, he answered Obadiah, intending to buy Pepper some time to escape.

"What's wrong, Uncle Obadiah? Did you feel that failing to kill me once wasn't enough, so you want to try again? And what is that thing? Iron Monger? It's way too ugly. It really doesn't fit the high-end tradition of Stark Industries."

"No, no, no, Tony, do you know how difficult it is for me to accept killing a child I watched grow up? So can you forgive me? We can sell the armor and Arc Reactors all over the world. There'll be piles of money waiting for us to earn." Wearing his Iron Man Armor, Obadiah had no fear at all. He actually began chatting with Tony, looking like an old father who had done something wrong and was asking his son for forgiveness.

But while he was speaking, Obadiah beneath the Iron Monger's faceplate had already locked onto Iron Man Tony Stark, preparing to kill his eldest nephew with a single blow.

Obadiah had also seen Pepper fleeing into the distance. The reason he did not pursue her was that he felt he could deal with her within seconds, no matter how far she ran.

His most important target was still Tony Stark standing before him. Pepper was merely a minor character.

Tony Stark had originally planned to lock onto Iron Monger with tracking missiles, but only now did he discover that his Iron Man Armor was not carrying much ammunition.

The armor was still carrying the ammunition left over from when he had returned from Afghanistan.

This was awkward. Without bullets, how was he supposed to fight?

Tony Stark had originally intended to accept the way out Obadiah had offered and settle accounts with him later.

But Obadiah did not give him that chance. After locking Tony with his laser-guided missile, Obadiah fired without hesitation.

Pepper was getting farther and farther away, and Obadiah did not want anyone to learn what he had done. He had to silence her as quickly as possible.

A red laser shot from Obadiah's shoulder and struck Tony directly in the chest. Tony Stark immediately realized that something was wrong and activated flight mode, flying backward.

As Tony Stark retreated, Obadiah laughed and shouted, "Laser guidance. It's old technology, but it's always so useful."

The missile was obviously faster. It caught up with Tony within seconds, and amid a tremendous explosion, Tony was sent spinning through the air and hurled far away.

Fortunately, Tony had already fought several battles while piloting the Iron Man Armor. He had also found time to upgrade it twice, especially its shock-absorption function. Without those upgrades, he would have been finished.

After being hit by the missile, Tony's Iron Man Armor rolled across the ground several times. Tony inside was relatively safe, but the impact left him unable to catch his breath for a moment.

He shook his head with some effort before climbing to his feet again. Although the armor was scorched black, it had suffered no substantial damage.

Obadiah, wearing Iron Monger, was startled when he saw Tony Stark still full of energy after being hit by the missile. "What the hell? Is this Iron Man Armor's defense really that strong?"

Unwilling to believe it, Obadiah fired another laser and locked onto Tony Stark again. One shot had not worked, so he fired another.

This time, there was some distance between Tony and Obadiah. As the missile flew over, Tony had already calculated its trajectory in advance with Jarvis's help.

Tony aimed at the missile's inevitable path, concentrated the Arc Reactor's energy in his palm, and fired a laser. It struck the incoming missile perfectly, successfully intercepting the attack.

The missile was destroyed and erupted in a violent blaze, blocking the two men's view of each other.

Obadiah could no longer lock onto Tony Stark, while Tony knew that the weapons inside his armor could not compete with Obadiah. The best option now was to engage in close combat and finish things quickly.

Tony flew through the mushroom cloud produced by the missile's explosion, raised his fist, and punched Iron Monger directly in the head.

The inertia from his high-speed flight, combined with the enormous strength of his armor, sent Iron Monger's massive body flying.

Iron Monger's heavy body tumbled through the air. After landing, it smashed the nearby ground to pieces, then scraped along the surface with a piercing shriek.

Iron Monger's shock absorption was clearly inferior to Tony Stark's. Fortunately, its interior was spacious enough that Obadiah did not suffer overly serious injuries.

