Chapter 3: Mark I

SOME DAYS LATER:

"Mister Stark, you've been in there long enough."

"JARVIS, I'm working here!"

"Sir, you have neglected personal hygiene and dietary intake for the past week and a half. Even I can smell you, and I don't have a nose or a nervous system."

"Do you have anything better to do besides nag me?"

"No, actually. Ever since you got home, you have not ordered me to do anything. I took advantage of this to get some vital tasks done."

"Like what?"

"Manage your stocks, alphabetize your album collection and then turn them into MP3 files, and so on."

"Well then, I have an order for you."

"I'm listening."

TWO WEEKS LATER:

"Sir, I don't get it."

"Get what, JARVIS?"

"That suit you've built."

Tony turned and looked in the mirror. Upon his body was a bulky gunmetal gray suit of powered armor, with an expressionless visor covering his face.

"It's a sort of an aid."

"Perhaps you ought to test it, sir."

"Will do."

"Put your hands behind your head and nobody gets hurt!"

A teller nodded as a masked woman waved a .475 Wildey around, while her cohorts began to carry away large amounts of cash.

"All units, we have a Code Thirty Ringer at Kirby Savings and Loans on Sunset. Suspect is armed and dangerous and wearing a gold mask."

From within his suit, Tony listened to the police band radio.

Well, looks like a good combat trial.

He grinned as he began to run to the bank in question.

"LAPD! We have you surrounded!"

The masked woman lay crouched behind a hastily-erected barricade, her goons firing wildly upon the police.

Damn. Should've planned this one better. the woman thought as she reloaded her revolver.

Outside the bank, one of the policemen sat crouched behind his squad car with a shotgun in hand when he saw a large gray form approach the bank.

The hell?

The form came closer, and the policeman saw that it was a man in some unusual suit of armor.

Who's that guy think he is?

The man approached an officer and began speaking. The officer in question nodded, and the armored man left.

What just happened?

The masked woman heard the sound of glass shattering from the front of the bank. She craned her neck over the barricade and noticed a man in a large suit of armor of sorts.

"Who the hell are you?"

"The same could be asked of you, miss."

"I am Madame Masque!"

"Well then, I guess you can call me Iron Man."

Madame Masque raised her revolver and shot at the newly-monikered Iron Man. To her surprise, the bullet ricocheted off the interloper's chest plate.

"Resistant to small arms fire."

Madam Masque looked on in horror as Iron Man picked her up and threw her like a ragdoll.

"How was the field test, sir?"

"Fine, JARVIS. Absolutely fine."

"Were you at Kirby Savings and Loans at any point during the trial?"

"Yes."

"Thought so."