Courtyard House: Initial Donation of 50 Million

Under the stark white lights of the underground warehouse, the smell of iron and sweat mingled with the pungent odor of diesel fuel, creating a suffocating atmosphere. Obadiah Stanislav, like a restless, trapped beast, paced back and forth among mountains of metal parts and unfinished, massive mechanical skeletons. His heavy footsteps echoed dully in the empty warehouse, each stomp seeming to weigh heavily on the taut nerves of the three engineers.

"Mr. Stanislav, the main frame is basically welded. It uses the HY-100 special armor steel that you specially approved, with a thickness of 80 millimeters, which is enough to withstand most known man-portable anti-tank weapons." The leading engineer, a gray-haired man named Victor, wiped the sweat from his forehead and pointed to the enormous, nascent structure in front of him. It was a steel skeleton far thicker and heavier than the Mark I, with rugged lines, full of primal power, like a sleeping steel behemoth.

Obadiah stopped, squinting as he examined the pile of cold metal. The blurry design of the Mark I on the blueprints had been greatly enlarged and reinforced at his behest. The leg structure had been thickened, and the joints were covered with heavy protective plates; the arm positions had huge interfaces, clearly intended for mounting heavy weapons. Most striking was the back, where a massive support structure had already been welded in, with multiple mounting points pre-drilled.

"Where's the energy?" Obadiah's voice was deep and carried an undeniable air of authority. "Without that damn mini-reactor, this thing is just a sitting duck!"

"We...we are integrating high-density lithium-sulfur battery packs." Another engineer, young Karl, said in a slightly trembling voice, "According to calculations, if we use a parallel configuration, the maximum output power can support basic operations and some weapon systems for short periods of time, but the endurance...I'm afraid it won't exceed thirty minutes. Moreover, heat dissipation is a major problem."

"Thirty minutes?" Obadiah whirled around, his gaze like a knife scraping across Carl's face. "I need a war machine that can crush Tony's toy! Not an electric wheelchair that can only move for thirty minutes!" He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his almost bursting rage, and pointed at the pile of batteries. "Then figure it out! Add spare batteries! Optimize the cooling! I don't care if you stuff it with ice or liquid nitrogen! I want it to move! Move long enough! Move hard enough!"

He walked to the massive chest armor component, the rough steel plates reflecting a cold light. He reached out and slammed his hand against the cold metal, producing a dull thud. "Here! We need to leave room here! Plenty of room!" His voice was filled with an almost greedy fanaticism. "Once we get that thing in Tony's chest, it should stay here! Be the engine of this steel heart!"

Victor hesitated for a moment, then forced himself to speak: "Mr. Stanislav, the reactor in Mr. Stark's chest... we've tried analyzing the external scan data, but its energy field shielding is perfect, and the internal structure is completely unanalyzable. Moreover, according to intelligence, that thing is directly connected to his... cardiovascular system. The risk of forcibly taking it..."

"Risk?" Obadiah abruptly interrupted him, a sinister smile spreading across his face. "Victor, when did you become so indecisive? Tony Stark's heart? That thing should never have belonged to him! It belongs to Stark Industries! It belongs to the future! As for the risk..." He leaned closer to Victor, his voice low but like the hiss of a viper, "That's a problem for those carrying out the mission to consider, not for us. I only care about the results! Understand?"

Victor's face paled, and he lowered his head: "Yes, Mr. Stanislav."

"Progress!" Obadiah stopped looking at him, his gaze sweeping across the entire warehouse. "Tell me, how much longer until my Iron Monger stands up?"

"The core framework and basic power system will take at least... 48 hours," Victor replied with difficulty. "The integration of the weapon systems and external armor will require additional time."

"Forty-eight hours..." Obadiah chewed on the timeframe, his eyes turning sinister. "Too slow. Tony won't give us forty-eight hours. His damn Mark II, and that mysterious Easterner... they're all watching us." He suddenly waved his hand. "Everyone! Three shifts! I want to see it move within thirty-six hours! Even if it just takes a couple of steps like a zombie! Money is no problem! Resources are no problem! I want results!"

