Man In The Iron Suit

by Konoha's Crimson Fox

AU: After a spectacular weapons' presentation. On the way back to base, Tony Stark's convoy is under attack. Tony awakes somewhere in North Korea, being held captive and found out that an electromagnetic has been mounted into his chest, keeping the shrapnel from piercing his heart. Tony is force to complete The Maelstrom Repulsor torpedo or he will be executed. One-shot story.

Iron Man One-Shot

Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man. Stan Lee and Marvel Studios does.

A/N: This story will be based more on the movie and new Iron Man Japanese anime. I decided that I will combine the Iron Man trilogy into one story. This story is no longer a chapter story as you can see. There will be no second and third story, which were Robotic Warfare and Rise of the Machines, stated during the Naruto Birthday Bash.

The element of this story is a little darker and quite Alternate Universe. This serves as the second story that is a prequel to the Road to Impact story that will be published on the Oct. 7 of 1213, which is an Iron Man/Naruto crossover. Another Naruto/Iron Man crossover—which is the sequel to the Road to Impact story—is scheduled to be published here on 10/10/2013. Enjoy guys, have any questions, you'll are welcome to leave a pm or a review.

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South Korea December 8 2008

Osan Air Base is a United States Air Force Facility located in the Songtan section of Pyeongtaek City, in South Korea. Despite its name, Osan AB is not within Osan City. A peculiar, private jet landed on the runway screeching its tire. It would dock near the hangar.

A monolithic crowd gathered around the jet. The plane door declined open to the asphalt revealing stairs built-in the door's anterior. A man dressed in elegant black silky tuxedo trudged down the stairs. The man wore five-hundred dollar sunglasses. He had worn a maroon tie with green long-sleeve shirt underneath with leather black dress shoes. The man had a nice dark suntan skin tone. The man had a black and chestnut hair, and a small unlit goatee. He appeared to be somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties.

A bright flashed of snap shots blinded the man's sight for several seconds. The man's bodyguards flanked him trying to escort him through what it looked as an angry mobbed demanded answer from journalist and reporters. The man delicately lifted his sunglasses only to peep between the reporter's breast. He gave her a slightly winked before lifting his shades and resumed walking.

"Mr. Stark, I heard you have a weapons' presentation shortly." The reporter held a microphone out towards Mr. Stark.

"Shortly," there was this charming sensation that this young Korean reporter felt from him, "but there still time for getting acquainted—how about dinner tonight?" Mr. Stark glanced down and embossed his eyebrow.

"I-I-um," she could not phrase the words in her mind. She had heard rumors about how much a womanizer Tony Stark was and how he enticed women to bed. Before she could respond, Tony had strolled out of her sight when she was deep in thought. "... the hell he went?" She scowled at her camera man as he just pointed twelve o'clock ahead.

The climate here was very hot. It was like being baked in an oven like a roasted potato. It was a sunny day with a view of clouds overhead that would temperately block the sun ray. The temperatures on the asphalt were still incredibly hot and slick.

Several USA Air Force soldiers along with the South Korean forces lined up as Tony and his body approached. Within the midst of the sticky heat waves, an African American Air Force officer stepped closer to greet Anthony.

"Rhodey, never expected to see you here," he had that uncertainly look in his eyes.

"What I'm here for is to make sure I keep you in line, in other words, behave." Rhodes gave him an unpleasant glare.

"So in other words," he said, "you're here to change my diapers?" He teased.

"Never know you had them on," he got the last grin and word. Tony responded raised an eyebrow in defeat.

The soldiers raised their hand above the eye ready to salute, "My... my, isn't it the death merchant Anthony Edward Stark? Pleasure to meet the son of Howard," an elderly soldier in his early sixties reached out to shake Tony's hand.

"Anthony, meet General Soong," James pointed out.

"Oh, it's the pleasure the honor of meeting you here general!" He said it in a ridicule way.

"This way," he gesticulated the American to the jeep and hummers. As Tony left his sight, Soong smiled changed to acerbic glower.

Two hours later, the military personnel set up camp for the weapons' presentation of Stark Industry. They were somewhere near the border that splits both North and South Korea apart. There was nothing but sand, and bone fragment remains here. When they were ready, Tony began his weapon's presentation.

"Is it better to fear or respect? And I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industry freedom line. It is the first torpedo system to incorporate our propriety Repulsor Technology. They say the best weapon is when you never have to fire—I respectfully disagree. I prefer, the weapon that you only have to fire once. That's how dad did it! That's how America does it, and it has pretty workout so far.

"Today!" this got the attention for those who were speculating. "Stark Industry will change the world on war forever. No more, bullets, rockets, missiles that the tax payers will have to pay out from their budget. No more, explosions and bio, chemical warfare. Everything, all in one aspect, "gossip followed by murmurs, "further due respect... ladies and gentlemen, allow me to in introduce to you." He flicked his thumb as several Stark Industry employees removed the tarp that concealed the weapon. "The Maelstrom!"

After removing the tarp, the weapon looked like a robotic drone in a shape of a scud missile. The weapon itself was the shape like an immense drill pit. It had some type of blue light the illuminated the entire weapon like a strobe light. People were not impressed by Stark's new invention as it appeared to look like an oil drilling rig with a robotic head. They wonder, what will stark do, drill oil or dig fore something that seemed priceless and a waste of time

"The Maelstrom can move as much up to a thousand feet bellow ground level. But that's not the unique thing about this weapon. It is completely motion proof, sound proof, and invisible to the enemy radar under water or sand."

"Mr. Stark, could this weapon prove to be any use to us? What are its capabilities?" Soong knew it in his mind that today would be such a waste of time. He taught that Stark was here to be ridicule on behalf of South Korea.

"Hold your horses, general," some people began laughing at Tony's remark. "I haven't shown you what this baby could do. Allowed the awesome power of Maelstrom speak upon the behalf of all," he crocked his head towards his employees. "Do it!"

The weapon corkscrewed into the sand head first, sinking beneath the desert sand leaving no sound and vibration what so ever. But it left sprinkles of sand that doused the spectators. About ten miles away, was a monolith artificially made hill that was about one square block long and wide. Within minutes, a whirlpool started forming beneath the hill. Within seconds, the monolithic hill sank like a broken ship beneath the earth. Before the maelstrom subsided, it had been able to reached within fifty yards of Tony and crew.

"What do you say ladies and gentlemen?" People were still gossiping. "This weapon has a built-in Arc Reactor that not only mobilize this weapon at such high speeds. It can churn an electron, magnetic field nearly twice the speed as a category five hurricane. Not to mention an near infinity energy source for a lifetime. There you have it... God bless America!" people began to applaud Tony. "For each would cost a hundred billion a reasonable price."

Tony opened up what appeared to be large metallic whiskey refrigerator as he poured himself a cup of Jack Daniel's whiskey. One by one soldiers shook his hand while sipping whiskey. Strange, there is no sight of General Soong. About several minutes later, Tony approached one of the hummers to be escorted out of the testing area. The sound of a ring tone disrupted Tony's drinking.

Rummaging through his coat, Tony pulled out his custom made Android virtual cell phone. He took a look at the caller ID and seen his CEO calling.

"Tony," said Obadiah.

"Obadiah, what are you doing up this late?

"I couldn't sleep till I know what happened. How did it go?"

"Looks like it's going to be an early Christmas," he smirked.

"Hey... way to go my boy... I see you tomorrow," Obadiah smiled.

"Why are you not wearing those pajamas that I got you?" He jested.

"Goodnight Tony!" he disconnected the phone connection.

"Hey Tony!" Tony opened the door to one of the hummers as he entered. Before he could strap himself, James slightly tapped Tony's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, this is the fun-vee and the other Humvee is back there," he teased, "Good job Tony, see you back at base." James walked away displeased as Tony shut the door behind him.

The convoys would drive through a canyon. It was just like Arizona and Vegas, as it was hot as hell in the shade Tony thought. For thirty minutes, non of the three soldiers had talked to him as they listen to a radio sound set playing AC/DC's Highway To Hell song. They stared into those ponderous eyes of the death merchant himself intimidated. As for Stark, he felt as he was a prisoner who was guilty of treason or something that seemed bogus. He felt like being trapped in an asylum loosing his mind from anxiety.

He had to say something; otherwise, it would be come a reality of him being an anxious person in here as it looked like a solitary of confinement from his point of view.

He took another sip of his Jack Daniel's to jogged his mind as it irritated Tony to these soldiers looking at him with such an eerie goofy facial expression.

