After completing the 3D model of the mark two armor, tony stark was hard at work in his garage for the next few hours. Now that he was back in America and had more resources, tony has the means of making the new armor more effective compared to the mark one armor used to escape the ten rings encampment Tony had been tinkering on a bench with his tools on a sculpted metal boot, attaching electronic components into it.

"Okay..." said Tony, poking a small welding torch onto the metal boot to wield together the electronic components. Eventually, the wielding was done, "that should do it..."

"Sir," chimed Jarvis, "Mr yinsen is here to see you,"

"Please let him in, Jarvis," smiled Tony, knowing his good friend is coming to see him.

"of course, sir," said Jarvis, unlocking the security to let yinsen inside the house. "I'll show Mr yinsen in, sir,"

"thank you, Jarvis," nodded tony as he continued his work on the right leg component of the Mark 2 armor.

"I thought I would find you here," said yinsen as he walked downstairs

"hi, yinsen!" smiled tony as he put down his equipment "how are you?"

"I'm feeling quite well, thank you, Mr. Stark," nodded yinsen. "I see you are hard at work,"

"I sure am," said Tony "like I said, I'd gotta build more,"

"I see," said yinsen. "I also came here to congratulate you on shutting down the weapons,"

"thank you, yinsen," said Tony "my dad didn't seem at all against it, considering..."

"Indeed," sighed yinsen, "and what happens now?"

"well," said Tony, looking at the metal boot, "this is a start."

"a great start at that," said yinsen. "I suppose it is a continuation of what we created back at that cave."

"it's actually going to be a prototype," explained Tony, then showing the holographic blueprint of the mark two armor. "and as you can see, I'm also trying to develop a flight system for this suit."

"and it looks as though it will be a snug fit for you," said yinsen. "and what else you might add?"

"Mr. Stark is also trying to develop a weapons system for his new armor as well with the more advanced resources, professor," explained Jarvis

"I see, thank you, Jarvis," said yinsen

"of course, sir," chimed Jarvis.

"and this weapons system will be used for defense?" asked yinsen

"certainly," said Tony, "but I'm worried about it falling into the wrong hands."

"I understand," said yinsen as he walked over to the bench, "but I know that you will use it well."

"thank you, yinsen," smiled Tony,

"remember, like the tools we use, technology is neither good nor evil. It's how you use it in the end," said yinsen,

"and hopefully, with this new direction, people will use that technology wisely," said Tony. "actually, how would you like to work on this with me?"

"I'm more than happy too," smiled yinsen as he sat down on the workbench next to tony.

"what do you think, Jarvis?" said Tony to the AI

"any help is always welcome, professor yinsen," said Jarvis

"well then," said yinsen as he grabbed the necessary equipment, "let us begin."

And they were hard at work for the next few hours. After working on the metal boot that was close to completion, tony and yinsen were going over the blueprints for the flight system tony was hoping to install,

"so, in making this suit's flight system, we must first install flaps, ailerons, and flight stabilizers so the suit can gain thrusters," said Tony, pointing towards the legs and then turning towards the back in the mark two armor blueprint

"I see," said yinsen, "and what of the flight stabilizers?"

"those will also be the thrusters at the palms and feet," said tony. "I also hope to incorporate the arc reactor technology we used to power the whole suit,"

"interesting," said yinsen, "and what of the armor's alloy?"

"I've been doing research and going over the resources we have to make the armor strong and durable while also being light enough to move," said Tony, then bringing up a screen of the alloy he's designed "here we are, a light and strong chromed titanium steel alloy."

"that alloy may be strong enough to stop a bullet," awed yinsen.

"and perhaps more punishment than that," said tony

"yes, but first, I think we should start with the thruster flight system," said yinsen, "you said you would incorporate the flight stabilizers into your palms and feet, correct?"

"Yeah, I'm dubbing them repulsors," said Tony, "right now, I have one under construction, but it's experimental."

"I believe we should first concentrate on these repulsors first before we move on with developing the rest of this armor," said yinsen, processing the construction at hand

"agreed," said Tony, "to the workbench then."

"very well," said yinsen

"one more thing," said Tony, "I also plan to integrate Jarvis into the armor so he can help out with the suit's functionalities."

