Chapter 149: "Iron Monger" Obadiah Stane

Under Tony's control, the Mark II's leg thruster power was fully engaged, rapidly propelling it towards high altitude.

Soon, Tony reached an altitude of 85,000 feet, the highest flight altitude record for a fighter jet set by the SR-71 Blackbird high-altitude high-speed strategic reconnaissance aircraft. However, Tony did not stop there but continued to fly to even greater heights.

When the Mark II reached an altitude of 150,000 feet, seeing that Tony still showed no sign of stopping, Chen Mo couldn't help but roll his eyes and sternly shouted into the communicator.

"Tony!"

Tony Stark, who was immersed in the unparalleled thrill of surpassing the limits, only came back to his senses when he heard Chen Mo's somewhat stern voice in his ear. At the same time, he remembered Chen Mo's instructions before they set off.

"Okay, okay, I got it, old man."

Tony agreed somewhat reluctantly.

He glanced at the sky above, where there were no clouds or dust obscuring the view, only a pitch-black purity dotted with dazzling starlight. Reluctantly, Tony stopped climbing. When the suit gradually decelerated under the influence of gravity and finally began to fall, he restarted the thrusters and reversed direction, diving downwards.

...

The Mark II's test flight was perfect. Its performance far exceeded Tony Stark's expectations. It could already be considered fully mature and required no further modifications. Originally, he had anticipated conducting multiple modifications and tests, and might even need to make significant changes, building several suits before finally meeting the requirements for actual combat.

But now, it was easily accomplished in one go, leaving him completely satisfied. He knew that all of this was thanks to Chen Mo. His involvement and guidance not only saved him from many detours, a significant amount of time and energy, but also greatly improved the suit's performance in all aspects through the enhancement of various high-end technologies he provided.

If it were him alone, perfecting those flaws might only require enough time, but the technologies Chen Mo provided were not something he could research in a short period, especially the thrusters, which were crucial for the suit's flight.

The energy engine designed by Chen Mo was much stronger than his original design in terms of both energy conversion efficiency and thrust-to-weight ratio.

The most direct benefit was that the Mark II's maximum flight speed reached Mach 2, over 2,400 kilometers per hour, while the Mark III, which was used in actual combat in the movie, could barely break the sound barrier.

Tony Stark was already very satisfied with this suit, but Chen Mo was not.

With Chen Mo's forward-looking suggestions and the enhancement of Hydra technology, the new Mark II was much more powerful than the Mark III after its further improvements in the movie. However, there were still two relatively significant problems.

One was that the process of equipping the Iron Man suit was too troublesome. It required a special equipment platform and multiple fully automatic robotic arms to assemble simultaneously, which still took a considerable amount of time. This greatly reduced its ability to respond to emergencies.

If the enemy attacked your doorstep, you couldn't expect them to wait for you to finish putting on the suit before attacking, right? The laser-guided tracking rapid deployment system of the Mark VII in the Avengers, which automatically flew in and directly wrapped around the wearer from behind, or the decomposed deployment method of the Mark XLII in Iron Man 3, which allowed for automatic assembly of separate parts, was much faster and more convenient, no longer limited by the bulky assembly platform, allowing for rapid donning anywhere.

In addition, although the Mark II's performance had been greatly improved with Chen Mo's help, it was still far from reaching its limit. Limited by the insufficient output power of the second-generation Arc Reactor, the Mark II's flight speed and attack power, among other performance aspects, had not been fully utilized.

Although he was quite satisfied with the current Mark II, under the temptation of the more powerful suit described by Chen Mo, Tony did not hesitate to continue enhancing the suit.

Next, the two began to study the third-generation Arc Reactor with greater output power and to improve the suit's donning method.

The second-generation Arc Reactor, like the first generation, had palladium embedded within and needed to be discarded and replaced with a new reactor after use. The third generation in the movie used palladium plates, which could be directly replaced after use, making it more convenient, with higher energy output efficiency and longer battery life.

While they continued to improve the Iron Man suit, Chen Mo received a message from Hydra that Obadiah Stane had successfully obtained the Mark I prototype and its design blueprints.

However, a small incident occurred in the process. As Chen Mo had expected, Obadiah did not intend to conduct the transaction honestly but planned to double-cross them. Unfortunately for him, he chose the wrong target.