"I feel like you are driving me to court martial, this is crazy, what did I do?" He jolted his head to the left to see a smile on the soldier's face. "I feel like you guys are going to pull over to the side of the road and bash my brains out over the windshield. What, your not aloud to talk?" He still had his eye on the soldier sitting next to him on the left. "Hey forester!"

"You can talk sir," he replied nervously.

"Ohh, I see its personal."

"No... you intimidate them." A female said out from the driver's seat.

"Good God! You're a woman!" he exclaimed, lifting his shades to ogle her elegant body.

"Honestly, I couldn't call that," he continued, "I mean I apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here?" Tony saw the sheepish smirk on Forester's face. "I thought we could use a solider first," the soldier in the front seat chortled before turning to facing Tony.

"I'm an Airman sir," the women replied.

"Actually, you have a fine bone structure and physique there... and I'm having a hard time not looking at you is that weird?" The soldiers laughed. In ways, Tony had this uncanny ability to make people laugh rather he was joking or not. "It's okay laugh... HEY!"

The conveys finally left the narrow, jagged canyon. Tony felt much better when chatting with these soldiers. These soldiers ask a lot of questions about Tony.

He was more willing to answer their questions. Another solider suggested something else.

"Sir, is it okay if I can take a picture with you?"

"Yes, it's very cool." Forester took out a digital camera and gave it to the soldier in the front passenger seat. "I want to see use on Myspace, you got it?" He gestured a two count finger peace sign. "Please, no gay signs... I'm kidding, throw it up. Yeah peace, I love peace. I will be out of a job with peace."

"Come-on-come on, don't change any settings," he frowned.

Before the soldier could snap a shot, the Humvee affront them had exploded, which thrown the snapped shot off. Tony had dropped his cup of Jack Daniels that spilled over him. Everyone seemed to be in disarrayed with gunshots and explosion everywhere.

"What's going on?" He asked in agony as he heard the woman shouted "contact eleven" sorrowfully.

"What do we got?" He was ignored by the soldier. The women took couple bullets to head the head as blood splattered over the windshield.

"Stay with Stark!" he ordered, "Stay down!" Forester pulled him down. The soldier crouched to the hood of the Humvee and place his assault riffle on it to comfort his aim. He fire several rounds before he was shot to death. Some of the bullets shatter the windshield. "Son of a BITCH!" he cocked the riffle as he opened the door to let himself out.

"Wo-wo-wo wait! I want a gun," Forester slammed the door shut.

"Stay here!" the soldier's voice was fainted which Tony could barely hear him. The soldier couldn't make it four steps away from the Humvee before his body exploded in half that left the Humvee left door stained with his blood and pellet holes. Tony closed his eyes momentarily when the soldier just exploded. Observing his surrounding, soldiers left and right were being slaughter like flies. He knew he must escape while he had the chance.

Making sure no hostile were near his Humvee. The sound of gunshots rang his eardrums. He happily escorted himself out of the vehicle and took several breaths. He then heard a motor head descending upon him as he sprinted for cover. The motors missed Tony by several yards as it exploded. The explosion made Tony nearly lost his footing as he stumbled towards a large boulder and took refuge behind. He dials his cell phone for an emergency, but never had the chance to when he had seen a smoky object just four feet away from him. He identified the object as one of the Stark Industry motor artillery head .

"WOOOOOOH!" Tony just had enough time to stood up before the motor detonated in front him. The cell phone in Tony's hand flew out of his hands as he had fallen on his back. It was painless at first, but his vision started to become blurry with a major headache. Then his chest near his heart spontaneously felt, as it was on fire. He ripped opened his coat and felt something warm gushing out of his chest. He had seen his hands stained with his own blood. Tony took several more breaths. His lungs had a hard time intake oxygen. Several shadow of men enveloped Stark as he thought he saw General Soong among them before finally passed out.

~~Man In The Iron Suit~~

With no clue to where he was, Tony felt as he had been dragged on his knees. He was blindfolded for God knew how long. His throat felt dry. When the blindfold was lifted, Tony's eyes began burning from seeing the light too soon without proper adjustment. Someone had kicked Tony on the back to his knee that caused him to kneel before the captors. Tony could hear the soldiers articulating in Korean. He could see these soldiers masked as they to be filming Stark.

Minutes later, he was blindfolded, and lugged away to someplace that he knew could be his last. Next thing, that happened, Tony found himself strapped to an operating bed as he began to scream from operating of surgery. The grimace of atrocious pain was too much to endure as it felt like hours for Tony. Next thing that he knew was awaking in an awkward dusty room. It looked like his room was in a cave.

Tony felt something deep within his nostrils. He looked forward, and seen a plastic string like a tube connect with tape and into the right blow hole to his nostrils. Tony gradually pulled the tube as it shrewdly scraped the inner walls of his nostril. He grunted. After successfully removed the respirator, he reached out to grab the cup of water that was perched on a shelve. It proves to be unsuccessful as his body felt too numb.

He suddenly heard a man whistled; Tony seen a man on the left shaving his mustache and beard from the windows reflection. He wondered who that man was as, he had slowly risen from his bed. He needed answers right away. He needed to know where he was and who had abducted him. But he had the notion, which was behind this because the last person he saw approaching him from where he was abducted was General Soong.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the man said apprehensively.

Tony never knew that something was attached to him as he pivoted to glanthe contraption was. What caught his glimpse were the jumper cables that are attached to a car battery. Fear began to expedite his heart beat. He grabbed a hold of one of the cables and slid his hand down to where it was connected—it appeared to be at his chest. Tony had torn much of the bandage that was coiled around his torso. As he successfully removed the bandages. There was a circular black metallic device mounted inside Tony's chest.

Tony looked as he was about to have a nervous breakdown from seeing a device inside his chest. His chest felt like being constricted. How could any human or living thing have lived with a metallic device within themselves, he wondered? Tony sat up for a half and hour straight before standing for the first time that seems like weeks to him. The man was cooking what appeared to be a can-good's of chilly.

The man looked like a Korean man in his late fifties or sixties. The man's skin was light tan. The top center of the cranium was bald with only hair about the side temples. He wore reading glasses. As for Tony, he was not wearing his black suit. Instead, his captors dressed him in some type of baggy garment. The tuxedo was the last thing that was on Tony's mind as he looked close up at the device with a hand mirror.

"What have you done to me?" He said it agonizingly.

"What I did was to save your life. I removed some of the shrapnel that I could, but there are still plenty left, and its heading for the atrial septum." The man nabbed a small glass vase of the shrapnel. "Here—have a souvenir." The man tossed the vase as Tony received it. The shrapnel sounded like jingle bells every time it hits the inner vase wall due to someone shaking it. "Take a look." Tony observed several lead pellets that were just bigger than a lead pencil tip. "I've seen many wounds like that where I come from. We call it the walking dead because it takes about a week for the pellets to reach the vital organs.

"What is this thing?" He continued took observed the device.

"That is an electromagnet hooked up to a car battery, which is keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart." Tony zipped up his jacket that was some how given to him sometime after his surgery. Tony glanced to the far-right corner across the room. He saw a surveillance camera mounted to the top right ceiling. "That's right, say cheese... you know, we met once you know in a technical conference in Berlin on integrated circuits."

"I don't remember."

"You wouldn't." He chuckled.

"Where are we—" Tony never had time to peak when several masked solider invaded the room. All the solders had worn the North Korea dark-green military uniform with scarfs that concealed their face. "How did they get my weapons?"

"Never mind, do as I do, put your hands behind your head!" The man bellowed. Tony never hesitated.

The terrorist in the center of the platoon began marching closer to Tony gesturing his hand in a form of greeting. "Insa Mr. Tony Stark... migug-ui yeogsa-eseo gajang yumyeonghan daelyang hagsalja."

"He said, greetings Mr. Tony Stark... the most famous mass murderer in the history of America," the surgeon translated.

"Jega gip-i jongyeong haeyo."

"He said, he's deeply honor."

"Nan dangsin-eul geonseolhalyeoneun Maelstrom... suloe." The terrorist handed Tony Stark a photo.

"He said, he wants you to build 'The Maelstrom' torpedo."

"Nan dangsin-i balo il-eulhago sip-eo."

"He said, he wants you to get to work right away."

"Tell him I refuse."

Next thing Tony knew, he was drowning under water, or more precise having his head force in a pail of water. Immediately, he had flashbacks of his life of during time with Miss Potts and his father Howard Stark. The soldiers lifted Tony's head enough for him to inhaled oxygen before they plunged his head back into the pail. Each time Tony's head was submerged, different memories plagued Tony's mind. He did not know how long he was tortured, but eventually it stopped.

