At the Sky Base, Tony had taken over Dreykov's former office and converted it into his personal laboratory while renovating the facility.
He had even torn through much of the surrounding metal structure and replaced it with large glass panels. His reasoning was that being able to look out at the scenery from every direction helped inspire his inventions.
Qin Xiao wasn't sure how much inspiration that actually provided. So far, Tony's only truly new invention seemed to be the indestructible pants Banner used when transforming.
Today, however, it was finally Qin Xiao's turn.
He put on a pair of knee-high socks made from some unknown material that Banner handed him.
He also wore a pair of long gloves that extended all the way to his elbows.
Both the socks and gloves were covered with wires and circuitry.
Standing beside the control console, Tony rapidly typed away on a keyboard.
"Get ready. I'll count down from three. When I do, release your flames at full power through the areas covered by the gloves and socks. Got it?"
"Got it!"
Qin Xiao nodded obediently. Mimicking Tony's flight posture, he stood with his legs together and his palms facing downward.
"Three! Two! One!"
As Tony finished counting down, Qin Xiao unleashed a surge of fire from his body, covering his arms and lower legs.
No one knew what button Tony pressed.
The next moment, all of Qin Xiao's flames vanished, completely absorbed by the gloves and socks.
The collected energy was funneled toward his palms and the soles of his feet.
Instantly, Qin Xiao felt a growing reactive force pushing against his hands and feet.
His body began to feel strangely weightless.
"Tony, why does it feel like the thrust is too weak? I can't seem to get airborne."
Qin Xiao sounded somewhat disappointed.
"That's because your flames are too dispersed. More accurately, your Fire God ability is pretty terrible—at least for now. But you're lucky because you met me. And Banner too. He deserves at least twenty-one percent of the credit. Maybe twenty-five."
Tony's eyes darted across the data streams on his monitor as he continued analyzing Qin Xiao's flames—temperature, thrust output, energy conversion efficiency, and more.
"Good! Now relax completely. When I count to three, hold your position and trust me. You're about to experience flight."
Qin Xiao nodded excitedly.
Then he watched Tony rapidly hammer away at the keyboard before dramatically slamming the Enter key.
Whoosh!
A powerful force suddenly erupted from Qin Xiao's palms and feet.
He immediately shot through the air like a punctured balloon.
In a graceful arc, he flew straight through the laboratory door and disappeared outside.
"JARVIS, remind me to leave the door open next time. Repairs are expensive."
The gloves and socks Tony had created were made from some special material. According to Tony, they were disposable prototypes designed primarily to collect data on Qin Xiao's flames.
Their purpose was to maximize thrust while minimizing energy loss.
As a result...
On the second test, the propulsion system suddenly erupted with flames, burned itself out instantly, and sent Qin Xiao headfirst into a nearby refrigerator.
On the third attempt, he smashed into a toilet tank and nearly ended up washing his hair in the bowl.
Tony laughed so hard he nearly fell over.
Even the usually serious Banner couldn't suppress a teasing smile.
The moment Qin Xiao glanced at him, Banner quickly lowered his head and pretended to be busy.
Qin Xiao strongly suspected Tony was doing it on purpose.
Unfortunately, he had no proof.
Besides, with a flying suit on the horizon, he chose to endure the humiliation.
Eventually, after Qin Xiao became stuck headfirst in the ceiling structure with his body dangling helplessly while Tony snapped several photographs, Tony finally had JARVIS manufacture the finished product.
Qin Xiao's armor lacked the extensive wiring and energy systems found in Tony's own suits.
Aside from numerous energy converters and several propulsion units, it contained almost nothing else.
As a result, it was far lighter and slimmer than any existing Mark-series armor.
Considering Qin Xiao's already formidable durability and the unique properties of his combat uniform, Tony had practically abandoned every function except energy conversion and flight.
The suit was covered in a thin layer of gold-titanium alloy, giving it none of the bulky appearance typical of Iron Man armor.
Instead, it looked more like Spider-Man's later suits or Black Panther's armor.
The entire suit was black.
Following Tony's usual love of flashy designs, every edge and seam was outlined with gold trim.
On each shoulder was a small golden Chinese character: Qin.
The detail added a subtle sense of classical elegance.
The suit lacked a helmet, but compared to the Mark series, it featured four retractable wing-like thrusters on its back.
Whenever Qin Xiao released flames across his entire body, these wings would automatically deploy.
The flames from the rest of his body would then be converted into additional propulsion, greatly enhancing the armor's maneuverability.
Before building this suit, Tony had already been researching the automatic tracking, targeting, and deployment systems that would eventually become part of the Mark VII.
The complexity of his own armor had slowed progress, but Qin Xiao benefited from the technology anyway.
With a pair of wristbands equipped, all Qin Xiao had to do was spread his arms.
The armor would automatically open, track the wristband signals, and assemble itself onto his body.
To make this possible, Tony had even installed an Arc Reactor.
It served as backup power and supplied energy for the suit's tracking and deployment functions.
The design was surprisingly thoughtful.
Of course, since Qin Xiao possessed storage abilities, he probably wouldn't use the feature often.
Most of the time, it would simply function as the suit's activation switch.
"The maximum speed is Mach 2. If you switch to Arc Reactor power, under ideal conditions it should reach Mach 4."
Tony's voice came through the communicator.
Meanwhile, Qin Xiao had spent who-knew-how-long circling the sky before finally landing back at the base, still reluctant to stop flying.
"This is already the fastest armor I've ever built."
After reviewing all the performance data, Tony continued:
"Your current flames haven't even reached the limits of the propulsion and energy-conversion systems. As your fire abilities grow stronger, the armor's speed can increase even further."
-----------------------
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