"brilliant strategy, Mr stark," nodded yinsen as he and Tony continued onto the workbench to work on the repulsor.

an hour later, tony and yinsen were able to construct a small gauntlet that fits tony's arm and slipped on a circular device on his palm that looked like the arc reactor but small enough to fit his palm like a glove

"Alright, let's see how this works," said Tony as he was wearing a vest worn arc reactor connected to the wires on the arm to power the device and the future suit in general

"Please be careful, Mr stark," cautioned yinsen

Tony then raised his palm. The circular device on his palm began to glow blue as excess electrons were being converted into muon like energy powerful enough to penetrate deep into atomic matter,

"Okay...looking good so far..." said Tony. He then turned up the power the made the glow in his palm brighter, and then suddenly, a bright-blue high-density muon beam shoots out of the device, pushing tony back in his wheelchair and nearly making him fall,

"Mr stark!" said yinsen "are you alright?"

"ugh, I'm fine," reeled tony and then looking at the damage in front of him. "Jarvis, what was that?"

"it would appear to be a high-density muon energy blast, sir," explained Jarvis "if set to a different level, it could be concussive or powerful enough to destroy objects."

"Wow..." said Tony, looking at the device in his palm, "I didn't expect that. We've got to make another right away!"

"yes, but next time let's take it outside," said yinsen

"yeah...sorry about that," said Tony, rubbing the back of his head with his right arm

"Sir, there's someone at the door," chimed Jarvis, projecting security footage at the front door of the house, revealing two visitors, pepper potts, standing beside her a young man with black hair and was wearing casual jeans and a vest over a white long-sleeved shirt, tony's eyes widen as he knew who it was

"Jarvis, please tell them I'll be right there," said Tony, taking off his arm flight stabilizer and then heading upstairs to the door, yinsen following him

"yes, sir," said Jarvis

tony then went towards the door and opened it to find,

"pepper!" said Tony, then turning towards his second visitor, "Arno!"

"brother!" cried Arno, rushing to hug his brother, tony, who returns the hug with tears in his eyes.

Arno stark was born within minutes of tony stark's birth. After Maria stark gave birth to paternal twins, Arno had also been born with the potential smarts of tony stark, if not potentially smarter. Howard and Marie still raised those two like family nonetheless of how difficult it would be,

tony and Arno were loving brothers to each other, collaborating on each other's inventions if given the opportunity. They usually worked so well together.

after Howard stepped down from CEO of stark industries and tony stark took the helm, Arno would visit his brother time from time, even taking up as assistant CEO if he had too, which tony gladly accepted for his brother,

after hearing that his brother got captured, Arno was deeply startled, even staying at home with his family most of the time, but he still tried to find his brother nonetheless, and pleaded to James Rhodes that he would find his brother Tony,

upon hearing of stark's return, and the story of his absence, Arno was glad that Rhodes was able to rescue him and yinsen, but hearing of his brother has shrapnel in his heart, and is on life support, Arno's sorrow over his brother's ordeal got worse, feeling guilty, Arno went to Pepper to go with her in visiting tony's personal residence to check on his brother...

"Arno, my beloved brother..." said tony softy, knowing why is here "it's alright..."

"but tony..." sobbed Arno as he hugged his brother, tears falling down his eyes, "when I heard the news...I was scared...I was worried I would lose you, brother!"

"I know...I know..." sighed tony, still hugging Arno. "I was scared too..."

"tell me," said Arno, his eyes still teary, "how did you escape? how are you still alive, brother?"

"We might wanna sit down first," said Pepper, putting a hand on Arno's shoulder,

"yes, it is going to be a long story..." said yinsen

"But we still must tell you," said Tony, holding his brother all the way to the central couch, there he would tell Arno about his and yinsen's tale...

An hour later, tony, yinsen, and Pepper finished explaining they're tale to Arno. He was both horrified and amazed by his brother's story,

"I can't believe it..." wowed Arno, "an entire suit of armor from scraps?"

"and this arc reactor on my chest too," said Tony, "to be fair, yinsen helped out a great deal with everything..."

"professor yinsen," said anro turning to him, "I couldn't be more grateful to you for saving my brother and putting your very life on the line for him in the process."

"I was just doing what I could for the only friend I had in captivity," said yinsen, who then smiled, "but thank you."

"you're welcome, so tony," said Arno, "are you considering the heart surgery?"

"I am actually, but it's going to be a while," said Tony, "but in the meantime, there's something I'm working on downstairs."

"what is it, Tony?" asked Arno

"a suit of armor, like the one we made back at the cave, but better," said Tony, "also known as mark 2."

