The Battle Begins

Rebirth Hell. A glowing soul orb suddenly appeared in Andrew's palm—it was Yinsen's soul.

Earlier, when Yinsen died, the magic inside Tony transformed into a passage and brought Yinsen's soul into Rebirth Hell.

"Superhero."

Andrew shook his head and tossed Yinsen's soul to Trask. Rebirth Hell needed talented people like Yinsen.

In a Manhattan building, Reed, the future Doctor Strange, stared at the stock data on his computer and nearly burst into tears. How had Stark Industries stock, which had been so stable, fallen this badly?

"Looks like I'm going bankrupt again. Uh, why did I say again?"

Dr. Reed sighed inwardly. Just then, his close friend—a burly bald man who would become the future The Thing, Ben Grimm—ran in and shouted excitedly, "Reed, Tony Stark has been rescued! He's holding a press conference right now."

"Really?"

Dr. Reed was overjoyed and hurriedly turned on the television, only to find Tony sitting on the floor as he held the press conference.

"Great! My stocks are saved."

Dr. Reed shouted excitedly. Just then, Tony loudly announced on television, "Starting today, Stark Industries' weapons development division will be permanently shut down."

"What?"

Dr. Reed froze. He asked Ben, "I didn't hear that wrong, did I? Stark Industries is shutting down its weapons development division? They sell weapons, for God's sake!"

Ben looked at Dr. Reed sympathetically and said, "You heard right."

"It's over. Stark Industries' stock price is definitely going to collapse."

Dr. Reed said to Ben with a miserable expression, "Ben, I'm bankrupt again."

"My condolences."

Ben comforted him. Dr. Reed asked in astonishment, "Why are you so calm?"

"Because you've gone bankrupt more than ten times already."

Ben said, "Don't worry about me. Before you invested, I already collected the next three months of my salary in advance."

"..."

Dr. Reed was speechless. Why were you so practiced at this? And why was I so unlucky?

When some people lost money, others naturally made it. Andrew and Tony's father, Howard, made a fortune, and TikTok Company, which the two had jointly invested in, was officially established and ready to begin operations. With Howard involved, TikTok Company had a boundless future.

"Now all we need is the battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger. Hopefully, it'll be even more intense than in the movie."

Andrew stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing toward Stark Industries in the distance. Whether his plan to gather souls through disasters would work would soon be known.

"A mysterious hero has suddenly appeared on the Middle East battlefield. Wearing an Iron Man suit, he has been striking Terrorists everywhere. Some say he is a secret weapon of the American Military, while others say he is a messenger of God..."

Watching the Iron Suit on the screen, Obadiah Stane, a Stark Industries director whom Tony regarded as a father, had eyes full of Greed. If he could master such a suit, he would become America's god!

"Tony, you really know how to lay golden eggs."

The bald, bearded Obadiah muttered to himself. Just then, his phone rang. After listening for a few moments, he said excitedly, "I'll come see you in person."

Soon, Obadiah arrived at a camp somewhere in the Middle East with his private security team. The camp's owner, Terrorist leader Lazar, personally came out to greet him. "My friend, we finally meet."

Lazar was the Terrorist who had previously injured Tony in the bombing. He had done so under Obadiah's orders, because Obadiah had long wanted to eliminate Tony and monopolize Stark Industries.

Obadiah followed Lazar into the tent and impatiently asked, "Where is what I wanted?"

"Here."

Lazar, whose face was covered in burns, pointed at the Mark I reassembled in the corner and said, "My men spent several days gathering all of it from the desert. Also, here are the blueprints and the footage from that time."

"Let me see."

Obadiah played the footage. It recorded Tony's process of building the Arc Reactor and Mark I. Unfortunately, because the footage was too blurry and Tony had deliberately blocked the view, many details could not be seen.

"You actually thought he was helping you build a Jericho Missile? Being uneducated is terrifying."

Obadiah pointed at Yinsen on the screen and asked, "Where is this man?"

Lazar answered with an ugly expression, "He's dead."

Obadiah continued, "Is the body still there?"

Lazar asked in confusion, "It is. What use is that?"

"Just because you're useless doesn't mean I am. I know a Mutant who can talk to corpses."

Obadiah said this as the butterfly effect caused by World Fusion officially emerged. With so many worlds merging, the future could not possibly remain unchanged.

Lazar said excitedly, "Excellent, Obadiah. I can give you everything, but you must make a batch of suits for me. I want to conquer the world like my ancestors did."

Obadiah could not help laughing. Ten minutes later, every Terrorist in the base had been dealt with by the private security team he had brought.

"A bunch of uneducated tools thinking they can become masters. What a joke."

Obadiah sneered and returned to America with Yinsen's body, the Mark I wreckage, and the blueprints.

Not long afterward, the Doctor under Obadiah successfully produced a knockoff Arc Reactor. Its performance was poor, but it worked—or at least, Obadiah thought it worked.

That night, Rebirth Group was working overtime as busily as it had been for the past few months. Susan deeply suspected that taking the position of vice president had been a mistake. It was simply too busy. Fortunately, Boss accompanied her home every day and cheered her up, and their relationship advanced by leaps and bounds because of it.

Natasha was equally doubtful. Had she come here as an undercover agent or as a workhorse? She worked twelve hours a day, then had to keep working overtime after getting home. She did not even dare turn off her phone. What kind of undercover job was this?

"Should I just report this company?"

Natasha grumbled inwardly. Just then, a thunderous boom came from the distance. Natasha's expression changed slightly. That was the sound of a missile exploding. The problem was, this was Manhattan, not the Middle East.

Natasha hurried to the window and saw a dazzling burst of fire erupt from the direction of Stark Tower. Immediately afterward, intense gunfire and explosions rang out from that direction.

"What the hell?"

Natasha frowned deeply. Andrew was also somewhat surprised. Using his enhanced vision, he looked toward Stark Tower across from them and discovered that it had become a battlefield—Iron Suits fighting the American Military.

Andrew complained inwardly, I wanted the scene to be bigger, but where did all these Iron Suits come from? And why is there an army?

Let us turn back the clock a little. Because of his suspicions regarding the source of the Terrorists' weapons, Tony sent his assistant and girlfriend, Pepper Potts, to steal information from Obadiah's computer.

As a result, Pepper found a video on Obadiah's computer showing the Terrorists threatening him. Only then did Tony learn that Obadiah had hired people to kill him.

Tony was furious. He put on Mark III and came to New York to confront Obadiah. At the same time, Pepper Potts arrived with Coulson and the others.

On Obadiah's computer, Pepper discovered that he had mastered the method of manufacturing Arc Reactors and was mass-producing Iron Suits. Therefore, Coulson not only brought a large number of agents, but also requested Military assistance. The Military did not waste words and directly deployed Armored Vehicles and Attack Helicopters.

Obadiah naturally would not surrender without a fight. Thus, amid violent explosions, the area around Stark Tower became a battlefield.