Looking at the carefully packaged reactor in his hand, Tony curled up the corners of his mouth.
Placed on the table.
Leo wanted to go forward and take a look. Although he knew what it was, he still couldn't control his curiosity.
Tony turned around and pointed at Leo, "Don't damage it. I can give you that sports car, but don't damage this one for me!"
"Don't worry!"
Looking at this commemorative reactor, Leo remembered the last scene of Avengers 4 and was a little dazed.
After a while, he put it back in its place, glanced at Tony sitting in front of the computer, and smiled helplessly. He was not him now, but one day, he would become his.
...
Thousands of kilometers away in Afghanistan, in a dim tent, several bearded soldiers were piecing together the fragments of the Mark I dug out from the desert.
Holding the few blueprints left by Tony in his hands, he faced hundreds of fragments and spent several days working on it.
I finally pieced together a rough human figure, but there are still many small parts that I don't know where to put them.
Standing next to him was a bald, burly man with a cigarette in his hand. The burn on the right half of his head had already scabbed over.
He looked at the Mark I helmet with gloomy eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.
...
Twenty days later.
Tony sat in front of the round computer table he had reassembled. There were eight computers placed in front, back, left and right, all of which displayed different data of the armor.
Looking at the data on the two screens in front of him, Tony continued to analyze the problem.
"For the record, the main sensor failed above 40,000 feet, and there are also problems with the pressurization system, possibly due to icing."
"You have a keen eye, sir."
Jarvis continued, "If you're planning on flying out of the atmosphere to other planets, maybe we should also enhance the exhaust system."
Tony glanced back at the armor data on the three display screens behind him, remembered the tragedy of falling from the roof, and continued speaking.
"Contact the Sith Corporation and reconfigure the metal material of the outer shell to use the gold-titanium alloy from the Seraph satellite."
"This should ensure both the power-to-weight ratio and the strength of the fuselage. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir. Would you like to review the renderings?"
"Yes, show me!"
The computer in front of Tony began to pop up some structural component diagrams.
Leo came down from upstairs, "Mr. Stark, I just heard something good, gold-titanium alloy, right?"
He said to Tony with a smile, licking his lips and looking at him expectantly.
"Leo, is tungsten alloy no longer to your taste? The metal consumption rate has been increasing rapidly recently."
Tony turned around and said, "A few days ago, it was only one ton every three days, but now it's almost a ton of metal a day. What on earth have you done?"
"You know, my abilities require metal, right? And the higher the quality of the metal, the less I need. Even though tungsten alloy is great, I need a change of pace every now and then!"
Leo smiled somewhat flatteringly. Indeed, ten tons of metal had been consumed in these days. Although tungsten alloy was not particularly expensive, the total amount was probably three million US dollars.
Leo has lived in Tony's house for so long. Although Tony didn't say it and often excluded Leo in words, he already regarded Leo as a friend in his heart.
Tony, who originally only had two good friends, Pepper and Rhodes, was absolutely generous to his friends.
"Jarvis, buy two more tons of gold-titanium alloy."
"Yes, sir."
"Leo, do you know how expensive this thing is? The black market dealers outside have been eyeing this metal.
Three thousand dollars a kilogram, you really can eat a lot." Tony couldn't help but complain.
"Tonight, the red carpet rolls out at Walt Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark will present his third donation to the Fire Department's Home Foundation, a gathering place for Los Angeles celebrities."
Such background noise came from the TV that was playing on the wall, and Tony's attention was attracted by his own name.
"Jarvis, did we get an invitation?"
"There is no record of that, sir."
The TV continued to broadcast the relevant news, 'Since making radical remarks at the press conference, he has not appeared in public. Some people claim that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and has been bedridden for weeks.'
"But whatever the truth, no one expected him to be there tonight."
Tony listened with a look of disdain, and he didn't know what was going on in his mind.
"The rendering is complete." A three-dimensional image of the Mark III appeared on the computer. The golden armor all over the body looked very eye-catching.
"A bit too flashy, don't you think?"
"My thought is that you have always been so low-key." Jarvis replied.
Tony turned around and poured a glass of water from the kettle, and happened to see his favorite red and yellow classic car.
"Add a bit of that bright red color."
"Okay, this keeps your low profile."
As Leo listened to the conversation between Tony and Jarvis, he really liked the artificial intelligence Jarvis more and more.
And Tony never seemed to regard Jarvis as an intelligent system.
The word 'we' is often used in all conversations, as if Jarvis is always by his side.
But Leo suddenly frowned, realizing that what Tony poured out of the kettle was chlorophyll juice. It seemed that he had discovered the palladium metal poisoning caused by his repeated experiments.
Because the reactor was built-in, metal palladium poisoning would occur. This problem was not solved until the information left by Howard Stark was found, new alternative elements were found, and the fourth-generation reactor was built.
Of course, removing the shrapnel from Tony's chest and placing the reactor outside would also be a solution. This is what Rhodes' War Machine and Ivan Vanko's Mourning Whip did.
Leo knew Tony's character very well: he had obsessive-compulsive disorder, self-destructive tendencies, and was a typical narcissist.
Although it is undeniable that Tony, as a genius and CEO of Stark Industries, has the capital to be narcissistic.
This confidence made Tony feel that he could control his life.
However, once a narcissistic person realizes that failure is inevitable, they are likely to collapse and even self-destruct.
This was vividly demonstrated by Tony in the palladium poisoning incident.
Moreover, Tony's current armor is still powered by the reactor in his chest. Can it be externally powered?
sure.
Tony said that he would not produce weapons, weapons that kill people.
Is steel armor considered a weapon?
Not counted.
As long as Tony is in the Iron Man suit, controlling it himself and recharging his body, Iron Man is not a weapon and will not fall into the hands of bad guys.
The core of the Iron Man suit lies in the reactor. Without the reactor, the suit is basically harmless.
So Tony didn't dare to place the reactor outside the iron armor. Once he did that, anyone could wear the armor, and Iron Man would no longer be Iron Man, but just a weapon, the most powerful mass killing weapon in history made by Tony himself.
As Tony later said, "This is a high-tech exoskeleton, not a weapon. Only I (who personally charges and controls the suit) am Iron Man."
So for Tony, even if Leo took out the shrapnel from his chest, he would not remove the reactor from his chest.
Placing the reactor externally will greatly increase the risk of leakage.
...
"Coloring is complete."
A red and gold image of the Mark III appeared on the screen.
"I like it, make it and be horny!"
"Automatic assembly has begun. Estimated completion time is five hours."
Tony stood up and glanced at his watch, "Don't wait for me, baby."
"Leo, do you want to go out and play?"