"mark 2?" said Arno

"it's basically going to be a prototype for a future suit of armor I hope to make once I've mastered this kind of crafting," explained tony

"I thought you said we were done with weapons?" said pepper

"don't worry, this isn't going worldwide," said Tony, "but I'll be putting it to good use, and I'll entrust this to you, my closest friends, even my family, including you, my brother."

"what will you be using it for once it's complete, tony?" asked Arno

"I'm going to be using it to help people whenever I can," said tony

"Tony, are you sure?" said pepper "you could get killed."

"We just got you back, brother!" said Arno. "I don't want to lose you again."

"don't worry, pepper, Arno," reassured tony, "when I was kidnapped back at that cave, yinsen told me I could do so much more with my life, and I have so much more to offer this world, and I can fight for freedom on the frontlines, to fight for hope!"

"I believe it to be so," said yinsen "tony stark will fight for good in the world, to fight for hope. I know he will risk his life as I did for him,"

"tony..." said Pepper, worried about her boss and dear friend.

"tony," said Arno, standing up, "if my brother will risk his very life for ours and everyone else, then I shall follow!"

"Arno..." said Tony "are you sure?"

"yes," said Arno, "if you can build a suit of armor to escape that cave, and if yinsen was willing to sacrifice his life for yours, then I'm more than willing to do the same as you are willing to do, we have much to offer this world as you said"

"let's make the most of it!" smiled tony, standing up and hugging his brother

"well, if you can do it, so can I!" said pepper

"Are you sure pepper?" said tony

"I'm sure, I've been your friend for a lot of years, and I'm not about to turn my back on that!" said pepper

"thank you, pepper," said Tony, and then looked up "hey Jarvis, do we got room for one more?"

"certainly, sir, updating security to allow Mr. Arno access to your personal server," said Jarvis "welcome to our group, Mr. Arno."

"thank you, brother! Jarvis!" said Arno, hugging his brother once more

"you're very welcome, my brother," smiled Tony.

"of course, sir," said Jarvis.

"When do we get started?" said pepper

"whenever you guys feel like it," said tony.

"we're feeling up to it alright!" cheered Pepper.

"I'm available anytime," said yinsen

"I'm ready to go, tony!" said Arno

"then let's go!" cheered tony as he leads the group downstairs to the workshop below,

when they got down to the workshop, tony was going over the now updated blueprint to the others. Since accidentally discovering the repulsor, he's decided to figure out a way to weaponize it, and he also designed an experiment with the suit's central reactor to project energy out from the arc reactor to create a powerful beam and projectile unit, which he dubbed the "unibeam."

"so as you can see here," said Tony, pointing towards the central arc reactor on the middle chest plate of the armor, "the unibeam, like the repulsors, will draw energy right from this arc reactor that powers the rest of the suit,"

"Sir, please note," said Jarvis, "this weapon will use 20-30 percent of this suit's power source. Use it sparingly until further notice."

"Jarvis may be right, Mr stark," said yinsen, "but I assume we may need to construct it nonetheless?"

"yeah," said Tony, placing a hand on his chin in thought, "hopefully we'll work out the energy kinks in the future..."

"I do hope so as well, tony," said Pepper, "this stuff is not easy to work with,"

"anyways, brother," said Arno, "what should we focus on right now?"

"right now, we'll need to build the right flight boot," said Tony "yinsen and I already completed the left flight boot,"

"anything else, sir?" asked Jarvis

"then, after that, we'll work on the left flight stabilizer," said Tony "after a few flight tests, we'll be ready to build the other weapons."

"very good, sir," said Jarvis

"Alright, everyone," said Tony, "let's get to work."

another hour passed, seeing that Arno, Pepper, yinsen, and Jarvis, lent their hand in helping tony design and construct the final two components of the primary flight system, and finally, it was time for an official flight test,

everyone went outside to test the new flight system for the armor. Tony stood in the middle of a vacant grass area as the sun shined bright in the vast blue sky. His friends watched from a small distance from him.

"Alright," said Tony, again, wearing a vest with a wearable arc reactor to power his flight test suit "this is going to be the first official flight test with everything we've worked on so far,"

"let's hope this will work," said pepper "we've done a lot of hard work on this"

"Indeed, ms potts," said yinsen, "and this wide-open space is perfect for this flight test."

"definitely yinsen," said Tony, as he lowered his legs a little bit and placed his open hands towards the ground, preparing the flight stabilizers "okay...nice and easy...we'll start with 1% thrust capacity."

