Tony Stark's expression froze.
A warm-up?
After that exchange, his Anti-Nolan Armor had already burned through more than sixty percent of its energy reserves and suffered damage in multiple areas. In his mind, the fight they had just gone through already counted as all-out combat.
He had analyzed the performance of Nolan Locke's Mjolnir Armor before. Powerful, yes, but roughly within expectations.
There was no way that had only been a warm-up.
The corner of Nolan's mouth lifted slightly. A flicker of excitement shone in his eyes.
In this world, aside from people like the Ancient One, someone he could not beat and could not even meaningfully fight, he rarely encountered true opponents.
He was not a battle junkie.
But after that exchange, he could fully acknowledge that Tony Stark's reputation as a genius was well deserved.
This Anti-Nolan Armor was genuinely impressive.
It even gave him the feeling of being evenly matched. And since that was the case, Nolan naturally wanted a real fight, and to see where his own limits truly lay.
Tony Stark could not see Nolan's expression, but asking him to stop now felt worse than losing his life.
He was Tony Stark. This was armor built specifically to counter Nolan Locke.
How could he lose?
"Fine. If that's how you want it, then I won't hold back!"
Tony shouted.
It's fine. I still have my trump card.
Even if Nolan Locke was hiding more strength, once that trump card came out, Nolan would have no choice but to surrender.
He had prepared for too long to lose now.
Hearing Tony's response, Nolan smiled. In the next instant, the muscles in his legs swelled dramatically, causing the leg armor of the Mjolnir suit to expand slightly as well.
"Ultra-high-speed movement detected. Activating intelligent…"
Veronica's hurried voice had not even finished.
Boom!
Tony Stark was blasted backward.
The overwhelming force dented the chest plate of the Anti-Nolan Armor.
"Chest armor damaged. Damage level thirteen percent."
As Veronica reported, the second impact arrived.
This time, Tony saw a glowing figure suddenly appear in front of him.
Boom!
A brutal whip kick slammed into him.
This time, Tony finally reacted.
He raised both arms to block.
Even so, the Anti-Nolan Armor was sent flying again by the sheer force.
"Damn it!
What the hell is this?"
Tony felt like his entire understanding of reality was being rewritten.
Nolan Locke had already been fast before.
With Veronica's assistance, he had barely managed to keep up. Now Nolan's speed had jumped again.
That was not scientific.
Did the Mjolnir Armor not have limits?
Nolan had no idea what Tony was thinking, but he was exhilarated.
Of course Mjolnir had limits.
Those limits were Nolan's own limits.
The Mjolnir Armor he wore had not been fully converted to vibranium due to time constraints, but its external structure had undergone partial upgrades and was incredibly durable.
That meant the armor's upper ceiling had risen.
More importantly, just moments ago, he had injected himself with a special compound developed by Helen Zhao.
This was the latest research from the Regeneration Cradle, containing substances that accelerated cellular division.
Injecting it allowed the body to trade damage for greater power.
The Regeneration Cradle itself used nanotechnology to repair the body, and this compound carried a portion of that regenerative material.
Combined, the result was an almost perfect stimulant.
That was why he could unleash such terrifying power.
Violent energy surged through his body, and he released it all, turning it into relentless punishment for Tony Stark.
"Damn it!"
Tony gritted his teeth.
"Veronica, activate Super Soldier Mode!"
He refused to believe he would stay suppressed like this.
At his command, the entire suit began to change.
Very quickly, the armor shifted from its sleek, streamlined form into something… ugly.
Yes, ugly.
If the earlier version had been a work of art, this one destroyed all sense of aesthetics, leaving behind something that looked crudely assembled and desperate.
Tony felt a twinge of frustration.
Super Soldier Mode was still an experimental project, far from complete.
He really did not want to admit that this hideous thing was his trump card.
But he had no choice.
He could not afford to lose this badly.
Nolan noticed the transformation.
Then Tony's confident voice rang out.
"Nolan Locke, give up. Now you'll see what real super technology looks like."
They stood facing each other.
Nolan's eyes gleamed with anticipation.
In a real battle, he would never have given this oversized thing time to transform.
But this was a sparring match.
"Confident words," Nolan said lightly. "You're making me curious."
Then he added with a grin, "Honestly, your new toy's performance earlier was pretty disappointing."
Tony's voice dripped with irritation.
"Oh? Then things are about to turn around."
Several missiles suddenly launched toward Nolan.
Nolan dodged instinctively, but when the missiles exploded, there was no fireball. Instead, thick fog spread everywhere.
That caught Nolan off guard.
Almost immediately, an attack came out of nowhere, a punch aimed straight at him.
An unexpected twist.
But…
Disappointment flickered in Nolan's eyes.
The performance had not really improved.
Seeing Nolan evade, Tony was not in a hurry.
A Super Soldier was built for one purpose: victory.
The fog was only the first step.
The real show was just beginning.
Just as he prepared to initiate the next phase, Nolan suddenly appeared right in front of him.
Fog did not just block Nolan's vision.
It blocked Tony's view of Nolan as well.
Even though Tony had anticipated something like this, Nolan's approach was simple.
Fast.
Mjolnir pushed to absolute extremes.
This armor simply could not handle it.
A brutal beatdown.
Nolan unleashed a storm of blows on the Anti-Nolan Armor.
A cold smile curved his lips.
Anti-Nolan Armor?
Did Tony really think Nolan would not be annoyed by something named like that?
Tony tried to fight back, but under Nolan's relentless assault, he had no chance to counterattack.
