Chapter 14

The future of air combat is a debate between manned and unmanned vehicles. In my experience, no unmanned air vehicle can match the instinctive responses of a trained flight crew. Their insight and ability to foresee consequences through in-depth observation are invaluable.

At the Air Force Base, Admiral Rhodes led a group of recruits through the hangar, sharing his experiences as an ace pilot.

"Colonel, why can't we make a co-pilot who doesn't fly the airplane?"

"Look at this man who fell from the sky, Mr. Tony Stark," Rhodes introduced Tony, who had interrupted the session.

"Speaking of manned versus unmanned, you need to hear about his misjudgment. It was the spring of 1987, and there was a lady in your bed…" Tony continued, much to Rhodes' embarrassment.

"Tony, don't be like this," Rhodes interrupted.

"What was her name? Was it Ivan?"

"They'll believe it. Stop talking nonsense," Rhodes reminded him, not wanting to lose face in front of the recruits.

"Okay, nice to meet you," Tony ended his joke.

"Guys, take a stroll on your own. We need to chat separately," Rhodes said, watching the recruits walk away before turning to Tony. "I'm surprised, man!"

"Why?"

"I didn't expect to see you walking so fast."

"I can do more than just walk."

"Really?" Rhodes was skeptical.

"Yes. Rod, I'm working on something big and I hope you can join."

Rhodes nodded, but didn't give a definite answer: "You could have made these people really happy. Your point at the press conference was a big talk."

"It's not for the army, it's different."

Rhodes looked at Tony with a puzzled expression: "What's the matter? Are you a humanitarian now?"

"I hope you can listen to my plan first…"

Before Tony could finish, Rhodes interrupted: "No need. All you need now is to get your brain back to normal. I'm serious!"

"Okay." Tony smiled perfunctorily.

"It's nice to meet you, Tony." Rhodes turned to continue his work.

"Thank you." Tony was a little disappointed by his friend's lack of understanding but did not give up his plan. "I guess I need to ask Mark for help."

…

"Mark, come out, I need to talk to you!" Tony called out as soon as he got home.

Since escaping from the terrorists with the rudimentary Mark One, Tony had been focused on his new plan. Now, apart from Pepper and the company, this plan was his top priority.

Hearing his father's call, Mark walked out of his room in plush pajamas, rubbing his sleepy eyes, "What do you want, Dad? I didn't get to bed until 4 AM."

"Four AM? What were you doing last night? And now it's noon. You should get up after eight hours of sleep."

"Well, this house is yours. I stayed up late last night to help remove the shrapnel from your chest. Some gratitude would be nice!"

"Huh?" Tony was immediately interested, not in the shrapnel removal itself, but in Mark's new invention. Despite not focusing on medicine, Mark's technological prowess was undeniable.

"What new stuff did you make? Show me!"

"Aren't you looking for something else?"

"Don't worry about that. Let's see your new invention." Tony was more attracted to Mark's invention than his unknown plan.

"Okay, but it's in my room. Follow me." Mark led Tony back to his room.

As soon as Tony entered, he was struck by the large metal ball. "Tungsten carbide?" Tony recognized it immediately.

"Yes, 400 pounds of tungsten carbide. Come here, I'll show you something interesting." Mark beckoned Tony to the test bench.

A complete set of chemical preparation instruments was neatly arranged, connected to various chemical reagents. Clearly, Mark's new discovery was related to chemistry.

Mark poured chemicals into a preparation instrument, "Doped with perchloric acid and a drop of cobalt pigment," he added more reagents, "a bit of hydrogen peroxide, and heated to 500 Kelvin." He turned on the heating device.

Handing a spray bottle to Tony, Mark said, "Try it. Spray it on the tungsten carbide sphere."

Tony did as instructed, and the reagent formed a pink spray, covering the metal ball and turning it pink.

"It's done. Isn't it great?" Mark asked excitedly.

"Very pink?" Tony was embarrassed, not expecting such a simple result.

"The exciting part is here," Mark continued.

Mark poked the pink sphere with his finger, and it disintegrated into pink dust, filling the room.

"Wow!" Tony, now covered in pink dust, exclaimed.

"It's great. Chemical metal embrittlement. Inject a few milliliters of the right reagent into your chest, and the shrapnel will turn to powder and be metabolized out. Unfortunately, I haven't found a non-toxic formula suitable for humans yet."

"It's amazing. I need to keep my metal formulas secret from you. I need to discuss the [Steel Son Project] with you next."

"[Steel Son Project]?" Mark was skeptical, "Can I not participate?"

"You really have to, Mark."

"…"