Genius meant nothing more than seeing Tony's threshold. That had never been an empty saying. Even the Mark One, which Tony had considered junk and abandoned in the deserts of the Middle East, was practically incomprehensible to the experts working for Obadiah.
All they could do was repair and refine Tony's technology as best they could. At most, they could replace the original parts with better materials and components.
As for any actual changes, aside from adding a few external weapons, there was basically nothing. They had even somehow managed to enlarge the armor, which had originally been about the size of a person, until it was as big as the Hulk.
Bulky and slow were the defining traits of the mecha these people had modified. If there was any redeeming quality to speak of, it was probably the defense they had accidentally created by piling on materials without restraint.
Yet that wasn't even the most despairing part. What they found most hopeless was that they still couldn't solve the power problem.
Tony's Arc Reactor might only have been a scaled-down version of the standard model, but even with Obadiah handing them the Arc Reactor's blueprints, these people still couldn't shrink it.
At the same time, Tony had finished test-flying his armor. After discovering the icing problem, he made improvements, and the finished Mark Two soon appeared in his garage.
To test the Mark Two's capabilities, Tony flew to the Middle East for a real-world trial. While he was there, he also paid Yinsen a visit.
Of course, the part where he was chased by fighter jets like a stray dog wasn't skipped either. Afterward, Rhodes called to chew Tony out and made him pay for two brand-new F-35s.
Naturally, all the commotion caught the attention of the people at the top. Pepper noticed it too.
Seeing Tony standing on the workbench in his iron armor, with mechanical arms helping him remove it, Pepper finally learned what he had been working on lately.
Pepper was furious and gave Tony a thorough scolding.
After all, all she wanted was for things to be safe and stable, and Tony's attempt to play the hero had worried her.
In the end, though, Pepper let Tony off after hearing him out. Just as Tony said, he wore the armor to shoulder his responsibilities, and that didn't conflict with giving Pepper a sense of security.
Their relationship warmed up again at that moment. The only one who was exceptionally curious about Tony's armor was Doro. As soon as Tony took it off, Doro climbed straight into the empty suit and scurried around inside.
As a result, the armor, which had been imposing and powerful, ended up performing a bizarre dance in front of Tony and Pepper because Doro was crawling around inside it.
Pepper laughed so hard she could barely breathe. After all, she had just watched Tony take the armor off, and then the suit that had only just returned from the battlefield started doing a strange, ridiculous dance. Who could have kept a straight face?
Tony, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Pepper. Watching Doro turn his armor into a joke by messing around inside it, he said to JARVIS with a dark expression,
"JARVIS, have the mechanical arms restrain the armor. And make a note: the next suit needs an authentication system. If anyone other than me tries to operate it, lock it down!"
"Yes, sir."
JARVIS responded and had the mechanical arms try to restrain the dancing armor. Yet, somehow, there was a hint of schadenfreude in his usually cold, emotionless mechanical voice.
That only made Pepper laugh even harder.
After a bit more fooling around, Pepper finally stepped in and got Doro to stop causing trouble. She then took Doro off to bathe and rest.
Just after Pepper left, a pink door appeared in front of Tony. Tony naturally knew whose door it was; Pepper had an identical one.
Sure enough, the next moment, Sherlock stepped out through the doorway.
"What brings you back?"
The moment he saw Sherlock, Tony asked him in a somewhat stiff tone.
Hearing Tony's question, Sherlock felt a little exasperated. It was obvious that this tsundere was still hung up on their argument over Obadiah last time.
The key point was, damn it, you'd already taken action against Obadiah yourself. Why were you still pretending otherwise with me?
At Tony's words, Sherlock rolled his eyes nearly to the ceiling. He tossed the things he had gathered into Tony's arms, telling him to look them over himself, then went to inspect the completed Mark Two.
Honestly, the Mark Armor had looked incredibly cool in the movie. But seeing it with his own eyes only made Sherlock like it even more, and he couldn't help getting excited at the prospect of owning one.
His desire to add it to his collection was practically itching to break free.
The more Tony read through the documents, the deeper his frown grew. When he happened to look up and saw Sherlock drooling over his armor, he immediately grumbled at him,
"Stop staring at my armor! If you like it, I can give you the prototype!"
Hearing this, Sherlock promptly turned to Tony, his eyes sparkling.
"Deal!"
At Sherlock's reply, Tony could only shake his head helplessly. He turned his attention back to the documents in his hands. A while later, he closed the file and asked Sherlock,
"Sherlock, can you guarantee that these documents are authentic?"
Sherlock nodded without the slightest hesitation and replied,
"Of course. The facts prove that Obadiah was the one who murdered my parents! Tony, out of consideration for you, I haven't gone after Obadiah yet.
"But if Obadiah disregards your friendship and makes a move against you, I'll kill him without hesitation. I hope you won't stand in my way when that happens!"
Hearing this, Tony fell silent, unsure what to say.
Seeing Tony like this, Sherlock didn't seem to mind. He simply tossed him a button-like device and said,
"A distress beacon. You'd better keep it with you."
The distress beacon seemed to distract Tony from the subject of Obadiah. He skipped right over it, put on a haughty expression, and pointed at the armor behind Sherlock.
"You think I'll ever need this thing?"
Faced with Tony's question, Sherlock merely glanced at him before heading upstairs to check on Doro. As for Tony's retort, Sherlock answered casually, as if it were an afterthought.
"Who knows? I have a feeling Obadiah's going to make a move against you soon."
As Sherlock's voice faded, he disappeared from the underground garage, leaving Tony alone, staring at the distress beacon in his hand, unsure what to say.
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