The Importance of Airplane Buoyancy

Upon receiving the command, Jarvis cooperated, controlling the Iron Man suit to slowly approach Annie's Quinjet, then gradually hovering above the cockpit area, flying in sync at the same speed.

What made Tony's jaw drop was this: he discovered that the one actually piloting the aircraft wasn't a pilot at all! It was a little girl, maybe only seven or eight years old, sitting in the co-pilot's seat? Next to her, in the main pilot's seat, there was a woman who looked more like a pilot, but she wasn't even touching the controls.

"Whoa, cool! Look what I'm seeing? A little girl flying a jet? No wonder, no wonder S.H.I.E.L.D. is getting more and more ridiculous!" After connecting to the Quinjet's public channel, Tony couldn't help but start griping.

"Huh?" Seeing the Iron Man flying parallel to her cockpit, Annie was curious! She'd never seen this kind of flying iron monster before? It looked like it could be fun too.

"Aunt Melinda, what is this thing?"

"Looks like Iron Man? A playboy named Tony Stark." Melinda frowned as she watched the Iron Man flying alongside them. She'd seen reports and knew who Iron Man was, but as a traditional woman, Melinda really disliked this kind of scandal-ridden, frivolous playboy.

"Playboy? Is that a bad guy?" Annie didn't understand the term, but she caught the displeasure in Melinda's voice, so she kept staring at the iron man curiously while continuing to ask.

"That's right! A playboy is a type of bad guy, especially this one in front of us!" Melinda suppressed a smile and nodded in confirmation.

"Hey! Lady, I'll sue you for defamation! But if you agree to have dinner with me, I'll reluctantly forgive you." Tony Stark also heard their conversation on the public channel linked to the Quinjet, and he absolutely disagreed with Melinda labeling him a bad guy!

"I see! Then..." Annie ignored the iron monster outside, which was lightly tapping its finger on her aircraft's cockpit glass, as if trying to continue their conversation.

Her eyes darted around, as if she'd thought of something fun, then she grinned mischievously and yanked the control stick hard. The red Quinjet suddenly lunged toward him, slamming into the iron monster and knocking it off balance, sending it plummeting down.

"Danger! Annie, don't!" Seeing Annie act so recklessly, even Melinda was startled! Luckily, they'd been flying parallel at the same speed just now; if it had been a head-on collision, it might have caused a mid-air disaster.

"Whoa~!!"

Caught off guard, Tony Stark took the hit, his engine malfunctioned and stalled, and he lost power, dropping like a stone. Fortunately, he was in the stratosphere, giving him enough time to troubleshoot.

"Jarvis! Think of something fast!" Watching the altitude drop rapidly, Tony urgently called out to Jarvis.

"Adjusting, sir. It'll take a moment."

As streams of data scrolled across the HUD on his faceplate, the AI program Jarvis was computing at high speed, working hard to help Tony fix the issue.

"All set, sir. Fault resolved."

With Jarvis's voice came the news, and Tony found he could control the suit again. He quickly adjusted his posture, energy jets blazing from his hands and feet, barely managing to stabilize his altitude.

"Watch above, sir! Evasive action, now!"

Before Tony Stark could breathe a sigh of relief, Jarvis suddenly sounded an alarm. Tony looked up—the red Quinjet was diving toward him like an eagle swooping on a rabbit.

"Oh! Damn it!"

Tony Stark immediately throttled up, all his limb thrusters firing at full power, blasting off in another direction to dodge the plane's dive. Tony knew that if he got hit by a dive like that, he was finished! The suit might even fall apart!

"Haha! Got you, iron monster!"

Annie steered the diving plane, chasing the iron monster ahead relentlessly. She found this way more fun than flying the jet around aimlessly by herself.

"Where do you think you're going? Caught you!" When Tony dodged her dive, Annie yanked the control stick, and the Quinjet instantly did a 180-degree turn, chasing after the Iron Man, who was now climbing rapidly.

"Annie..." Melinda looked at the little girl beside her, momentarily at a loss for words!

This was way too reckless! Originally, she'd wanted to grab the controls herself, but after a moment's thought, she figured that teaching this playboy a little lesson wasn't such a bad idea. She'd just watch for now.

"Any ideas, Jarvis?"

After pulling off several high-G maneuvers in a row, Tony found he still couldn't shake the red plane behind him! He thought back—had he really provoked them that much? Why were they so relentless? What a couple of lunatics!

