Mark III rose from the crushed remains of the bus, the impact damage surprisingly minor, a testament to the suit's gold-titanium alloy structure. Tony quickly stabilized himself and hovered in mid-air, his internal systems screaming alerts after the brutal beatdown.
"Leo, you lunatic! That was a hell of an entrance, kid," Tony's voice crackled through the comms, laced with relief and adrenaline. "Now, take Pepper to a safe place first. I'll keep this overgrown tin can busy. Do not interfere with the combat."
Leo had, indeed, just sent the Iron Monger, a behemoth weighing well over a ton, flying over a kilometer away with a single, effortless shove.
The Monger crashed violently through a factory fence, a massive metallic blur of destruction, but before it even hit the ground, huge, crude flames erupted from beneath its feet. Obadiah had stabilized his primitive propulsion system and was attempting to propel the enormous machine back into the air.
Obadiah, realizing the sudden, impossible threat, immediately retaliated. The Iron Monger's left arm, a blocky weapon platform, extended a seven-cell missile launcher, aiming the terrifying cluster of rockets at the two figures hovering in the distance. All seven missiles ignited simultaneously, shrieking through the night air.
Seven small, smoke-trailing missiles, spitting fire and death, flew toward Tony and Leo at high speed.
The shoulder cannon of the Mark III snapped up, deployed, and fired a rapid volley. Fourteen miniature, high-explosive bullets were launched, intercepting and detonating all seven incoming missiles halfway through their flight path in a spectacular, harmless chain of explosions that lit up the sky like grotesque fireworks.
Tony didn't wait. Mark III immediately swooped down, its speed and agility far exceeding the lumbering ascent of the slowly flying Iron Monger. He was the apex predator now; the Monger was just a heavy, wounded elephant.
Leo quickly turned and flew toward Pepper, who had retreated near the main gate. He touched down gently beside her, the golden light around him receding slightly but still visible.
"Sister Pepper, come on, let me take you away from here first!"
Pepper was only slightly surprised by Leo flying over, her initial shock quickly overshadowed by her raw, desperate fear for Tony. She looked anxiously at the two metallic figures already clashing in the distant sky, her worry palpable.
Leo's eyes flickered, the Golden Eyes of Truth subtly engaged, giving him a perfect, real-time tactical overview. From his perspective, the two people hundreds of meters away were right in front of him, every exposed hydraulic rod and every flight correction error clear as day.
"Sister Pepper, don't worry. Although Obadiah's armor is much, much bulkier and stronger than Mr. Stark's—it's just a tank—its agility and maneuverability are pitifully inferior. Mr. Stark has the advantage."
The Iron Monger did possess flight capabilities, true, but its propulsion ports were only located on the bottom and the extreme outer sides of its massive feet. Moreover, its blocky, unaerodynamic shape was the antithesis of flight design.
It was propelled into the sky entirely by the raw thrust provided by the stolen Arc Reactor's powerful energy source. Because there were no other devices to control its attitude or vector, it could only ascend vertically, like a rocket's lift-off phase, making any complex flight maneuvers impossible.
If Tony hadn't been starved for power and terrified of running out of juice during his original high-altitude flight to escape Afghanistan, Obadiah would never have been able to catch the Mark III in mid-air in the first place.
Now, with Tony fully charged and liberated, Obadiah's only remaining functional advantage was the sheer kinetic force of his suit and the relentless fire of the six-barreled Gatling gun on his right arm.
Sure enough, in no time at all, the Mark III executed a flawless high-G maneuver, outflanking the Monger's predictable path. Tony delivered a powerful, downward-swooping kick that drove the Iron Monger back toward the ground, creating a massive crater as the suit slammed into the earth.
It must be acknowledged that although the engineering design of the Iron Monger was deeply flawed and clumsy, its sheer armor protection was undeniably superior to the thinner, more dynamic plating of the Mark III. Its arsenal also surpassed Tony's current missile capacity.
