Stark Industries Building.
Tony Stark's personal lab.
After several straight days of high-intensity work, Tony rubbed his reddened eyes and poured himself a glass of red wine.
Ever since he had witnessed Hiss's power that day, every bit of insecurity in his heart had surged up.
He needed to build stronger armor to protect himself—and not just himself, but Pepper, Anya, and even more people he knew.
For that, he had canceled a lot of appointments, gone without sleep, and thrown himself headfirst into the lab.
As the saying went, pressure created motivation. In just one short week, Tony had built the Mark VII Armor.
It was unlike any previous version of the armor. It was heavy armor designed specifically for combat.
Its deployment method was based on the Mark V Suitcase Armor, but it could complete deployment without any external mechanical assistance.
When not in use, the Mark VII Armor could fold into a red flight pod resembling a suitcase.
When Tony ordered JARVIS to activate it, it could fly automatically, then scan the encrypted information on the metal bracelet being worn to confirm the user's identity and activate the armor deployment program, beginning from the metal bracelet and covering the entire body.
As the first heavy armor, both its defenses and firepower deployment had risen by a level, but this suit of armor still could not satisfy Tony.
Because Tony knew that with this suit's performance, there was no way it could stand against an enemy like Hiss!
Knock knock.
"Tony, you've been in here for a week now. Our business partners and the shareholders are all very worried about your health."
Holding their daughter Anya, Pepper knocked on the door and walked in from outside.
"But I know... you definitely won't listen to any of that, right?"