Under Tony's control, Mark II's leg thrusters went to full power, rapidly rushing toward high altitude.
Soon, Tony reached 85,000 feet altitude—the highest flight altitude record created by the SR-71 Blackbird high-altitude high-speed strategic reconnaissance aircraft. But Tony didn't stop there, continuing to fly toward even higher altitudes.
When Mark II reached 150,000 feet altitude and Tony still showed no signs of stopping, Chen Mo couldn't help but roll his eyes and sternly shouted through the communicator.
"Tony!"
Tony Stark, immersed in the incredible thrill of exceeding limits, only came to his senses hearing Chen Mo's somewhat stern voice in his ear, simultaneously remembering Chen Mo's instructions before departure.
"Okay, okay, got it, Dad."
Tony answered somewhat reluctantly.
Looking up at the sky above where clouds and dust no longer obstructed—pitch black purity dotted with brilliant starlight—Tony reluctantly stopped continuing to climb. When the suit slowly decelerated under gravity's effect and finally began falling downward, only then did he restart the thrusters, change direction and dive downward.
...
Mark II's test flight was very perfect. The performance it displayed greatly exceeded Tony Stark's expectations. It could already be said to be completely mature, needing no further modifications. What he'd originally envisioned was requiring multiple modifications and tests, possibly even needing major changes and manufacturing several suits successively before finally reaching combat requirements.
But now, it was easily settled in one go, satisfying him to the point he couldn't pick out a single fault. He knew this was all Chen Mo's credit. His participation and guidance not only let him avoid many detours, saving massive time and energy, but also made the suit's performance in all aspects tremendously improve under strengthening by multiple high-end technologies he provided.
If it were just himself, perfecting those vulnerabilities might just require spending enough time to resolve. But those technologies Chen Mo provided weren't something he could research in a short time, especially the thrusters that were very important to the suit—providing power for flight.
The energy engine Chen Mo designed, whether in energy conversion efficiency or thrust-to-weight ratio, was much stronger than the engine he'd originally designed.
The most direct benefit this brought was Mark II's maximum flight speed reaching Mach 2—over 2,400 kilometers per hour. While Mark III deployed in actual combat in the film could only just break the sound barrier.
Tony Stark was already very satisfied with this suit, but Chen Mo wasn't satisfied.
With Chen Mo's forward-looking suggestions and Hydra technology's strengthening, the new Mark II was much more powerful than the further-improved Mark III in the film. However, two relatively major problems still existed.
One was that equipping the Iron Man suit was too troublesome. It required using a special equipment platform with multiple fully automatic mechanical arms assembling simultaneously, still requiring considerable time. This greatly reduced its ability to deal with sudden situations.
If enemies came knocking at your door, you couldn't expect them to stop and wait for you to finish donning the suit before attacking, right?
The Mark VII's automatic arrival in The Avengers, directly wrapping and equipping from behind with its laser-guided tracking rapid deployment system, or Iron Man 3's Mark XLII's segmented automatic assembly deployment method were much faster and more convenient, no longer needing to be limited by the bulky assembly platform and able to rapidly equip anywhere.
Additionally, although with Chen Mo's help Mark II's performance improved greatly, actually it was still far from reaching its limit. Limited by the second-generation arc reactor's insufficient output power, Mark II's flight speed, attack power and other performance aspects weren't fully realized.
Although already quite satisfied with the current Mark II, under Chen Mo's enticement of depicting even more powerful suits, Tony still chose without hesitation to continue strengthening the suit.
Next, the two began researching a more powerful third-generation arc reactor and improving the suit's equipping method.
The second-generation arc reactor, like the first generation, had palladium metal embedded—after use it needed to be discarded and replaced with a new reactor. The third generation in the film used palladium metal plates that could be directly replaced after use, more convenient to use with higher energy output efficiency and longer endurance.
While they continued improving the Iron Man suit, Chen Mo received news from Hydra that Obadiah Stane had successfully obtained the Mark I prototype and its design blueprints.
However, a small incident occurred in between. As Chen Mo expected, Obadiah didn't plan to honestly conduct the transaction but intended to double-cross them. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong target.
Brock Rumlow wasn't the original bald leader, and his subordinates weren't those ragtag terrorists either. When Obadiah quietly took out a neural paralyzer and approached Brock Rumlow wanting to ambush him, the constantly vigilant Brock easily subdued him.
