Chapter 16 Iron Monger: Oh Woe be Me (Author: Woe be ME)
The chest area of the gigantic red steel armor cracked open, revealing an indent the size of a person. It was like a door to a welcoming house.
Tony entered the armor, still wearing the Mark III. The chest of the giant armor then closed almost seamlessly.
This was the first time that Tony had deployed the giant armor in combat. Tony still had no idea the extent of its power, but he could feel the armor thrumming with energy with his every move.
This armor was built based on the inspiration that Li Yue gave to Tony and was still a semi-finished product. Li Yue proposed various combat systems, outer space operations, rapid deployment, independent satellite communications, independent automated operation, modular replacement deployment, prison-style isolation chambers, and so on and so forth.
"What did Li Yue call this system again?... Oh, right, it's called Veronica. I wonder if it's the name of his ex or something. Unfortunately, a lot of the systems remained only as theories. I don't know how long it would take to finish building the entire thing, but I'm glad I built the parts that I already could."
All these unimportant things passed through Tony's mind as he observed the frightened Iron Monger in front of him.
"It's my turn now, Obadiah. Make yourself comfortable."
Tony looked down from the giant armor to the smaller Iron Monger below him.
Obadiah was utterly frightened. He had no idea when or how Tony had been able to build such immense armor. The size alone had made him want to retreat—the only reason that he had dominated the fight against Tony was because of his armor's size and strength. Moreover, the inferior reactor had slowed down Tony's reaction speed while Obadiah was in tip-top shape. Not to mention his fully stocked arsenal, Obadiah held an absolute advantage against Tony.
But all the factors in the equation had changed with the new arrival. It was obviously larger than Obadiah's armor, but more than that, it was better designed and built than the Iron Monger armor.
The most damning feature of Tony's new armor was the arc reactors. Obadiah counted at least five of them, not only on the chest but also on the legs and arms.
Woe be unto me!
This was the most honest Iron Monger had ever been with himself.
"My dear Tony, can't we stop for a moment and have a good talk? Fighting wouldn't solve anything! I will give you all my shares in Stark Industries; what do you think? You will have absolute control! Think about it, Tony!" Iron Monger tried to negotiate his defeat; he felt that this was his last resort.
"Talk? After going so far? Your worst decision was trying to kill Pepper. There was no turning back from that!"
Tony clenched his fist and leaped forth with the thrusters in his fist, launching a fierce punch at Iron Monger.
Realizing that there was no hope in negotiating, Iron Monger helplessly raised his rotary cannon at Tony and fired a stream of bullets, hoping to distract and slow Tony down. He used his own thruster to retreat, creating some distance; he didn't dare fight Tony head-on right now.
Bang!
But it was all useless. Tony's fist landed square on Iron Monger, sending the black armor flying and rolling on the ground several times before stopping. Around 30% of the Iron Monger armor had been destroyed by that one punch, and the outer layer was bent and broken.
Tony charged again at extreme speed. Iron Monger hurred back up and fired all his weapons at Tony.
Boom!
The weapons hit at once, creating a violent explosion and a massive dust cloud. Iron Monger stopped attacking and stared at the dispersing cloud, hoping that it would reveal Tony being blown into pieces.
Unfortunately, his dream remained a dream. Before the dust settled, Tony walked out of the burning plume, his armor intact. The heavy metal armor barely made a sound, but each heavy step felt like a hammer on Iron Monger's heart.
Iron Monger was overwhelmed by fear and shock. He had exhausted all his weapons, but Tony was more or less unscathed.
"That's all your trick. My turn," Tony's voice projected dominance and confidence.
Tony raised his right arm and gathered energy in its palm. A brilliant pillar of energy burst forth from it.
Iron Monger barely had time to shift his body to the left, but it saved his life. Instead of his chest, the beam had destroyed his right arm instead.
Iron Monger's right armor fell to the ground, glowing red hot where the energy beam had sliced it. Parts of it even melted, dropping liquid iron to the ground with a hissing sound.
The terror in Iron Monger's heart only intensified; he had just brushed past death. He didn't dare to imagine what would happen if the beam hit his chest. He would definitely die.
Tony was also surprised by the immense power of his attack. Iron Monger's armor might as well be paper for him.
Iron Monger had lost any hope of defeating Tony. His last hope was to escape. He looked around to find a way to escape before noticing something. His eyes flashed with one last inspiration.
...
The bystanders of the fight were dumbfounded by the sequence of events. They never thought that the smaller red robot would enter the large robot. Moreover, the power of the new robot completely overturned the advantage that the black robot had.
The large robot had survived the barrage of bullets and missiles without a scratch. It then destroyed the black robot's right arm with a single blast. It was a steel robot, you know? It's not plastic toys!
The crowd began cheering for the big red robot. They also noticed that the black robot no longer even tried to fight; it didn't even try to pick up its fallen arm, opting to run away from the big red robot.
One of the bystanders suddenly realized that the black robot was heading in their direction. He screamed in fear, "Run! It's coming here!"
He then took his own advice and bolted off.
The other onlookers heard his shout and noticed the same thing. They followed suit and began to run away, plunging the crowd into chaos. People ran every which way, crying and shouting all kinds of curses.
Two people stayed where they were. The first was Li Yue—he was confident that Iron Monger would never catch him. The other was the reporter lady, who was still diligently facing the camera without noticing the Iron Monger heading her way.
The camera crew dropped their equipment on the ground and left the reporter lady to run away.
"Heartless bastards. You didn't even warn the beautiful reporter!" Li Yue cursed in his heart when he saw the crew's actions.
Iron Monger was already a few meters away from them. The reporter lady finally noticed and tried to escape, but it was too late.
Iron Monger arrived in front of her in less than a second and grabbed her with his left hand. The pretty reporter could only look helplessly at the huge steel arm that was grabbing at her.
The beautiful reporter suddenly noticed a figure that had inexplicably appeared in the midst of the dangerous situation. The figure wasn't particularly big or solid, but it was a ray of light that brought her an immeasurable sense of security.