For fifteen minutes, he walked blindfolded out of the cave. One of the soldiers pulled the blindfold off of Tony's head, but his eyes had to adjust to sun ray of day light that momentarily blinded him. It felt like a flash bang just exploded affront of his face. His eye felt as it was on fire. Tony would regain vision as he observed his surroundings. He found himself out of the cave.

It would seem that they are somewhere immersed within the mountains. There were grasslands, which would indicate that they're somewhere in North Korea wetlands. But that did not seem to catch his interest—there was weapons depot full with Start Industries—from guns to projectile launchers. There were also grenades and artillery motor heads which one of it was responsible for maiming Tony. An acerbic look on Tony's face was concealed in the shadows of the gate. One of the soldiers throbbed Tony's shoulder blade, which made him stumbled forward nearly tripping over his own foot—he nearly dropped the car battery.

The man who had been greeting Tony flinched before gesturing hand signals that look as if he were swimming. "Dangsin-eun eotteohge saeng-gaghaseyo?"

"He said. What do you think?"

"I think you got a lot of my weapons," he flared his nostrils.

The sergeant translates Tony's response to the captor, as he replied,"Geugeos-eun dangsin-eul hoeuie keun jeulgeowossseubnida. dangsin-i wanseongdoemyeon, ulineun dangsin-i mulyolo seoljeonghabnida." The soldier grinned as he reached out to shake hands.

"He said, it's been a great pleasure in meeting you. When you are finished, they will set you free."

Tony knew that it was bull shit, but he applauded the man for acting. Tony reached out, and linked hands with the man, "No he won't," he smiled.

"No he won't." He agreed cchuckling.

For the remainder of the day, he would sit motionless on the edge of the bed. He had done nothing but glanced at the boiling pot of soup on the open fire. The aroma from it emitted the room with such an unimpeachable smell. Tony looked as he was frustrated with himself. He knew that would rather die than to give in to their demands. All membranes felt as it was clamping together making him lose focus on the task at hand.

The surgeon had to say something to convinced Tony to start working, but where to begin with. He searched his feelings trying to find the right answers. He took several deep breaths, as he begun to motion his tongue. At first, it sounded like a yelp which kind of snapped Tony out of his deep slumber.

"What are you going to do Stark?"

Tony crocked his head for a moment, "Nothing."

"You're going to give up?"

Tony looked at him with such acrimonious expression. "What's the point of working?" He saw the absurd look within the surgeon's eye.

"What you saw here there are your life's works. Are you going to do something? Or is this the last defiant act of Tony Stark?" He yelled.

"There going to kill me and you. If not, I'll be dead within a week," he bleated.

"Then isn't it an important week for you Mr. Stark?"

---

For the first time, since arriving here, he could leave the underground prison facility. He was being held captive in some North Korean base. He complicated what her was going to do by observing the base. There were jeeps with mounted chain guns mounted to them were parked outside the hangar. To the right of the heliport was the airstrip.

Choppers lined up horizontally. He was escorted to a tent that all had his stolen weapons and equipment that they somehow smuggled under the radar. He was chosen what to he needed to assemble the Maelstrom. He asked for a soldering station to be built in his cell along with all the parts to be transported to his cell.

Some of the soldiers glanced at him baffled when he asked for two parachutes. He stated that the Maelstrom he was planning to assemble was meant to be deployed air-born. It was an obvious lie, but they didn't need to know that it was meant for his and fellow roommate captive.

Tony started disassembling a missile while his roommate watched on in curiosity. He started by removing the warhead with two harsh taps. The warhead, which was the tip of the missile popped out from its socket. He then slid out the metallic bracket board that held the motherboard in place. There were mainly circuits and components that were nicely soldered in on the motherboard.

"You could provide me in the working process."

"Yep."

Tony grabbed the work tweezers and removed the palladium microchip and left it on the table. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and beckoned his roommate to follow him. The molten liquid in the soldering cup he wanted his roommate to transport and decanted it in the contraption he was working on.

"Careful—we only have one shot at this."

The man smirked.

"Relax, Mr. Stark. I have steady hands. It's the reason why you're still alive."

The man successfully poured the molten substance into the device. There he was able to form a ring that serves to be the outer rim of the device as it solidified on once it cooled down. He then soldered the reaming components in placed and finally assembled the device together. I looked very identical to the electromagnetic that was mounted into his chest.

"You have a name?"

"The name is Ho Yinsen."

"Where are you from?"

"I was born in Beijing China and moved to South Korea when I was five years old to live with my mother's family. You see. I'm half Chinese and Korean. And when I'm finished here, I'm going to see my family and wife once again."

Tony looked at him thoughtfully.

"Do you have a family, Mr. Stark?"

"Nope," he said it impassively. "Let's do this."

The device was attached to the breaker box. Tony then flipped the switch that was mounted at the side in the breaker box. The light bulbs on the ceiling were being drained from its power source. The device was absorbing much of electricity that it could. The cell went dark, but was lit up by the device with a sky blue hue.

"That doesn't look like a Maelstrom torpedo."

"That's because it's a miniaturized Arc Reactor. I have one powering my workshop."

"By the looks of it, it could warm your heart for more than a life time.

"Or something big for fifteen minutes.

Tony beckoned him over to the table. He laid out the blue prints simultaneously. He explained what they were going to do from here on. As he combined the blue prints, the architecture shapes were combined, and it appeared to be blue prints for a humanoid robot.

"Fascinating!"

"The reactor should be powered up to its maximum capacity."

Yinsen carefully removed the electromagnetic. He discarded it along with the car battery. He connected the copper wire to the reactor. Now the Arc Reactor became a new magnet to prevent the shrapnel in his blood stream from reaching his heart. Tony winced as the circuits in his chest were being powered by the reactor. He felt like his chest was on fire.

The pain suddenly subsided, and Yinsen held Tony's hand and hoisted him up on his feet. They shook hands and hugged one another unaware that they were being monitored by the North Koreans. This, however, was the least of Tony's concerns as he savored the moment of triumph.

---

Day after day. Week after week, they worked on crafting the titanium armor in secrecy. Being under ground in a cave in the middle of a North Korean base was like sinking in the depths of the Earth never to see daylight again. There was not telling how many hours had transpired and what time during the day it was without window to see if it were day or nightfall without his computer.

Tony wiped the perspiration from his forehead and began hamming away on the metallic leggings. It was hotter than his actual winter. He thought. The suit was nearly completed. That much he knew, but time was at the essence. They won't be able to keep the false Maelstrom project as a secret forever. All the components for the suit were well soldered and wired in place.

The final piece that needed to be crafted was the helm and face mask. They took a break from working and finished eating supper. They played a board game of chess, Tony leading the count.

"I'm curious. I know most of them are North Korean, but there seems to be a mixed-blood soldier all dressed in the same uniform. Quite ironic for a dictator who shelters himself from the rest to the world and executes trespassers and foreigners on sight."

Yinsen smiled at him mirthfully.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that question. Those men are not your typical soldiers. Some are from all communist regimes such as Russia and China. They called themselves Zodiac, a secret society that the world has never heard of. All I know is that these guys called themselves the successors of Axis powers."

Tony was deadpanned. The Axis powers also known as the Axis Alliance were made of three countries, Germany, Italy, and Japan. These three countries practiced dictatorship and fascism. His father Howard Stark fought along side America's forgotten hero Captain America his time spent in World War 2. He was by far the youngest engineer and pioneer to be on active duty at the age of seventeen.

He was a war veteran and an American hero who had revolutionized America's technology. The thought of the Axis power—beyond the ashes—being restored to its former glory sent shudders spiraling down his spinal cord. Adolf Hitler was a ruthless, deranged psychopath responsible for death of millions, especially Jewish folks.

"Ironic isn't it? Communists are seeking to restore that fascist's regime. We don't need a repeat of World War 2. For Christ's sake, the Russians where on the list to be conquered by the Axis powers, and they want to support it. Has the world gone insane?"

The door suddenly slammed open, its rusty hinges squeaking. North Korean soldiers flooded the room along with several Chinese, Russians and Germans. There stood General Soong, the South Korean defector. His blood boiled with rage. He would like to do nothing but wrapped his hands around the traitorous general's throat and squeezed the life out of him.

Before he could conjure the venomous words that he wanted to spit out, another figure entered the cell. The person was coated in a black lathered robe with hood over the person's face. The person was fairly taller than him by a foot entered. The atmosphere around him changed eerily. The man in the robes radiated such a malevolent aura that Tony's skin felt like it was searing.