"Sir, your best bet is to keep evading. The Mark III isn't equipped with weapons, so we can't fight back." Jarvis had no good solution either, since Tony had come out to test the suit's performance and hadn't brought any weapon systems.

"Sir, I recommend you descend. The Mark III's high-altitude performance has no advantage over the Quinjet."

"Damn it, Jarvis! Next time I go out, make sure to remind me to bring weapons!" Tony quickly banked, temporarily dodging the plane as it rolled and turned for another pass.

"Now think of something!"

"I'm trying to reconnect to their comms, sir. Perhaps you can talk things out with them. I've detected no significant hostile intent—otherwise, they could have shot you down with their weapons."

"Then hurry up!" Another sharp, high-angle turn, and Tony dodged another pursuit.

He knew he couldn't keep this up. His body was reaching its limit, and the suit's life-support system was showing signs of overload. If he kept flying like this, he'd end up with internal bleeding for sure!

"Done, sir. I've reconnected to their channel."

"Hey! Anyone there? Maybe we should talk this out!" Now that he was linked up, Tony quickly spoke up! He didn't want to keep this endless chase going.

"No talking! You have to play with me, or I'll shoot you down!" Annie was having too much fun to care about what he wanted. Annoyed that he was trying to quit, she flipped open the weapon fire cover on the control stick, exposing the aircraft's belly weapon bay as a threat.

"Sir! That's a large-caliber multi-barrel Vulcan Cannon! If they open fire, the Mark III's armor thickness won't hold out for long." Jarvis detected the anomaly under the plane's belly and urgently warned Tony Stark.

"Oh! Damn it! You're crazy!"

Melinda looked at Annie, speechless. That Vulcan Cannon wasn't even loaded with any ammunition! The ammo bay had been converted into a bathroom. Still, it was a good thing it wasn't loaded—otherwise, Melinda really worried that Annie, in her frenzy, might just fire off a few rounds without thinking, and then the fun would really start!

Since no one was going to die, Melinda was happy to sit back and enjoy the show. After all, she didn't like that playboy Tony Stark anyway, and it wasn't worth spoiling Annie's fun over him. Little Annie was having a blast, so let her play a bit longer.

In the end, no one expected this: the chase concluded with Iron Man Tony Stark victorious.

Because right now, the red Quinjet was floating helplessly on the sea surface. Annie and Melinda were glaring sourly at the iron monster hovering in the sky in the distance, while the radio crackled with Tony Stark's smug taunts.

"Aha~! How about that? Out of fuel, huh? Letting you chase me! Letting you play! Now it's my turn to have fun, right? Ahahaha!"

"Sir, I have to remind you, our power is running low too. If we run out and fall into the sea, we won't be able to float like they can." Seeing Tony Stark still wasting energy, Jarvis had to speak up. Hovering in mid-air consumed power too.

"Don't worry, Jarvis! Let me finish this round, and we'll go!" With that, Tony Stark opened the public channel again: "Hey, little brat! What do you think? Still want to play? Come on, try ramming me again!"

"Sir..."

"Alright, alright! Jarvis! Stop nagging! I'm going!" Tony Stark laughed in midair a little longer before deciding to make his escape. If he didn't leave soon, he'd run out of power too.

"Seeing how pitiful you lot are, this old master will let you off for now. One last free tip—I just checked the weather forecast, and there's a heavy storm coming soon! Hope you remembered your umbrellas, ahahaha~!"

Watching Iron Man fly off with a laugh, and Annie sulking on the side, Melinda helplessly pressed her forehead. "Alright, Annie! You've had your fun, let's head home. Looks like we'll need to call for backup again!"

Melinda shook her head and pulled out her phone, planning to have headquarters send a boat with some fuel.

This plane had already burned a fair amount of fuel flying from headquarters to New York. After Annie's antics, running out was only natural. Luckily, they were flying over the ocean—if it had been over land, they might have crashed by now!

"Hmph! Fine, let's go back. Next time I run into him, I'll give him a proper thrashing!"

Annie knew a plane without fuel couldn't fly. For now, this was the only option. What else could she do? Fly over herself with magic to punch that tin man? Her flight technique was nowhere near as fast as his!

"Oh! Where's Coulson?" After finishing her call, Melinda suddenly remembered something was missing. She quickly opened the cockpit door and looked into the rear cabin. She found Coulson slumped unconscious on the sofa, foam at the mouth, head hanging down. At least his seatbelt was still tightly fastened!

"Whoa! This isn't good!" Annie blinked, putting on an innocent look.