Malibu Beach, late at night.
A black sedan with military plates sped like an arrow from a bow, screeching to a halt in front of the Stark mansion, its tires screaming against the pavement.
Colonel James Rhodes pushed open the car door and rushed toward the entrance, bringing a chill with him. His face was so grim it looked like it could drip water, his brow furrowed with unshakeable worry.
Tony's resolute tone on the phone had stuck in his heart like a poisonous thorn. That wasn't a request for a friend's help; it was a straightforward arrangement for his final affairs.
He knew Tony Stark all too well. The more desperate the situation, the more frivolous and dissolute he appeared on the surface. When he completely discarded that layer of disguise, it meant things had escalated beyond anyone's control.
To protect Pepper? No, that was just Tony's way of ensuring he had no lingering concerns so he could rush toward death with a bit more peace of mind. Rhodes knew perfectly well that the true eye of the storm could only be here with Tony himself.
"Sir, Mr. Stark is currently in the underground workshop. He has ordered that no one be allowed to disturb him," Jarvis's cold electronic voice emanated from the wall speakers, devoid of any emotion.
Rhodes ignored it, directly using his own access privileges to override the security system and open the passage to the workshop.
Piercing alarms instantly echoed frantically through the corridor, red lights flashing alternately, but Rhodes didn't care at all.
As the heavy alloy doors slid open, a blast of hot air mixed with the scent of burning metal and ozone hit him.
Massive robotic arms danced rapidly around Tony, welding torches spitting blinding white light as they crudely welded thick, temporary armor plates onto the red-and-gold mark iii armor. Unlike its previously sleek and magnificent appearance, the mark iii now looked bloated and sinister, exuding a style of practical combat at any cost.
Tony stood before the workbench, staring intently as a robotic arm attached an extremely bizarre mount to the armor's right arm.
It was a ruggedly styled one-handed war hammer, crafted entirely from a dark gray tungsten steel alloy. The hammerhead was massive, filled with an unreasonable aesthetic of violence.
He was adding the most primitive melee capabilities to the suit and manually modifying the arm's mechanical aiming system.
Tony didn't know any fighting techniques, but this armor could grant him unparalleled strength. He knew very well that in the face of that Probability Mist which could interfere with precision electronic tracking, all those fancy locking systems would become a pile of junk. In the end, the only thing he could rely on was raw power.
As long as he could land a hit, one strike from the hammer would turn whatever it was into a pile of scrap metal.
He didn't dare gamble on Obadiah not discovering the true effect of that whispering leech ash. If the other party really used that stuff on the iron monger, the accuracy of all his long-range attacks would infinitely approach zero.
"I hope... I won't have to use this thing," Tony muttered to himself, looking at the sinister war hammer.
"Tony!"
Rhodes's roar interrupted his thoughts.
Tony whipped his head around. Seeing the uninvited Rhodes, the focus on his face was instantly replaced by towering rage.
"What are you doing here?" he bellowed. "Didn't I tell you to go protect Pepper?"
"Protect Pepper? And leave you here to wait for death alone?" Rhodes was also furious, stepping up to him and pointing at the mark iii, which had clearly undergone combat modifications. "What exactly are you trying to do? What did that phone call mean? Giving your last words?"
"My business is none of your concern!" Tony's anger was almost overflowing. Within this rage was more of a lash-out at his own helplessness and an extreme fear for Pepper's safety. "You should be by Pepper's side right now, not wasting time here with me!"
"I..."
Rhodes was choked up by his shouting, and then his tone softened. He knew Tony was just scared.
"Listen, Tony, whatever you're facing, we do it together."
Tony looked at Rhodes, the fire in his eyes slowly dying out, replaced by deep exhaustion. He shook his head, grabbed his phone from the table, and immediately dialed Pepper's number.
Regardless, he had to confirm Pepper's safety first.
The phone rang a few times before being picked up.
"Tony?" Pepper's slightly surprised voice came from the other end.
"Pepper, where are you right now? Are you safe?" Tony's tone was as rapid as a machine gun.
"I'm... I'm at the office. I'm safe." Pepper's voice sounded a bit strange. She paused and added, "Consultant Lin told me to stay at the reactor center. He said I could help you here."
Lin Huai? Pepper was with him? Hearing that name, the heart hanging in Tony's chest felt inexplicably halfway settled, but the thought only flashed by. He breathed a sigh of relief, just about to say more.
"Ah—!"
A sharp scream suddenly came through the receiver, piercing his eardrums!
Immediately following was the loud crash of shattering glass and the panicked screams of a crowd!
"Pepper? Pepper!" Tony's heart was instantly seized by an invisible hand, and he shouted frantically into the phone.
"Tony, a giant Robot flew to Stark Tower, what is that—" the voice on the other end said.
"Jarvis!" Almost at the same time, all the screens in the underground R&D center automatically switched to the external surveillance view of the Stark Tower rooftop.
Under the cover of night, a massive and sinister steel giant landed on the roof of Stark Tower like a Devil. That burly figure was exactly the iron monger that Obadiah had hidden in the shadows!
He ripped away the communication antenna on the roof and then let out a deafening roar toward the sky. His venomous voice spread across the Manhattan sky through an amplification device.
"Tony Stark!"
"I've dedicated my life to Stark Industries! And you, just like your father, enjoy everything with a clear conscience!"
"You could have safely remained a genius, an inventor!"
"This is your own doing! Tonight, I will use your invention, your things, to bury you here with my own hands!"
Tony stared fixedly at the massive figure on the screen. The blue light of the arc reactor in his chest flared brightly, and the shock and fear in his eyes quickly solidified into cold killing intent.
Without a second thought, he immediately turned and shouted at Rhodes, "Make the call! Mobilize everyone you can and get to Stark Tower to protect Pepper! Now!"
"Pepper, stay right there. Rhodes is sending people over immediately," he said, then hung up the phone.
He stroded toward the mark iii's donning station.
"Jarvis, initiate emergency donning protocol!"
The surrounding robotic arms responded instantly, and the red-and-gold armor plates snapped shut with the cold sound of metal clashing.
"Good luck, sir."
"Clack!"
The faceplate closed, and a deep blue stream of data lit up on his retinas, isolating all emotion.
In the next second, the mansion's glass dome exploded, and a red-and-gold stream of light soared into the sky in a posture that tore through everything. Its afterburners carved a furious trail across the night sky, lunging toward Stark Tower, where the storm had already arrived.
The great battle was on the verge of breaking out.