Pepper blinked several times, unable to believe what she was seeing. Her eyes locked onto the red and gold armor now gleaming under the stage's bright lights. She whispered, bewildered:
"Tony?"
Happy, beside her, widened his eyes. "Didn't he say he wasn't coming?"
Pepper pressed her lips together, suspicious, trying to understand what was going through Tony's mind. On the other side, Happy just shrugged in resignation—the gesture of someone who also had no idea what was going on, but was already prepared for the inevitable chaos to come.
When Tony landed on stage, the impact wasn't just physical. His presence filled the entire space. The audience fell silent for a moment, stunned, until the murmurs began again, louder than before.
Rhodes was the first to speak.
"Hello, Tony."
There was a tone of pride in his words, almost defiant. He clearly expected Tony to acknowledge his new armor, the War Machine. It was as if he sought approval, but also wanted to show off that—even without Stark's direct help—he had achieved something worth noticing. Rhodes didn't say it, but it was implied: he had modified Tony's "gift" himself, adding heavy weaponry, changing the design, and turning it into a military machine.
In his mind, he believed he was presenting the pinnacle of battlefield engineering. At least, that's what he wanted to believe.
But Tony's response was utterly devoid of enthusiasm.
"Rhodey, we'll talk about this later."
Rhodes sighed inside the armor. The lack of enthusiasm from his friend hit him like a bucket of cold water. He had expected surprise, maybe even a backhanded compliment. Instead, he got indifference.
Meanwhile, Justin Hammer—who until then had been wearing a triumphant smile—instinctively took a step back when he saw Tony striding across the stage. He raised his hands and tried to mask his nervousness with theatrics.
"Hey, Tony, what do you want?" His voice rose as he deliberately brought the microphone to his mouth, amplifying each word. "Don't tell me you're planning to attack me just because I finally outshined you?"
The words echoed through the crowd like a provocation. Instantly, murmurs and chatter spread among the audience. Some laughed, others stared in shock, but now everyone was focused on the growing tension on stage.
Tony didn't respond immediately. He let out a short, scornful laugh. The idea of being jealous of Justin Hammer was absurd. Why would he envy someone who only managed to present results by stealing the work of others?
He stared straight at Hammer and asked bluntly:
"Where's Ivan Vanko?"
The name dropped like a bomb. Hammer paled, and his nervous smile crumbled in seconds. He shook his head quickly, denying desperately.
"I… I don't know what you're talking about!"
But the lie was written in every tremor of his voice.
Rhodes, sensing the rising tension, stepped forward. To him, Tony seemed strange, impulsive, almost out of control. He raised a hand, ready to stop things before they spiraled further.
Before he could act, however, a metallic noise filled the hall. The Hammer drones began to move in unison. Their lenses glowed red, and within seconds, all of them turned their weapons on Tony.
The audience panicked. Screams filled the air as people rushed in every direction. Chaos engulfed the hall in seconds.
"Shit!"
Tony cursed and activated his repulsors.
Rhodes tried to move as well, but suddenly felt his armor resisting, as if it had a will of its own. He struck Tony with a punch to the shoulder—unintentional, but powerful enough to stagger him.
"Rhodey, what the hell are you doing?!"
"I don't know, Tony! I've lost control of the armor!"
Tony's eyes narrowed. Of course. This had Vanko written all over it. The drones were all connected to the same system, and if Rhodes had also lost control, it meant only one thing: Ivan was in command now.
If Tony stayed there, surrounded by the crowd, there would be casualties. Many casualties.
He immediately accelerated, blasting out of the hall. Like obedient hunting dogs, all the drones followed, weapons roaring as they fired at him.
Outside, Pepper and Happy looked up, stunned. The night sky had turned into a battlefield.
Meanwhile, Tony's voice came through Happy's earpiece.
"Find Justin Hammer and make him say where Ivan Vanko is. Now!"
Tony's new Mark XI roared through the skies—fast, elegant, leaving both the drones and Rhodes behind. Still, he knew running alone wouldn't win the fight.