He turned and walked towards the makeshift office in the corner of the warehouse, leaving the three engineers staring at each other, their faces etched with exhaustion and immense pressure. The warehouse was instantly filled only with the increasingly intense and rapid clanging of metal, the sizzling of welding, and the low rumble of engine testing. The Iron Monger's shadow, under the stark white light, was solidifying at an alarming rate.

At the circular workbench in the top-floor laboratory, Tony Stark's state was drastically different from Obadiah's, yet both were driven by an almost burning sense of urgency. He was like a tightly wound precision instrument, operating at high speed amidst the blue light of the holographic projection. Exploded views of the Mark II armor components floated in the air, alongside a waterfall of constantly refreshing data streams and an ever-optimizing model of the new reactor.

"Jarvis! The feedback delay of the leg hydraulic system is still 0.03 seconds too high! This is a fatal flaw in high-speed maneuvering! Recalibrate the servo motor parameters! Add a dynamic prediction algorithm!" Tony's voice was hoarse, carrying the fatigue of staying up all night, but his eyes were sharp as an eagle, staring intently at the numbers jumping on the screen.

"Recalibrating, sir. But I must remind you that this is the limit of the response speed under current material and technological conditions," Jarvis replied gently.

"Limits are meant to be broken!" Tony scratched his messy hair in frustration, grabbed a cold energy drink, and gulped it down. "Get me all the papers on superconducting materials and quantum tunneling! I refuse to believe we can't find a way to improve response speed!"

The arc reactor on his chest emitted a steady, eerie blue light, but upon closer inspection, the edges of the light seemed brighter than usual, carrying a subtle, almost imperceptible agitation. Tony subconsciously pressed his hand against the edge of the reactor, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.

"Tony," Ethan's voice was filled with worry as he approached with a plate of sliced ​​fruit, "you've been working for over twelve hours straight. You need to rest, even if it's just for an hour."

Tony didn't even look up, his fingers flying across the virtual keyboard: "Rest? Ethan, in Obi's underground workshop, his Iron Turtle is being assembled overtime. Every minute wasted brings that monster one step closer to completion. What am I supposed to rest on?" His tone was as sarcastic as ever, but this time it was less playful and more serious.

"But by overdrawing your own energy like this, you'll collapse before Obadiah even makes a move!" Ethan couldn't help but raise his voice. "Look at your face! And this!" He pointed to the slightly reddened skin around Tony's chest reactor. "Isn't this...?"

"It's excellent!" Tony abruptly interrupted him, his tone tinged with a barely perceptible mix of panic and force. "Excellent, better than ever before! Jarvis, vital signs report!"

"Sir, your heart rate is high, your blood pressure is at a critical level, and your nerve excitability remains excessive. The reactor core temperature is 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than normal, and the energy output fluctuation has increased by 0.7%. We strongly recommend that you stop working immediately and take at least four hours of deep rest and physical cooling."

"Reject the recommendation!" Tony practically roared, waving his hand irritably as if to ward off the unsettling data. "I told you it's good! Now, shut up and continue optimizing the leg servo system!"

Ethan watched Tony's almost obsessive back and sighed helplessly. He knew Tony was under immense pressure: the threat from Obadiah, the turmoil in the company after the closure of the weapons division, and even more so, the intense desire deep within him to change and atone for his sins. He silently put down the fruit plate, turned, and walked towards the rest area, his eyes filled with worry and a profound sense of powerlessness.

The lab door slid open silently, and Pepper Potts walked in. She had changed into a smart suit, but the weariness between her brows was hard to hide. She immediately noticed Tony's condition and the worry on Ethan's face, and her heart tightened.

"Tony," she said, walking to the workbench, her voice as steady as possible, "Obadia's procurement list has been initially compiled. In addition to the special steel and battery packs mentioned earlier, he has also ordered a large number of military-grade sensors, fire control components, and even... a batch of plutonium with a special designation, nominally for the research and development of 'new nuclear batteries,' through three different shell companies."

