Climbing up from that "full prostration" crater in the living-room floor, Tony Stark felt like his pride had been scraped raw right along with the armor's paint. Especially under Takao's "Rise, my loyal minister" and Skadi's red eyes—eyes that looked like they could see through everything (though she might honestly just have been spacing out)—his genius-level self-esteem took a hit like never before.
"This was just a tiny, insignificant, inevitable fluctuation during the system's adaptive calibration process!" Tony insisted while wriggling out of the suit and slapping dust off himself, forcibly salvaging face. "The key point is: the suit-up system ran perfectly! The Mark II's performance is unmatched!"
Takao held back a laugh and nodded. "True. The entrance was… breathtaking. But Tony, what are you planning to do next? Keep opening holes in your own roof?"
"Of course not!" Tony puffed out his chest, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. "It's time to show the world what a real protector looks like. I'm going to finish what we started—clean up the scum still using Stark Industries weapons to do evil!"
He thought of the Ten Rings, thought of the terrorists who had attacked them in the desert. It was time, as Iron Man, to deliver justice.
Takao looked at Tony's eager, raring-to-go expression and remembered how this played out in the original storyline. He offered a kind reminder. "Good idea. But Tony—take my advice. Before you leave, you'd better at least give your good friend Colonel James Rhodes, or the U.S. military, a heads-up. File your flight route and identification signal, at minimum."
Tony scoffed and waved a hand, his face practically saying, Are you doubting my tech?
"A heads-up? Filing? Takao, my old buddy, take a look at this!" He proudly knocked on the red-and-gold armor beside him. "The Mark II has the most advanced radar stealth system in the world! Materials, design—everything minimizes radar cross-section. On a radar screen, I'm like a ghost bird. They won't even find me! Why waste time with bureaucrats?"
Seeing Tony's "technology is number one under heaven" confidence, Takao knew he couldn't talk him out of it. He shrugged. "Fine. Just hope your 'ghost bird' doesn't end up in a hunter's sights. Good luck."
Tony snorted, stepped back into the armor, and once again completed that flashy "blooming" suit-up sequence. After leaving behind a "Just wait until you see me on the headlines!", he roared out through the newly repaired floor-to-ceiling window and shot straight toward the distant Middle East theater.
With JARVIS's powerful intel-gathering and the Mark II's extreme speed, Tony quickly locked onto a terrorist stronghold still using older Stark Industries weapons. Without a moment of hesitation, he dropped from the sky like a divine soldier—repulsors, micro-missiles, shoulder-mounted machine guns… a torrent of firepower poured down with pinpoint accuracy, blasting the camp's weapons and facilities into fragments.
In the end, he even tanked a hit from a tank's main gun head-on, then casually destroyed the tank with an anti-tank bomb—finishing off with a performance of the classic "real men don't look back at explosions." Tony Stark was convinced he looked unbelievably cool. He told JARVIS to capture his current heroic figure in every kind of photo and video, bundle it all up, and send it to Takao.
Takao, watching TV in the living room, looked at the photos and videos Tony had sent and couldn't help shaking his head with an amused smile.
Then Tony went even further, swaggering straight through the enemy's machine-gun fire—repulsor shot after repulsor shot—sending terrorists flying and smashing them to the ground one by one. Watching the enemies scatter in panic below and the raging flames spreading, Tony's heart filled with exhilaration and the satisfaction of carrying out justice.
"This is what I, Tony Stark, am supposed to be doing!"
But his commotion was far too big, and it quickly drew the attention of the U.S. military patrolling the area. Two F-22 Raptor fighters were urgently dispatched to investigate an unidentified aircraft.
When JARVIS issued a warning that they were being painted by fire-control radar, Tony didn't take it too seriously. "Activate full-spectrum jamming and stealth mode! Shake them off, JARVIS!"
He confidently pulled off all kinds of high-difficulty maneuvers to break contact. Reality, however, hit him hard. His radar stealth might fool older systems—but against the U.S. military's most advanced fighters, especially after the intense attack he'd just carried out—his stealth coating now slightly damaged, his engine heat signature glaring—his so-called "stealth" was dramatically less effective.
"Sir, we are locked. They are ordering us to identify ourselves and land."
"Damn it! They can't cut me a little slack?" Tony tried to accelerate away.
"They have launched a missile. Repeat: missile incoming!"
A hair-raising aerial chase began. Relying on the Mark II's agility and JARVIS's assistance, Tony narrowly dodged the missiles—but the suit's surface was also raked by cannon fire, leaving scratches and dents across the plating. Forced into the cloud layer, he used terrain and extreme handling to barely shake pursuit. The entire process was humiliating, his energy consumption massive, and the armor suffered additional damage.
By the time he finally limped home in a smoking suit and wobbled down onto the villa's landing pad, he had none of the swagger he'd left with.
Takao and Skadi heard the noise and came out. Takao took in Tony's smoke-stained, cratered armor and the expression on his face—an awkward mixture of exhaustion, lingering fear, and embarrassment—and finally couldn't hold it in. A knowing smile spread across his face, completely undisguised.
He didn't say a word. He just let his eyes deliver the message: See? I told you.
Tony's face burned red under that look. He argued stubbornly anyway. "This time… this time was just an accident! Who knew their radar got upgraded! And their pilots are insane—actually firing missiles at me! I was hitting terrorists!"
As he spoke, he clambered out of the suit with quick, practiced movements, as if the once-cool armor had suddenly become too hot to touch.
"Mm. An accident. I understand." Takao nodded, his tone full of teasing. "After all, your 'ghost bird' stealth system is invincible."
Tony: "...Takao, sometimes I really wish your 'magic' could turn you into a mute."
Skadi watched the two of them bickering and tilted her head. She didn't really understand what had happened, but she could tell Takao was happy—so she silently stepped to his side and showed her support with actions.
Tony looked at the "husband sings, wife follows" scene, then thought about how he'd just been chased around the sky like a headless fly. He immediately felt even more tired. Getting his dignity back, it seemed, wasn't going to be easy.
(End of Chapter)
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