Chapter 161: Iron Monger
"You competed against Howard Stark your entire life. Now you can't even match his son!"
Obadiah's words had echoed in Professor Yuri Petrovich's ears for days.
Professor Yuri stood alone in the AIAS Security factory warehouse. No lights were on, but moonlight streaming through a skylight fell precisely on the massive silver-gray behemoth standing silently before him.
This was an enormous, crude steel giant covered in heavy armor and massive firepower.
It stood silently in darkness. Compared to it, Professor Yuri resembled an ant that could be crushed at any moment.
But Professor Yuri felt no fear toward this steel beast—because this was his masterpiece.
Using as a prototype the armor Tony Stark had built in that cave—which Obadiah had brought back after his Middle Eastern trip—Professor Yuri Petrovich had created this new armor.
He desperately wanted to wear this armor himself and compete against his old rival Howard Stark's son, Tony Stark. But looking at the dark energy port on the armor's chest, Professor Yuri sighed.
Professor Yuri had exhausted all his abilities to replicate and upgrade that Mark I from the cave, but the power source problem remained unsolvable.
The hollow cavity in the armor's chest was reserved for that miniature arc reactor Yuri simply couldn't manufacture no matter what.
This was the result of Professor Yuri's compromise with Obadiah. He wasn't Tony Stark—he couldn't build a miniature arc reactor. But creating armor that could be powered by such a reactor wasn't too difficult.
Now the armor was finally complete. Professor Yuri stared somewhat obsessively at this massive war machine.
But just as Professor Yuri was admiring his creation, the harsh sound of tires scraping pavement came from outside the factory.
Professor Yuri withdrew his gaze from the silver-gray steel beast, rapidly stuffing pre-packed blueprints and materials into his backpack, then silently slipped out the back door under the moonlight.
From the moment Obadiah had jabbed his finger into Yuri's chest while cursing him out, Professor Yuri had prepared to run.
'If I don't leave now, I'll be deeply bound to Obadiah—when he falls, I fall with him.' Professor Yuri thought.
Shortly after Professor Yuri departed, Obadiah—who'd driven from Stark Tower—lowered his voice and called into the warehouse:
"Yuri? Yuri!"
His voice echoed through the warehouse. By the moonlight streaming through the skylight, Obadiah's brow furrowed—he saw no sign of Yuri inside.
BEEP!
Obadiah pulled out his phone and dialed Professor Yuri's number. A crisp ringtone quickly sounded in the warehouse.
Obadiah strode closer and found Professor Yuri's phone casually abandoned in a toolbox.
A note lay beneath the phone. Obadiah picked it up—nothing written on it except a crudely drawn but quite expressive middle finger gesture. Signed: Yuri Petrovich.
Professor Yuri had clearly fled.
"Shit! Fuck! Russian bastard!"
Obadiah spun in place several times, unable to suppress his irritation as he cursed at the empty air.
He'd rushed back specifically to have Professor Yuri Petrovich personally disassemble this miniature reactor, analyze its principles, and replicate it.
But with Yuri gone, no one available in the short term could do this work.
Obadiah immediately fell into a difficult position—it seemed whatever he did next would be wrong.
Precisely at this moment, a voice clearly amplified through speakers, carrying a trace of electronic synthesis, rang out above the AIAS Security weapons transport factory:
"Stane!"
Tony Stark, wearing his armor, had arrived at the factory mere minutes after Obadiah.
'When did Tony discover this factory?'
'How does he know I'd come here after taking the reactor?'
'His reactor was taken—why did he arrive so quickly?'
A string of questions nearly burst from Obadiah's heart, and simultaneously, the answers surfaced.
'Tony knew in advance that AIAS Security was under his control. He knew what I was doing here. Even tonight's reactor theft was deliberately staged!'
Obadiah's face twitched. He knew he'd probably stepped into a trap without realizing it. His every move had likely fallen into Tony Stark's snare.
Obadiah was quite familiar with Tony Stark's voice, but hearing it now felt so strange—as though Tony Stark had become a completely different person after returning from the Middle East.
"Obadiah Stane, you're surrounded. Raise your hands and come out of the warehouse."
Outside, Tony Stark's amplified voice continued shouting. A vicious expression flashed across Obadiah's face.
"Thirty years. I supported him the entire time, transforming Stark Industries from an ordinary factory into an international arms dealer."
"Without my operations, this company would be nothing. His genius only becomes useful through my management."
Obadiah clenched his fists and spoke in a low voice while gripping the miniature arc reactor in one hand and removing his obstructive coat with the other, walking toward the silver-gray steel armor Professor Yuri had built.
"And now, with one statement about closing the weapons division, he wants to claim the company entirely for himself?"
"I gave him the company! I gave him everything! Now it's time for him to return it to me!"
Obadiah struggled to climb into the cockpit, then violently jammed the reactor from Tony's chest into the Iron Monger's reserved energy port.
VRRRRRR!
The massive silver-gray armor instantly activated. Its eyes blazed with terrifying white light. This steel beast had come alive.
Hydraulic rods on the armor's rear shoulders, legs, waist, and arms extended and contracted with the armor's movement, tremendous power spreading throughout its entire body.
"HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!"
Obadiah released twisted, gleeful laughter from inside the cockpit, piloting the armor as he charged from the warehouse.
Above the factory, Tony Stark hovered in his red-and-gold Mark III armor.
He knew Obadiah was hiding in the warehouse below. The tracking system on the arc reactor Obadiah had stolen clearly displayed its location.
After shouting some trash talk, while waiting for Obadiah to surrender or preparing to storm the warehouse and drag him out—
Tony Stark's gaze shifted toward a shadowed area. He kept feeling like Batman's figure lurked there.
"JARVIS, was that my imagination? I thought I saw a dark shape there," Tony Stark asked.
"Yes, sir. That was your illusion," JARVIS AI said. "There's nothing there."
Tony Stark felt something wasn't quite right, but before he could think further—CRASH!
A massive steel figure burst through the warehouse wall.
Iron Monger had arrived.