13: War Begins

In the Rebirth Hell, a soul orb suddenly appeared in Andrew's palm—it was the soul of Yinsen. When Yinsen died, the magic he had placed within Tony transformed into a conduit, pulling Yinsen's soul into Rebirth Hell.

"A superhero," Andrew shook his head, tossing Yinsen's soul to Trask. Rebirth Hell needed talents like Yinsen.

...

In a Manhattan skyscraper, future Dr. Fantastic Reed Richards stared at the stock data on his computer, nearly in tears. How could such stable Stark Industries stock plummet like this?

"I might go bankrupt again... uh, why did I say 'again'?" Reed lamented to himself. Just then, his close friend, a burly bald man—none other than the future Thing, Ben Grimm—ran in excitedly, shouting, "Reed, Tony Stark has been rescued! He's holding a press conference right now!"

"Really?" 

Reed was overjoyed and quickly turned on the TV, finding Tony sitting on the ground at a press conference.

"Thank goodness, my stocks are saved," Reed shouted excitedly. But then, Tony loudly announced on TV, |"Effective immediately, I'm shutting down Stark Industries' weapons development division permanently."|

"What?" 

Dr. Reed Richards was dumbfounded. He turned to Ben and asked, "Did I hear that right? Stark Industries is shutting down its weapons development division? But they sell arms, don't they?"

Ben looked at Reed with pity and said, "You heard it right."

"It's over... Stark Industries' stock price is definitely going to collapse," Reed said, his face falling. He then turned to Ben, "Ben, I'm bankrupt again."

"My condolences," Ben said, trying to comfort him.

Reed asked, bewildered, "Why are you so calm?"

"Because you've gone bankrupt over ten times already," Ben replied. "Don't worry about me. Before you invested, I already took my salary for the next three months in advance."

"..."

Reed was speechless. Why are you so experienced at this? And why am I so unlucky?

While some were losing money, others were making a fortune.

Andrew and Tony's father, Howard, were raking in profits. The short video company they co-founded, "Quick Shake," was officially established and ready to launch. With Howard involved, Quick Shake had limitless potential.

"Now we just have to wait for the battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger. I hope it'll be more intense than in the movie," Andrew thought.

Andrew stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out at Stark Industries in the distance. The success of his plan to collect souls through disaster would soon be revealed.

...

"A mysterious hero has appeared on the Middle Eastern battlefield. Wearing an iron suit, he has been striking down terrorists across the region. Some say he is a secret weapon of the U.S. military, while others believe he is a messenger of God..."

Watching the screen displaying the iron suit, Obadiah Stane, a Stark Industries board member whom Tony considered a father figure, had greed in his eyes. If he could gain control of this suit, he would become a god in America!

"Tony, you're a real golden goose," the bald, bearded Obadiah muttered to himself. Just then, his phone rang. After listening for a few moments, he excitedly said, "I'll meet you in person."

Soon after, Obadiah, accompanied by his personal security team, arrived at a certain camp in the Middle East. The camp's leader, a terrorist named Raza, personally came out to greet him, "My friend, we finally meet."

Raza was the terrorist who had previously injured Tony, acting on Obadiah's orders. Obadiah had long wanted to eliminate Tony to take full control of Stark Industries.

Following Raza into the tent, Obadiah eagerly asked, "Where is what I asked for?"

"Here," said Raza, his face covered in burn scars. He pointed to a corner where the Mark I suit had been reassembled. "It took my men several days to gather all the pieces from the desert. Additionally, here are the blueprints and the footage from that time."

"Let me see," Obadiah demanded.

Obadiah played the video, which documented Tony's process of creating the Arc Reactor and the Mark I suit. Unfortunately, due to the poor quality and Tony's deliberate interference, many details were obscured.

"You really thought he was making the Jericho missile for you? It's frightening how ignorance works," Obadiah said, pointing at the screen, which showed Yinsen. "Where is this man?"

Raza's expression darkened as he replied, "He's dead."

Obadiah continued, "Is the body still around?"

Raza, puzzled, answered, "Yes, but what use is it?"

"Just because it's useless to you doesn't mean it's useless to me. I know a mutant who can communicate with the dead," Obadiah explained. The butterfly effect of the world's fusion officially made its mark at this moment—so many worlds merging meant that the future could not remain unchanged.

Raza, now excited, said, "That's great, Obadiah. I can give you everything, but you must make me a batch of these suits. I want to conquer the world, just like my ancestors."

Obadiah couldn't help but laugh.

Ten minutes later, his private security team had wiped out all the terrorists in the base.

"A bunch of ignorant tools thinking they could be masters. How ridiculous," he sneered.

Obadiah chuckled as he returned to the U.S., carrying Yinsen's corpse, the remains of the Mark I suit, and the blueprints.

It wasn't long before Obadiah's team of scientists managed to create a bootleg version of the Arc Reactor. Though it was less effective, it was functional—or so Obadiah believed.

...

That evening, Rebirth Group Corporation was as busy as it had been in recent months, working late into the night. Susan deeply regretted her decision to take on the role of vice president. The workload was overwhelming, but at least the boss would accompany her home every day and cheer her up, which had rapidly advanced their relationship.

Natasha was equally doubtful, wondering whether she was there to be a spy or a workhorse.

Working twelve hours a day at the office, only to continue working from home, she didn't even dare to turn off her phone.

What kind of undercover assignment was this?

"Maybe I should just report this company," Natasha muttered to herself. Just then, a loud explosion echoed in the distance. Her expression changed; that was the sound of a missile exploding. But this was Manhattan, not the Middle East.

Natasha hurried to the window and saw a bright flash of light coming from the direction of Stark Tower. Immediately, the sounds of gunfire and more explosions followed.

"What the hell is going on?" Natasha frowned deeply.

Andrew was also surprised. Using his enhanced vision, he looked over at Stark Tower and saw that it had turned into a battlefield—Iron Man suits fighting with the U.S. military.

Andrew silently grumbled to himself, "Even though I wanted a bigger spectacle, but where did all these suits come from? And why is there a whole army involved?"

Let's rewind the clock a bit. Due to suspicions about the source of weapons for the terrorists, Tony sent his assistant and girlfriend, Pepper Potts, to steal data from Obadiah's computer.

Pepper discovered a video of the terrorists blackmailing Obadiah on his computer, revealing to Tony that the attack on him was orchestrated by Obadiah himself, who had hired them to kill him.

Furious, Tony donned the Mark III armor and headed to New York to confront Obadiah. At the same time, Pepper, accompanied by Coulson and his team, also rushed over.

In Obadiah's computer, Pepper found that he had not only figured out how to build the Arc Reactor but was also mass-producing suits. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Coulson brought a large team of agents and requested military backup.

The military didn't hesitate and deployed armored vehicles and armed helicopters to assist.

Obadiah, of course, wasn't going to surrender without a fight. As explosions erupted, the area around Stark Tower quickly turned into a battlefield.