An angry Tony returned to his mansion, clutching the photographs in his hand. He desperately wanted to find Obadiah and demand an explanation for what was going on, but remembering Brown's words, he suspected that Obadiah was the mastermind behind it all.
"Jarvis, call Pepper and have her investigate what Obadiah has been doing at the company."
Afterward, staring at the photos provided by the reporter, Tony felt that he should go to the Middle East to save the people there.
He stood up to find Yinsen and began calculating how long the chest arc reactor could last. Moreover, the ordered gold-titanium alloy from the materials company hadn't arrived yet, but Yinsen didn't say anything, knowing that Tony was going to his homeland to save lives.
Suiting up in the armor and watching the television reports of the refugees' tragic plight, Tony flew toward the Middle East without hesitation.
Upon landing, Tony didn't strike any flashy poses; he went straight to rescuing refugees and testing the power of his repulsors, discovering that a slightly longer charge could blast right through a tank.
Surprised and pleased, Tony glanced at a corner piled with weapons manufactured by Stark Industries. His gaze instantly turned cold, and he fired a repulsor blast at the stack of shells, obliterating them.
Back at his mansion, Tony increasingly felt that Stark Industries was operating behind his back, and that the ringleader was Obadiah.
Yinsen watched Tony deep in thought, having no idea what was going on in his mind. But when he caught sight of the photographs on the table and saw weapons produced by Stark Industries in the hands of insurgents, he could no longer hold his tongue.
"Tony, whose idea was it to sell weapons to the insurgents?"
"Uh... Yinsen, I'll look into this and get to the bottom of it."
"No, Tony. Weapons you manufactured are running amok in my homeland, leaving so many people displaced."
"Yinsen, I didn't do this, I swear. And I'm going to help you rebuild your homeland."
"Tony, you know me. I want to contribute to my homeland too. I want to go to the Middle East and do something."
"Yinsen, don't get excited. Hear me out. What can you do if you go to the Middle East right now? Treat the wounded? Until the terrorists at the source are wiped out, there will always be casualties. Stay here and help me develop the armor. Once I wipe them out, you can go back and rebuild your homeland, and I will compensate your hometown as well."
Hearing these words, Yinsen calmed down and slowly began to ponder his own dilemma. It was true—what would his return achieve other than treating the wounded and calling for a ceasefire? It would be much better to stay here and help Tony develop the armor, and then return home to rebuild. Having thought it through, Yinsen returned to the laboratory, though instead of working on the armor, he just sat there in a daze, with no one knowing what was on his mind.
Meanwhile, Tony didn't stop either, continuing to investigate the connection between Obadiah and the terrorists. Pepper was also rummaging through relevant documents at the company and forwarding them to Tony.
A few days later, the investigation began to yield results, and the connection between Obadiah and the terrorists gradually came to light. It turned out that this uncle he respected so much had actually intended to use the terrorists to kill him, leaving Obadiah with absolute control over Stark Industries. At the same time, Obadiah discovered that Pepper was investigating him, and he realized his plan might already be known to Tony.
In the evening, Obadiah arrived at Tony's mansion holding a bottle of wine, and with a smile, said to Tony, who was working on the armor:
"Tony, I've persuaded the board. From now on, Stark Industries will transition to focusing primarily on clean energy."
Hearing this, Tony didn't look particularly happy. Feeling a pang of sadness at the sight of this uncle who still wore a mask of hypocrisy in front of him, he managed to conceal his emotions.
"Is that so? We certainly need to celebrate. I'll be right over as soon as I finish up here."
Tony glanced over at Brown and saw him nod in confirmation. Then Tony stood up, took the glass of wine handed to him by Obadiah, and drank it down.
"This is truly joyous news, Uncle Obadiah. How did you manage to convince the board?"
Hearing this question, Obadiah thought to himself, *As if I care about those people; who else would they listen to if not me?* But out loud, he awkwardly replied:
"I simply explained your vision to them." Then he chuckled. "Tony, I need to talk to you in private about Pepper."
With a tense expression, Tony looked at Brown and said, "Why don't you wait by the door for a bit and come back in later?"
Hearing this, Brown nodded and headed toward the door, where he was immediately surrounded by Obadiah's bodyguards. Brown remained completely relaxed in the face of these guards who looked like they wanted to devour him. Bound securely, Brown was thrown into a car.
Taking advantage of the moment to pour Tony another drink, Obadiah walked up behind him, pulled out a sonic taser, and hit him with it, paralyzing Tony instantly.
"I originally arranged for them to get rid of you, but I didn't expect that new bodyguard of yours to rescue you. I suppose he's already been taken by my men by now."
Staring at Obadiah in utter disbelief, caught completely off guard by how swiftly the betrayal had materialized, Tony's face turned pale, and he looked with despair at the uncle he had once respected so deeply.
"Your family is nothing more than geese that lay golden eggs, Tony. I used to wonder whether I should get rid of you or not. Today, I've made my decision—I'm getting rid of you."
With that, Obadiah pulled out a tool and extracted Tony's core arc reactor.
"This is your last golden egg," Obadiah said, and walked away.
Pale and weak, Tony remembered the gift Pepper had given him—his original, first-generation arc reactor. He resolved to crawl to the laboratory to retrieve it.
At that moment, Yinsen, coming up from the lab, saw Tony in this state, rushed over to support him, and stared at the empty cavity in his chest. Yinsen hurried back into the lab, retrieved the old reactor, and plugged it into Tony's chest.
"Thank you, Yinsen. This is the second time you've saved my life. I just wonder how Brown is doing."
"What happened to Brown?"
"He was taken by Obadiah's men."
Meanwhile, Brown thought with serene composure, *Iron Man is finally going to make a name for himself worldwide.* "Is this where Obadiah builds Iron Monger? It certainly doesn't look as nice as Tony's lab."
"This Iron Monger looks mediocre enough, just a copy of the Mark 1." With that, Brown was locked away by Obadiah's henchmen. Brown offered no resistance, choosing instead to use his super-hearing to monitor the movements outside, waiting for Tony to arrive before making his move.
Two hours later, Tony flew in. He saw Obadiah standing there clad in the Iron Monger suit, fully prepared and waiting for him. A massive battle was on the verge of erupting.