Iron Man and the Shadow Lord

After waiting for a while, Obadiah opened the armor and slowly walked out.

"What happened to him?" Tony landed directly beside Lu Qi and watched Obadiah walk out. "Did you hypnotize him?"

"I don't have that kind of free time. Just watch and you'll understand," Lu Qi said with a smile.

A ninja blade was held against Obadiah's neck. As Obadiah slowly moved forward, the blade moved with him. When Obadiah had completely stepped out of Iron Monger, a Ninja Soldier fully emerged from the shadows.

"Your men really do come and go like ghosts," Tony said, lowering his hands in relief.

Lu Qi shrugged. "Can't help it. They're just that reliable. So, how should we deal with Obadiah?"

"How about letting us handle him?" Coulson asked as he walked over.

"Who are you people?" Tony frowned at the suited men. "Why should we hand Obadiah over to you?"

Coulson pulled out his credentials. "We are personnel from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. The man beside you is our security consultant."

Tony looked at Lu Qi. He really had said before that he was with that whatever-division.

But Lu Qi gave him a look. "Don't worry. As a security consultant, I'm basically a mercenary. I'm not really one of them."

Coulson's expression changed when Lu Qi so bluntly undercut him, but he continued, "In fact, we are a government agency specializing in the handling of unconventional incidents like this."

But with Lu Qi's assurance, Tony said dismissively, "I thought this was supposed to be FIB jurisdiction."

Looking at Iron Monger behind Obadiah, Tony turned and asked, "I don't mind handing Obadiah over to you, as long as he never appears before me again. But you want to take this armor too?"

"Of course." Coulson smiled with narrowed eyes.

"That won't do." Tony's expression turned serious. "This armor has suffered irreversible damage. Moving it carelessly could cause an explosion! I can't let you take him away just like that."

Tony stepped forward, retrieved his arc reactor, and only then turned back. "There, I've eliminated that hazard. You can take the armor now. No need to thank me."

After taking a rough look at the structure of the suit, Tony could tell that it had been developed from the armor he had abandoned in the desert. The technology wasn't all that impressive. As long as he took the most crucial arc reactor, he didn't care what they did with it.

Besides, with the arc reactor removed, that whatever-division probably wouldn't even be able to activate the armor. Giving it to them was no big deal.

Coulson and the others didn't know any of that. From their perspective, as long as they brought back the armor and its owner, S.H.I.E.L.D. could reverse-engineer it and reproduce more Iron Monger armor.

They had all witnessed the armor's power just now. If they could reverse-engineer it, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s strength would rise by several levels immediately!

As the agents called in a tow truck to haul away Obadiah and Iron Monger, Tony found a box and put away the arc reactor.

At that moment, Rhodey, who had been watching the show the whole time, ran over as well.

Looking at the armor on Tony's body, Rhodey said incredulously, "This is the car you were driving around a while ago?"

Tony looked at Rhodey and struck several poses in the armor. "So? Not bad for a new ride, right?"

"Impressive. How much for one?" Rhodey asked with a smile.

"This suit costs over a hundred million dollars. It's much more expensive than your F-22s," Tony said smugly.

"Really expensive. But this armor is indeed powerful. Maybe I can convince the Department of Defense to buy a few," Rhodey said with a nod. As a weapons procurement officer for the Department of Defense, his professional instincts had kicked in.

"No, no, no." Tony hurriedly refused. "Stark Industries has shut down its weapons division. We won't sell weapons anymore!"

"Are you sure?" Rhodey frowned. "Those people won't tolerate a non-arms company possessing a weapon like this. Besides, if Stark Industries isn't selling weapons, then what are you selling?"

Tony said firmly, "I will never sell weapons again, and I won't let anyone take my armor from me! If they come to seize it, believe me, I'll just leave the country!"

"As for Stark Industries' future main business, I think it'll be this." Tony displayed the arc reactor in his hand to Rhodey, whose dark face was immediately lit blue by its glow.

"That's not bad," Lu Qi said with a nod. "As long as you don't start selling hamburgers."

"No, I can sell energy and hamburgers at the same time," Tony said with a smile.

Early the next morning, Lu Qi got out of bed and used a portal to arrive in a restroom at Stark Industries. When he walked out, he saw that the lobby was full of reporters, while Tony, dressed in a suit, was stepping onto the stage.

Lu Qi smiled. His timing was perfect. He had no intention of fighting the reporters for a spot, so he greeted Happy, the bodyguard, and sat directly in front of the stage. Under the astonished gazes of the other reporters carrying their cameras, he took out his portable camera.

Tony, who had not been particularly enthusiastic, immediately perked up when he saw Lu Qi. Seeing Lu Qi pat the camera in his hand, Tony shook his head helplessly and began the day's press conference.

As Tony rambled on and denied having been involved in last night's incident, the female reporter who had once spent the night with him raised her hand. "Excuse me, Mr. Tony Stark, do you really think we'll believe that your two bodyguards just happened to show up and stop the rampaging robot at Stark Industries?"

"I know what you mean," Tony cut her off.

"There's nothing wrong with questioning the official statement, but you shouldn't make wild guesses either, calling me some kind of superhero—"

"I never said you were a superhero," the female reporter said with a smile. Seeing Tony laugh, she knew he had fallen right into her trap.

Tony froze for a moment, then tried to argue, "That's good, then. If that were the case, it'd be absurd. Way too ridiculous."

Tony lowered his head. "I... I'm not superhero material, because obviously I have too many character flaws and have done plenty of bad things that left a terrible impression."

Rhodey leaned over from the side, reminding Tony to read from the note, but Tony spotted Lu Qi crouching in front of the stage.

Lu Qi smiled back at him and raised the camera in his hand.

Tony nodded, glanced at the note in his hand, and froze for a moment. He looked at Lu Qi, then met his gaze and raised his head.

"I am Iron Man."

Lu Qi captured that historic moment, looking at Tony's determined expression above him. Behind him, countless reporters instantly rose to their feet, trying to squeeze forward to question Tony.

Lu Qi smiled, took two more pictures, and prepared to leave, but the female reporter from before asked another question. "Then what about the man with you? Is he your bodyguard?"

Lu Qi froze, a bad feeling rising within him. When he looked up, he saw a mischievous expression on Tony's face.

"Of course not. He isn't my bodyguard. You can think of him as my sidekick. He's also a superhero, but sorry, I can't reveal his name. And I'm delighted to introduce him to all of you here—Shadow Lord!"

The excitement at the scene grew even more intense. Tony grinned at Lu Qi, then calmly left under the protection of the bodyguards.