"be careful, brother," said Arno

"I will, brother," said Tony as he prepared to activate his heel and palm thrusters, already building up power in them "okay, here we go in 3...2...1."

The palm stabilizers and heel thrusters lit up, and the next moment, tony was hovering 1 foot into the air as white flames burst out of the thrusters. He wobbled a little bit and struggled to maintain control. Eventually, he did, and after a minute of hovering, he went back down, staggering a little bit and then regaining his footing.

"whoo..." said tony. amazed that everyone's hard work was paying off. "I can't believe it..."

"it..it actually works!" cried Pepper in amazement, "I can't believe it either!"

"yes, it's going successfully well so far," said yinsen

"brother! are you alright?" asked Arno

"it's alright, Arno, I'm fine," said Tony, "just a little shaken."

"that's good to hear!" said Arno "keep going!"

"Okay..let's go again, this time with 2.5% thrust," said Tony as he prepares to lift off again. "3...2...1."

the thrusters ignited again, this time, raising tony a few more feet off the ground as he then slowly began to hover around in a horizontal direction, the pipes of the leg thrusters letting out steam, and then, tony raised his palms the thrust in them stopped him and then practiced a little bit with using the flight stabilizers to control his direction, then tony directed his course back to where he started, and he cut the thrust, being put back to the ground once more

"We...we've done it!" said Arno

"that's great!" said Pepper, and then rushed to tony, "tony, are you alright?"

"I'm okay, pepper," said Tony, "I think that was a successful test!"

"so does that mean?" asked Pepper.

"yeah, we can fly," said Tony, cracking a smile at everyone, looking forward to what comes next,

"Tony!" a voice called out, a man was running towards tony,

"Rhodey!" cried tony

"Tony, what happened!?" said Rhodes "and what are you wearing?"

"This is actually my flight test suit," said Tony, explaining his outfit

"your flight test suit?" said Rhodes, baffled "what are you working on, tony?"

"I think we'd better talk more inside, lt colonel Rhodes," said Arno

"hi, Arno! Hi, Pepper! hi yinsen!" greeted Rhodes. "I've got a feeling this is going to be quite a story, huh tone?"

"yep, you said it," said Tony, then walking towards his house, his friends following him

when they got inside the house, tony and his friends finished explaining everything to Rhodes about the mark two armor project

"so a prototype armor that can really fly?" said Rhodes "whoo, tony, you and the others have been busy lately."

"We sure have been rhodey," said Tony, "and I think we're almost done,"

"that's great to hear, tony," said Rhodes. "I'm more than happy to help out if you like,"

"Are you sure, rhodey?" said Tony. "I mean, not that I doubt you and all..."

"tony," said Rhodes as he wrapped an arm around tony's back, "I've flown air combat missions and have even traveled to southeast Asia for aviation studies if you're willing to risk your life out there as I did for you, I'm more than happy to help out."

"thank you, rhodey," said tony

"the help will certainly be most appreciative, lt Colonel Rhodes," said yinsen

"Alright, let's get to it!" said Rhodes as everyone went downstairs again

When they got downstairs, Rhodes went over the armors flight system blueprint with tony. Using his extensive aviation knowledge, Rhodes suggested that they should install flaps on the back of the armor and the legs for airbrakes along with the repulsors.

another time Rhodes also suggested where Tony and the others should install and store the minimal weapons within the armor's exterior titanium steel shell with his combat knowledge, truly lt colonel James Rhodes proved a big help with the weapon systems,

and now, all that was left was to do was to set up the exterior shell of the armor. Tony had arranged the amount of chromed titanium steel alloy required for the armor. The others helped him in assembling the helmet, installing an OS within the helmet to allow Jarvis to control the suit's systems and manage the rest of the armor's functionalities.

finally, the suit is ready

tony then put on the exoskeleton, which is connected to his flight stabilizer arms and jet boots at the bottom, and then four yellow mechanical arms lowered down and attached the silver metallic shell to the boots, then the other arms clung the rest of the chromed titanium surface to the legs, torso, and arms, a mechanical arm moved up to screw in the joints, securing the rest of the armor,

tony then personally put on the silver helmet, and he then attached the faceplate, completing the suit up process,

"Jarvis, are you there?" asked tony

"at your service, sir," chimed Jarvis. The eyes of the faceplate began to glow as Jarvis began uploading himself.

