A few days later, at the Hammer Industries factory in Queens.
"Hey, Ivan, you have a delivery! It's your little bird!"
Justin Hammer, carrying a birdcage, walked with his assistant Jack towards Ivan Vanko, who was working on a mechanical soldier's armor, and shouted loudly.
It had been a few days since Hammer got Ivan out of prison. Hammer really liked Ivan; this guy's talent in mechanical technology was no less than Tony Stark's. In fact, Hammer already considered Ivan, whom he had only known for a few days, to be a more talented technological genius than Tony Stark!
These past few days, Ivan had been continuously modifying the mechanical soldier armor he had previously made in imitation of Iron Man's armor. He worked with extreme dedication, holed up in the factory 24 hours a day, working tirelessly.
Hammer had never seen anyone work so hard. He, of course, knew why. He had already found out that Ivan and Tony had been feuding since their fathers' generation. To defeat Tony, how could Ivan not give his all?
To repay Ivan, his lucky star, Hammer agreed to all his requests, including the extremely unreasonable request to go to Russia to find his pet bird.
Although Hammer's technological talent wasn't great, he wasn't stupid; he just hid it well, so others couldn't tell.
As for finding a bird, which was an almost impossible task, how could he possibly do it? So he simply had someone casually find a bird that was similar to what Ivan described, hoping to use it to appease Ivan.
When Ivan Vanko heard Hammer calling him, although he somewhat didn't want to bother with this foolish guy, hearing that Hammer had actually found his bird, he quickly put down what he was holding and jumped down from the Iron Soldier armor.
Ever since his father passed away, Ivan had lived alone with a white bird he had found for a long time. But because he had to go to Monaco to deal with Tony Stark, Ivan left the bird in Russia. He didn't expect that not only did he fail, but he was also arrested, so he no longer cared about his bird.
However, since he had now encountered this fool, Justin Hammer, Ivan also wanted to see if this guy would actually find his bird. He didn't expect Hammer to actually go look for it.
But when Ivan clearly saw the white bird in the cage, he recognized at a glance that it wasn't the one he raised, so he said dismissively, "This isn't my bird!"
"What do you mean? This is your bird! I went through a lot of connections to find it for you from Russia. Look how beautiful it is?" Although Ivan immediately exposed the truth, Hammer still pretended that he had found it.
"This isn't my bird." Ivan slammed the table and repeated with a grim face.
"..." Hammer was getting a bit annoyed. It was just a bird, why was Ivan so concerned about it?
Speechless, Hammer casually looked around and suddenly realized that Ivan's latest modified mechanical soldier armor was completely different from before.
Hammer quickly rushed to the side of the mechanical soldier armor and discovered that Ivan had actually transformed the armor, originally meant to be worn by a person, into an intelligent remote-controlled robot.
Although Hammer had a good temper, he was still a bit angry. The task he gave Ivan was to improve the performance of the mechanical soldier armor, not to completely transform it into a robot. So he questioned Ivan.
"Ivan, I want Iron Man armor that people can wear, not remote-controlled ones. How am I supposed to explain this kind of armor to the Ministry of Defense? Do you know how much money I've invested in this project? What exactly are you doing?"
"Remote-controlled soldiers are better. Humans make mistakes; machines don't." Ivan was indifferent to Hammer's questioning. After a few days of interaction, he already knew what kind of person this guy was, so he wasn't at all worried about what Hammer would do to him.
Sure enough, Hammer took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and said, "Ivan, you know what? I like you. You're my lucky star. I rescued you and helped you find your bird, but I want Iron Man armor, like Iron Man's, the kind a person can wear, OK?"
"Listen to me, you're not wrong, Hammer. You need to learn to let go. This will allow you to complete your order, trust me!" Ivan walked over and patted Hammer's shoulder, saying with a confident tone.
"I... you..." Hammer finally patted his head helplessly, deciding to trust Ivan one more time. After all, the most crucial arc reactor technology for the Iron Man armor was still in Ivan's hands, so he couldn't do anything to Ivan.
"Listen, Ivan, I still need to meet with the reporters from the Marvel News to announce the upcoming release of the mechanical soldier armor. Your armors had better be a huge success and satisfy both the Ministry of Defense and ordinary people, otherwise you're finished."
"Oh, and I hope you'll put the car robot project on the agenda as well. Many companies are very interested in this project, understood?"
Hammer's tone carried a hint of threat. After giving Ivan a couple of final instructions, he left directly with his assistant.
"Heh..." Hearing Hammer's threatening words, Ivan sneered, then re-entered the modification process.
Tony Stark's Iron Man armor was not simple. To defeat that guy and kill him, Ivan still needed a lot of help.
And although these armors from Hammer Industries, made in imitation of Iron Man's armor, were trash, if there were enough of them and they had some good additions, they would still be very powerful, wouldn't they?
...After leaving the factory, Hammer returned to his Hammer Industries building with his assistant and met with the reporters from Marvel News whom he had previously arranged to interview him.
Although Marvel News was still a new newspaper, its reputation had recently overshadowed those old established newspapers in America. To make his mechanical soldier armor more famous, Hammer would not miss this interview opportunity.
Upon entering the Hammer Industries reception room, Hammer saw a man and a woman sitting on the sofa. Without hesitation, Hammer smiled and immediately went up to greet them.
"Hello, I am Justin Hammer, the head of Hammer Industries. You must be the reporters from Marvel News, right? I've heard of your Marvel News; your newspaper is the hottest in America lately, and your sales are almost surpassing those old established newspapers... Oh, by the way, what are your names?"
"Jessica Jones, reporter for Marvel News." The woman in a formal suit, hearing Hammer's words, quickly turned from her previous state of fidgeting with her clothes and scratching, and replied to Hammer.
"Jessica, a good name." Hammer nodded and looked at the other man holding a small video camera.
The man saw Hammer looking at him, smiled faintly, and spoke: "Sean, Sean Cipers, also a reporter for Marvel News."
Sean Cipers here is a cameo from the protagonist of "American Comics: The Sentry," with the author's permission.