When Mark II test-flew originally, Chen Mo had sternly stopped him when he flew to 150,000 feet altitude.
Although Mark II at that altitude exceeding aircraft flight limits hadn't experienced icing problems, that didn't mean Obadiah's Iron Monger could also be safe and sound.
You had to know, Mark II had been improved and strengthened many times under Chen Mo's guidance. The gap between it and Mark I simply couldn't be measured.
While Obadiah, using Mark I as a blueprint, hastily manufactured Iron Monger in such a short time—besides huge size with advantages in strength and defense, its comprehensive performance in other aspects simply couldn't compare to Mark II, especially in some areas Tony himself hadn't discovered, like high-altitude icing problems.
Thinking of it, Tony did it. Relying on speed advantage, he deliberately maintained distance from Obadiah, leading him toward high altitude.
Although Iron Monger's thrusters were massive, jetting flames far thicker and more spectacular than Tony's Mark II, due to the huge technological gap, actual thrust was far inferior to Mark II's more compact energy engine.
Plus Iron Monger's heavy weight, its flight speed actually wasn't fast. Tony suppressed his speed, always maintaining an almost within-reach distance, making the red-eyed Obadiah wanting to kill Tony recklessly follow him rushing toward high altitude.
Although speed was suppressed, the two still quickly entered tens of thousands of feet altitude.
Seeing he was about to catch Tony, Obadiah excitedly mocked.
"Tony, your design is great, but unfortunately, my suit is more advanced!"
Indeed, from their exchanges so far, Tony's Mark II had been comprehensively suppressed. Mark II's own strength couldn't compare to the massive Iron Monger. The weapons equipped on it were few with no heavy weapons, posing no threat whatsoever to Iron Monger's thick heavy armor.
However, Obadiah chasing behind Tony didn't discover Iron Monger's armor surface had already begun icing, and as they flew higher and higher, the surface ice layer was also rapidly thickening.
"So how did you solve the icing problem?"
Tony looked back at the thick ice layer on Iron Monger and responded.
"Icing problem?"
Obadiah didn't quite understand. After all, he was just a businessman, not proficient in technology.
Their current altitude hadn't yet reached the 85,000 feet flight altitude of the SR-71 Blackbird high-altitude high-speed strategic reconnaissance aircraft, but had already exceeded ordinary aircraft's flight limit.
Obadiah's words had just fallen when after a series of muffled sounds, Iron Monger's thrusters stopped working. The suit's operating system also crashed under these extremely low temperature conditions. The entire suit completely lost power and began falling toward the ground below.
Only then did Tony breathe a sigh of relief and stop. He'd originally felt this suit was already very perfect, but actual combat exposed quite a few problems. Fortunately Chen Mo had improved Mark II, otherwise this time he simply couldn't defeat Obadiah. Looked like the Iron Man suit still needed continued upgrading.
With somewhat complex feelings watching Iron Monger rapidly falling below, not until it was almost invisible did Tony control Mark II to fly toward the ground, returning to where they'd just fought—inside Stark Industries campus.
After the intense battle just now, he was exhausted physically and mentally. What he most wanted to do now was remove the armor and rest well.
Just as he opened his helmet planning to catch his breath, Iron Monger that should have already crashed suddenly landed behind him. Before he could react, it used its thick, powerful right mechanical arm to firmly hold Mark II.
The previous high-altitude low temperature indeed made a thick ice layer form on Iron Monger's surface, the internal control system also crashed under low temperatures. But Tony overlooked Iron Monger's massive size and armor thickness.
Although it was indeed frozen at first, falling toward the ground, the actual situation wasn't that bad.
The suit's internal temperature had only just exceeded the control system's operating lower limit. But during the falling process, environmental temperature continuously rose. The suit falling at high speed fiercely rubbed against air, also producing large amounts of heat. The surface ice layer completely fell off under tumbling and airflow impact, internal temperature also rapidly rose accordingly.
Before falling to the ground, the control system finally restarted, thrusters also resumed working, allowing Iron Monger to safely land on the ground.
Then Obadiah, who'd nearly fallen to his death, hid and waited for Tony Stark to descend.
At the moment Tony thought he'd already crashed and relaxed his vigilance, Obadiah suddenly flew out from hiding and landed behind Tony.
Before he could react, relying on strength advantage, he grabbed and fixed him to his chest, simultaneously raising the left arm equipped with the giant impact hammer and heavily hammering it toward Mark II's head.
The instant Tony discovered he was held, he quickly closed the suit's faceplate while struggling hard. Unfortunately, compared to Iron Monger several times his size, his strength was still somewhat insufficient. Seeing he couldn't break free, Tony could only grit his teeth and endure.
The heavy impact hammer heavily struck Mark II's head. The huge impact force shook the entire suit. Even Obadiah inside Iron Monger could feel the tremendous vibration transmitted from the suit. The directly attacked area even slightly deformed.