Normally he'd definitely directly eliminate Obadiah, but the mission Hydra issued had to be completed. So Obadiah luckily survived. But as punishment, Brock Rumlow cut off his left hand holding the neural paralyzer.
Only after paying double the price plus a left hand as the cost of preserving his life and obtaining what he wanted did Obadiah, face full of savagery, walk out of the tent. When preparing to summon his subordinates for revenge, he discovered those elite bodyguards he'd left outside who should have already controlled the situation were all lying on the ground.
The tent flap was lifted again. Brock Rumlow, who walked out following him, saw this and couldn't help but curve his lips into a mocking smile.
"Looks like you'll have to transport them back yourself."
...
When Chen Mo and Tony Stark successfully improved the arc reactor, manufacturing a third-generation arc reactor using palladium metal plates that could be conveniently directly replaced while having stronger energy output and endurance capabilities, Obadiah also returned to New York from Afghanistan with Mark I under his other subordinates' response.
Early on, right after Tony Stark had just returned and announced at the press conference dissolving Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing department, Obadiah as Stark Industries' CEO had used the sharply falling stock price opportunity to persuade the board to limit Tony Stark's authority, enabling him to have absolute power in Stark Industries.
This time, having paid enormous cost to obtain the Iron Man suit's prototype, after Obadiah returned to Stark Industries, before he could go to the hospital to treat his severed hand, he impatiently ordered summoning research personnel to study the blueprints and prototype.
With ready-made blueprints and the Mark I prototype, Iron Man suit research went smoothly. The Iron Man suit codenamed "Iron Monger" was quickly designed and manufacturing began. But the energy source problem for powering the Iron Man suit was never resolved.
His research team had long begun researching that large arc reactor in Stark Industries, wanting to manufacture a miniaturized arc reactor like Tony Stark. Now considerable time had passed, but there was still no progress whatsoever.
Obadiah couldn't help but turn his gaze toward Tony Stark again.
Because Chen Mo's three had completely eliminated the terrorists who kidnapped Tony, plus left Crossbones Brock Rumlow leading the Special Forces to eliminate nearby remaining terrorists, the plot of Yinsen's hometown being attacked by terrorists later in the film didn't occur.
Tony had also been immersed in developing the new Iron Man suit, having no mind to care about company affairs.
So regarding Obadiah's series of actions within Stark Industries, Tony knew nothing.
However, Chen Mo knew Obadiah Stane's actions thoroughly. It was time Tony should know his true face.
That evening, Agent Phil Coulson came to Tony Stark's seaside villa, bringing photos of Stark Industries selling large quantities of weapons to terrorists and anti-government militants, even including the latest Jericho missiles.
"When was this taken?"
After viewing the photos, Tony Stark asked with a serious face.
"Yesterday."
Agent Phil Coulson answered calmly.
"I didn't approve any deals."
Tony Stark shook his head, saying somewhat uncertainly.
"But your company approved them."
Coulson looked at Tony and slowly said.
Hearing this, Tony Stark couldn't help but think of the board limiting his authority and stopping his work. He said somewhat angrily.
"My company and I are two different things!"
Agent Phil Coulson glanced at Tony Stark, said nothing more, left the materials, turned and departed.
Tony Stark watched his retreating figure, falling into contemplation. In Stark Industries besides him, only one person could accomplish all this. Obadiah's face couldn't help but surface in his mind.
Now the company was completely under his control. This matter must be related to him.
Thinking of this, Tony Stark called Obadiah with a grim face.
The conversation wasn't pleasant. Seeing Tony discovered his behind-the-scenes dealings and questioned him, Obadiah in the hospital treating his severed hand angrily simply admitted he'd proposed the application to the board stopping Tony's work.
Now Tony Stark had been completely undermined by him, completely losing authority in Stark Industries and posing no threat to him whatsoever. Now having obtained the powerful weapon of the Iron Man suit, he didn't need to pretend to be a caring elder before Tony anymore.
Hanging up the phone, Tony Stark's expression was somewhat dazed. He'd always treated Obadiah like family, never expecting in the end it was he who'd schemed against him and seized his authority in the company.
This feeling of being betrayed by someone close was particularly painful.