"JARVIS, can you hack their systems?"
The AI's response came calm, almost cold.
[Attempting, sir.]
Seconds dragged on like hours until JARVIS spoke again.
[Not possible, sir. The systems are shielded. There's no way to break in quickly.]
"Damn it!"
Tony cursed aloud.
Rhodes approached, struggling against War Machine's erratic movements, and shouted through the comms. "Tony, can you explain what the hell is happening?!"
"No time for that, Rhodey. First I'll get you out of this, then we'll talk."
But amid the chaos, an idea crossed Tony's mind.
"Wait… maybe there's another way."
"Arthur, can you hear me?"
---
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Arthur was lost in his own dilemmas. He was searching through his Gate of Babylon with his Clairvoyance, trying to find something worthy of gifting Gwen. Her birthday was coming up, but thanks to his pact with Gaia and Alaya, he knew he probably wouldn't be there.
Ruby was at his side when a sudden notification appeared.
[Master, Tony Stark is looking for you.]
Arthur raised his head. The connection opened, and immediately Tony's frantic voice filled the room.
{'Thank God, Arthur, you finally answered!'}
"Tony, what kind of trouble are you in now?" Arthur arched an eyebrow. He could hear explosions in the background of the transmission.
"I'm being hunted by Hammer's drones. Can Ruby hack their system? JARVIS tried and failed."
Arthur turned to Ruby without hesitation. "Help him."
The AI's eyes glowed, reflecting streams of code rushing by at high speed.
Tony quickly added: "And give Rhodes control of his armor back too."
Ruby sighed—like a human—and muttered in complaint. [So troublesome.]
Tony froze for a moment. Did he really just hear an AI complain?
Forget it, now wasn't the time to think about that.
Arthur just smiled faintly. Ruby was becoming more human by the day. It might not be long before she was indistinguishable from a real person (ignoring the fact that she was a holographic projection).
---
In the skies, the change was immediate. One by one, the drones lost coordination, their red eyes going dark before they fell like stones toward the ground.
Rhodes also regained control of his armor and maneuvered over to Tony. "Did JARVIS manage it?"
Tony's reply was curt. "No. Different help. I'll explain later."
"Did you track down Vanko?"
Arthur answered through the comms. He's heading your way right now.
Want Ruby to hack his system too?
"Thanks, Arthur. But I want to handle him personally. I need to test my new armor."
Arthur sounded surprised. You already applied that to your suits?
"Yeah. Time to see the results."
Soon, a new presence emerged on the horizon.
Ivan Vanko walked slowly through the suburbs, his body partially encased in a crude, improvised armor—a grotesque hybrid of exoskeleton plating and energy whips. Blue sparks crackled around him, each step accompanied by an electric hum.
Tony hovered a few meters above, repulsors ready to fire. Rhodes took position at his side, War Machine loaded with more weapons than an entire arsenal.
Tony broke the silence first. "Vanko… I thought you would've given up after the beating in Monaco."
Ivan lifted his face, his eyes burning with hatred. His thick accent made his words even more threatening. "Stark… you think you won? I was only beginning. Today the world will see you are no god. You are just a man in a metal can. And that can… will be crushed."
Rhodes muttered over the comms. "This guy's nuts. You really do attract every lunatic, Tony."
Tony smirked behind the mask. "The difference, Rhodey, is that this lunatic has a fetish for 200,000-volt shocks."
"Tony, leave the rest to my 'Ex-Wife.'"
Tony slowly turned his head, staring at his friend in disbelief. "Your… what? Rhodey, you've never been married."
"Figure of speech." Rhodes fired a small missile at Vanko.
But before it could reach him, it splashed into a puddle of water on the ground, failing miserably…
Tony shook his head, unable to suppress his laughter. "Hammer Industries, I presume."
---
(End of chapter)
"Hmph. If you really want to be useful, then entertain me, try to throw those pathetic power stones at me. Let's see if even your insolence can amuse a king."