Something told him. Perhaps a sixth sense that this apparition of a man was abnormal and never to be trifled with. The way he strolled was like slithering like a serpent. A white viper of an emblem was embedded on his left chest area of the Cape. As he glanced, a black veil that concealed his entire face, in the dark or within areas that were dimmed with light, his face was black as the abyss.

It was like glaring into an eternity of darkness. The way the robes overlapped his foot wear, he pretty much looked like a Grim Reaper without its scythe. Chills tingled down his spine as he approached. Both him and Yinsen raised their hands subconsciously above their heads. The man in the robes gave the notion for the solders stand down. They lowered their weapons meekly.

"Relax." The man's voice was dry. He waited for them to settle down. He the slid down the collar of Tony's tank top to complicate the Arc Reactor embedded in his chest. He backed away.

"The world has gone insane? An impressive way to interpret the globe we live, breath, sleep, and shit upon." He stalked Tony like a school of hungry sharks.

"The pinnacle of the Roman Empire was forever known to be the greatest and long lasting empire the world has ever seen. 2,214 years was to be estimated by scribes and scholars. In the end, the Romans were subdued by barbarians. The Roman Empire was no longer in existence. Today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons will rule these lands. Soon, I will have another opportunity to rightfully take back what I was deprived for nearly 65 years," the hooded man continued to encircling him.

His movements were not of an elderly man. What if he really was not human at all, Tony thought. Even a brave man like him was never invulnerable to fear that this hooded man was radiating.

"Your father took something precious to me 65 years ago. The Tesseract... you know of?"

Tony wagged his head, "I don't know what you speak of—never heard of this Tesseract."

He chuckled. "Of course, course you wouldn't. It was well before your time, and Howard was very clever man and a brilliant genius. I see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." He said it sarcastically. "He'd hidden it from the world that not even the Stark archives has the slightest info. I will find it, one way or another—"

"What is it that you want from me? Who are you?"

The hooded man laughed menacingly. Tony felt his heart virtually ripped out from his chest. The guts in his stomach knotted up to the point that he practically wanted to vomit. What was this malevolent sensation that this hooded man was radiating? A genius like him could logically have comprehended what he was feeling. Maybe it was sorcery; he thought.

"I, Mr. Stark? I have plenty of names. Just to clarify that, you can call me the last Nazi. And I want from you... nothing that would please than the Maelstrom torpedo."

His attention was averted to Yinsen.

'What is really happening here?'

The hooded man was speaking in the Korean native tongue that he couldn't understand him. He watched as Yinsen started to tremor, controlling his breathing. Not that he blamed him. The hooded man studied the blue prints, but couldn't make out any architectural designs that were meant for the Maelstrom.

'Work my lord. I'm assisting Mr. Stark on the Maelstrom project.'

'Why do I get the impression that you're deceiving me?' He nodded at General Soong.

Soong forced Yinsen on his knees. The hooded man had a piece of iron ore that hasn't been doused in the water and brought it above and near Yinsen's right eye. Tony cringed as he'd seen enough torture for a life.

"What do they want, Yinsen?"

He ignored Tony.

'I'm a very obedient and humble servant. I always have been, my lord."

The hooded man complicated for a brief moment. A sinister laughter echoed throughout the cell. It was enough to chill Tony down to the bone by just listening to it. Horrifically, the molten, hot iron ore was precisely several centimeters from plunging in Yinsen's iris. Yinsen could feel the heat charring his cheek.

"Please, my lord, I have been helping Mr. Stark all the long." He pleaded.

Tony had enough of this ridiculous torture as he took several steps closer to Yinsen, wavering his arms out in protest. A chorus of shouting filled the cell. Much to his chagrin, the Zodiac soldiers retaliated by cocking their Ak-47 Assault Rifles and aim it at him. His belly churned, having about twenty rifles pointed at his arse. Likewise, Tony raised his hands slowly above his head.

The hooded man glared at him; he thought.

"I need him... he makes a good assistant." Tony held his breath.

"Very well," the hooded man watched as Tony sighed. "You'll have until noon of the morrow to assemble my torpedo."

He threw the long-nose pliers with the hot ore onto the concreted floor as it clattered. Tony never missed the human skull—drenched in blood—design from the back of his robes. Such an eerie fellow, he thought. His fear turned to anger as Soong winked at him. It took nearly all of his inner strength to hold his composure for not reaching out and strangled the bastard.

"You betrayed your own country. Never expected you to jump ship. After all, I hope North Korea was worth it." He smiled with glee.

"The tides are always changing. North Korea pays better."

"If I had a buyer, I would have purchased this nation eon ago and make it my personal playground."

Soong laughed with a skeptical notion in mind,"Good night to you, Mr. Stark."

---

They never got that much sleep that evening. They resumed work at exactly 2:00am from the GPS timer on his laptop that the North Koreans had possessed in their capture of Tony. He hammered away on the helm. He then doused the helm into the water as it made a sizzling nose. The orange flaming colors were instantly put out.

The helm had light shade of color silver basked in the light from the lantern. He tossed it onto the working table were Yinsen was wiring the five feet long minigun that Tony designed for the Army's choppers. The minigun had the darkest shade of black a gun could have. It has eight barrels in the shape of a Gatling gun.

Tony designed the barrels to instantly released rounds sun as the trigger-man fire it that most miniguns and chain-guns have that 2.5-second delay. The minigun carried exactly 500 cartage that could be depleted within thirty seconds upon firing. It would literally reduce a cow to grown beef within milliseconds upon contact. He thought.

Yinsen glanced up at him and gave him a satisfactory grin. Tony went to his desktop and powered the camera that acted as the suit's navigational, visual, and targeting system. These were a custom and individual design he'd taken from the other minigun that he incorporated with the artificial cords attached itself to two lenses for the helm.

He tested it, all three modes, which were the visual mode, night vision and infer-red mode. He wore the pilot goggles that were designed for the worship's minigun manufactured by his company, the goggles connected to the camera through the lens. He switched between modes and the cross-hairs and were activated for his targeting system.

Unfortunately, there was no time to test the camera on the minigun and manually functioned it from his suit. Either the minigun would become a blessing or dead weight. That was the chance, he was willing to take.

At exactly 5:05am, every part for the armored suit was fully crafted and constructed Tony had hacked the surveillance camera he broadcast a footage has been recorded two weeks ago. He'd hope it would fool them at just enough time to buy them time to fully assemble the robotic armor on Tony. However, he was hoping for a better approach at the missile silo undetected.

The missile silo was there only chance to escape North Korea. Rather the ICBM missile was armed with a Nuclear warhead or not, but he would not risk it landing somewhere on earth were it could vaporize an entire American city and unleashed nuclear fallout on that would half a continent with radioactive epidermic.

Last thing he'd need on his conscience was the reminder of being the world's famous mass murder from the world—the good guys.

Tony's back piece armor, which had the mounted minigun on a hydraulics mechanism that allowed the gun to rotate at 360 degrees. The gun itself weighted nearly five-hundred pounds. They used a tiny hydraulic mechanism that was attached to the chains to suspend the back piece onto the assemble rack and used a pallet jack to transport the back piece on a pallet.

From there, Yensin had no further problem equipping Tony with the gauntlets, as it were, the lightest pieces besides the helm. The leggings proved to be challenging with the alignment, but already wearing the boots made the leggings snapped into place, the two leggings where slip in half that need to be connected together above the boots and chest plate.

Next, Tony instructed Yinsen to adjust the valves on the tanks that served as the suit's fuel for the flamethrower and oxygen that Tony would be breathing through a face- mask. He would be complexity compressed inside the suit, cut off from outside air. This was a strategy that prevented unwanted poisonous vapor from either artillery fire of gas-bombs that could seep within his armor. He only had nine minutes worth of oxygen to work with.

Yinsen then put an additional chest plate over the other with the Ark Reactor to protect the reactor from bullets and explosions. All that was needed was the face mask that connected to the aqualung to be strapped across his face and the face guard to be pulled down and locked in place. The power sequence must be activated first as Tony directed Yinsen, which buttons to press on the keyboard.

---

General Song entered the control tower at the base. From the booth, the missile silo was a surface missile that can either be activated from the launching port of from the control tower. The missile was over hundred-feet high and thirteen feet wide. Today was the day that North Korea was going to get their hands on the Mealstrom torpedo with the first-generation Repulsor Technology. As he was setting in for the morning, drinking his tea, he noticed the surveillance camera was playing a footage of Tony and Yinsen playing chess.

He slammed his cup on the side on the dash board and peered closer to the monitor. Why would they be playing chess when they have a dead line to fret about, nevertheless, it was 6:08am in the morning? He then beckoned the man nearest to him to the interval the camera for half a minute. Yinsen was motioning his knight piece to eliminate Tony's remaining bishop.