Even after being kicked down from a great height, Obadiah burst out of the crater, completely unharmed, and immediately began to grab wildly at the nimble Tony.
The current situation was precisely as Leo analyzed: the Iron Monger was an incredibly strong, high-defense, high-firepower superhuman, while the Mark III was more like a swift, nimble assassin, forced to chip away at the giant. Once the Monger managed to grab the Mark III, the fight would be instantly over.
Leo, guiding Pepper away from the scene and instructing her to hide in the furthest available building, continued his remote tactical analysis. The Iron Monger had many drawbacks, clearly visible to Leo's enhanced sight: many of its electronic and hydraulic components were exposed on the outside of the armor joints, it could not fly freely or execute evasive maneuvers, and critically, it lacked the Mark III's intricate thermal shielding and ability to resist icing at high altitudes.
Tony, when weakened, only managed to grab the last weakness—the icing. However, a fully charged Tony could easily use all three weaknesses to devastating effect.
Obadiah, blinded by his arrogance, still hadn't grasped that Tony's palm pulse cannon could not penetrate his main armor plates.
The Iron Monger continued to aggressively fire its six-barreled Gatling gun, tracking the darting movements of the Mark III.
"This is exhilarating, Tony! I've never liked this kind of messy work before, but I have to say, I really love this armor!" Obadiah shrieked over the comms, a primal sound of megalomania.
Tony fired a chest repulsor shot that knocked the Monger back several meters, but as Leo predicted, it only dented the heavy armor plate. Iron Monger merely shook off the blow and continued charging toward Tony.
"Jarvis, concentrate energy and aim for those exposed hydraulic rods near the elbow and hip joints!" Tony commanded, shifting his attack strategy.
A large amount of energy gathered in his chest again, and a super-charged pulse cannon shot lanced out, a focused beam of pure blue light striking the connection between the Iron Monger's right arm and body. The beam didn't melt the armor, but it vaporized the exposed hydraulic actuators controlling the elbow, instantly destroying the exposed parts.
The Monger's right arm went out of control, swinging limply, its powerful Gatling gun rendered useless.
A burst of intense flame erupted from the back of the Mark III's boots and palm stabilizers. Tony instantly sprinted at blurring speed in front of the stunned Iron Monger and delivered a powerful, precise punch to the left elbow joint.
Although the attack landed and caused damage, Iron Monger's remaining functional left hand shot out and clamped down on Tony's calf.
Obadiah squeezed down with all his might, the immense pressure of the hydraulic systems causing the Mark III's gold-titanium alloy to groan and deform.
Tony immediately countered, turning his body and blasting the Monger through the chest with another concentrated repulsor shot, sending him flying once more. But in the brief second of the Monger's grip, the metal armor on Mark III's lower leg had deformed significantly, almost injuring Tony inside.
"You little rat! Stay still!" Obadiah roared, his voice laced with panic as his suit began to fail. He activated the jet propulsion system at full power, trying to leave the combat area as quickly as possible. Thick black smoke and excessive steam billowed from beneath his feet, obscuring his retreat like several smoke bombs.
Tony raised his right arm, quickly deploying and launching a small, integrated anti-tank missile. Although its maximum range was no more than 200 meters, it was more than enough to hit the lumbering Iron Monger, which had just begun its slow, painful ascent.
In just three seconds, a violent, fiery explosion occurred on the back of the steel armor that had only been airborne for less than 100 meters. No matter how strong the Iron Monger's external hard defenses were, they could not stop a shaped-charge missile designed to penetrate thick tank plating.
The massive armor exploded, then shattered, scattering pieces of heavy metal and twisted hydraulic parts across the ground. Obadiah, or what was left of him, was nowhere to be seen, lost in the wreckage. The fight was over.
Upon seeing the final, catastrophic explosion, Leo rushed back to the scene, landing gracefully on the smoking asphalt. Mark III stood motionless amidst the dust and debris, staring at the wreckage scattered on the ground.