A trace of cruel smile appeared on Obadiah's face. Today, he would completely eliminate Tony Stark, the greatest obstacle to his complete control of Stark Industries.
Fortunately Mark II's defensive power was incredibly strong. Tony Stark inside the suit only felt his entire head received great shaking, somewhat dizzy, but suffered no substantial harm.
In the film, Tony Stark wearing Mark III had been hit by a tank shell, directly falling from high altitude and smashing a huge crater in the ground. Yet only the suit's surface had minor damage—the body protected by the suit was completely unharmed. One could see the Iron Man suit's defensive performance was formidable.
Besides the defensively formidable gold-titanium alloy armor, what played the greatest role in the entire suit's defensive system was actually a special shock absorption buffer system.
This technology could be said to be the Iron Man suit's core technology. It was precisely because of it that the Iron Man suit could possess super-strong defensive power exceeding heavy tanks with such a small size.
This shock absorption buffer system that could count as black technology was also what Chen Mo valued most. Without Tony Stark, relying solely on Hydra's power, it might not be researchable even in several hundred years.
Only Chen Mo, who'd personally participated in Mark II's design and manufacturing process, knew what was most valuable in this suit.
The arc reactor energy source, flight thrusters, and entire suit's drive system design, although technologically advanced, weren't absolutely impossible to manufacture.
In Iron Man 2, Hammer Industries had reverse-engineered armor similar to the Iron Man suit. Although still immature at the time with large gaps compared to Tony Stark's Iron Man suit in many aspects, it was only completely finished with another genius scientist Ivan Vanko's help, gaining actual combat capability.
But even so, they were just remotely controlled iron machines. Speed, defense, agility, controllability and other aspects all performed mediocrely.
Moreover, without the core shock absorption buffer system Tony Stark developed, if piloted by people inside, the huge impact force from strong attacks or falls would directly shake the operator to death.
The whiplash armor Ivan Vanko manufactured seemed powerful but actually just relied on two flexible, high-attack-power energy whips preventing people from getting close. Its own defensive capability wasn't strong—mainly relying on surface steel armor for protection.
But the shock absorption buffer system Tony Stark invented could greatly weaken impact force received by the outer defensive armor. The impact ultimately transmitted to the body was negligible. One could say, as long as the outer alloy armor wasn't broken through, the person inside wouldn't be in life-threatening danger.
So Obadiah's attack didn't kill Tony Stark as he wished. However, the gold-titanium alloy Mark II's outer defensive armor used, although super-strong special alloy used by Seraphim military satellites, ultimately wasn't indestructible. Under the heavy impact hammer's attack, it still slightly deformed.
Seeing he couldn't eliminate Tony in one strike, Obadiah wasn't annoyed.
"Truly unexpected! Looks like you also upgraded the defensive system!"
Obadiah couldn't help but praise Mark II's powerful defense.
"Tony, you really are a genius!"
"Unfortunately, today you must die!"
As Obadiah spoke, his expression began becoming savage. Letting Tony struggle uselessly while fixed by Iron Monger's thick mechanical arm, he again raised the left arm's impact hammer and launched continuous attacks on Mark II's head.
Despite defensive armor and shock absorption buffer system's offset, Tony was still shaken by this continuous powerful impact until his brain buzzed, only able to instinctively struggle uselessly.
"Head armor damage 15%!"
JARVIS's voice sounded in Tony's ear. A full-body armor schematic of Mark II also appeared in his shaking vision. The head had already lit up red warning, with damage percentage shown by a progress bar beside it.
As Iron Monger's heavy impact hammer continuously bombarded Mark II's head, the armor damage became increasingly severe.
"Sir, head armor damage rapidly increasing, already reached 37%. Estimated destruction time: 24 seconds!"
JARVIS's warning made Tony Stark extremely anxious, but currently he was completely powerless to resist.
Just as he racked his brains thinking of solutions, head armor damage had reached 90%. Seeing after a few more attacks it would completely fail, by then his head would also be smashed to pulp.
Still unable to find a solution, Tony could only helplessly watch damage continue increasing. A desperate emotion rapidly rose in his heart. He'd already felt this powerless despair twice before.
Once was in Afghanistan's desert, lost in the vast boundless scorching sand sea. Once was when Obadiah used a neural paralyzer to subdue him and removed the second-generation arc reactor from his chest. Both times, Chen Mo appeared in time, pulling him back from death's edge.
But this time, never mind Chen Mo should still be at the seaside villa and couldn't rush over—even if he really came, he probably wasn't Iron Monger's match either. Looked like this time he really would die. Just Pepper...
Just as Tony gave up his last hope, somewhat regretful and unwilling as he prepared to face death, an incomparably brilliant silver sword light suddenly swept past above his head.