He expected that the knight jump should have already been made long time before he resume surveillance. As he'd resume play, it left of where Yinsen had made the jump to over take the bishop. His eyebrows furrowed. He gritted his teeth, growling like a mad-hound were to pounce on its prey. The camera had been tampered with, or at least he was going to find out.

"Send additional troops to investigate Stark's cell." He said in Korean. "I want a full inspection of the Maelstrom weapon and the surveillance camera on the double." The sergeant saluted and left the control tower. Soong cupped his chin as he sternly glared at the monitor.

---

"Do you see it? Tell me when you see the power bar?"

"I see it... what next?"

"Alright, that bar represents the power sequence for the suit. I want you to press and hold Ctrl, and enter the corresponding encrypted codes 889314 then tap Enter. Do it... now!"

Yinsen did what was questioned of him. The power bar was a small rectangle box in the center of a blue screen was slowly being filled, under neath the box displays...

Power Sequence 2%.

"Perfect, now hang on to that flash drive. It has the encrypted codes that will bypass the ICBM missile's firewall and initiate the launching sequence and automatically launched the missile into space at a forty-five degree angle."

"And if this plan works, how high we need to be to dismount from the missile?"

"If my math is right, approximately 65,000 achieved altitude. Trust me, it's going to get going to be chilly once when reached the halfway marker."

Power Sequence 15%.

"Let me do your face mask and face guard."

Oxygen flowed through the mask as Tony could breathe. Slowly, the armor was coming to life. The suit generated enough power the microphone that was built into the mask. As the face guard clamped shut, he felt as all the oxygen had been sucked out from within the armor. Lacking breeze, Tony was beginning to sweat in the armor.

"It's hot as hell in here. Next time you'll wear the suit," Tony broadcast over. Yinsen smiled cheekily.

Just as Yinsen put on that backpack that had his parachute. A series of ferocious knocks interrupted their moment of silence and the calling of Yinsen's name repeatedly.

Power Sequence 35%.

'Who is it?'

'Yinsen, open up! We need to come in!"

'Reasons?'

'General Sir Soong has ordered a search and inspection... unbar this door now, or we will exercise to use excessive force!'

"What is he saying?"

"They want an inspection or they're going to ram the door."

Tony remained impassive for three seconds. A mischievous smirked found its way on Tony's lips. His eyes were glued to the door that had a pipe-bomb rigged with a tripwire. The tripwire would jerk the clip that was attached to the bomb, setting it to explode once the door opened. Yinsen snickered at his silent treatment.

Power Sequence 55%.

The door was rammed down.

The tripwire pulled the pin out from the pipe-bomb. An explosion rocked the sell as dust particles fell from the ceiling. The lights were becoming dimmer by a serious flashing. The explosion was enough to be spotted from the tower. Soong raised the alarm; Tony thought. Yinsen then inspected the dead.

A man, assuming was the guy, who'd rammed the door open had half his body blown to smithereens. Four more lied prone lifelessly. Yinsen then looted the dead soldiers of their magazines for the Ak-47 assault riffle. Yinsen then glanced ahead of him. It seemed that the explosion was not powerful enough for a cave-in.

"It worked didn't it?" Tony said over the microphone in his robotic tone.

"Marvelous. They won't be seeing day light again."

"Well—best that you find a place to hide."

Power Sequence 75%.

The electricity from the ceiling lights were absorbed into the suit. The cell nearly pitched black. The only light source the room had was from the desktop. Yinsen through the bed sheets over him as he lied prone on his belly next to Tony on the suit's left-hand side Yinsen's heart drummed. He sucked in air, trying to calm his heart.

The war cries of soldiers, storming the cave, made the hairs on the nape of his neck pricked upright. The thundering footsteps from beyond the door grew ever louder. He was shivering. It took all his will power to remain prone on the cover. He sent a moment of prayer to God. His hands were trembling as if it were freezing.

"How much longer?" Yinsen asked. His voice was mostly muffed.

"Any moment. Do not make a sound. Do not move."

Power Sequence 95%.

A regiment of twenty-five solders scurried to pass the last corner. They observed the corpses. A lieutenant issued a gesturing command that one of his troops should check the cell, one North Korean solider steeped forward, trembling. He hid much of his fear from his commanding officer. He entered. The ceiling lights were very dim and flashing with sparks cascaded.

He'd shone the flashlight. He surveyed the cell. It was vacant. He mad his way over to the work table with the desktop, the progress bar displayed... Power Sequence 98%. Then a movement from the left caught his eyes.

There was a slight jerking movement under the covers. He'd used the barrel end of his rifle and lifted the cover. His lips curved sinisterly. Yinsen scooted up and cradled himself into a ball, head buried to his knees, panicking. The solider aimed the AK-47 at Yinsen's cranium, index finger slowly squeezing the trigger.

Power Sequence 100%.

Systems Activated.

The fluorescent LED light from the suit's lens beamed on him. The soldier halted horrifically, squeezing the trigger half way, glanced eerily over his left shoulder in a split second. All he'd seen was a colossal forearm of a giant collided into his chest like a battering ram. He had been swatted like a fly that his body went sailing across the room, screeching and accidentally fired his rifle.

'Open fire!'

The soldier emptied their magazines, shooting anything that was in the cell in a state of panicking. The desktop and bunk beds were shredded with bullets. Soon as the shooting ceased, out from the abyss, Tony made his intimidating and frightening Frankenstein like appearance. The horrified looked on the regiment's faces made Tony swoon blissfully.

They opened fire on Tony. The bullets never penetrated the armor and left no marks on his armor. Tony switched to night-vision The targeting system was activated. A diamond box cross hairs locked on to the nearest soldier's head. Tony swung a right overhand punch, which grind into the man's skull. There was nothing left as the headless body fell lopsidedly.

The cross hair was locked on to the man's chest, thrusting his forearm into the man's pectorals. The soldier's body went sailing and collided with several of his fellow infantry men. He back-hand the soldier's head onto the jagged walls of the underground pathway. His head was squished, spraying the wall with misty spray of blood.

Bewildered and disoriented ambiguously, the troops backed up and started to the next gate, but still continue to shoot. Tony has he strolled slowly to his destination. His robotic, sluggish strides produce minutiae tremors, Tony back-handed another solider that was just in his way, the soldier duck underneath the incoming blow.

He'd mustered much power to the blow that his forearm was embedded into the cave wall. He tried to wedge it free, but it remained stuck, the man unsheathed out a revolver. Smirking with glee, he fired the pistol in the back of Tony's helm. That was the last thing he ever saw. His bullet reflected of the helm and struck the center of his forehead. There, he'd lied on the dirt floor, covered in his own pool of blood.

Tony could wedge his arm free. Looking back at the dead man, Tony scurried to the gate and discovered one of the soldiers was locked in with him. Trepidation flown through the man as, he was screaming for his men to open the door, knocking relentlessly, from the opposite side of the gate. The heard Tony's robotic approached, and the screaming had subsided.

A thunderous roar cane from the suits superhuman strength, hammering away at the gate. They shuddered as the suit's fist left dents. The gate's hinges could not withstand the punishment any further. One last punch, the gate went skidding into several troops that were standing too close. The remaining troops fled out the cave.

Yinsen followed quietly from a distance. His surveyed the carnage. Disfigured corpses and walls stained with blood made his belly churned. He glanced up to a man's lifeless man, dangling from the ceiling with his head buried profoundly into the ceiling. He gaped at the Iron Gate that had been battered like a pinata. He never imagined the suit had that much power.

Tony turned to face Yinsen.

"I do you like it so far?"

"Very impressive, Mr. Stark. You are truly a genius."

"We're not out of the clear yet. Keep on guard. The Calvary should be approaching the moment we make surface. I'm going to clear a path for you. When I tell you to run. You run. Do not look back or even think of playing the hero."

As they made their exit, several jeeps with the man, gunning the chain-gun were approaching and more infantry men. However, his minigun had a farther reached. He knelt on one knee, switching to the minigun's camera. The minigun was activated as it began to transition over Tony's right shoulder with a built in hydraulic mechanism.

One it was locked in place. Tony zoomed in closer, however his eyes traveled; the cross-hair followed with absolute precision. There was no delay for each bullet once the eight barrels rotated circularly. The bullets struck the first line of infantry man in a straight line. Human limbs he saw shredded from each man he'd gunned down.

He locked unto to the jeeps, mostly shooting the drivers through the windshield. The bullets were successful, preaching the gas tanks, igniting a chain reaction of exploding jeeps, the forced it generated sent several of the exploded jeeps onto the unscathed jeeps. Those who were not likely to bail out in time were crushed to death, especially the men mounting the chain-guns.