"engage heads up display," said tony

"check," said Jarvis as a blue HUD began to materialize around the faceplate's interior view, and the HUD showed in front of him his standard view of the house's garage but with a technological interface indicating targeting, altitude, and more.

"import all preferences from home interface." said tony

"will do, sir," said Jarvis as he began importing

Tony then took a step forward, and the armor allowed it. He could move naturally. His friends watched in amazement at the newly created silver armor.

"Alright, what do you say?" said Tony as he looked at the equipment around as his interface began to analyze it all,

"I have indeed been uploaded sir, we're online and ready," said Jarvis, the importation continuing to progress

"can we start the virtual walk around?" asked Tony.

"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment," said Jarvis, finishing the rest of the import, adjust the heads-up display while doing so

"Alright," said Tony, "let's do a check on the control surfaces."

"as you wish," chimed Jarvis.

the flaps on the legs began to spread out, and the control surfaces from all over the armor were adjusting themselves smoothly, the silver and chrome shining from the ceiling lights

"test complete," said Jarvis, "preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."

"thank you, Jarvis," said tony

"of course, sir." chimed Jarvis, the suit humming as it powered down, and Jarvis began running diagnostics.

"Okay..." said Tony as he watched Jarvis go over the diagnostics of the suit, "Jarvis, are we good?"

"Certainly, sir," said Jarvis, continuing his diagnostics on the movement of the armor and the control surfaces "mobility and control surfaces are operating at optimal, sir, but there are still terabytes of calculations before an actual flight can commence, might I suggest we exit the suit sir until then?"

"Yeah, we can wait," said Tony "we could wait until tomorrow night to do the actual tests."

"we've got all week to do it too," chimed Rhodes "take as much time as you need,"

"thank you, lt colonel," chimed Jarvis, "beginning dis-assembly now."

after a few minutes, the mechanical arms disassembled the mark two armor, leaving tony to rejoin his friends,

"Well, guys," said Tony, "I'd say that was a successful test."

"certainly, Mr stark," said yinsen, "but I believe the real test will begin tomorrow."

"But you still did great, brother!" cried Arno

"This is working out better than we thought!" cried Pepper.

"It sure is pepper!" smiled tony. "alright, everyone, I think that'll be enough work for today."

"definitely, tony," said Rhodes "same time tomorrow?"

"actually, around night time, after dinner," said Tony. "Jarvis, could you set up a private facility of stark industries to be our test site?"

"Certainly, sir," said Jarvis, already scheduling an appointment for the mark two armor official full test "appointment marked, tomorrow at 8:00 PM, local time."

"thank you, Jarvis," said Tony, "be sure to calculate those terabytes!"

"certainly, sir." said Jarvis "have a good day."

after saying goodbye, everyone returned home, already looking forward to what tomorrow night will bring,

the next day, Jarvis had soon completed those calculations. It was time for a full-on test. That night, tony's friends rode with him to the stark industries warehouse facility, tony was already in the mark two armor, but he found he could still drive with it on,

"Alright guys," said Tony, stopping his car, "this is it."

"It sure is, tony," said Rhodes "let's hope this goes well."

"me too," said pepper, "this is all going to pay off."

With that said, yinsen, Arno, Rhodes, and pepper exited their car, and tony exited his vehicle as well, armored in the mark 2. The moon shone over the dark sky, the light shining off the silver chrome of the prototype armor

"Jarvis," said Tony, as he walked towards a square platform, "start up training program and armor."

the HUD in tony's front view flashed to life as Jarvis activated the suit's functions and routed energy from the arc reactor on tony's chest to the rest of his armor

"Heart Monitoring System operational, sir," chimed Jarvis, "all systems ready."

"Alright, let's see what this suit can do," said tony

He started by taking a step and then walked forward, going over basic movement first. He found he could walk just fine. The exoskeleton underneath the titanium steel shell allowed tony to move as if the armor was part of him. After a few minutes, tony stopped,

"Jarvis," said Tony, "before we go any further, please connect me with the others so we can communicate as we go through training."

"yes, sir," said Jarvis, opening up communications with tony's friends and brother through their phones, almost as if calling them "connection established sir,"

"thank you, Jarvis! Can you guys hear me?" said Tony as he saw four icons on his HUD appear on the side of his screen.

"We hear you loud and clear tone!" said Rhodes over the comms line "how is the suit holding out?"

"I can still move pretty good," said Tony "everything seems to be functioning just fine."

