Iron Man was at it again, tearing things apart—but this time, it was his own stuff, and no one could do anything about it. The entire expo was essentially his playground, so when bullets and missiles tore things apart, it was all on him. It's safe to say that with this kind of damage, no insurance company would ever cover it. Such destruction was just another day in the life of the rich—something the poor could never experience.
"Damn rich people," Peter Parker, the Spider-Man, grumbled as he ate a takeout pizza and watched the live broadcast from home. He had originally planned to help, but the commissioner had told him to stand by, so he could only vent his frustration by eating pizza while contemplating the root of all evil in the world—the rich.
Liu A'dou shared the same sentiment as Spider-Man, though his goal was to become one of those rich people.
"There's an intruder! Everyone, go to the first floor," Liu A'dou was watching TV when suddenly the voice of the captain came through the intercom. He knew Black Widow had arrived.
Having pried Ivan's location from Hammer, she and driver Hogan had stormed through Hammer's office building.
Of course, Liu A'dou wasn't heading downstairs with the other security guards. He knew Ivan had probably already activated autopilot mode, and the moment he put on his armor, he'd be going one-on-one with Iron Man. The Russian giant was, without a doubt, a full-fledged villain, doing everything in his power to get himself killed. First, he boasted about his plan over the phone, and now he was trying to personally defeat the Iron Man, who had the protagonist halo. It was almost like he was begging for death.
Liu A'dou arrived at Ivan's room, and sure enough, the guards were all hanging from the ceiling, victims of Ivan's cruel antics. Several computers were running at full capacity.
Without hesitation, Liu A'dou began dismantling the hard drives. The mechs weren't a match for Iron Man, but the data in the hard drives was crucial. Once the drives were removed, the computers immediately went offline, and all the mechs, including Rhodes' suit, went into shutdown. This meant Iron Man would have to face Ivan in a one-on-one fight.
With the combined power of Iron Man and his best friend unavailable, it was going to be a tough battle.
Outside, Liu A'dou could hear more guards collapsing, and he quickly picked up on the sound of light footsteps growing closer. Eventually, Black Widow appeared at the door. She was unstoppable, effortlessly taking down all the guards on her way. She was even scarier than a tigress.
When she kicked the door open, she immediately raised her gun. Whoever was inside, she would shoot first and ask questions later. Black Widow wasn't someone who let her life be threatened after surviving countless life-or-death battles.
Two bullets shot straight toward Liu A'dou's chest, but to him, they were as slow as snails. He easily used a screen as a shield, blocking the bullets: "Didn't you learn how to knock, lady?"
Black Widow froze. This wasn't just any regular security guard. She tried to raise her gun again, but Liu A'dou was faster. "When you tighten your right shoulder muscle before pulling the trigger, it's deadly in a battle between experts." Liu A'dou could see her shoulder move, signaling her intention to shoot, so he appeared at her side, making her hair stand on end. A chill ran down her spine.
But Liu A'dou wasn't going to do anything to Black Widow. Instead, he placed his hand on her gun, quickly disassembled the firing pin, and passed by her.
The whole exchange left Black Widow in a daze. As one of the best agents, her instincts were incredibly sharp. In that brief moment of contact, she felt the overwhelming power of someone who could easily kill her. It was a power she could not resist—stronger than Iron Man, Spider-Man, or even Captain America. It was the kind of power that made her feel powerless. From a young age, she had undergone brutal training and had even been stripped of her ability to bear children. She could sense power better than anyone, and she knew this was a force she couldn't fight against. It was an undeniable strength.
Who was this person? From the name tag on his chest, she saw he was called "Jack," but it had to be a fake. She didn't fully snap out of her trance until Hogan arrived. Her body felt weak as if all the strength had drained from her, and she realized she had been holding her gun up the entire time without even noticing.
Liu A'dou had only used his presence to lock in on Black Widow, leaving her with an unforgettable memory.
With all the hard drives removed, it was obvious the security guard had taken them. Black Widow had no choice but to contact Iron Man and warn him to be careful.
At the expo, suddenly all the mechs fell from the sky. Tony quickly went to check on his best friend, who had created the large crater in the lawn: "Rhodes, are you okay?"
"I'm still alive," Rhodes replied, feeling like his whole body had fallen apart. "My system is offline. I can't move."
"I'll have Jarvis rewrite your system. Just hold on a bit," Tony said, relieved. Though he didn't know what had happened, it seemed like things were finally settling down.
"Stark, this is Natasha. We're at Hammer's company. We didn't find Ivan, but the computers with the operating system have been destroyed. Is everything okay on your end?" Black Widow asked.
"All the mechs are down, I'm fine here," Tony replied, but before he could finish, a light flashed in the sky and came straight toward him. The high-powered camera confirmed that it was Ivan. "Forget what I just said."
The bulky, armored Ivan landed in front of Iron Man, grinning. "I'm back, Iron Man."
"As a dead man, you're quite lively," Tony remarked. Back in Monaco, it had been Hammer who had "faked" Ivan's death, and Ivan had been hiding in Hammer's company all along.
"I'm here to complete my revenge."
"Then we'll see what you're capable of!" Tony locked onto Ivan's exposed head.
