That evening, at Stark Industries, the large Arc Reactor hummed.
Several black sedans followed a silver sports car, stopping at the main entrance.
Pepper Potts agilely pushed open the car door, while on the other side, Agent Coulson also stepped out, dressed in a black suit.
Behind them, Agents in black suits emerged from a line of black sedans, silently following the two.
The enormous Arc Reactor glowed with a faint blue light, but Pepper had no time to notice.
Her eyes were filled with anxiety as she walked quickly, muttering repeatedly, "Sector 16... Sector 16."
Luckily, after turning left and walking for a bit, a heavy metal door appeared, with the number 16 painted in yellow, standing out clearly.
"Found it," Pepper breathed a sigh of relief, quickly pulling out her access card from her pocket and swiping it across the card reader by the door.
But after swiping the card and waiting for a moment, the door remained motionless.
She frowned and tried again, but still, there was no response.
Pepper looked back at Coulson, her voice tinged with helplessness: "My key isn't working; it won't open the door."
Coulson said nothing, merely raising his hand silently.
The other Agents, with practiced synchronicity, handed him a small device.
Looking at the device, which was not much bigger than a button, Pepper Potts' eyes lit up slightly, and she couldn't help but ask, "Ah, can this unlock it?"
Coulson nodded expressionlessly, gently advising, "You'd best step back a few paces."
As he spoke, he fixed the small device in his hand onto the door lock.
Realizing that the object might explode, Pepper's face instantly turned pale.
She turned and scurried away on her high heels, even covering her ears with her hands.
The other Agents also turned their backs to the door of Sector 16.
"Boom!" A muffled sound broke the silence. Amazingly, the lock was blown open by the explosion, but the heavy metal door only trembled slightly, slowly opening.
It must be said, it was a precise directional blast.
Meanwhile, inside Sector 16, Obadiah was leaning over, adjusting the control console in front of him.
Suddenly, the muffled thud from a distance made his fingers freeze.
That sound... it came from the direction of the entrance.
He abruptly turned his head, his previously composed face clouded with anger, a flicker of panic in his eyes, which was immediately replaced by ruthlessness.
He pressed the enter key without hesitation, and the large battle suit not far behind him suddenly lit up with dazzling blue and white lights, metal components unfolding with a roar, and a gust of air rising as the hatch slowly opened... On the other side, at Tony's Villa.
At this moment, Tony was also putting on his battle suit piece by piece.
This process was almost fully automated, so he wasn't focusing on it. Instead, he began to recall a question he hadn't figured out earlier.
If he remembered correctly, after he dropped the first-generation reactor on the ground, he completely lost consciousness and fell into a coma.
When Rhodes woke him up, he was surprised to find that an Arc Reactor had already been installed in his chest.
Did he... remember wrong?
Bright work lights made the red and gold battle suit shine brilliantly. Rhodes stood by, taking off his sunglasses, his eyes wide, fixed on the smooth lines and shimmering energy patterns on the suit. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, his face filled with shock and excitement: "This is truly the coolest thing I've ever seen!"
Tony tilted his head slightly, his gaze somewhat unfocused, and he said with some distraction, "Not bad, right?"
After he said this, the entire battle suit was equipped, except for the face mask, which had not yet been lowered.
Tony took two steps and came to a damaged antique car.
This was caused by misjudging the weight when test-flying the Mark II.
It crashed directly from his Villa's roof into the Underground Room!
"Let's do this," Tony extended his hand, his palm repulsor charging slightly.
With a roar, a powerful burst of energy instantly blew away the damaged sports car next to him.
The car body moved sideways, hitting the distant wall with a loud crash, raising a cloud of dust.
Iron Man stood steadily beneath the hole he had previously created, and began charging his leg repulsors.
"Do you need me to do anything else?" Rhodes stood beside the battle suit, his gaze fixed on Tony, his face full of eagerness.
Tony didn't answer immediately. Instead, he raised his hand and closed his face mask, the sound of metal components interlocking crisp and clean: "Don't let anyone mess things up in the sky." His voice came from inside the mask, carrying a somewhat mechanical quality.
Just as he was about to activate the thrusters for takeoff, Tony's movements suddenly froze.
On the heads-up display inside his helmet, a strange image was particularly striking.
In the corner of the workshop, there was a completely White object with pale purple eyes that seemed to flicker with life. On its chest, a pale purple hourglass symbol emitted a faint glow. Its overall shape was peculiar, like a metal earbud doll.
When did he make something like this?
Tony stared at the mysterious doll displayed inside his helmet, his brows furrowed tightly. He subconsciously shook his head, temporarily pushing the confusion to the back of his mind.
He took a deep breath, quickly supplied power to the battle suit's limbs, and the thrusters instantly erupted with blazing flames. In less than five seconds, he shot out like an arrow from a bowstring through the hole he had previously crashed through, leaving a scorching trail of airflow behind him.
"Holy cow!" Rhodes' mouth hung open, his face filled with shock as he watched the astonishing scene, an exclamation of awe unconsciously escaping his lips.
When he slowly turned his head, his gaze fell upon the silver-white Mark II battle suit in the corner, his eyes instantly captivated, filled with longing, unable to tear his gaze away for a long time.
After a good while, Rhodes seemed to snap out of it, pursing his lips helplessly. He forcibly pulled his gaze away from the Mark II, sighed softly, and murmured to himself, "Next time, baby."
...Sector 16, Underground Room.
The faint blue emergency lights shone on the cooling Water, reflecting off the metal walls and casting eerie shadows. The air was filled with the pungent smell of oil and burning.
Pepper followed the Agents, cautiously exploring the area.
"Officer!" An Agent suddenly lowered his voice, his flashlight beam focused on a metal battle suit in the corner.
This was the suit Tony wore when he escaped Afghanistan. Seeing this suit, Agent Coulson finally fully believed Pepper's account.
"It seems you were right; he was building a battle suit."
And Pepper, looking at the Mark I, which resembled the design she had initially seen, said with a strange tone, "I thought it would be bigger..."
Before she could finish, a strange noise suddenly reached her ears.
Pepper looked in the direction of the sound, only to see exposed wires on a display rack not far away, twisting and twitching like snakes, electric sparks crackling. The display stand, which should have held items, was now empty, leaving only a circle of eerie charred Marks, as if some behemoth had just broken free.
To search for Obadiah, who should have been there, the Agents quickly began a thorough investigation of the area.
Pepper also searched for traces alone not far away.
Just then, for some unknown reason, the chains beside her suddenly clanged together, making a crisp sound.
Pepper was drawn by the sudden sound and instinctively turned to look into the dark interior of the chains.
In the darkness, two clusters of faint blue lights slowly illuminated, like a giant beast awakening. The beams pierced through the suspended dust, casting distorted shadows on the ground.
The figure in the Shadow slowly stood upright, metal gears whirring, and the Arc Reactor in its chest burst forth with dazzling blue light.
The frail Miss Potts' face instantly turned ashen. Without hesitation, she turned and ran, her high heels clattering frantically against the ground.
The Agents, sensing something was wrong, quickly turned around and saw the giant battle suit, nearly three people tall, slowly taking heavy steps, its metal feet making the ground tremble.
The firearms in the Agents' hands simultaneously spat Fire, bullets raining down on the battle suit, but only creating tiny sparks on its hard shell.
Unfortunately, the giant battle suit completely ignored these pistol bullets. With a slight flick of its arm, an Agent was sent flying backward.