Obadiah Stane's laughter echoed through the empty living room, a grating, metallic sound, piercing and filled with the arrogance of a victor.
He looked down at Tony Stark, curled up on the floor. The once-unbeatable genius was now like a broken rag doll with its spine torn out, his face pale and his breathing faint.
"Thirty years, Tony."
Obadiah's voice boomed from above, each word a cold stone landing on Tony's heart.
"I watched your father build all of this, and then I watched you treat it like your personal playground. Did you really think you could change the world with those flashy toys of yours? So naive."
He hefted the Arc Reactor in his hand, the one he had just ripped from Tony's chest, its soft light still glowing.
"In your hands, this thing is just a pacemaker keeping your miserable life going. But in my hands," he paused, a near-maniacal obsession creeping onto his face, "it will be the engine of a new world!"
Tony opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
An excruciating pain and a spreading cold in his chest were draining all his strength. His vision blurred, the world spinning around him. He could feel it distinctly—the shrapnel held back by the electromagnet was breaking free, sliding slowly, inch by inch, toward his heart.
The shadow of death had never felt so close, so real.
Rage, betrayal, indignation... a torrent of emotions churned in his mind before finally dissolving into a powerless darkness.
Having savored Tony's pathetic state long enough, Obadiah turned and left with satisfaction. The heavy thud of his footsteps faded into the distance, and finally, with the slam of the front door, the entire villa fell into a deathly silence.
It was over.
Tony's consciousness was fading.
Just then, a faint, almost imperceptible whirring sound broke the silence.
"Beep... Detection: life signs are dropping rapidly."
A soft, gentle voice, almost like a hallucination, spoke in the stillness.
Tony struggled to move his eyes. In his blurry field of vision, a white, chubby figure was slowly inflating from a corner, rising to its feet.
Baymax?
How did he get here?
It was Paul… a contingency Paul had left behind.
"Immediate energy replenishment required." Baymax walked over to Tony with his unique, slow, and steady gait. His black, bead-like eyes scanned the gruesome cavity in Tony's chest.
He extended a soft hand and gently touched Tony's forehead.
"Body temperature is low. Heart rate is irregular. Diagnosis: acute pericardial injury, life-threatening."
Baymax's voice remained calm, betraying no emotion, but his actions were incredibly decisive.
He slowly opened the circular hatch on his chest. Inside, a smaller Arc Reactor, glowing with a soft blue light, was running steadily.
It was his heart.
"My internal reactor is compatible with your device. It can provide emergency power."
Tony's pupils contracted. He wanted to stop him, to say "No," but only a rattling gasp escaped his throat.
Without hesitation, Baymax carefully removed his own reactor. He then leaned down and gently, precisely, pressed the "heart," which carried a trace of warmth, into the recess in Tony's chest.
*Zzzzt—*
A weak but pure stream of energy instantly flooded Tony's body.
The lethal cold was checked, and the sinking feeling in his heart stopped. At the edges of his dark vision, a sliver of light returned.
He was saved.
For now.
Having lost its power core, the light on Baymax quickly dimmed. Like a leaking balloon, he slowly and silently collapsed beside Tony, becoming a heap of soft, white fabric.
Tony stared at the pile of "white marshmallow" beside him, something glistening in his eyes.
He owed Paul. Again.
No, he couldn't die here.
Gritting his teeth, Tony mustered all his strength, pushing himself up from the cold floor, bit by bit.
Baymax's reactor was just an emergency measure. Its energy was too weak; it wouldn't last long. He had to get to the basement, to his workshop, and find the other one… the original Arc Reactor that Pepper had mounted as a keepsake.
Every step was like walking on knives.
The light from the temporary reactor in his chest flickered, like a candle in the wind. Tony leaned against the wall, dragging his heavy feet, leaving a trail of intermittent bloodstains on the floor behind him.
Finally, he stumbled into the workshop.
There it was, on a high shelf, encased in a glass display—the original Arc Reactor, emitting a faint glow.
"Proof that Tony Stark has a heart."
The words Pepper had engraved were exceptionally clear in the dim light.
Tony reached out, stretching desperately, his fingertips mere centimeters from the glass case. But in that moment, the short distance felt like a chasm.
He was too weak.
"Damn it!"
He threw a final, desperate punch at the cold metal shelf, but his body, drained of strength, crumpled to the floor.
Helplessness and anxiety engulfed him.
Was this… how it ended?
*Whirrrrr—*
A familiar, somewhat clumsy sound of a robotic arm turning broke the silence.
Tony turned his head and saw the robotic arm he had cursed as "Dummy" countless times—Dum-E.
Dum-E seemed to sense his master's predicament. Its simple sensors identified Tony's target. The long mechanical arm slowly rose, extended over Tony's head, and precisely yet carefully gripped the glass case.
Then, slowly and steadily, it brought the case down to Tony.
Tony was stunned.
He stared at this "failed project" as fragments of memory flooded his mind. He remembered being a kid, clumsily assembling this unhelpful companion with his father's tools. He remembered the countless lonely days and nights when this non-verbal "dummy" was his only company, spraying him with a fire extinguisher, handing him the wrong tools…
The one he looked down on, the one he scolded the most, had offered him a hand at his most critical moment. And the man he had trusted most, the elder he had looked up to, had dealt him the most fatal blow.
A warm current surged from the bottom of his heart, washing away the coldness and despair in his eyes.
"You... you dummy..." Tony muttered, his voice hoarse and choked with emotion.
He hesitated no longer. He smashed his fist into the glass case!
*CRASH—*
Shards of glass flew everywhere.
He violently ripped out the small, faintly glowing reactor from his chest, then grabbed the large, crude, original Arc Reactor and slammed it into the cavity!
*BOOM!*
A powerful, surging energy, like a bursting dam, instantly swept through his entire body!
A familiar, searing blue light erupted from his chest, dispelling all the cold and weakness. Strength returned to his limbs.
Tony slowly rose to his feet, stretching his muscles, his joints letting out a series of sharp cracks.
He glanced at the collapsed form of Baymax, then at Dum-E, waiting quietly by his side.
Finally, his gaze fell upon the center of the workshop, upon the red-and-gold suit of armor standing silently.
His eyes had changed completely.
There was no more confusion, no more pain. All that remained was a will as cold and hard as iron, and a rage that could burn everything to the ground.
"J.A.R.V.I.S."
"For you, sir, always," the AI's voice was as calm as ever.
"Report Obadiah's position."
"Sir, Mr. Stane has activated the 'Iron Monger' armor and is at the Sector 16 plant. Ms. Potts and agents from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division are on site. The situation is… extremely critical."
A cold smirk touched Tony's lips.
He walked, step by step, toward the suit that represented both his rebirth and his revenge.
"Good."
"Time… to clean house."