Fire!
But this time, Ivan wasn't unarmed—he was wearing a suit of armor that was just as advanced as Iron Man's. It quickly covered his face, and the bullets merely sparked off the armor. "Tony, I've cranked up the speed. This time, you'll feel the full force of my attack. A fair fight."
Two glowing whips, even more powerful than before during the race.
Iron Man raised his hand, intending to use the palm blast, but was immediately struck by the whips, staggering back. He raised his hand again, and another whip lashed out.
The high-temperature whips left scorch marks on Iron Man's armor. Even the strong titanium alloy was damaged, and Tony couldn't help but imagine how bad it would be if the whips struck his flesh.
Crack! Crack!
The two whips lashed at Iron Man's body, leaving a large visible gap on his chest, revealing the inner shock-absorbing layer.
"External armor damaged," Jarvis reported.
"I know!" Tony replied, now carefully dodging the whips. But Ivan's attacks were unpredictable, making them hard to avoid. "Jarvis, calculate the enemy's attack trajectory."
"Right away, sir." Based on Ivan's movements, Jarvis calculated the speed and force of the whips, allowing Iron Man to start recognizing the pattern of the attacks.
But Ivan noticed this too. Suddenly, his attack changed, and one whip wrapped around Iron Man's neck. With a strong pull and a swing, Iron Man was sent spinning through the air, hitting the ground with the force of a snake being thrown.
Tony felt the world spin. Fortunately, with Jarvis as his copilot, he quickly composed himself. "Jarvis, focus the energy in my legs."
"Understood, sir."
"Fire!" As Iron Man was lifted again, he accelerated sharply and lunged at Ivan.
He grabbed Ivan and flew forward, slamming into several buildings as they crashed through the walls.
"Ah!" Iron Man couldn't let go, even as Ivan relentlessly elbowed his back.
But Ivan's armor was stronger, and when Iron Man couldn't break free, Ivan grabbed both of his arms and tried to pull them apart with all his strength.
Tony felt Ivan's increasing power, and his external armor started to cave in. With a final "crack," Ivan succeeded in breaking his arms.
Iron Man's elbow joints were destroyed, and he lost control of his arms.
Tony's face changed as he realized the gravity of the situation. Ivan's armor, while rudimentary, was viciously brutal—just like the Russians.
"You lost!" Ivan taunted, appearing again to face Tony, a mocking grin on his face. He swung his whips once more.
Tony desperately searched for a way to turn the tide but couldn't find a way to reverse his defeat.
"Let me show you how this works," Liu A'dou chuckled from his hidden position. He reassembled the hard drives and activated the operating system. All the mechs that had been disabled were revived.
The mechs launched into the air, surrounding the two combatants.
With indiscriminate attacks, Liu A'dou's fingers moved like the wind, issuing commands.
"Tony, the system has been rebooted, and it's going to attack you indiscriminately. You need to move fast," Hogan shouted.
Tony froze, but with a burst of speed, he shot out of the encirclement, like a projectile in an arc. Meanwhile, the mechs began attacking, firing all their weapons at both Ivan and the unmanned mechs. The destruction was indiscriminate, and Liu A'dou felt like a rich man throwing around money—he was loving it.
Though Hammer's weapon systems were crude, the sheer volume of firepower caught Ivan off guard. The shock pushed Ivan back, and he suddenly felt a massive surge of energy coming at him. The upper body of the mech in front of him melted—Iron Man had used it to block Ivan's view and launched his final attack.
The chest-mounted impact cannon fired with full force, hitting Ivan's chest directly. One side was attacking with everything it had, while the other side was defending with everything it could.
But Hammer's knockoff mech finally revealed its weakness: the materials weren't as good as Iron Man's. Within a few seconds, the outer armor was destroyed, and the internal chips were damaged, pushing the mech beyond its limits.
"Go, Tony!" Rhodes shouted, seeing that Ivan couldn't hold up much longer, cheering his friend on.
"Ah!" Tony yelled as he fired a beam from his chest, now twice as wide, sending Ivan flying.
"Energy remaining: 20%." This was the new element-powered energy, and Iron Man had used up 80% of his energy in the past few seconds. It was clear that being Iron Man was an expensive job. That energy could have powered the whole of America for two to three hours.
Ivan took a fatal blow, the high-temperature armor practically turned into a furnace. His body inside the suit was almost cooked. But Ivan still managed to say his classic exit line: "…you… lost…"
Tony noticed that the reactor cores of the surrounding knockoff mechs had turned bright red. They were about to self-destruct. Ivan had set up an independent system that would trigger a self-destruct if his life signs disappeared.
Liu A'dou, watching from a high-rise, saw the flashing explosions below. There couldn't be a more extravagant fireworks display than this, especially considering that Iron Man was about to blow up his own suit.
Tony's exit wasn't dramatic, but more of a struggle as he dragged Rhodes out of the explosion range. His arm thrusters were disabled, so he couldn't fly.
But as the knockoff mechs gathered together, the explosion's power was immense. The entire city of New York felt the shockwave, sending Tony and Rhodes flying into the air, landing in a mess of twisted limbs at the foot of the stairs, utterly disheveled.