I Am Iron Man

Obadiah was prepared to die.

What was the difference between a disgraced capitalist and a dead one?

Rather than go to prison in chains, he might as well make one last spectacular gamble!

Watching Destiny accelerate toward him, a cruel smile appeared on his face.

"Still daring to come at me!? Just what I wanted!"

Obadiah forced Iron Monger's two massive arms into motion, intending to lock Su Ming tightly in place the instant he came close.

Then he would meet God together with this detestable bastard.

As Su Ming's exaggerated expression grew larger before his eyes, Obadiah had already swung his arms around behind him.

"Ah da~~~!"

"Boom!~ Crack~"

It was as if he had been hit head-on by a train. The steel armor shattered instantly, and Obadiah clearly heard the crisp sound of his own bones breaking inside.

Though his hands still steadfastly carried out their mission of grabbing Su Ming, the mech's joints had already snapped and could no longer provide him with any enhancement.

In that lightning-fast instant, Su Ming's feet planted squarely against Iron Monger's chest.

In his daze, Obadiah seemed to hear him shout something. Ah da?

With his mind blank, Obadiah had only one thought.

What does ah da mean? Why did he yell it with so much enthusiasm? Is he crazy...

Obadiah spat blood, turning into a meteor alongside his ruined mech as he plunged directly toward the enormous energy reactor at the center of the Stark workshop.

Ironically, this reactor had been specially developed by Obadiah to provide Iron Monger with power.

Yet they had been unable to shrink it down to a size that could fit inside the mech's chest.

"Crackle, crackle, crackle~"

The reactor became exceptionally violent as the foreign object entered it.

Huge arcs of electricity continuously destroyed the various facilities throughout the laboratory.

Obadiah's aging body instantly turned to dust in the torrent of energy, while the Mark 2 reactor reached the critical point of collapse.

"Hum~"

A flash of white light turned all of New York as bright as day.

Then, a mushroom cloud billowed into the sky, and the massive shockwave violently swept everything it touched outward, destroying all in its path.

The Stark workshop complex was leveled in less than a minute.

A minute earlier, Tony had been watching with great interest as Obadiah was mercilessly crushed.

Little did he know that he was standing on the roof of the building housing that massive reactor...

When he saw the shattered Iron Monger plunge into the reactor at terrifying speed.

Tony's ass clenched.

"Holy shit...!"

Before long, he became a lump of metal ricocheting everywhere inside the shockwave.

Even with armor protecting him, there was still very little he could do.

Tony could only shut his faceplate tight, protect his unarmored hands, curl into a ball, and let the shockwave fling him through the air and slam him into the ground...

New York had another major news story.

No one could ignore the white light that had illuminated the sky the night before, much less the enormous explosion that followed.

"Is it the end of the world?"—That was the fantasy crowd.

"Has war begun?"—That was the warlike crowd.

Most ordinary people, however, reacted like this.

"Son of a beach~! New York gets earthquakes?"

In any case, the massive explosion at the Stark workshop once again pushed Tony Stark into the center of public attention.

Meanwhile, Tony lay in bed wrapped from head to toe in bandages.

He had multiple fractures, varying degrees of soft tissue damage all over his body, and countless wounds covering him from head to toe.

Those injuries had not primarily come from his battle with Iron Monger, but rather from being caught in the explosion.

Now reduced to a wheezing mummy, Tony Stark could only move his eyes.

He stared blankly at Su Ming before speaking in a resentful tone.

"Mr. Silver Duke, thank you. The money will arrive shortly..."

Pepper, standing nearby, could not help saying,

"But Tony, the Stark workshop complex has been destroyed..."

Tony could only offer a bitter smile in response.

That was right. Two hundred million was merely a drop in the bucket compared with the entire Stark Industries workshop complex.

But if Su Ming had not acted in time, Tony probably would not have made it through this either.

After all, he had once considered using the reactor to kill Obadiah himself.

This outcome did not seem all that wrong.