After quickly running a self-check, Obadiah found that his Iron Monger had not sustained much damage, and he relaxed.

In Obadiah's view, his Iron Man Armor was enormous and had been meticulously developed by Stark Industries' professional engineers. It was obviously far stronger than Tony's armor.

When he saw Tony charging toward him again, Obadiah immediately raised both hands. The machine guns mounted on his arms fired a dense storm of bullets, blocking Tony Stark's approach.

The bullets struck Tony Stark's Iron Man Armor, but Tony did not react at all. They did not even slow him down.

Braving the hail of bullets, Tony once again reached Iron Monger's face and slammed into it, sending Iron Monger flying again.

After two consecutive impacts, even with his armor's exceptional shock absorption, Tony felt that he was beginning to reach his limit. Obadiah's experience inside Iron Monger was even more intense. He felt as though his heart had nearly been smashed apart!

When Obadiah climbed to his feet and saw Tony flying toward him again, he was immediately startled.

Two impacts had already been difficult to endure. If there was a third, something would surely go wrong. Flames burst from his legs, and Obadiah quickly piloted Iron Monger out of the way.

This time, Tony not only failed to hit Obadiah, but was also struck by Iron Monger's grenade launcher.

Listening to Jarvis report the armor's damage, Tony realized that he had been somewhat careless. After two consecutive impacts and a missile strike, his Iron Man Armor had actually sustained damage.

Looking at the armor integrity displayed inside his faceplate—80 percent—Tony felt that he could no longer get entangled with Obadiah. Otherwise, he would eventually be beaten to death.

Tony shot into the sky and prepared to launch the last tracking missile on his armor to destroy Iron Monger.

But his idea was sound while his thinking was not. After all, if Tony Stark could withstand the explosion of a laser-guided missile, why couldn't the larger and sturdier Iron Monger?

Iron Monger proved with facts that although bigger was not necessarily better, something that was both bigger and harder was definitely better than something smaller.

Tony Stark's final tracking missile struck Iron Monger. Although the blast sent Iron Monger flying backward and caused it to crash painfully, it somehow endured.

When Tony saw Iron Monger struggling to get back up after the explosion, he immediately flew forward to finish it off and eliminate this enormous threat completely.

But something unexpected happened again. While Iron Monger was struggling, it noticed Tony Stark flying toward it, deliberately exposed an opening, and grabbed Tony Stark by the head.

The scene was undeniably awkward, but the two men were fighting for their lives and had no intention of giving each other an opportunity.

Obadiah immediately increased the output of his arm's power, trying to crush Tony Stark's head. Tony concentrated all his energy in his chest, preparing to unleash a powerful laser and cut Iron Monger, along with Obadiah inside it, in half.

Iron Monger's tremendous strength made Tony Stark's helmet creak loudly as it was squeezed. Just as it seemed about to give way, a thick laser shot from Tony's chest. The intense white light was so dazzling that Obadiah could not open his eyes.

Alarms warning of damage to the machine rang throughout Iron Monger's armor. Seeing the armor's safety level plummet, Obadiah instinctively swung his arm in an attempt to block the laser before him.

That unintentional movement saved Obadiah's life. As he twisted his arm, the laser could no longer remain focused on a single point, and its destructive power dropped sharply.

With Tony Stark's head clutched in Iron Monger's hand, he could not control the direction of the laser's sweep. He could only passively pour the full force of his attack into Iron Monger directly in front of him.

When Obadiah saw the armor strength displayed inside his faceplate drop to a dangerous level, he was startled and threw the Tony in his hand far away.

The laser from Tony's chest was tremendously powerful. As Tony was flung away, it swept wildly through the surroundings, destroying everything nearby. None of the buildings around Stark Tower or the ground remained intact. The entire scene looked like a war zone.

At that moment, Chen Changsheng, who had been working in Umbrella Tower, finally noticed the tremendous disturbance. The distance was not great, and with a casual glance, Chen Changsheng saw two blurry figures fighting.