"that's great to hear, tony!" said pepper, "but please be careful."

"I will pepper," reassured tony and looked forwards. "Jarvis, let's do hover next."

"Hover thrusters online," chimed Jarvis as the suits thrusters hummed to life, then tony could see marker rings from his HUD front view "placing markers for mobility testing sir, please enter the ground beacon when finished."

"Alright, here we go," said Tony as he opened his palms and began to hover into the air as the thrusters ignited in his palms and feet, lifting him a few feet off the ground

but when he started practicing increasing altitude, he found it hard to control increasing height, especially with his arms wobbling

"Tony!" cried Rhodes over the comms "are you alright?"

"rhodey!" cried Tony, struggling to regain control "this, this is kinda hard to control, whoa!"

"tony! Stay with us!" cried Pepper.

"Tony!" said Rhodes. "I have an idea. Try using both hands like trying to operate a helicopter!"

"I'll! I'll try!" said Tony as he then thrust both hands to stabilize his flight and began to imagine operating a helicopter "whoa! whoa!"

tony then struggled a little bit and slowly moved his thrusting repulsors backward and began to hover forwards, there were still a few bumps, but soon he was starting to learn

"Okay...okay..." said tony. "I think we got it, thank you, rhodey."

"no problem tone," said Rhodes

Tony then hovered towards the beacons on his HUD to practice hovering, it was a little challenging to control, and he had to practice increasing altitude. His friends also followed tony as he hovered. After going through more markers, tony touched down the ground beacon, completing his hovering training,

"hover training complete, sir," said Jarvis, then marking a waypoint on tony's HUD to an empty warehouse "please head to the waypoint so we can begin weapons training."

"I'm on my way Jarvis!" said Tony, walking towards the warehouse

"Tony, can I talk to you for a little bit?" said pepper over comms.

"sure pepper, what's wrong?" said tony

"I want you to know that we hope you can figure a new direction for the company soon," said pepper "a lot of people depend on their jobs there."

"don't worry," said Tony, "we're only shutting down the weapons, not the stark industries in general, and perhaps, with what we've made so far, that could be that new direction."

"in innovative technology?" asked Pepper.

"exactly," said Tony "we'll work this out."

"let's hope so, tony," said pepper, "like I said, people depend on their jobs at stark industries."

"Hey, don't worry, we'll take care of them pepper, I promise you," said tony

Then tony stepped into the warehouse, his friends following him from behind. Tony then looked around in the warehouse and was ready to begin the next part of the test.

"Jarvis, set up some targets so we can test the repulsors," said Tony, priming up his hand repulsors

"yes, sir," chimed Jarvis as targets began to roll up from the sides of the warehouse "targets activated"

Tony then aimed his open palm and fired his repulsor at it, making a clean shot. He then shot multiple other targets as well around the warehouse.

"whoa!" cried Rhodes. "It looks like those flight stabilizers work better than we thought!"

"I had the same thought, Rhodey!" cried tony after blasting one last target. "now let's try the smart missiles!"

"yes, sir," said Jarvis, guiding some test drones into the rear of the warehouse where tony was "drones in range, sir."

Tony then raised an arm as his HUD locked onto one of the drones, and an anti-tank missile shot out from his arm and destroyed a drone. He then used his right arm to fire at another drone, finally using the smaller smart missiles on his shoulders to hit the rest of the drones at once

"whoo," wowed tony, as the shoulder pads lowered, "that may come in handy."

"It seems we've done better than I thought," awed yinsen.

"Indeed, yinsen," agreed Tony, "and now, the unibeam."

"Sir, please note, this weapon still uses a large portion of energy," said Jarvis

"we'd better use one target then until further notice," said Tony, heeding the warning

"yes, sir, raising final target now," said Jarvis, then raising one last target from the floor, which appeared to be a large metal slab, "you may fire when ready, sir."

Tony then clenched his fists as his suit began diverting energy to the central arc reactor. It began to glow bright blue and give out blue sparks, and the next moment a large blue blast shot out from the unibeam and destroyed the metal slab in seconds, leaving a giant hole and sending tony back a few feet from the recoil,

"whew..." said Tony, "that was certainly a lot more powerful than the repulsors."

"and more energy-consuming too, sir," said Jarvis

"Hopefully, we'll work out the kinks in the future," said Tony as pepper and Rhodes rushed over to help tony back up on his feet

"geez, that unibeam packs a punch!" said Rhodes

"Tony, are you alright?" asked Pepper.

