Section 16

In Afghanistan, Tony built the prototype of Iron Man—the Mark 1—from a pile of scrap metal.

After piloting the Mark 1 out of captivity, he crash-landed in the desert when the armor ran out of power, and it shattered into pieces.

Under the blazing sun, he finally received rescue from the U.S. military just before he would have died of heatstroke. But the shattered prototype armor was forgotten in the vast sea of sand until members of the Ten Rings found it.

Obadiah slaughtered the Ten Rings members, took the Iron Armor, and then carved out Section 16 beneath the giant Arc Reactor at Stark Industries. He gathered the best engineers under his command to secretly build a giant suit of Iron Armor.

Stark Industries was the world's largest arms manufacturer. Although the company had publicly banned arms deals, many shady transactions still took place behind the scenes under Obadiah's direction.

At first, Stark Industries had fifteen sections in total. Now, to build the Iron Armor, the Section 16 project was being launched in full.

The engineers worked around the clock, and the Iron Armor's basic framework had already taken shape. But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't create a power source to start the armor: an Arc Reactor.

With no other option, Obadiah could only steal one. He took the core from Tony's chest and left him to die. Luckily, the mechanical arm that had never obeyed him saved his life. He inserted the first-generation Arc Reactor, which had originally been discarded, into his chest and survived.

"Tony!" His good friend Rhodey saw Tony lying on the ground and hurried over in alarm.

Tony had been deathly pale, but now he finally had a little strength. He got to his feet and immediately grabbed Rhodey by the arm. "Where's Pepper? She isn't in danger, is she?"

Rhodey felt a little helpless. I'm the one who came to rescue you, so how can you keep going on about Pepper? You really are putting romance before friendship.

But seeing how weak Tony was, Rhodey couldn't be bothered to tease him. "She's fine. She's with five agents. They've gone to capture Obadiah."

"Five won't be enough," Tony said worriedly.

Rhodey suddenly thought of something. "Wait, there should be six. One isn't an agent. Pepper said he's a special consultant!"

Three Fords sped toward Stark Industries, led by an Audi. After a sharp screech of brakes, all four cars stopped at the rear entrance. William, Coulson, Pepper, and four agents got out and strode forward.

Before them stood the magnificent Arc Reactor, its blue arcs of light flashing in a spectacular display. Two agents stood beneath it, gazing up in amazement.

William merely pursed his lips. So what if it looks good? It's about to blow up anyway.

Pepper quickly found the entrance to Section 16, but her access card didn't seem to open the door. Coulson took out a small breaching charge, stuck it to the door, and blew it open with ease.

"Everyone, be careful!" Coulson said, drawing his gun. The other agents drew theirs as well, but William had no weapon in his hands.

It wasn't because he was trying to look cool. S.H.I.E.L.D. had given him credentials, but hadn't issued him a gun. That made sense: Nick Fury knew William was powerful and didn't need an extra weapon.

They made their way deeper into Section 16. It was quiet and unlit, the area around them dim. Every so often, they could hear the sound of running water.

They hadn't gone far when one of the agents seemed to spot a figure ahead and immediately opened fire. The bullet struck with a metallic clang and bounced away.

"Don't shoot recklessly!" Coulson ordered. They continued forward, only to realize that it wasn't a person at all, but a suit of armor.

It was an old, crudely made suit of Iron Armor, about the size of an adult. Thick iron chains suspended it in midair. In the darkness, it looked like a person and was quite frightening.

"Mark 1," William murmured. He knew this was the first suit of Iron Man armor Tony had built. Obadiah had based his own knockoff armor on its design.

"That guy Obadiah really did build something like this." Coulson still knew nothing about the Mark Series, so he thought this was the armor Obadiah had made.

Pepper, however, realized something was wrong. According to the plans for the Section 16 project, the armor Obadiah wanted to build should have been much larger than this.

Just then, a strange sound came from the darkness, faint and almost inaudible unless you listened carefully. Pepper had sharp hearing, and she caught it. It sounded like metal scraping against the floor.

In the depths of the darkness, a row of thick chains blocked off an area. The sound seemed to be coming from there. Pepper's heart pounded. Could Obadiah be hiding inside?

Thinking this, she cautiously approached. But just as she reached the chains, the strange sound stopped.

Pepper was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when a pair of bright eyes suddenly lit up in the darkness, staring right at her!

Coulson had thought the armor Obadiah built was the one they had just seen. But then he spotted a huge platform. Broken wires hung above it, and metal posts for securing something stood around it.

Beside the platform was a control panel. The screen displayed plans and specifications for a mysterious suit of Iron Armor. This suit looked much larger and more intimidating than the one they had just seen.

That meant a colossal machine had really been here once. It was just gone now!

"Help!" With a thunderous crash, Pepper screamed and ran for her life. Right behind her, a giant black shadow burst out of the darkness, moving fast and charging blindly through everything in its path, sending it flying.

As everyone stared in shock, a hulking iron giant came into view.

The iron giant stood nearly three meters tall, its entire body covered in heavy metal armor. Weapons covered its arms and shoulders; it was equipped with laser beams, guns, and cannons. Powered by a magnetic turbine engine, it could propel itself through the air.

It was immensely strong. The ground trembled with every step, and it was unstoppable, like a ferocious beast.

This was the final boss of the first Iron Man movie—the Iron Monger!

Main mission started!

Iron Man Rises: Protect Iron Man Tony Stark and eliminate Iron Monger Obadiah Stane.

No one had expected Athena's voice to ring out just as the Iron Monger appeared. Ever since the Skull Gang mission ended, William hadn't triggered another main mission—until today.

Protect Iron Man and eliminate Iron Monger. A tough fight was about to begin!