Chapter 12: The Debut of the Mark I Armor, Information Overload

Obadiah couldn't possibly let him off that easily. Once he recovered, Tony could simply call the police and Obadiah would be behind bars. As a businessman, Tony knew Obadiah could be looking at life imprisonment. If he wanted to, a million-dollar check would likely buy the help of countless people to ensure Obadiah disappeared without a trace in prison.

So Obadiah must have been convinced he was going to die. That meant there had to be a connection between his apparent poisoning and the arc reactor.

Yes, he recognized what it was, or rather, it was a new technology he was still in the concept stage of developing: the arc reactor, a cold fusion technology.

It was still just an idea, not fully fleshed out. But clearly, the technology had matured by the time he returned from Afghanistan in the future.

It was ready for use now.

"If it's cold fusion..." Tony suddenly thought, making a connection to something Marcus had mentioned in his diary earlier.

If Marcus's diary was accurate, then his future self, after being kidnapped and returning from Afghanistan, had a significant change of heart and shut down the weapons division. Previously, he'd thought Marcus was crazy, or maybe it was him.

Saying he'd shut down the weapons division sounded simple, but it was like giving up the foundation of Stark Industries. It would be disastrous.

But what if Stark Industries had another option now?

The arms industry was undeniably lucrative, but the energy industry was even more so. Every wealthy oil-producing country in the Middle East had made a fortune selling oil.

That was also why Tony had begun researching the technology in the first place. Today, not many countries can even handle nuclear fission power plants. If fusion could be developed, just as Obadiah had said, it was the key to a new era in energy.

With fusion developed, Stark Industries would undoubtedly skyrocket. Becoming the world's richest person would be easy. It was even foreseeable that his personal wealth could rival that of a tycoon.

Suddenly, everything made sense. Marcus had been waiting for him all along.

Waiting for Tony to close down the weapons division, then watch the stock price plummet, then swoop in and buy low. When his own fusion technology was developed, Stark Industries' stock would soar. All in all, it could easily increase tenfold.

Everything that had previously been confusing suddenly became clear.

He didn't mind Marcus making a quick profit, he was just curious how Marcus knew.

But there was still one question: why would he put the arc reactor in his body, knowing it would lead to an obvious problem – poisoning?

If he used the material he was thinking of now, palladium, it would lead to palladium poisoning.

But now he could see at a glance what was going on, and it didn't make sense that his future self wouldn't understand, unless he had no choice but to, even though he would encounter palladium poisoning.

More and more questions arose in his mind, and as he continued to watch, the image of himself in the screen looked like he was poisoned, his face pale and tinged with a bluish hue, covered in veins.

"JARVIS, analyze what kind of illness it is that could turn me into that in such a short time," Tony said with a cold expression.

In the image, Tony struggled down to the basement, finding the abandoned Arc Reactor, struggling to the point of almost failing. At this moment, the machine arm that had been criticized by him before brought the items over, and then he smashed the glass outside the Arc Reactor.

Tony's mind was racing madly as he tried to figure out why it seemed that leaving the Arc Reactor meant death for him.

And this issue seemed to be common knowledge, even Obadiah knew.

The scene shifted as Obadiah placed the Arc Reactor snatched from Tony into a huge mech suit.

"A mech suit?" Tony never expected to see something like this.

Obadiah still had the capability to develop such things?

Tony was puzzled. It wasn't that he looked down on Obadiah, but that was the fact. The entire company's researchers combined were not enough for him alone to see.

In the meantime, in the image, Tony had already been saved by his African-American friend Colonel Rhodes, but he was still worried about Pepper Potts.

In the scene, Obadiah, wearing the huge Iron Monger armor, had already found Pepper Potts. Tony saw this scene and couldn't help but feel a pang of helplessness in his heart.

[I don't need you anymore, my dear.] Obadiah said coldly with a sneer.

Just about to act, just as Pepper Potts was about to be in trouble, at the critical moment, a figure flew over directly, none other than Tony driving the Mark II, arriving just in time to rescue.

The two sides engaged in fierce combat in the street.

However, it was obvious that Tony was at a disadvantage because his Arc Reactor didn't have much power left. It had just been retired and was only at nineteen percent.

[For forty years, I have been supporting you. I built this company from scratch, and I will never allow anyone to stand in my way, let alone you.]

In the video, Obadiah vented years of resentment as he brutally beat Tony. Obviously, Obadiah's dissatisfaction with Tony had been brewing for more than just a day or two.

Seeing that he was completely at a disadvantage, Tony simply flew into the sky, with Colonel Rhodes flying to the rescue.

The two flew higher and higher, even alarming the U.S. military. Fortunately, Colonel Rhodes arrived and stopped the plan to intercept the aircraft.

As they flew higher and higher, when Tony's energy was almost depleted, Obadiah caught up with him and grabbed him.

[I've caught up with you, Tony. I have more powerful strength than you.]

Facing this situation, Tony just asked lightly, [How did you solve the icing problem?]

Before Obadiah could react, his Iron Monger was already frozen solid. In an instant, the Iron Monger short-circuited and fell from the sky.

And Tony had also consumed most of his power. Finally, he staggered and managed to land safely, narrowly avoiding being killed by the fall.