It was just money, wasn't it~

When Su Ming saw that the explosion was too large and that Tony, who was close to the center, might die on the spot, he suddenly remembered that his bill had not been settled yet.

"That won't do!"

He activated his enhanced vision and searched desperately for Tony.

He finally spotted a metal-glinting foot amid the ruins, then carried Tony back to Stark Tower.

Tony had been lucky. Su Ming's eyesight was far beyond that of any search-and-rescue worker.

If it had been someone else, Tony could not possibly have received treatment so quickly.

Before Pepper arrived, Su Ming took a shower at Tony's place, changed into a new suit of Tony's, and threw away the rag strips that his original outfit had become.

Hearing their conversation, he shrugged indifferently.

"Tony, we agreed on two hundred million. I'll give you a one-percent discount, so that's 198,000,000 dollars. You know the account number. I'm off~"

That was right. The reason Su Ming had personally waited to see Tony receive treatment was that he was afraid Tony might die and leave no one to pay him.

After receiving Tony's promise, Su Ming left at ease...

Once Pepper learned that Tony had been rescued and was no longer in mortal danger, the resentment in her heart took over once more.

"Tony, what is this two hundred million about? The complex has been destroyed, and our cash flow is in danger of breaking. At a time like this, you're telling me you still owe someone two hundred million?"

"Potts, listen to my explanation..."

Manhattan Hotel.

When Su Ming woke up, it was already the following afternoon.

He casually draped on a bathrobe, ate the lavish breakfast Alisha had delivered, and turned on the television.

The overwhelming coverage all revolved around the previous night's incident.

"Hello, viewers.

I'm sure you are all deeply concerned about the explosion at the Stark complex last night.

Please watch the full report..."

The television replayed footage of Tony, wearing the Iron Man armor, fighting Iron Monger. It even showed every frame of Tony saving a car full of children.

This sent New York's citizens into a frenzy once more.

Because their city had gained another superhero—Iron Man.

The media were professionals when it came to hype.

The surveillance footage essentially told everyone that even when Iron Man was outmatched, he had still fought desperately to protect their lives.

Although Spider-Man and the Crimson Silver Baron had previously drawn everyone's attention, the suddenly appearing Iron Man fulfilled every tech geek's desire for powered armor.

Calls for Iron Man soared among the public, and his popularity grew rapidly. He had clearly become the most talked-about figure after the Crimson Silver Baron.

That was right. After all, the Crimson Silver Baron only covered half his face, and he was ridiculously handsome.

By comparison, Iron Man was handsome too, but not quite to the taste of the majority of women...

In the superhero popularity rankings, Su Ming remained firmly in first place.

One week later.

Stark Industries press conference.

James Rhodey, dressed in a crisp Air Force uniform, stood before the microphone delivering a report on the industrial accident at Stark.

"According to unconfirmed reports, a prototype robot malfunctioned and severely damaged the reactor. Fortunately..."

As the television played the official explanation, Pepper straightened Tony's tie and tore off the last bandage from his nose.

At that moment, Agent Phil handed Tony an alibi.

"You were on a yacht. We have harbor records proving that you spent the entire night on Avalon, along with statements from fifty of your guests..."

To protect Tony, S.H.I.E.L.D. opposed him revealing his identity publicly.

Not only had they prepared an alibi for Tony, they had also arranged Obadiah's whereabouts perfectly.

Holding S.H.I.E.L.D.'s prepared statement, Tony Stark stepped onto the podium.

He looked at the densely packed reporters below and the countless cameras that resembled a forest of guns.

When he tried to make the media believe that Iron Man was merely a bodyguard wearing armor, Christine Elliott, a reporter who knew Tony well, raised a question.

"I'm not cut out to be a hero..."

Rhodey sensed something was wrong and quietly reminded Tony to read from the script.

"Oh, right, okay..."

Facing the reporters and media again, a glimmer appeared in Tony's eyes.

"Actually... I am—Iron Man."

The audience instantly erupted...