To make matters worse, the first system to fail was the suit's external speaker.
Thirty seconds later, the fog dispersed, and Nolan finally stopped.
Beneath him, the Anti-Nolan Armor was warped and deformed everywhere except for the faceplate.
Tony lifted the faceplate and stared at Nolan.
Meeting that sharp gaze, Nolan smiled brightly, showing white teeth. He looked almost cheerful.
"Ah, sorry about that. But your Anti-Nolan Armor is kind of useless."
Tony Stark fell silent.
This was unbelievable.
As he stood there questioning his life choices, a soft click sounded.
Tony looked over.
Nolan's expression remained unchanged.
Moments earlier, at Nolan's instruction, the Red Queen had taken a commemorative photo of Tony.
"This is the debut of your Anti-Nolan Armor. I figured it deserved to be remembered."
"Nolan, screw you!"
This time, Tony finally snapped.
After a while, Nolan tried to drag Tony and the wrecked armor back with him.
Tony refused outright.
Not long after, several Iron Man suits landed.
Tony put on a fresh suit while the others carried off the ruined Anti-Nolan Armor.
Before leaving, Tony shot Nolan a fierce glare.
That Anti-Nolan Armor was completely beyond repair, not even worth salvaging.
He was not stupid. It was obvious Nolan had done this on purpose.
But he could not complain.
After all, the armor was called Anti-Nolan Armor.
With frustration burning in his chest, Tony swore silently.
Next time, he would build something even stronger.
With Nolan Locke about to disappear for a while, this might be the perfect opportunity.
A smile crept onto Tony's face.
On the other side, watching Tony leave, Nolan chuckled.
Anti-Nolan Armor?
Build one, and I'll tear it apart every time.
He turned and flew back to the company. It was time to prepare for the unknown world.
The emergence of the stimulant compound was a welcome addition to his arsenal.
Unfortunately, everything he currently had was still rooted in conventional physics. Against someone like the Ancient One, it meant very little.
Hopefully, the new world would bring him something different.
It was already late at night.
Nolan stood inside the Hive, where a T-X Terminator unit had been activated.
There would be flaws, but unless someone knew him extremely well, they would not notice anything wrong in the short term.
He placed the fully charged energy sphere onto a massive device.
"Red Queen, prepare to activate the energy. Deploy all mechanical forces. We march!"
His thinking was simple.
If the new world turned out to be extremely dangerous, he would develop slowly. But if it was not strong enough, he would let his mechanical army conquer it outright.
If you can crush everything head-on, why take it slow?
Even so, he remained cautious. He wore the Mjolnir Armor, carried a backup of the Red Queen, and brought a vast amount of technological data.
When everything was ready, immense energy erupted within Locke Technology.
That power struck the sphere containing multiversal energy.
The collision instantly activated it.
Nolan watched nervously.
He had run countless simulations, but real execution still made him anxious.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly. Minutes later, a black hole appeared before him. A gateway, stable and intact.
Nolan exhaled deeply, then stepped inside.
The next second, the black hole began to fluctuate violently.
The Red Queen's voice echoed through the empty base.
"Warning. Multiversal energy fluctuation detected. Recommend immediate return. Recommend immediate return."
After repeating several times, her tone shifted.
"Status: Missing. Activating contingency plan. Sir, safe travels."
…
"Hah…"
Nolan looked up, a string of curses stuck in his throat.
The multiversal crossing itself had gone smoothly, but once again, the outcome was almost identical to last time.
He was naked.
The vibranium-enhanced Mjolnir Armor had been destroyed again by multiversal energy.
He had prepared meticulously for this trip, refining theory to its limit.
And yet the result was the same. All that preparation meant nothing.
If this problem could not be solved, he would need to seriously reconsider future crossings.
This method was far too dangerous.
After sighing for a while, Nolan surveyed his surroundings, picked a direction, and started walking.
"Still New York."
An hour later, he had acquired a set of clothes.
Ignoring the fact that he had been spotted by a few women while stealing them, which led to some screaming, it had been a very smooth operation.
No longer the man he once was, he calmly showed off his physique and made a clean escape.
Even though his preparations had failed, he was not unprepared for this scenario.
His next steps were simple. Figure out what kind of world this was, and earn his first pot of gold.
Money was the primary productive force.
And the source of that first income was obvious.
The gangs of Hell's Kitchen.
That very night, he ended up with three thousand dollars.
The cost?
More than thirty gang members learned what fear truly felt like.
"As poor as ever."
Nolan looked at the cash and clicked his tongue.
An average of one hundred dollars per person. What a waste of air.
At the eager invitation of a low-level thug, he moved into a relatively spacious apartment.
He turned on the computer and began gathering information.
Moments later, Nolan rubbed his temples.
Another troublesome world.
Online, he found a familiar name: Doom Industries.
Its CEO was the infamous Marvel villain, Victor von Doom.
"So it's the Fantastic Four universe."
Nolan frowned.
He did not hate superheroes, but Mister Fantastic was one of the few he genuinely disliked.
The great Mister Fantastic, a hero who caused disasters without cleaning up afterward. A walking catastrophe.
Take Doctor Doom, for example.
Mister Fantastic had used Doom's company funding for space experiments. When the experiment failed, Victor von Doom's company collapsed. Reed Richards gained fame without blinking, while Victor was pushed onto the path of villainy.
The Fantastic Four were born.
And so was Doctor Doom.
But…
Nolan's lips curled into a smile.
Who said he had to work with superheroes?
…