After realizing that his conspiracy had been exposed, Obadiah decided to strike first.He went to Tony's seaside villa under the pretense of a visit.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, he used an infrasound weapon to paralyze Tony and removed the arc reactor on Tony Stark's chest—his life support—planning to let Tony quietly die.
Once he obtained the miniature arc reactor, the energy problem was solved. Obadiah could finally activate the armor he developed based on the schematics Tony left behind in the terrorist cave: the Iron Monger armor.
Feeling triumphant, Obadiah returned to his base, preparing to activate Iron Monger. He anticipated that Pepper would inevitably discover his crimes and bring agents to arrest him.
But now that Tony Stark no longer had the arc reactor sustaining his life, the shrapnel would soon flow into his heart—certain death, and ruled as an accident.
As long as he also eliminated Pepper, who held evidence of his crimes, and destroyed all incriminating documents, Obadiah was fully confident that he could seize control of Stark Industries.
After all, in a country ruled by capital, sufficient money could solve almost any problem.
Once he controlled Stark Industries, he would certainly have ample resources. Not to mention, the Iron Monger armor was a powerful bargaining chip. As long as the situation was cleaned up properly, the military would desperately want to cooperate with him.
As long as he could take the entire Stark Industries, any price was worth paying.
In truth, the terrorist attack on Tony was originally arranged by Obadiah. He intended to eliminate Tony during the mission so that he could smoothly take over Stark Industries.
But the terrorists had their own ideas—they wanted Tony alive to build advanced weapons for them, hoping to profit from both sides.
They negotiated with Obadiah for more money, believing Tony was too valuable to kill.
However, that foolish indecision gave Tony time—time he used to build his own armor and escape.
"A bunch of useless fools—good for nothing but ruining everything!" Obadiah cursed viciously, recalling their greed and betrayal.
"But it's not too late. In fact, I've gained even more than expected. With the miniature arc reactor and the Iron Monger armor, Stark Industries will reach an unprecedented height. No—soon it will be called Stane Industries," Obadiah said proudly, staring at the reactor in his hand.
"To be honest, I'm almost reluctant to kill Tony—the hen that lays golden eggs." Obadiah sat inside the Iron Monger armor, watching Pepper and several armed agents break into his lab through the surveillance screen. He sneered. "But since we've passed the point of no return, I'll just eliminate all of you."
The agents were clearly too late. Their small pistols were useless against the monstrous Iron Monger, and they were forced to retreat while protecting Pepper.
Just as Iron Monger was about to overtake them, Tony Stark arrived wearing his Iron Man suit.
"Tony? You're still alive? You had a second reactor?" Obadiah's surprised voice echoed from inside the armor.
"I'm lucky. I have a good secretary and a not-so-smart but very practical assistant," Tony replied with his typical flippant tone.
Pepper had packed the old cave-made arc reactor Tony originally discarded and gifted it to him, while Tony's robotic assistant arm had installed it on his chest when he was unable to move—allowing him to survive and rush here in time.
What followed was a fierce battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger. Because Tony's armor focused on mobility and was lightweight, it was at a disadvantage compared to the much larger Iron Monger with its heavy weapon load and greater strength.
Even worse, Tony's armor was now powered by the outdated and inferior arc reactor, and energy capacity could not keep up.
During the fight, aside from turning the tide briefly by exploiting the high-altitude freezing flaw he previously experienced, Tony was almost completely suppressed.
Another loud bang—Iron Man was kicked heavily to the ground by Iron Monger.
"Sir, suit power has dropped below 10%. Loss of power imminent. I recommend retreat," Jarvis warned.
"Retreat? Impossible. The great Tony Stark never runs," Tony replied arrogantly.
Even if he wanted to flee, his suit didn't have enough power to outrun Iron Monger. And if he left—what would happen to Pepper?
Dodging attacks while his mind raced, Tony tried to think of a way to defeat Iron Monger.
Just then, he was struck by a small missile and crashed directly onto the street—only to be immediately hit by a speeding sedan.
A panicked middle-aged woman was behind the wheel, a child holding a game console seated in the back. Terrified by the battle, she was trying to escape with her child, flooring the accelerator with tires smoking.
"Ma'am, calm down—release the pedal!" Tony lifted the car to prevent an accident, speaking as calmly as possible.
The woman finally calmed, loosening her foot from the gas pedal.
"Good. Drive carefully," Tony said as he gently set the car down.
"Ah!!"
Just as Tony prepared to take off toward Stark Industries' giant arc reactor to draw Iron Monger away, the kid in the back suddenly screamed in agony, collapsing in the seat.
"What's happening? Jarvis, scan him. Did he get injured in the crash?"
"Sir, scans show no collision trauma. This may be an acute illness."
"Ma'am, does your child have a medical condition?"
"No! Tom has always been perfectly healthy—why is he suddenly like this!?"
"Sir… this condition may not be ordinary."
Jarvis projected an image—pixels of glowing block-like shapes had begun appearing on the boy's body.
"I'm detecting unknown energy and data flow from these block structures."
"What the hell…?" Tony muttered. Even with all his experience, this exceeded his understanding.
Before he could say more, a surge of yellow pixel blocks explosively erupted from the boy, expanding rapidly, tearing the car apart and growing until it formed a bizarre three-to-four-story-tall "monster."
"What IS this thing? A walking dome-shaped building? This design violates basic structural mechanics!" Tony complained.
"Please—save my child!" the horrified woman cried, seeing her son swallowed into the strange creature.
(End of Chapter)