[ The battle between Tony and Ivan reached a blinding crescendo. The combat zone crackled with violent electromagnetic fields, arcs of lightning crawling across twisted steel. ]
[ Tony and Rhodey raised their palms in unison, the repulsors glowing hotter by the second. Two blazing spheres of white light formed in their hands as their suits pushed the repulsors to maximum output. ]
[ When the power peaked, Tony roared with ferocity: "Fire!" ]
[ Two scorching beams lanced forward, colliding mid-air in a cataclysmic clash. The energies ground against one another, a trembling wall of force building between them until a massive sphere of light detonated outward, shaking the entire exhibition ground. ]
[ Ivan, trapped in the epicenter, was hurled back as his armor overloaded, the shockwave tearing through his systems. Glass domes and display cases shattered across the Expo, raining shards like a storm. ]
"Unbelievable!"
"The blast doubled the output!"
"Tony's not just a genius engineer, he's a genius fighter too!"
"I thought Ivan had him cornered just now!"
"This could be a whole new attack form, imagine equipping the military with this!"
"It's even deadlier than that Jericho missile demo!"
Spectators were stunned by Tony's improvisation, their awe amplified by the raw, destructive power on display.
In the Commonwealth, no strategist had ever envisioned such a method.
"The energy of the new element reactor, combined with the Mark suit and Jarvis, is flawless!" Admirers flooded the airwaves with praise.
But as the next sequence of past-life memories streamed across the broadcast, hearts clenched once again.
[ Ivan's helmet cracked open, his scarred face revealed, yet he smirked defiantly at Tony. "You lose." ]
[Suddenly, the drones Ivan had deployed earlier, the Hammer Industries exo-soldiers he had hijacked, began flashing with urgent red lights.]
[ Rhodey shouted: "Tony! The drones are rigged to blow!" ]
[ Tony's eyes widened with panic: "Pepper!" ]
[ The suits fired thrusters, rocketing skyward. ]
[ Meanwhile, Pepper stood at the Expo exit, unaware that a crippled drone nearby was about to self-destruct. The flashing reached its peak when Tony dropped from the sky, scooped Pepper into his arms, and shot upward with her just as the drone detonated. ]
[ All the drones around the Expo erupted in synchronized explosions, bursts of flame consuming the pavilion like a hellish firework display. Tony burst free of the inferno, holding Pepper tight, and landed them safely on the roof opposite. ]
"The Protector Tony is online!"
"That suit's performance is leagues above the last model!"
"A flawless combat test!"
"Emma! And the kiss too!"
"This lifetime inside the Immortal Warrior is wild, he's fighting, upgrading, and romancing all in one breath!"
The broadcast chat exploded with excitement. Though this memory was, in truth, the first true test of the new element arc reactor, Tony's synthetic element, inspired by Howard Stark's designs, its dazzling success left the world captivated. And that final kiss burned Tony's image permanently into everyone's hearts.
Essen Heavy Industries Group.
Chief engineer Astor clutched the phone receiver, his knuckles white. On the other end, the furious voice of the chairman thundered.
"Astr! Drop your current suit research at once! Effective immediately, please redirect your team to reproduce the Mark armor system we just witnessed in the broadcast. I expect results in record time, Ark Reactor included!"
Astor's expression stiffened. Such a demand bordered on madness.
Around him, his engineers looked equally stricken. They had poured sleepless nights into their own prototype suits, eking out slow but steady progress. And now? Everything they had built was to be abandoned.
"But sir…" He tried to protest. "Our prototype is near completion. I'm confident we can surpass the Mark…"
The chairman's roar cut him off: "Surpass it? With that pile of scrap, you're building? You're decades behind Stark! Do it now, or I'll find someone who will!"
The line went dead. The empty beeping gnawed at Astor's ears. His fists shook with rage. All his dreams, accolades, recognition from the Federal Army, the pride of unveiling Terra's first combat suit, gone in an instant, cast aside by a vision from another man's past life.
"Damn you, Tony!" Grinding his teeth, he turned to his team, "Orders are orders. From this moment on, we rebuild. Mark armor, starting now!"
Years of sweat and sacrifice, erased in a heartbeat. And Essen Heavy Industries was not alone. Across the Terra Federation, the High Court had already mobilized every military contractor, commanding them to reverse-engineer the Mark armor and its impossible Ark Reactor.
On the Terra network, debate exploded.
A gear enthusiast's long essay analyzing the Mark models went viral, its meticulous breakdown of reactor output and armor structure attracting millions of views in hours. Within minutes, reposts broke the million mark, likes surged toward three million, and the post was hailed as a new benchmark of technical analysis.
Comments flooded beneath:
"Without the Ark Reactor, there's no way to power even a single Mark suit, let alone multiple variants!"
"The synthetic element is the linchpin; without it, the armor is just metal."
"And structure matters too! As one top blogger in the Tiandao forums explained, creating a frame stable enough to protect the pilot while absorbing feedback is insanely difficult in real life."
"Latest insider news: even the development of the new element itself is stalled. They hit fundamental barriers right from the start."
"So you're saying replicating Stark's design is impossible in reality?"
"Exactly! And not just because of energy, the AI is another wall."
"Jarvis is light-years beyond our current AI. Any program we have can't compare."
"To reach Jarvis' level, we'd need at least half a century of advancement!"
"Unless, of course, someone recovers awakened memories from the Immortal Warrior, that might be the only shortcut."
"But awakening memory isn't guaranteed. Many never awaken at all."
The post gained layer upon layer of heated debate. Experts began cross-referencing it with older forum threads, desperate to find even a sliver of progress toward recreating the Mark armor. That moment returned in the broadcast memory.
[ Tony sat hunched over a desk, flanked by tall holographic displays. Videos of atomic lattice simulations flickered across the screens. Stacks of documents littered his table, one folder standing out boldly. ]
[ Its label read: Avenger Preliminary Report. ]