Several men, mounting the chain-guns were in range to return fire. Tony was struck with numerous bullets. It was very irritating to be in the suit at that moment. It was like having a tin-can over your head with someone pounding it with a spoon. His eardrum range and the suit vibrated. At moments, he thought he would lose balance and tumbled.

Aim was not steady with all the bullets the suit sustained. He planted his other knee down. This allowed better stability and more precisions. The minigun and the cross-hair's rattling was reduced by half. He shot the remaining jeeps as the exploded. The unexpanded infantry men decided it was wise not to push, hiding the ruined vehicles.

Unfortunately, the minigun was depleted, and he had to dismount it and discarded the useless weapon. Tony beckoned Yinsen to follow behind. Tony approached the wreckage, eyes wide agape. He was anticipating the sabotage. A sabotage was only good if you could eliminate your enemy. These guys haven't even laid a dent in his armor.

"I'll be you walking shield. Shoot anything that seems hostile and don't get yourself kill."

"I was a good marksmen back in my day before I became a sergeant in medics. I used to go hunting with my uncle who lived in Washington. I have my way with riffles."

"Here they come. Stick tight!"

The first man's head peered from out the corner and rapidly fired a Tony's chest-plate. Yinsen was to return fired and laded four shots to the man's head before ducking behind Tony. Tony took several more steps toward the wreckage. They fired upon them, and Yinsen was quickly to counter again. He took down four more soldiers before ducking behind Tony.

Tony was very intrigued by Yinsen's accuracy. It seemed that every time he'd pulled the trigger, and someone always died. Tony was within range of the flotsam and he kicked the ruined jeep, clearing a path to the hangar, control tower and the missile silo that was lest than fifty meters twelve o'clock from their position. Those who were unfortunate, using that jeep as covers were pinned underneath, crushed to death.

A moving blur caught Yinsen at the corner of his right eye. Horrifically, made out the image as a man hoisting a Rocket-Propel-Grenade launcher and directed it at Tony. He wasn't going to test the suit if it could withstand a rocket assault, not with the suit being his shield from bullets.

"RPG! Get down!" Yinsen went prone.

Tony did the most stupidest and at the same time, very dramatic was he wait was the RPG was shot. At the last moment, he twisted his body countered clockwise. The RPG missed him by half a foot, skimming pass him and colliding into the wreckage with an explosion. The man was exposed, and Yinsen capitalized on that and shot the man rapidly at his chest.

"That was cutting little to close, don't you think?" He glared.

Tony laughed hysterically, "It worked out didn't it?"

"Guess again?" Yinsen pointed at the worship chopper inbound on their location.

The cheering of soldiers made his blood boiled. He tightened his fist just as the helicopter was within firing range. The craft hovered, unleashing a rain of cartage. Tony took the impact, but frown and being very skeptical that he could shield Yinsen from these massive size bullets. Tony's was rocked. He ne'er lost balance.

When that proved ineffective, the turrets on the rocket launcher started beaming towards him. The troops were retreating. Tony's gut distorted. There was no way he could shield Yinsen from the rockets. He did the only thing he could was tossed Yinsen three o'clock. He heard the rockets launched. He pitched forward.

It sounded like several thunders went off simultaneously when the rockets plunged into the earth where Tony previously stood. The flames and force from the explosion sent Tony airborne. His body sailed much as twenty feet and twenty-meters long. The suit absorbed all the damage that could have been inflicted upon Tony if he were not wearing would be fatal, if the flames and the shrapnel from the rocket never reached him. The impact from the fall would have snapped his bones like a twig. His armor, however, was built like a tank. As a tank, its armor would not withstand a rocket and missile directly on contact. His navigational system went static for several seconds after colliding into the sand.

He stood upright from his burrowed positioned. It looked like as if he were the undead, rising from its shadowy grave, much to the troops' trepidation, radiating off them. The chopper circled around counterclockwise, while hovering. Tony then used his targeting system. The diamond box cross-hair locked on to the chopper, his right arm risen automatically. This allowed very accurate positioned as he rolled out a built-in mini turret from within the forearm section of his suit. He waited until the cockpit was locked on. He pulled a piece of cord that was attached to the rocket. The rocket painted white, and it had a marooned warhead. The rocket's thrusters ignited. It zipped and struck the cock pit.

The cockpit was doused in flames as black smoke trailed from it. The motor of the choppers started to subside as it spiraled out of control. The troops scattered like a bunch of chickens without their heads intact, with no sense of direction. The chopper berthed on its upper propellers; it exploded into and orange fireball.

Remnants of the chopper dispersed, strike several of the soldiers as they failed to scurry away in time. One man had the worse of them all when his body was crunched into the propellers that were launched in his direction. He had no chance at all.

The troops' morale and discipline have been broken. Yinsen approached him to his right unscathed. They had not time to get reacquainted. They shortened the distance to the silo not longer than twenty yards, the troop's moments of demoralization decimated. They were regrouping. Tony glanced at the tents that held his weapons.

"Go now when the road is clear! I'll buy you some time."

He watched as Yinsen scurried. The war cries made him turned to the troops, marching in a single role, they opened fired once again. Tony was becoming bored. For once, something new brought him with much excitement. Several frag grenades reflected off his chest-plate, falling in between his legs like a pile of a stallion's manure.

Either the men were inexperience or a bunch of retards. The grenades had a five-second detonation fuse that much Tony knew. It gave him two seconds to kick the grenades back to their owners. Tony chuckled menacingly as they scattered frantically, bellowing in panic, diving out of the way. Two more soldiers became a casualty.

He started twisting two valves on the flame throwers, which was mounted on the upper section of the suit's arms. "Now it's my turn!" With a jerky clockwise, with his wrists sparks flew from the barrels of the throwers, which ignited the leaked propane in a seven-feet wave of flames, scorching anything in its path. Agonizing screams of men set ablaze made his battle lust erected.

He scourged the tents that had his weapons. Men who were set ablaze ran into others. The screams were excruciating to bear, even though they were his enemies. He scorched the parked jeeps and choppers outside the hangar. The barrack was in a sea of flames, and soon the control tower would be gormandized by the flames in due time.

The missile's thrusters were activated as a large buff of smoke could be seeing blowing out from the silo. When the propane for the flamethrowers was depleted, Tony raced where Yinsen was. He couldn't see him because of the smoke had accumulated to block the silo from view. The missile was going to launch within three minutes, and the armor suit was not improving his speed. By God, even turtles moved faster; he thought furiously.

The base was totally in disarrayed that the soldiers were too busy putting out the flames to pursue him. He finally reached the silo. His robotic strides clattered against the steeled steps that led to the launching platform. Yinsen gave him a pat on the shoulder with, smiling zealously.

"Outstanding performance my friend! You're truly are a genius whom the world will be proper for decades... scores to come."

"Remind me to buy you a drink or two. Have you been to Malibu California?"

"Never been there. It surely would be pleasant... gahh!"

Tony heard the single shot of a high-caliber rifle being shot out from a distance. The most heart-breaking moment, he ever experienced in his life... far worse than his parent's death. Yinsen's chest was painted with crimson that was oozing out from the wound in his chest. Blood sprayed onto Tony's chest-plate as Yinsen fainted onto the launching pad, leaning against the railing.

Tony zoomed in like a digital camera, and saw General Song snickered. He was on the second floor of the control tower with the rifled strapped against his back. His heart felt like it was being constricted by a python. His breathed harshly. He scooped Yinsen in his arms and cuddled him like an infant. The dark glints in Yinsen's eyes were a sign that his life was fading.

"Don't p-pout, Mr. Stark." He coughed out more blood. "God has a place for me at his kingdom of heaven."

"Shut up! You're going to make it! Come on—we've made it this far! Do not give up on me!"

"No... it-it was meant to—be this way."

"What of your family? You will have to live through this to see them."

He coughed a bit more before clearing his throat. "My family—is d-dead. My l-life... is at an end. Do... not... waist yours." Yinsen took one final breath, squinting. His head rolled limply over his right shoulder.

He is dead.

Tony looked away, as his thumb closed Yinsen's eyes.

"Rest in peace, my friend. Thank you for saving my life."

Tony contemplated the missile before charging his felt gauntlet like a resistor. The gauntlet became magnetized. He was stuck to the missile like glue. Hopefully, the magnetization would hold his weight. The missile has been launched. Tremors made his belly churned. He fought the urge to puke. Glancing down, the control tower was ignited in flames. Tony's lip that was formed in a straight line, curved upright. He was proud of his accomplishment.

