Those in the audience who came to watch were either dignitaries or nobles, as well as many influential reporters.
If the machines lose control and kill them all, Hammer Industries will be strangled by dozens of forces. Not to mention the company, even his own life might not be saved.
War Machine's expression changed drastically. He immediately closed his helmet and shouted: "Everyone, run!"
Saying that, he pounced on the nearest Iron Warrior.
"Da da da—"
Fortunately, he jumped in time. The bullets hit the ceiling, and countless debris and glass rained down. The audience fell into chaos, the female guests screaming.
Lock stood in front of Pepper and Natasha and said, "Natasha, take Pepper and go first."
Hearing this tone, Natasha instantly knew Lock was inside the suit. Without hesitation, she grabbed Pepper's hand and rushed toward the fire escape.
Bullets hammered against War Machine's and Lock's suits, making constant metallic clanging sounds.
Some guests were hit by stray bullets, screaming as they fell to the ground.
Fortunately, the Iron Warriors' main targets weren't civilians. Most of their firepower was focused on War Machine and Lock.
War Machine said, "Tony, save people first! We can't fight here—too many innocents!"
Lock thrust his hands into the ground. The huge carpet in the hall suddenly flew up, wrapping itself over the Iron Warriors.
Countless bullets ripped through the spinning Gatling guns of the Iron Warriors, shredding the carpet to pieces instantly.
But it bought time!
Lock stomped his foot. The sonic boom cracked like thunder. With a "Bang!", he rushed in front of an Iron Warrior.
With hands like steel hooks, he tore out the machine's power source. The machine's eyes dimmed, and it collapsed.
"Boom! Bam! Boom! Bam!"
One after another, Lock exploded forward, unleashing more than a dozen sonic bursts. In seconds, more than a dozen Iron Warriors were torn apart.
By the time the shredded carpet fragments landed, every Iron Warrior in the press hall had already fallen.
On War Machine's side, only one machine had just been taken down.
Such speed!
Such destructive power!
War Machine and Hammer both froze!
One was a scientist and weapons maker. The other, a soldier. They both understood what they just saw.
Within two or three seconds, Lock had accelerated more than a dozen times, each burst hitting the speed of sound, and then stopping instantly.
No machine could withstand such brutal acceleration and deceleration. And flesh and blood? Impossible!
Hammer screamed: "Impossible! Impossible! This violates the laws of physics! This isn't real!"
Lock walked up to Hammer: "Tell me. How many Iron Warriors have you made in total? Where is Ivan?"
Hammer froze. He realized instantly—these machines were Ivan's design. He must be behind this.
"He… he's in the Hammer Building."
Lock connected to Natasha's comms: "Natasha, did you hear that? Ivan's in the Hammer Building. The same Ivan I asked you to dig up intel on before. You go subdue him—I'll handle the Iron Warriors outside."
"Understood! Leaving now."
At that moment, in Hammer's arsenal, hundreds of Iron Warriors slowly powered up. Their eyes glowed blue.
This was all they had time to build.
Hundreds of Iron Warriors burst through the doors, roaring engines filling the night sky.
Just then, Iron Man arrived. "So busy? What did I miss?"
War Machine looked at the two suits. "Which one of you is Tony?"
Lock cut in: "Doesn't matter. Knock them down first—if they scatter, we'll have bodies everywhere tonight."
Iron Man said: "Lock, you're fastest—destroy the machines. Rhodes and I will protect the crowd. We'll go wherever there's danger."
"Got it!"
The three split instantly.
Lock shot straight into the sky, toward the densest swarm of Iron Warriors.
The machines were heading for the city center. If they spread out, even Lock couldn't stop them all in time.
But they were still midair.
With a sonic boom, Lock tore through the swarm like a meteor. His massive strength ripped machines apart with each strike. Wreckage rained from the sky.
On the ground, War Machine was herding civilians out. He looked up and saw Lock ripping Hammer's machines apart like paper. He swallowed hard.
"Tony… are your suits really that powerful now?"
Tony's voice came over comms: "It's not the suit, Rhodey. It's the man inside."
Iron Man's suit might outclass Hammer's, but even he needed effort to down a single unit—never mind tearing them apart like toys.
"Who the hell is he?"
Tony said, "You've seen him before."
Rhodes froze, then his eyes widened. "Wait—he's the one who shot down those two F-22 fighters last time?"
Tony coughed: "Focus. Let's clean this up first. Explanations later."
After Lock ripped through the main cluster, Iron Man and War Machine easily mopped up the stragglers.
Lock turned and flew straight to the Hammer Building.
In the original plot, Natasha would've made it through alone. But Lock wasn't careless. If she slipped even once, the butterfly effect could kill him, too.
Landing at the gate, Lock dismissed his suit.
He saw Happy struggling, drenched in sweat, fighting a Hammer bodyguard.
Among normal men, Happy was decent. Against trained enforcers, he was badly outmatched.
Lock appeared, flicked his fingers against the guard's forehead.
The strong man's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed instantly.
If Lock hadn't held back, his skull would've popped.
Happy panted: "I… I didn't need your help. You'd better go help Natasha…"
He turned—and froze at the sight of the unconscious brute sprawled across the hall. His tough-guy façade cracked, and he swallowed nervously.
Lock said "I'll go help Natasha. You evacuate the crowd."
"Y-yeah… sure…" Happy muttered. Watching Lock disappear, he whispered, "Why do I feel like I'm the one who needs saving…"
Lock quickly caught up with Natasha.
She had already changed into her tight combat suit, her figure outlined perfectly, eyes cold and focused. The sight alone made Lock's mouth dry.
But this wasn't the time.
He pushed it down, and together they rushed the control room. The guards were already down—but Ivan was gone.
"Natasha," Lock said, "go catch Hammer. Don't let him escape. Tony and I will deal with Ivan."
"Understood." She turned to leave.
"Wait—" Lock hadn't expected her to be so brisk.
He grabbed her waist, pulled her close, and kissed her deeply before striding off with a laugh.
Natasha was left flushed, her breath quick, not sure if from shyness or lack of oxygen.
…
Lock donned his suit again and rocketed toward the botanical garden.
Iron Man's signal had warned him—an enhanced Iron Warrior was fighting him and War Machine. It had to be Ivan.
By the time Lock arrived, Ivan was already battling them, and the garden was a warzone of lasers, bullets, and explosions.
The plot hadn't changed.
Ivan, one against two, was suppressing both Iron Man and War Machine.
Fortunately, the two worked in sync, dragging Ivan here without civilian casualties.
Ivan's brutal design—raw firepower over finesse—combined with drones, had Tony and Rhodes reeling.
In the original timeline, Tony cut down the drones with his wide-beam laser, then combined cannons with Rhodes to blow Ivan away. Ivan died, triggering the drones' self-destruct.
But Lock couldn't allow that. He wanted Ivan alive. And he couldn't let those drones detonate.
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A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
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