In the ground-floor garage of a seaside villa in California.
Amid the crisp, resounding clangs of metal colliding, pieces of armor were gradually covering Tony Stark's body, starting from the extremities, with the aid of mechanical arms.
Compared to the bulky, clumsy Mark I he had worn in the cave in the Middle East, Tony Stark, now clad in the Mark II armor, moved with remarkable fluidity.
As the faceplate was manually attached to his face by Tony Stark, white light flared from the eye regions.
"HUD online. Input preferences from local interface. Initiate virtual walk." Tony Stark issued commands one after another, which the J.A.R.V.I.S. AI executed methodically.
"Inputting preferences. Calibrating virtual environment. Scanning armor surface," J.A.R.V.I.S. stated.
As his voice faded, Tony Stark stood in place. The silver-gray Mark II armor covering him tilted and shifted, fine-tuning its internal structure to test for any faults in the virtual walk.
Simultaneously, a camera controlled by J.A.R.V.I.S. beside Tony Stark was trained on him, faithfully recording changes in appearance. Any minor discrepancy would be detected immediately.
But as the clock on the nearby workbench ticked away, this suit of armor—personally designed and crafted by Tony Stark—revealed no disharmony or issues requiring attention for the moment.
"Testing complete. Preparing to shut down for diagnostics…"
J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice was cut off by Tony Stark, who had a new idea.
"No, hold off on that for now, J.A.R.V.I.S. Check weather and air traffic control, and monitor ground control."
"Sir, before actual flight, several terabytes of calculations are still required…"
J.A.R.V.I.S.'s words were interrupted again by Tony Stark.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., sometimes you have to run before you can walk."
"Ready? Three, two, one."
The Mark II's foot and palm thrusters activated simultaneously, lifting Tony Stark's body steadily into the air.
Then J.A.R.V.I.S. began rapid calculations, assisting Tony Stark as he gradually tilted his body forward. His form streaked through the garage in a flash of silver, shooting out of the entrance into the pitch-black night sky.
"Woo-hoo!"
Tony Stark let out a joyful shout. With J.A.R.V.I.S.'s help, the flight stabilizers on his arms, legs, and back engaged one by one, accelerating his speed through the night sky and steadying his body.
At first, Tony's flight speed was modest, matching only the velocity he achieved when racing his own sports cars.
But gradually, Tony Stark grew dissatisfied with this relatively slow pace. His speed climbed another notch.
He also began attempting aerial maneuvers akin to an aircraft's stunts, leaving fleeting spiral trails of thruster light in the night sky.
Humanity has never abandoned the dream of soaring through the sky unaided—from Adrian Toomes to Tony Stark, each achieving flight through their own methods.
Tony Stark didn't fly too high, maintaining only a few hundred meters above the ground, while constantly reviewing data fed back from countless sensors across the Mark II.
Driving from Black's Beach in San Diego, California, to its affiliated city of Los Angeles would take Tony Stark at least two hours.
But with the Mark II accelerating in flight, Tony Stark reached one Mach—one times the speed of sound—in just over ten seconds, and within minutes, he was soaring over Los Angeles, circling the Hollywood Hills.
"Armor contours still need adjustment. Reactor output needs improvement. Thrusters require optimization. Flight stabilizers need augmentation. Internal shock absorption needs refinement… Ah, and I need to pee. The armor needs an internal filtration system."
It wasn't noticeable at first, but as Tony Stark's speed increased, his top velocity plateaued at one Mach, unable to break through the sound barrier no matter what.
Tony Stark gradually realized how many areas of his armor demanded improvement—virtually everything, from head to toe, inside and out, needed a complete overhaul, save for the overall concept.
As his flight speed hit its critical limit, Tony Stark grew restless again. This time, he altered his trajectory, carving an arc over Los Angeles before rocketing straight upward toward the sky.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., what's the flight ceiling of the SR-71 Blackbird?" Tony Stark asked.
The SR-71 Blackbird was a supersonic reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed Martin for the United States, used during the Cold War for high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance. It has since been retired.
"The fixed-wing flight altitude record is 85,000 feet (25,929 meters), sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied swiftly.
"Records are made to be broken. Let's do it!"
Tony Stark's voice brimmed with the delight of a big kid with a new favorite toy. As the armor's thrusters roared to full power, his body surged rapidly toward the upper atmosphere.
A full moon hung high.
As altitude increased, a thin layer of frost began forming on the Mark II's exterior. The higher Tony Stark climbed, the thicker the ice grew.
But Tony Stark was beyond caring, flying straight toward the moon like a human yearning to pluck the stars.
Ultimately, before surpassing the SR-71's altitude record, the Mark II's surface was encased in a thick layer of ice. The thrusters began sparking, and the white light from the facial eyes dimmed.
The next second, he entered free fall.
In myth, Icarus flew toward the sun, melting the wax binding his feathers and plummeting to his death.
Now, Tony Stark, in his quest to reach the moon, had caused his armor to ice over. His body, too, began free-falling, hurtling toward the earth.
"We're icing up, J.A.R.V.I.S.! Deploy the flaps!" Tony Stark's body tumbled through the air as he roared at J.A.R.V.I.S. "J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
J.A.R.V.I.S. made no sound. The extreme cold at high altitude had short-circuited the armor's internal systems, rendering it unable to assist Tony Stark.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.!"
Desperation crept into Tony Stark's voice, but having escaped a cave in the Middle East, he refused to give up hope. Manually, he cleared the ice from the Mark II and forced the flaps open.
Whoosh!
As the back flaps deployed, Tony Stark's descent slowed dramatically. He was now less than five hundred meters from the ground.
At that same moment, J.A.R.V.I.S. rebooted. The twin beams of light from the armor's eyes flared back to life.
In the final second, with mere dozens of meters to spare, the thrusters in Tony Stark's legs and palms reignited, propelling him skyward once more.
"Yeah! Hahaha!"
Tony Stark cheered loudly. He had never felt so exhilarated.
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