Tony jerked his head up, a cold glint in his eyes. "Plutonium? What's he planning? To build dirty bombs for his Iron Turtle?" He sneered, his sharp tongue kicking in again. "Looks like our good uncle not only wants to steal my company, but also wants to turn New York into the next Chernobyl? How 'far-sighted'!"

Chili ignored his sarcasm and said seriously, "I've already shared the leads with Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes and my acquaintances at the Department of Homeland Security. They're taking it very seriously and are tracing the source and final destination of this plutonium. Also, Obadiah just submitted a board proposal requesting a reassessment of the decision to shut down the weapons division and the initiation of an independent review of your 'mental condition and decision-making ability'."

"Ha!" Tony laughed exaggeratedly, but there was no smile in his eyes. "It's finally here! A mental examination? He thinks he can kick me out like this? Dream on!" He stood up abruptly, swaying slightly from the sudden movement. Pepper instinctively reached out to support his arm.

The moment their skin touched, both of them stiffened slightly. Tony looked down at Pepper's face, so close to his own. In those eyes, which were always full of wisdom and resilience, his reflection was clearly seen, along with undisguised concern and heartache. The irritation and anger in his chest seemed to be extinguished for a moment by that gaze.

"I'm fine, Pepper." His voice lowered, carrying a softness he himself didn't even realize.

"You don't look okay." Pepper didn't loosen her grip; instead, she tightened it. "Tony, I know you're under a lot of pressure, but you can't treat yourself like this. Obadiah's conspiracy needs to be dealt with, the company's future needs to be planned, but all of this depends on you living, living healthily." Her voice trembled slightly. "I don't want... I don't want to experience that fear of losing you again."

Tony's heart skipped a beat. The despair of near-death in the cave, the grief of Ethan's sacrifice, and the heartache of seeing Pepper's haggard face after being rescued... all sorts of emotions surged into his mind in an instant. He took Pepper's hand in his own, feeling the coolness and slight trembling of her fingertips.

"Pepper..." he whispered her name, a thousand words stuck in his throat, finally turning into a self-deprecating sigh, "Okay, I admit, I might look a bit like... well, a mad scientist about to be roasted alive by the reactor he invented?"

This clumsy joke made Little Chili burst into laughter through her tears. She gave him a reproachful glare: "It's absolutely true!"

"Okay, even geniuses need to recharge sometimes." Tony shrugged, glancing at the fruit plate Ethan had placed beside him. He casually picked up a piece of apple and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling, "Give me ten minutes... no, five minutes, I'll finish optimizing this server loop and then..."

His words trailed off. Wang Huanbo had silently moved to the workbench, his gaze fixed on the suspended, optimized model of the new reactor. His eyes were calm and unwavering, yet Tony felt a strange unease, as if his meticulously designed work was being scrutinized by a discerning expert.

"Did you add redundant buffers?" Wang Huanbo asked, his voice calm.

Tony swallowed the apple in his mouth, straightened his back, and said with a hint of genius pride, "Three-level redundancy, dynamic damping algorithm, energy dissipation rate reduced by 15%, stability at peak output improved..."

"The core of overload risk isn't the dissipation rate," Wang Huanbo interrupted him, pointing to an extremely small energy node at the core of the model. "It lies in the closed-loop design of the energy loop. Your redundancy is external; the core remains fragile. It's like an egg with a reinforced shell, yet the inside is still easily broken."

Tony's pride froze instantly. He stared intently at the point Wang Huanbo had pointed out—a delicate balance point in his design, but also a potential weakness he had risked leaving behind in his pursuit of ultimate power. He had never imagined that this hidden danger, which even Jarvis hadn't explicitly pointed out, would be seen through at a glance by this mysterious Easterner.

"You..." Tony opened his mouth, feeling speechless for the first time in front of this man. His pride in his intelligence seemed to pale in comparison to this man.

