"Well done," Hammer said with satisfaction when he saw the news about Iron Man being stolen. "Tony, aren't you Iron Man? Aren't you supposed to be so strong? You can't even catch a thief. What a slap in the face."
Ivan, who had also seen the news, smiled. He knew exactly why Tony hadn't taken action—the palladium poisoning was already taking its toll on him, and it was almost too late.
"When will our mech be ready?" Hammer asked Ivan.
The strong Russian man chuckled. "Your company's mechs are garbage compared to Iron Man's weapons. Worthless. We need more time."
Though Hammer was frustrated, he had to admit that his company lacked the talent to develop mechs. They had taken on so many orders just to make money, resulting in a large batch of useless mechs. The company's finances were in trouble. Thankfully, he had found Ivan Vanko in Monaco.
"I got you your favorite parrot. Why can't you show some efficiency?" Hammer said.
Ivan, with a sneer, responded, "Then you can go find someone else to sort through your scrap metal."
Hammer was at a loss. He couldn't find anyone else, and Ivan had indeed made some progress by upgrading the software. Hammer picked up a helmet and suddenly frowned. "This helmet is useless. What I need is an armor like Iron Man's that can be worn by a person."
Ivan shook his head. "Trust me, modern battlefields are better suited for remote-controlled systems than direct manual control."
Hammer thought for a moment. Although it didn't match the order, remote control did indeed make more sense for modern combat. "I still have a meeting. Please, speed up the process."
"Not gonna happen!" Ivan was arrogant, knowing his creations were robust and more suitable for the battlefield than Tony's finely crafted tech. Tony's mechs also relied on Jarvis for assistance, and without Jarvis, they were only at the level of Iron Patriot.
But Ivan's own suit, embodying Russian style, was built for power. With enough energy, even a brick could fly. So, Ivan used Hammer's materials to build his own mech, with armor over ten centimeters thick, capable of withstanding most of Iron Man's attacks. He even made two whips using multiple reactors, enough to beat Iron Man to the ground.
The revenge was just beginning.
But Ivan had a bad habit, one common among many villains—he wanted his target to know he was about to be avenged. It was hard to understand why.
Hammer Industries also participated in the Stark Industrial Expo. Hammer had no idea that Ivan was making modifications to his mechs. All the software for the remotely controlled mechs had been tampered with by Ivan, who could easily take control of them.
Liu A'dou was fully aware of these developments. So, when Hammer Industries was exhibiting, he had already sneaked into Hammer's office building. He knew Ivan was remotely controlling the Iron Man suits, so he had disguised himself as a security guard at Hammer Industries. This time, his target was the operating system Ivan had written.
The operating system for the Iron Man suits was crucial. Although Liu A'dou could write his own, he didn't have the time to research and perfect it. It would be much easier to just use someone else's work. Once he had it, Liu A'dou could design his own Iron Man suit. He thought Tony's suit was ugly, and he intended to design his according to his own aesthetic.
The operating system was indispensable. Besides the need for human piloting, the quality of the operating system determined how much power the suit could exert. The Iron Man suit wasn't controlled by the human brain directly, so it required the operating system to function in place of the brain.
"Jack, come over here. Don't wander off. Everything's fine," Liu A'dou called to his colleague, Jack, who was disguised as the security guard. They took a break together. This was the headquarters of Hammer Industries, so no one was likely to notice their presence.
"He's here!" Everyone gathered in the break room, watching the live broadcast on TV. Hammer had claimed he would change the future of warfare, and even generals from the Pentagon and members of Congress came to watch.
Hammer was really camera-friendly; it's hard to say if all these big-shot military figures had some sort of performance talent. Tony was like that, and Hammer was no different.
On the TV screen, Hammer appeared impressive as he introduced the mechs that Ivan had modified. The background on stage was the U.S. military, and these mechs would likely become the main force of the U.S. Army in the future. Hammer's company would become the largest arms manufacturer in the U.S., with tons of money flying into his pocket. How could he not be excited?
As residents of the U.S., people were happy to see their military become stronger, so they cheered.
This was the effect Hammer had hoped for. It seemed that he could already see victory in sight. He even danced a little tap dance to boost the mood: "Ladies and gentlemen, today I'm here to introduce the U.S. military's brand new face, the Iron Suit we at Hammer Industries independently developed." Suddenly, he pointed toward the audience with a tilt of his shoulder. "Stark has the same technology, but he prefers to keep it as a small tactic for his personal gain rather than making it public so that fewer soldiers die in battle. But now, everything will change with Hammer Industries. Please welcome the Hammer Iron Soldiers!"
His arms spread wide as four lifts emerged from behind him. "Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps." The Army armor had a cannon on its right shoulder, the Navy had torpedo launchers on both shoulders, while the Air Force didn't have any clear weapons but concealed small missiles inside the armor. The Marine Corps' armor was painted in camouflage, with machine guns mounted on the shoulders and arms.
The audience finally became excited. There were thirty real mechs on stage.
"Thank you, everyone. While revolutionary technology can change warfare, real battlefields still require real soldiers." Hammer walked to the center of the stage. "It is my honor to introduce to you all the prototypes of all the Iron Soldiers, the first generation of all-around threat response combat armor, and its pilot, U.S. Air Force Colonel James Rhodes."
Tony's best friend was actually on stage. The suit that was taken from Tony's mansion had been modified, now equipped with a Vulcan cannon on the shoulder, machine guns on the arms, and the software had been upgraded.
"The boss still looks pretty cool," said the security guards.
Liu A'dou thought that it was about time for Iron Man to make an appearance, and sure enough, Iron Man descended like a divine warrior, causing an uproar and stealing all the spotlight from Hammer.
When Ivan Vanko's phone rang, Tony couldn't track the source of the call, but based on Hammer's behavior, Tony quickly connected Ivan to Hammer. Tony had never believed that Hammer had the ability to create mechs, so Hammer was his first suspect.
As expected, once Iron Man arrived, Ivan stopped performing any salutes for Hammer and instead remotely controlled all the mechs, including Rhodes' suit, locking in on Iron Man.
"Rhodes, is that you?"
"It's not me, I lost control, Tony, get out of here!"
Tony saw himself being targeted by so many mechs and decided to fly up. There were too many people here, and if a fight broke out, the casualties would be catastrophic. "Let's fight outside."
Flying alongside Tony were bullets, which smashed through the glass roof with a "rat-a-tat-tat," sending shards of glass falling down, causing the audience to scream in fear.
Liu A'dou thought the situation was heating up. Since the fight had already started, Black Widow should be back soon, so he too had to get ready.