"Switching to flight mode."

The altitude meter was activated. Once reaching the 1,000 mark, it began to shift in a forty-five degree angle. Soon, he would fly over the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Unknown to him, the hooded man watched on in disappointment.

~~ Osan Air Base ~~

All he was breaking looses. The base went on red alert to Defcon 1. If the missile proved to have a loaded active nuclear warhead, there was no place on Korea any person could escape the nuclear fallout, much to the mass destruction that would devastate more than half of South Korea.

"Lt. Colonel? We've just received a distress call from AWACS. North Korea has launched an ICBM missile. They can't determine the warhead to be nuclear active or not."

"My God! What in the blazing hell is Kim Jong-il scheming? Where is the missile bound to?

Captain Henry Yates cringed, whipping the sweat from his forehead.

"It's heading south, judging from the radar, its head directly for us or you at Seoul."

"He finally had loss his wits. Do we have any ABM (Anti-Ballistic-Missile) system operational?

"Fleet Activities Chinea has USS Shiloh docked and aware of the crisis. They have been notified to use the ABMD (Aegis-Ballistic-Missile-Defense) system. Reports that the crews are loading an RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 anti-ballistic missile. It will launch once the ballistic missile is in range.

"Keep me posted, by the way, any report on Stark's captivity?"

---

"God dammit! Work! Work!"

He couldn't just yank his arm free by risking to tear the missile's body. The thrusters would set the fumes, leaking from the missile ablaze. Tony's heart was racing, has he glanced at the altitude meter displaying 85, 000ft. At this rate, he would ascend to the stratosphere. The velocity he's traveling, his armor wouldn't withstand the heat fiction from the earth's atmosphere. He would be incinerated, trapped in the suit like a roasted swine on a spit.

And even if was to free himself, he was very skeptically ambiguous and quivered at the thought that he could be flying over South Korea into the East China Sea. Tony had no choice but to disconnect the wiring that powered the magnetized mechanism, charged from his Arc Reactor. In order to do that, he had to cut power to his entire left arm. It wouldn't have the super-human strength with that arm. His left arm went numb with all the weigh.

By the time he'd done this, he was 105, 100ft above sea level. Already, his armor was being heated up. Tony sweated like as if he was in a furnace. The gauntlet was demagnetized. He fell from the missile, watching it disappeared beyond the ozone layer. The altitude was dropping dramatically. At 92, 000ft, the heat friction caused b the earth's atmosphere started to decimate rapidly.

As he descended the clouds, a vast city was just ahead of him. His approximated the distance to be three kilometers. There was not sufficient space to maneuver the chute and glided it to a safe and secluded area for a touchdown. Traveling more than three-hundred miles-per-hour shortened his judgment when to pull the chute.

The winds pushed him further into the city. Tony's heart was hammering against his ribcage. He could forget the safe landing. With all the monolithic skyscraper buildings presented, it made gliding too dangerous. His only option was the quick-stop-landing procedure that he'd learned from sky diving. This procedure was the parachute being deployed at exactly 250ft.

This allowed the chute just enough time to decelerate your lading speed for an additional 5-7 more seconds until touchdown. This procedure was best performed on open waters such as the ocean. Landing could be a bit tough on the legs on solid ground. Tony saw several people broke their legs while an attempt this procedure. The results were gruesome with the shinbones snapped in half and pierced through the skin.

Tony was descending towards a bridge that was constructed to be part of a highway. The highway was clear of traffic. Descending at 300ft, Tony pulled on the deployment cable, located next to his left collarbone. A thin line of hunk of metal from his armor, just bellow the collarbones, burst out from its slot and the chute came oozing out like trimming a sail on a sailboat.

About altitudes of 252ft, the chute was fully deployed. While the chute was being deployed, he designed his armor to disassemble automatically. All remained was the aqualung and the helm, just in time. The tank was nearly depleted. Suddenly, his stomach felt like it had a battering ram jammed into it. He was breathless as he was being yanked from his falling death with such an incredible g-force that it made him see starts.

Next thing he knew, his feet made contact with the asphalt vehemently. He groaned as he tumbled face-first into the asphalt. Fortunately, his helm had absorbed all the damage his head could have suffered severely.

He coughed.

His legs wobbled a bit. He threw the helm and the tank into the canal and unbuckled the parachute pack and dropped it on the sidewalk. The gust came in and swept the chute over the guardrail. He could hear the seagulls. He saw the traffic lights. People were looking at with awe.

From the distant, he heard the tires of a vehicle screeching. He could distinguish the blurry figure as a white van. His eyes ride agape. It was a van. The horn from the van chorused the highway with an agonizing melody. He wailed and waved his arms.

"No—wait..."

The van was able to halt, but not before ramming into him. The collision was not fatal, but Tony got the wind knocked out from him when his body slammed against the guardrail. Flashbacks about his parents and their death plagued his mind. The image of Virginia Pepper Potts made him quivered as she'd jumped off the cliff into the Pacific Ocean after she smiled at him. And Yinsen's chest opening up in front of him as an endless trail of blood came pouring out.

He was then snapped out of his consciousness. James and Pepper Potts was standing next to him on the sidewalk, hoisting him up to his feet. James was the first to hug him.

"Had enough of the fun-vee?" He snickered. "Next time, you ride with me—okay!"

"Not the ovation I was expecting."

His eye turned to the red-head maid of his household, Virginia Pepper Potts. Her luxurious long maroon hair, concealed half her left face. The amber dimples glistened with tears. Tony brushed the remnants away with his thumb.

"T-Tony," she stammered. "Thank God, I hate to lose my job.

He snickered, "Well—vacation is over.(12)

~~Book II&Book III Summary~~

Tony made the safe journey back home. A Start Industry press conference, he announced Stark Industry would not be a weapon's manufacture company. He did not disclose the reasoned behind the discontinuous production of weapons. He left the press conference in an up to roar. Later, his escaped was questioned by the one the authorities of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate) by Agent Phil Coulson.

Tony started suffering from delirium and Post-Traumatic distress. The paparazzi rumored that Tony was bedded ridden. Of course, this was very far fetched. Tony squandered himself by either gambling at the casinos, rutting in brothels and hotel casinos, or drank harshly, which led to his drinking abuse, leaving Obadiah Stane to run Stark Industry, a year of it.

It was on a hot summer night of the year 2010. Zodiac sent in on of their assassins to eliminate him. The one leading the assassination was Black Widow. She was a Russian Communist spy, highly lethal in CQC (Close-Quarter's-Combat) and a very shrewd sharpshooter and one of Russia's deadly snipers. It was the first time he'd blood since the day he'd departed North Korea.

However, he was overwhelmed by Black Widow's mastery of martial arts in serious critical condition. There, he was rescued by the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury in several of S.H.I.E.L.D's agents. He and Nick became good-friends.

Later, he returned home to his hometown of Malibu. There, he worked on the second robotic suit by the assistance from his personal AIs (Artificial Intelligence) such as his AI chief of staff, Jarvas. Jarvas asked that the projected should be saved on the company's archive. Tony declined, knowing that he couldn't trust anyone from Stark Industry.

He never fished out the traitor and the person that was double-dealing behind his back and nevertheless; North Korea, he would be court-martialed accounted and reliable for North Korea having to obtain Stark Industry's weapons. Most likely, the sentence would be treasonous. He could not afford to go forward with this information until he could prove his innocents.

He had a hunch Zodiac was involved. With the new suit, he would be able to commence battle with those pacifists and communists. It took many trials to run the Repulser thrusters on his boots. Deciding that two thrusters were not enough for flight simulation, he developed his gauntlets to have one Relpulser thrusters, built on the palm area. The lift-off and hovering simulation was a success.

The design for the suit was shallow like wearing a latex suit. The suit had a transparent chest-piece around the Arc Reactor. The face-guard was design like in a v-shape that starts from the chin and traveled up to the sides of his cheeks, meeting each other around the base of the head. It was completed by February of 2011.

He took several flight tests around Malibu, and the results were successfully, but the ice built up nearly at 150;000ft was a nuisance. The power to the suit had shut down. And communication with Jarvas was temporarily down. He'd used the built-in flaps to break the ice and power was restored. During that flight test, he discovered two issues. First was the ice-built up and secondly, the Arc Reactor he'd built at North Korea insufficient for long duration flights.

He landed safely to his garage. While his suit was being upgraded with the titanium class, was used to construct the hull of a shuttle, he had Butter Finger—one of his AI machines—assisted him to remove old reactor and installed a new one in his chest. Later, that evening, the second flight test proved to be successful, although he was burning once he'd breached the ozone layer.