Leo walked forward, his presence calming the chaotic scene. He extended his hand, and using his enhanced Metal Control, he began to pull all the steel and alloy debris toward him, including parts that had flown dozens of meters away.
Many of the parts showed signs of burning or were twisted from the internal explosion, but many others—particularly the thick, military-grade plates—remained intact, a mountain of high-quality metal laid out before Leo.
Stark opened his face mask, the metal clicking back into the helmet housing. His gaze was complex as he looked at the little guy in front of him, who had just performed a feat of telekinesis that dwarfed anything he had seen.
"Leo, thank you. You saved my life tonight, twice—once by distracting him, and once by catching that missile."
"Mr. Stark, you defeated Obadiah yourself. I just cleared the way."
"No, I mean it. Anyway, thank you. Where's Pepper? Is she completely safe?" Tony's concern for Pepper was immediate and absolute.
"Over there, about a kilometer away. She's with Agent Coulson; he doesn't know I'm here yet," Leo pointed calmly in the direction of the factory perimeter.
Clang.
Mark III's mask sealed shut. Tony glanced at the horrific scene of destruction around him. Although Stark Industries was some distance from the dense part of the city, the chaos of the fight had caused countless civilian accidents.
"I will establish the Stark Foundation immediately. It will take full responsibility for this accident, covering all damages and compensating the affected families."
Tony looked at the fire-filled surroundings, his voice a low, mechanical promise, though it was unclear whether he was speaking to Leo, to Jarvis, or to himself.
With a final, weary flare of his boots, Tony ascended and flew toward Pepper's location, leaving Leo alone with the battlefield of wreckage.
After Tony left, Leo stared at the massive fragments of the Iron Monger before him. This was a treasure trove.
He reached out and manipulated the metal, his right hand clenching, and the tons of debris compressed with shocking speed, shrinking into a single, dense metal ball about the size of a beach ball.
Previously, even after the initial breakthrough, he could manipulate and deform complex metal materials like the gold-titanium alloys, but the process was slow and required intense focus. Ordinary metals he could easily control, but this was different.
Having broken through the 99-point human limit, his control over Metal Control had dramatically improved, surging past the C-level definition. Now, he could easily compress and control materials that were no less impressive than gold-titanium alloys.
He focused on the System Panel again, mentally commanding the Nirvana Golden Wings to activate its mysterious special function.
The Golden Wings, shimmering and powerful, extended from his back, unfolded, and easily inserted themselves into the dense metal sphere in front of him. A strange, humming energy surged from the wings into the ball.
As the energy merged into the golden wings, the shimmering, diamond-shaped patterns within the wing structure gradually began to solidify, turning from ethereal light into solid, complex golden glyphs. Simultaneously, the metal sphere began to rapidly flatten and shrink.
In just three minutes, the huge metal ball, once a mix of military steel and damaged hydraulics, had shrunk by fully one-tenth of its original volume. It now looked dull, spent, and gray, like slag after a powerful magnetic purification process.
With a gentle touch, the now inert mass shattered into countless fragments, obscuring any hint of its original structure. The worthless metal was cast aside.
Leo's eyes shone. The (Unknown) special skill of the Nirvana Golden Wings had been unlocked: Material Integration. The act of consuming and refining high-quality metallic mass had upgraded the structural integrity of his golden wings, making them marginally more physical and far more capable of sustained high-speed flight without energy drain. The absorption had given him a fraction of the Monger's raw density, refined and integrated into his Body Enhancement.
He slightly shifted his body to the side, then, testing the durability of his newly integrated wings, he lightly scratched the reinforced concrete wall beside him with the edge of his right wing. Instead of the ethereal light dissipating, the wing edge sliced through the concrete with a horrible screech, leaving a deep, noticeable gouge in the thick material.
The wings are weapons now, too, Leo realized with a grin. He quickly ascended into the air, his golden light disappearing into the night, already on his way to join Tony and Pepper. The pain was worth every single point. The future was now golden.