Brock Rumlow was not the original bald-headed leader, and his subordinates were not those ragtag terrorists. When Obadiah secretly took out a neuroparalyzer and approached Brock Rumlow to ambush him, he was easily subdued by the ever-vigilant Brock.

Normally, he would have directly killed Obadiah, but the mission assigned by Hydra had to be completed, so Obadiah luckily survived. However, as punishment, Brock Rumlow chopped off his left hand, the one holding the neuroparalyzer.

Having paid double the price and a left hand as the cost to save his life and obtain what he wanted, Obadiah walked out of the tent with a ferocious expression, preparing to gather his men to avenge him. However, he found that the numerous elite bodyguards he had left outside, who should have been in control of the situation, were all lying on the ground.

The tent flap was lifted again, and Brock Rumlow, who walked out behind him, couldn't help but smirk when he saw this.

"Looks like you'll have to carry them back yourself."

...

When Chen Mo and Tony Stark successfully improved the Arc Reactor and created the third-generation Arc Reactor that used palladium plates, which could be easily replaced directly and had greater energy output and longer battery life, Obadiah, with the assistance of his other men, also returned to New York from Afghanistan with the Mark I.

As early as when Tony Stark had just returned and announced the dissolution of Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing division at the press conference, Obadiah, as the CEO of Stark Industries, took advantage of the sharp drop in stock prices to persuade the board of directors to restrict Tony Stark's authority, making him all-powerful within Stark Industries.

Having paid a huge price to obtain the prototype of the Iron Man suit, Obadiah returned to Stark Industries. Before even going to the hospital to treat his severed hand, he impatiently ordered the research personnel to study the blueprints and the prototype.

With the readily available blueprints and the Mark I prototype, the research on the Iron Man suit went smoothly. The Iron Man suit codenamed "Iron Monger" was quickly designed and began to be manufactured. However, the energy problem for powering the suit remained unresolved.

His research team had long begun studying the large Arc Reactor in Stark Industries, wanting to create a miniaturized Arc Reactor like Tony Stark. A considerable amount of time had passed, but they had made no progress.

Obadiah couldn't help but turn his attention back to Tony Stark.

Because Chen Mo and the other two had eliminated all the terrorists who kidnapped Tony, and Crossbones Brock Rumlow was left behind to lead the special operations team to annihilate the remaining terrorists nearby, the scene in the movie where Ethan's hometown was attacked by terrorists did not happen.

Tony had also been immersed in the development of the new Iron Man suit and had no intention of dealing with company affairs at all.

Therefore, Tony was completely unaware of Obadiah's series of actions within Stark Industries.

However, Chen Mo was fully aware of Obadiah Stane's actions, and it was time for Tony to know his true colors.

That night, Agent Phil Coulson arrived at Tony Stark's seaside villa, bringing photos of Stark Industries selling a large number of weapons, including the latest Jericho missiles, to terrorists and anti-government forces.

"When were these taken?"

After looking at the photos, Tony Stark asked with a serious expression.

"Yesterday."

Phil Coulson replied calmly.

"I didn't approve any transactions."

Tony Stark shook his head, saying somewhat uncertainly.

"But your company did."

Coulson looked at Tony and said slowly.

Hearing this, Tony Stark couldn't help but think of the board of directors restricting his authority and stopping his work, and said somewhat angrily.

"I am separate from my company!"

Agent Phil Coulson glanced at Tony Stark, said nothing more, left the information, and turned to leave.

Tony Stark watched his back as he fell into deep thought. Besides him, there was only one person in Stark Industries who could do all this. Obadiah's face couldn't help but appear in his mind.

Now that the company was completely under his control, this matter must be related to him.

Thinking of this, Tony Stark called Obadiah with a stern face.

The conversation was unpleasant. Seeing that Tony had discovered his behind-the-scenes dealings and was questioning him, Obadiah, who was at the hospital treating his severed hand, became angry and simply admitted that he had submitted the application to the board of directors to stop Tony's work.

Now that Tony Stark had been sidelined by him and had completely lost his authority in Stark Industries, he no longer posed any threat. Now that he had obtained the powerful weapon of the Iron Man suit, he no longer needed to pretend to be a kind elder in front of Tony.

After hanging up the phone, Tony Stark looked somewhat dazed. He had always regarded Obadiah as family, but he never expected that in the end, it was Obadiah who had plotted against him and seized his power in the company.

The feeling of being betrayed by someone close to him made him extremely uncomfortable.