Enough was enough, he descended and activated Stealth Mode, which his satellite transmitted a magnetic force that would repel any radar and sonar from tracking him in a fifty-kilometer radius. He easily eluded the radars. Tony knew that he couldn't afford this suit to end up in the wrong hands. He could attack anywhere without being detected. Heck he could besiege the White House, and Obama wouldn't know what hit him.

The test flight to New York City and returning home was a success. However, Tony ran into some thugs, fleeing away in a bank bulletproof vehicle. He could utilize his superhuman strength that was built in with the suit of armor and punched a hole right through the hood of the armored mobile while being run over approximately forty yards.

Soon as the vehicle came to and complete halt, he flipped the van on its left side and jammed the door knob for the right door in. The windshield and the window to the door was bullet proof and using a flashlight or a wrecking bar won't bust the window. The thugs were trapped in the vehicle. The law enforcement officials arrive.

He then flew from the scene, and this was the first time he'd made an appearance to the world. Tabloids were printed around the nation the very next day. For months, he had been fighting crime in hopes of luring out Zodiac. He had made the front page of the tabloids for nearly six months that he was either nicknamed Man In the Iron Suit or Iron Man.

Continue use of the suit accelerated the Arc Reactor consumed the palladium core that powered the suit. He had gone through fifteen cores and the poison from it has entered his blood, slowly killing him that he had less than a week to live. He had spoken to the world's best doctors and known could help him. He then succumbed to his drinking habits once again.

Nick Fury, approached him once again, removing the poison from his system with an injection to the crock of Tony's neck. The staff infections on Tony's neck had vanished Tony couldn't figure out the how to keep the power of the Arc Reactor from disintegrated the palladium cores. Fury gave Tony a diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo. Before Fury left Tony, he made sure to tell Tony that he knew Tony is Iron Man, and the secret identity was kept save. The diorama showed a figuration that Howard was trying to achieve an unlimited source of power, but never he could perfect the Arc Reactor.

Tony went over the data with Jarvis, and they were able to upgrade the palladium with nearly half the mansion in total ruins. The new upgraded Arc Reactor was the shape of a triangle. He finished upgrading the Repulsor weapons on the suit. He could shoot kinetic energy waves and high density beams from his Repulsor thrusters and chest-plate (from the Arc Reactor).

There was only thing left to do was paint the armor. He'd chosen two hues from his hot cherry, red Ferrari. The suit would e painted in maroon. When that was complete, the golden hue would be painted over the muscle area and his face-guard. Jarvas said the render would take four hours to complete. Time was not on his side when law enforcement and US Martial raided his mansion.

He was arrested for smuggling and double dealing weapons to North Korea. Tony was interrogated vehemently. Tony's spirit never broke. It was later that evening. Nick Fury visited him at his cell. They chat a little while the S.H.I.E.L.D crew members tampered with the surveillance camera. Fury had had placed a miniaturized satchel charger on the cell bar, and it exploded.

Tony escaped the police department, and Pepper Potts was waiting for him. She drove him home, but they got into an argument. Pepper Potts left the mansion in total disarray. The painting render was complete. The feds approached his mansion. By the time they arrived, he was gone. Jarvas played the recorded image of Tony, suiting in the suit.

"I know this may seem a little awkward. I've been set up by a secretive pacifists organization called Zodiac. They were the reason behind my abduction. One of my higher-up employees had soled me out to North Korea, so I could build them the Maelstrom Torpedo, powered by the first generation of Relpusor Technology. What I built instead was a first-generation Mark I suit that could be piloted by the likes of me. Frankly... I am Iron Man."

~~South Korea Invasion~~

October 8 2012—9:00pm

North Korea launched several Repulsor Maelstrom torpedoes into the Dematerialized Zone. This cleared a direct path into South Korea. Zodiac has initiated its first-generation robotic battalion. The first was the humanoid drones that were remotely controlled. The Drones were eight-feet long and was specifically destined for front line raids and assaults. They had laser-beam swords that would cut through an armored tank like cutting butter.

There were the fifteen feet Chicken Walkers without wings with two mechanical talons. The Chicken Walkers were singly manned by one man. The dragoons, was the shape of a three storied Hyena. These were manned by four pilots. And lastly, were the Ravens, Zodiac's only robotic aircraft. These were designed to mobilize like and submerged like a submarine. An air and water vessel capable of run rings around a nuclear submarine like walking to a picnic in a park.

Iron Man arrived at South Korea. He couldn't believe the destruction, caused by his technology that North Korea some how obtained. Each weapon and machines he constructed had a secret serial number only known to Tony. The serial number would determine who had access to the facility, and to either distribute or transported cargo. Only higher ups have clearance.

The serial number has a data memory bank held the latest memory of the last person to use their password to enter the facility and to transport the cargo. A fluorescent beam, would scan the cargo once a person that has input their password. However, had access to the Stark Industry's facilities were clever to erase all traces of their password in the achieve database, but not the data collected in the serial code.

He needed to find any weapon or a mechanical part constructed by his company.

Seoul was under siege as the mechs. General Soong was gathering the POWs (prisoners of war) in packs. His men were separating the women and the children from the men. Each man was forced to line up in a single line.

'Move them information!' Soong bellowed in Korean.

A boy not older than seven years of age was yanked his way out of his mother's arms and sprinted toward his father. His dirty face was glistening with tears in the orange glow of a burning building. He clung to his father, crying. Soong eye brows furrowed. His lips formed in a straight line, and the muscle on his jaw line tightened.

'What is the meaning!' He clinched on the boy's collar vehemently and toss him aside like a sack of Rice. He kicked the man in the stomach. Soong's men drag the boy back to his mother. 'How's this!' Soong continued to trample the man. Soong had enough horse-playing and decided to put the man out of his misery. He drew his revolver out from his holster and aimed it at the man's head.

Cocking the revolver, the sound of jet thrusters breaking the sound barrier adverted his attention elsewhere. The dragoon who was hunched over a ruined salon was struck in the head by a high density kinetic beam in the head, directly in the center of the cock pit. Its four legs buckled and squeezed in. Its back exploded in a tremendous fireball the lit up the twilight skies over Seoul.

It fell lopsided on its right hill. Flames shrouded it like a bonfire. From within the abyss of the flames, an audio from a stereo played the song Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. Iron Man came swooping down from the heavens. The nearest North Korean solider cut upper out of sight. Soong's men looked at him with a grimly.

The empty their magazine of bullets firing upon him. Iron Man squandered no time by blasting the troops to smithereens. The Drone encircled him with their light-saber like laser blades and cut into Iron Man. Their sluggish mobility made it very easy for multiple counter attacks, including using one of the laser blades against them. As they laid decimated, the sound of a chicken walker made him glanced up.

The Chicken Walker shot a kinetic anti-armor piercing round at him. Iron Man found himself buried in ten tons of concrete rubble. The Eye of the Tiger song was cut off was he was shot. The North Koreans cheered while the POW remained frightened. The moment of victory was short lived when of the concrete blocks moved.

Iron Man stood up from the rubble. Nothing but the paint job on his armor was ruined. The Bird Walker shot another round. This time he was ready for it and side-stepped the round as it collided with the rubble behind him. Tony reached out with his right arm. A mine thrower in a shape of a launched its cockpit. Limbs dispersed on detonation.

Iron man scanned the weapons that were dropped by the deceased rebels. "Sir, it seems Obadiah Stane had clearance to distribute these weapons."

"I'll be damned! Jarvas! Can you access Stane's archive?"

"It can be done. My I ask, what is your course of action?"

"Send a feedback to S.H.I.E.L.D Inc. Tell them that Obadiah has been smuggling weapons and cargo with Stane's data to clear my name."

"It will be done."

The North Korean soldiers were holding stages by gun point. He wouldn't understand there rambling, but their body language was more responses of him to back away. His targeting system had eight red circle cross-hairs, painted on each of the soldiers' heads. Two turrets popped out from his shoulders. Each turret had four barrel cylinders. Like the mine-thrower, the bullets that were rapidly shot were also smokeless.

The soldier dropped like a stack of bowling pins. Soong was petrified that his battalion was decimated by one man in a robotic suit. Iron Man strafed into Soong, lifting him by the helm of his short, feet dangling and scissors kicking

"In the end, it seemed South Korea was a better solution for your retirement." He then glanced at the anger POW mob. "He's all yours!"

Soong was thrown flat on his belly as he watched Iron Man take off into the abyss. That was the last thing he'd seen before the angry mob lunched themselves upon him like a pack of blood craving ghouls.

The End!