Stark's New Armor

The dark-skinned Nick Fury, after a series of maneuvers, arranged for Level 7 Agent Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, to stay by Little Pepper's side.

It wasn't that he didn't want to assign someone to Stark's side, but the playboy had been holed up at home recently, tinkering with who knows what, and there was no opportunity to get close to him, so this was the best he could do for now.

As for Alexander Pierce, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and one of Hydra's leaders, upon learning of Nick Fury's actions, he decided not to do anything superfluous. After all, Fury would share any intelligence he uncovered, so why bother expending extra effort?

Unaware that he was being watched, Tony Stark was at home upgrading his Iron Man suit.

To be precise, he was replacing it with a new one.

The Mark III's first priority was to solve the high-altitude freezing problem, which wasn't difficult for Stark.

Next was the firepower issue, which was also not a problem for the former arms dealer, Tony Stark.

Then came the problem of the filtering noise that made his head buzz. Stark first had J.A.R.V.I.S. add a layer of soundproofing cotton inside the suit. After calculations, it was still likely to be noisy, so as a precaution, he added another layer of shock-absorbing cushioning material.

However, the addition of these two layers made the Mark III appear much bulkier. Although not as cumbersome as the Mark I, it was still quite large. If only added to the helmet, it would result in a strange, oversized head.

"Hmm... this is a bit different from what I imagined..."

Compared to this bulky design, Tony Stark preferred the Mark II's sleek, form-fitting style.

After much consideration, Stark decided to remove the relatively thick soundproofing cotton and develop a separate Anti-Brat Armor later, incorporating the soundproofing design then.

"Sir, I think you could try Vibranium."

J.A.R.V.I.S. suddenly chimed in.

"Oh! Right!"

Stark smacked his forehead. He had forgotten about Wakanda. Although Vibranium was expensive, it was nothing to Tony Stark.

"Do we have any in stock?"

"You bought some for experiments before and there's a little left," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied matter-of-factly. "It's not enough to make the entire Iron Man suit, but I think you could incorporate it into the helmet, sir."

"Just buy him another ton or two. We'll talk if it's not enough."

The rich Tony Stark waved his hand grandly, happily asking J.A.R.V.I.S. to place the order.

"Apologies, sir, Vibranium from Wakanda is sold in limited quantities. However, it can be purchased from smugglers, but the quantity is currently uncertain."

"Then buy as much as you can, whatever that may be."

Stark didn't mind. As long as it was enough to build his suit, that was fine.

As for the Mark III, Vibranium could only be incorporated into some of the more critical parts. The rest would have to be made of titanium alloy. Stark planned to start on the Mark IV once the new Vibranium arrived.

He, Tony Stark, was not short on money.

The design continued.

The next issue to address was close-quarters combat. Tony Stark not only uploaded a wealth of martial arts data into the Mark III but also equipped its limbs with miniature thrusters whose angles could be finely adjusted to increase the power of each movement.

"Let's add an electric shock device!"

Thinking of the peculiar power accompanying Botai-kun's soft punches, Tony Stark snapped his fingers and said to J.A.R.V.I.S.

Finally, it was time to paint the suit. The "low-key" Tony Stark drew inspiration from his classic car and chose a "simple" red and gold color scheme for the Mark III.

"Alright, this should take about five hours."

Once the design was complete, J.A.R.V.I.S. provided the manufacturing time. It was then that Stark saw a report on television about a party he was hosting, but of which he had no knowledge.

Hearing the reporter on TV say, "No one expects him to show up."

Stark decided to make a last-minute appearance at the party, the circumstances of which he was unaware.

However, when he excitedly arrived at the party, he received news that annoyed him – Stark Industries was still selling weapons, and the buyer was the same group of terrorists who had attacked him in the Middle East.

Returning to his mansion, Stark decided to put on the Mark III and personally head to the Middle East to eliminate those terrorists.

"Kraft, Stark's out again."

After beating up Tony Stark, Kraft had set up special monitoring for his tin man. So, the moment the Iron Man suit appeared over New York, Angela reported it to Kraft.

"Hoo... hoo... Wh-what's going on?"

Kraft, who was in the middle of his training routine, confined in the Break the Cauldrons and Sink the Boats Treadmill, asked breathlessly.

"Can't confirm for now," Angela switched to the radar screen and projected it onto the wall in front of Kraft. "Preliminary estimate, his target should be Gemila Town in the Middle East."

As Angela spoke, she played recent news reports about Gemila Town for Kraft.

"So... he's going to... pant... fight ter-ror-ists..."

Kraft was out of breath, leaning on the cage bars with his hands, drenched in sweat.

"By the way, Angela, can you... can you turn this thing off for me first... pant... I'll make up for it later..."

"Sorry, Kraft, your treadmill isn't connected to the internet, so I can't control it. Also, you only have four minutes and thirty-seven seconds left."

Kraft: "Damn it!"

I must have lost my mind to have created such a inhumane treadmill!

Four minutes later, an exhausted Kraft crawled out of the Break the Cauldrons and Sink the Boats Treadmill.

"Replenish energy, replenish energy."

Haro thoughtfully held out a can of energy drink and ran over to him.

After resting on the ground for a while, Kraft got up. While drinking the energy drink Haro had brought him, he slowly paced around the laboratory.

"Where is Stark now?"

"The target has already left American territory," Angela switched the radar screen back on. A small light spot was moving towards the Mediterranean Sea at a visible speed. "If our calculations are correct, he should reach his destination in about 3 hours."

"He's quite fast."

Kraft took a swig of the energy drink. When he fought Stark before, he hadn't shown this kind of speed. But then again, with Stark's arrogant personality, running away wasn't his style.

"So, is he planning to get revenge on those who kidnapped him?"

Kraft didn't think Tony Stark would be wearing his Iron Man suit and flying to the Middle East late at night to introduce new equipment to those so-called freedom fighters or to provide after-sales service...

No, maybe this could be considered after-sales service?

After all, they were "online friends" who had arranged to fight. Kraft raised the energy drink in his hand towards the small light spot on the screen.

"I wish you good luck in your battles."