The Stark Industry stock had begun to rise when the news of Tony's return came around, but his speech at the press conference had sent it to another free-fall. Many shareholders were itching to slam their fists on Tony's face.
A few days after the world-shattering press conference, Tony sent his driver, Happy, to take Li Yue to his waterfront villa. Finding Li Yue was a trivial matter for someone in Tony's position.
Pepper was the one who received Li Yue in the villa. They introduced themselves to each other before she brought Li Yue to the underground garage. The entire underground level was Tony's lab and workshop. Tony and Yinsen were already busy down there.
"Yinsen, look. Our hero and savior is here. What do you think, Li Yue? Isn't this place just beautiful? I can give you one just like this," Tony dropped whatever he was busy with to greet Li Yue. He felt that he had regained his face when he saw Li Yue gawking around.
It couldn't be helped. It was the first time Li Yue had been in such a luxurious villa; he had only ever seen the villa in the movies before, and he was already jealous back then. But everything that was shown in the movie was just the tip of the iceberg. Li Yue counted more than ten rooms on his way down to the garage, and parked in the garage itself were rows of neatly arranged sports cars. Dozens of cars, all limited editions worth millions and tens of millions of dollars.
"Such is the filthy riches of the capitalists!" Li Yue cursed in his heart at the display of wealth.
"Li Yue, meet our new friend: Jarvis, my intelligent assistant. Come out and greet Li Yue, Jarvis. Give him priority access in the villa for all rooms and facilities," Tony clapped his hand twice while he was speaking.
"Yes, sir. Although, I must remind you that you had asked me right when you returned to find everything I could about Mr. Li Yue. You also asked me to supplement the missing information about Mr. Li Yue so he could become a legal citizen, so perhaps I know more about Mr. Li Yue than—"
"Jarvis, stop right there and just do what I said," Tony scolded Jarvis with a red face.
Tony had indeed ordered Jarvis to gather all information possible on Li Yue right after returning. It can't be helped; Li Yue was too mysterious. The young man's sudden appearance had piqued Tony's curiosity.
However, even Jarvis couldn't find much about Li Yue. The information that Jarvis and Tony could find only went back to three months ago, when Li Yue suddenly appeared in Las Vegas. Tony suspected that someone covered up the information, but even snooping into classified databases of various intelligence departments yielded no results.
Tony entertained a small, outlandish idea in his heart. Could Li Yue be from another world?
However, none of that really mattered. All that Tony knew was regardless of Li Yue's origin, Li Yue had saved Tony's life from danger. If Li Yue was his enemy, it would've been so easy to kill him or leave him to die during their time in Afghanistan. Tony was confident that he would discover Li Yue's motivation sooner or later.
Thus, putting his doubt aside, Tony told Jarvis to supplement Li Yue's information. Without a thorough investigation, nobody would know that Li Yue's identity was problematic.
"I'm sorry, Li Yue, I—"
"It's fine, Tony. I should thank you. I haven't dared to wander on the streets for the past three months out of fear that the police would catch me. You have done me a great favor," Li Yue interrupted Tony's apology. He knew Tony's character. Tony could've had someone arrest Li Yue immediately, but the genius billionaire helped cover for him instead. That meant Tony believed in him. Tony shouldn't apologize; it was Li Yue who should be thankful.
"Li Yue, from now on, as long as you don't harm my family or me, you will always be my friend," Tony said sincerely while looking into Li Yue's eyes.
"Tony, I don't know how to even start about myself. But don't worry, I will never harm you. I'm very happy to be your friend," Li Yue promised while meeting Tony's eyes head-on.
"Alright, that's that then! Come, Li Yue. Yinsen and I were working on something big while you weren't around. Remember that big steel armor I was wearing in that cave? I called it Mark I. Yinsen, and I are now improving it to make the Mark II—we already have the legs done and ready for testing. You came right in time to see it," Tony launched into an almost childish excitement to present his new toys.
Tony equipped a pair of metal boots that gleamed with silver metallic luster; it was his flying device. In both of his hands was the control mechanism. A mechanical arm stood by beside him, aiming a fire extinguisher at Tony.
Yinsen held a camera and filmed Tony. Li Yue stood a little back, waiting for Tony's next move.
"Jarvis, activate the manual control device. Let's start with 10% thrust." Tony loosened his joints, ready for the test.
"Tony, I think you should start with a more manageable level for the first test. 10% is a bit too high," Li Yue kindly warned Tony. He had already watched this scene countless times in the movie, so he naturally knew the result of this test.
"Ignore him, Jarvis. I did the math; I trust my own judgment. Ready for the first test in three, two, one!"
Li Yue secretly thought that Tony deserved the humiliating and painful result of the test after ignoring his warning.
"Whoop! Bang!" Sure enough, Tony was launched by the blast under his feet, slamming him to the ceiling before falling down to the floor. The Dummy robot arm sprayed him with a fire extinguisher.
"Hah! Tony, there is a saying in my country. Ignoring an old man would only result in suffering," Li Yue said with a smile as Tony struggled to get up under the barrage of fire extinguisher sprays from Dummy.
When Li Yue watched Tony's process of creating Mark II in his previous life, he only thought that this scene was funny. But now that he directly participated in it, he realized just how much the movie had omitted.
Tony was completely confined in his underground lab for quite a while after that. Tony wasn't just a genius; he was a straight-up maniac. When he was focused on something, he would forget to sleep and eat. He would even spend several days without sleep or rest to get a part right.
Mark II was finally completed more than a month later. Tonight was finally Mark II's first demonstration.
Li Yue and Yinsen watched as Tony stood in the middle of the garage, full-body metal armor already equipped. The armor left not a single inch of Tony's skin visible. The Mark II, still made of unpainted metal, shone with a breathtaking golden hue.
Li Yue sighed; he was charmed by the science and technology embodied by the armor. Tony was truly befitting the title of the most talented inventor of the century.
"Begin self-check, check the weather and air control, and show me the ground control situation. Get ready in three, two, one!" Tony instructed Jarvis.
A dazzling white ray of light shot out from under Tony's feet, levitating him more than a foot high from the ground. He faced his palms down like an awkward little fairy before leaning forward and suddenly accelerating out of the garage and into the sky.
"Hell yeah!" Tony left Li Yue and Yinsen behind with a cry of joy.
"Let's go outside and see how good this armor is." Li Yue reached out and grabbed Yinsen. They then disappeared from the underground garage and reappeared outside the villa.
Li Yue and Yinsen looked up at the sky together. They found a streak of light akin to a shooting star flying into the distance at extreme speed. It disappeared for a while before returning into view, closing into the villa in the blink of an eye. It suddenly changed its direction and shot up into the sky.
Tony was enjoying himself, like a child who found his favorite toy. The armor's performance was beyond satisfactory; it could already break the sound barrier, even before putting it on full power.
He then recalled that Li Yue had advised him to be careful of the freezing problem in high altitudes and suggested changing the material to the gold-titanium alloy used in the Seraphim satellite. He had no idea what situation Li Yue was advising against.
Tony never bows down to anybody. He always did what he wanted to do. He turned his vectors directly upwards and asked Jarvis about the highest flight record, aiming to break it.
Yinsen watched Tony fly high into the sky and said to Li Yue, "You know how Tony is; his character would definitely make him try to break the highest flight records. You told him that freezing might be a problem in high altitude, but it seems that he will do it anyway."