"just a little shook pepper," said Tony, as he got back on his feet, "but I'll be fine."

"Sir, please step outside so we can test weapons while hovering," chimed Jarvis as the doors slowly opened.

"you got it, Jarvis, let's go outside," said Tony, walking towards the large steel door, his friends following him

tony then turned on his thrusters and followed Rhodes earlier advice, and raised a few feet into the air, and then waited for the test drones

"flying target test drones activated," said Jarvis as three drones rose into the air and stood in place

Tony then tried to let go of his hand thrust only to find himself losing balance. He quickly reactivating his thrusters, he tried again, but lost balance again,

"whoa!" cried tony as he attempted to regain control.

"brother!" cried Arno, "stay up there! stay up there!"

"I'm trying!" said Tony, "but how do I use my weapons while I'm in the air?"

"Tony!" said Rhodes, watching his best friend struggle in the air, "trying to let one hand loose like your driving a car!"

after regaining control of his flight, tony then followed Rhodes advice and struggled to aim an open repulsor towards one of the drones and fired, narrowly hitting one of the drones and destroying it

"how about that?" said tony in awe as he then repulsor blasted the other drone and then destroyed the last one with a smart missile

"Mr stark!" said yinsen "are you alright?"

"I'm fine, yinsen," said Tony as he lowered himself to the ground "well, barely"

"and now, one last test, right?" said Rhodes

"yep," said Tony, "Jarvis?"

"flight thrusters online," said Jarvis

"Alright, let's do this," said Tony as he walked towards an open spot in the facility, but then thought of something, "hey Jarvis, could we set up a face time where my friends can see me and the world in front of me at once"

"certainly, sir, updating communications now," said Jarvis, changing the phone's call to facetime that covers tony's face and his HUD's point of view "front face view and hud view interfaced. You have a secure channel."

"thank you, Jarvis!" said Tony as he then reached the spot

"Hi Tony!" said Rhodes, his face now visible on the left side on tony's HUD's screen, alongside Pepper, Yinsen, and Arno

"Hi guys!" said Tony, "I thought I'd set this up so that if I go outside the facility while flying, you guys will be able to see us."

"do be careful up there, Mr stark," said yinsen

"Please come back soon, brother!" pleaded Arno.

"don't worry, I will, Arno, you too yinsen," said Tony as he saw their faces on his screen "alright, ready?"

"ready, sir," said Jarvis as he primed the flight thrusters

"Okay...here we go in 3...2...1!" said Tony as he let out his open hands and again was lifted into the air

Tony raised altitude and began to rise in height. He then moved his hands backward again and started increasing speed. His thrusters began picking up speed as he then began to speed forward into the air like a silver bullet.

"OH YEAAAAAAH!" cried tony in joy as he began to get the feeling of full flight. "WHOOO!"

tony's friends on the ground saw him struggling a little bit with his arms, as they wobbled around as he picked up speed

"Tony!" cried Rhodes "stay calm! try imaging piloting a jet plane!"

tony then followed Rhodes's advice and regained composure and regained control of flight as he streaked across the skies,

"How is it up there, Tony?" asked pepper

"It handles like a dream, guys!" cried tony as he was trying to maintain control as he streaked across the dark sky.

yinsen watched his friend as he flew towards the skies. He was feeling proud of tony, their hard work paying off.

"Alright, what's next Jarvis?" said tony

"flight beacons course set," said Jarvis, the rings appearing before tony's hud "please follow the display on your HUD."

Tony guided himself through the blue rings, which led to him struggling to turn while he was flying, the flight course led him nearly around the massive body of water where the warehouse facility was, but tony was clearly having fun. Eventually, he made it to the last ring as Tony then decided to see just how high he can fly,

"Alright, let's go up!" said Tony as he continued to rocket higher and higher, he went past the clouds, and he still flew upwards. Suddenly, some frost began to form on the HUD's view, and Tony could feel the leg thrusters starting to jolt. "Jarvis! what's wrong?"

"Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring," said Jarvis "advise decreasing altitude."

"you got it!" cried tony as he tried to slow down, but before he could, the ice started forming quickly and shorted out the suit as he began falling from the atmosphere.

"TONY!" cried pepper.

"TONY!" cried Rhodes "do something! regain control!"

"I'm...I'm trying!" cried Tony, as he was struggling to engage the flaps. "Jarvis! Deploy flaps! Jarvis! Come on! we gotta break the ice!"