"Combat is not an experiment." Wang Huanbo's gaze shifted from the model to Tony's face, his eyes seeming to pierce through his soul. "In the line between life and death, any slight imbalance will be magnified infinitely. Your enemy will not give you a chance to adjust the parameters."

A hush fell over the laboratory. Only the silent flow of light from the holographic projection remained. Tony's expression shifted, from initial shock and defiance to later solemnity and contemplation. He stopped speaking, staring intently at the highlighted node, his fingers moving unconsciously in the air, as if engaged in a fierce internal struggle.

Pepper Potts and Ethan watched Tony intently, holding their breath. They knew that Wang Huanbo's words had struck at Tony's core pride and pointed out his most fatal weakness.

After an unknown amount of time, Tony let out a long breath, the obsession and fanaticism in his eyes fading, replaced by an extremely sharp calmness.

"Jarvis," his voice regained its usual composure, but carried an unprecedented gravity, "remodel. Abandon the original core closed-loop design. Adopt... a distributed energy node network, with redundant structures built into the energy loop itself. Power output... reduced by twenty percent. Safety threshold, raised to the highest priority."

"Okay, sir. The new plan is expected to require an additional six hours of calculation and simulation time."

"Let's get started!" Tony said decisively. He looked up at Wang Huanbo, his eyes filled with complex emotions—probing, wary, but ultimately settling into a faint, almost imperceptible gratitude. "Thanks," he muttered, then immediately threw himself back into his work, as if his earlier hesitation had never occurred.

Little Chili watched this scene, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She looked at Wang Huanbo, who had already turned around again, facing the New York night view outside the floor-to-ceiling window. His back was still tall and mysterious, like a silent mountain.

"Mr. Wang," Little Chili said softly, with genuine gratitude, "thank you."

Wang Huanbo didn't turn around, but simply said, "A storm is coming, be prepared." His gaze pierced through the city lights, as if locking onto the steel behemoth being frantically spawned deep underground.

Underground warehouse.

"Start it! Start it now!" Obadiah's roar echoed in the vast space, carrying a morbid excitement.

Victor took a deep breath and nodded to Karl in front of the control panel. Karl's fingers trembled slightly as he pressed the red start button.

Om-!

A deep, muffled roar, like the awakening of a giant beast, echoed from the center of the warehouse. Accompanied by the grating sound of metal scraping and the hissing of the hydraulic system pressurizing, the massive, crude steel construct—the Iron Monger prototype—slowly and with great difficulty bent its enormous leg joints under the pressure of the hydraulic rods.

The heavy steel foot lifted a few centimeters off the ground before slamming back down with a loud "thud," making the entire warehouse seem to tremble.

"It moved! It moved!" Obadiah shouted with ecstasy, his eyes gleaming with greed and madness. "Keep going! Make it move!"

Carl gritted his teeth and pushed the lever. The Iron Monger's massive body, driven by the hydraulic system and makeshift motor, groaned under the strain and took its first step forward extremely slowly and unsteadily.

Clang!

The step was too big, the center of gravity was unstable, and the huge steel body suddenly staggered, the heavy left arm slamming hard into a pile of spare steel plates next to it, making a deafening noise and sending sparks flying.

"Stabilize! You useless piece of trash! Stabilize it for me!" Obadiah roared in exasperation.

Victor and another engineer scrambled to the control panel to assist. The Iron Monger barely managed to stay upright amidst the violent shaking, the multiple sets of high-energy batteries temporarily connected to its back flashing unstable red lights, the cooling fans emitting a sharp whistle, and a burnt smell permeating the air.

"Unstable power output! Overloaded cooling system! At this rate, it won't last five minutes!" Victor shouted desperately, watching the red alert flashing wildly on the screen.

"Five minutes?" Obadiah stared at the clumsy, ugly, yet terrifyingly powerful steel behemoth, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "Five minutes... that's enough! Enough to show that brat Tony, and all those who dare to question me, what true power really is!"

He could almost see the steel behemoth trampling Tony's lab, his eyes burning with a flame of annihilation.

"Keep testing! I want it to destroy everything in its way within five minutes!"