Falling to earth, tony stark was barely able to pull one of the flaps up manually and then slowly did the other, slowing down his fall. As the ice slowly started breaking away, the suit's power slowly came back on, the faceplate's eyes and thrusters roaring to life, right before Tony passed the buildings and immediately regained control.

"Tony!" his friends cried in relief as they saw him streak through the air.

"whew!" cried tony, then redirecting his course, "alright, I think that's enough flying tonight."

"agreed, sir," said Jarvis coming back online, already marking the waypoint back to the warehouse facility.

wasting no time, tony then flew back to the spot where he started and slowly descended, his friends already rushing to him to hug tony

"tony..." said pepper, relived, "I thought we lost you up there..."

"yeah, tony," said Rhodes, "I mean, I flew missions myself solo in the air before, but this!?"

"guys...it's alright..." said Tony, catching some air as his faceplate lifted to reveal his face. "I was scared too, but we made it here."

"so, what do you think, Tony?" asked Arno

"there's still a few bugs to work out..." said Tony, "but overall, I'd say that was a successful test!"

"I'm very much glad!" said yinsen, "and now I believe we must be going?"

"sure thing, yinsen," said Tony as everyone then went back to their cars, "we'll get back home, armor down, and then turn in for the night."

"sure thing, tony!" said pepper starting up her car as Arno, yinsen, and Rhodes got into the passenger seats and drove off, following tony's car.

After a night of rest and spending most of the day resting after working as CEO of stark industries, the next day, tony stark went back down to his workshop to go over some notes of last night's test. The mark two armor was fully assembled and was being held as it was still thawing from the previous night.

"Okay, here we go..." said Tony as he typed down his notes on the mark 2 "the armor begins to freeze up going beyond 85,000 feet high, and hull pressurization is very problematic. I think icing is the probable factor."

"a very astute observation, sir," said Jarvis "perhaps if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems."

"maybe someday when we get the hang of this," said Tony "for now, let's have that a project file for later,"

"very good, sir," said Jarvis, already carrying out his master's command. "is there anything else, sir?"

"yeah," said Tony, already thinking about the next armor. "connect to the sys. co, have them reconfigure the shell metals, use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite."

"yes, sir," said Jarvis

"And also, we need to make a few more modifications before we make a render," said Tony as he typed on more notes on his dashboard

"what are you suggesting, sir?" said Jarvis

"someday, I need to get heart surgery to remove the shrapnel from my heart and this arc reactor that keeps it from killing me," said Tony "and so far, it's powered both the mark one and the mark 2, so for this third one, let's make sure to install a main auxiliary arc reactor to power the suit when I get that heart surgery."

"yes, sir," said Jarvis, "making plans for main auxiliary arc reactor for mark three armor now. Is there anything else you wish to add, sir?"

"Yeah, when I get that heart surgery, I might be out for a while, and I'll have to discuss this with the others," said Tony "please remind me to contact my friends and Arno later on today."

"yes, sir, setting up an appointment now," said Jarvis

"thank you, Jarvis," said tony

"of course, sir," said Jarvis, "shall I render using the proposed specifications?"

"Please do, Jarvis," said tony

"yes, sir, initiating render now," said Jarvis

it took only 15 minutes later to complete the render, showing the mark two armor but colored gold,

"the render is complete," said Jarvis

"hmm..." said Tony, looking over the golden color of the render, "how about we throw in some hot rod red in some of the areas, a bit more colorful, don't you think?"

"certainly, sir," said Jarvis as the red color paint icon appeared on the screen. Tony stood up and began to paint some red parts of the 3D render on the top torso, shoulder guards, bottom legs, gauntlets, hands, and the helmet, leaving out the gold on the faceplate, arm joints, and leg thighs covering the whole armor nearly in red and gold.

"there we go..." said Tony, as he sat back down. "I think that should do it. Let's fabricate it and paint it,"

"certainly, sir, commencing automated assembly," said Jarvis, "estimated completion time in five hours."

"Hey, that's pretty good!" said tony "in the meantime, I think it's time I turned in the workshop for the day. and besides, I still need to talk to the others."

"very good, sir," chimed Jarvis. "I shall ensure the completion of this new armor."

"thank you, Jarvis," smiled tony as he walked back upstairs to his room.

"of course, sir." chimed Jarvis, still commanding the automated assembly of the new red and golden armor.