"I know you admire me, Rhodey, but could you please stop chasing me?" Tony glanced back at Rhodey, who was pursuing him, and teased.
Tony was currently being chased and attacked by Rhodey and a dozen Hammer Drones. Because his friend Rhodey was involved, Tony couldn't easily fight back, fearing he might accidentally harm Rhodey.
"I don't understand what's happening! I can't control myself!" Rhodey tried to change direction, but the Iron Man suit he was wearing forced him to fire a missile at Tony.
"Watch out," Tony thought of a plan when he saw the wall ahead. He then put his thrusters on full power. Just as he was about to collide with the wall, his flight path suddenly changed, and his body flew almost scraping against the wall.
The Hammer Drones pursuing him were not so lucky. Bang! Bang! Two drones crashed into the wall and were completely destroyed.
"No!" Rhodey watched, terrified, as he got closer and closer to the wall. Fortunately, his armor finally reacted, clinging to the wall as he continued to chase Tony.
"That... that was too exciting." Rhodey felt like his heart had just jumped out and taken a ride on a rollercoaster.
Tony laughed. "Exciting, right? Let's do it again!"
"Wait! Tony! I don't want to do it again." Rhodey's heart was already pounding with fear. He absolutely did not want to try that again; he would rather rush into battle now.
"Don't worry, Rhodey. The Iron Man suit I gave you is far better than this junk. Although you guys made a lot of modifications to my armor, the core is still the same." Tony was extremely confident in his technology. Fakes were always fakes; there was no comparison.
"But the one controlling this armor now isn't your AI!" While Rhodey was yelling, Tony had already used the same method to eliminate several more drones.
"..." Rhodey was speechless.
On the Other Side
Silas's laser eyes were no joke. He was cutting through the drones like it was nothing, as easy as slaughtering chickens.
"Not bad, huh?" Silas came up beside Peter, kicked down a drone, and sliced it with his laser eyes.
Peter nodded, looking up. "Not bad, but Mr. Stark's situation..."
Silas also looked up and saw that the number of drones pursuing Tony was increasing. They all seemed to be coming from one direction, which he knew was Hammer's base. Unfortunately, he hadn't been there yet. Even if he went, it wouldn't help; he didn't know how to help Rhodey regain control. Besides, Natasha was already on her way there.
"Aren't you going to help?" Silas asked.
Peter replied, powerless, "I can't fly, so I can't catch them. Mr. Stark will have to rely on himself."
Meanwhile, Natasha and Happy had infiltrated the Hammer Industries Tower. Of course, it was mostly Natasha who infiltrated; Happy was currently struggling with the security guard at the door.
When Natasha broke into the control room, it was already empty. She immediately went to the computer and started operating it.
The Exhibition
Silas and Peter worked together to clear out the Marine Corps Drones on the ground. The remaining drones were all flying in the air, chasing Tony as if they held a grudge against him.
"Mr. Stark has such good people skills," Peter said to Silas.
"I think he'd rather not have these kinds of people skills," Silas replied.
It was at that moment that Natasha was working to reboot Rhodey's armor.
Suddenly, Tony noticed that Rhodey, who had been chasing him, was gone. He decisively turned back to fight. He fired the missiles on his wrist, which stuck to the three drones in front of him. Boom! The drones were blown to pieces.
After temporarily clearing out the drones, Tony looked for Rhodey. "Rhodey, where are you now?"
Crash! A white figure slammed into him, grabbing Tony around the waist, and plummeting straight down.
Thud! The two rolled onto the floor, and Rhodey's shoulder-mounted weapon aimed at Tony and began firing bullets.
Tony quickly shifted the gun's position. The bullets narrowly missed him, practically grazing his ear. A moment later, Rhodey, who had been attacking Tony, seemed to lose power. Tony kicked him away.
"Alright, your good friend is back," Natasha said with a smile. The reboot was finally successful.
Tony nodded. "Thanks, Agent Romanoff."
"You're welcome. The new reactor is great. Your energy data and vital signs are all excellent," Natasha said, sitting easily on a chair.
"Yeah, I'm not dead yet," Tony said, having almost believed he was going to die.
"What do you mean 'not dead yet'? Are you saying you almost died?" Tony was surprised to hear Pepper's voice.
Tony immediately started bantering with Pepper, but Natasha interrupted. "Stop with the pillow talk, both of you. Another enemy is approaching. Prepare for battle."
Tony instantly ended the conversation with Pepper, went to Rhodey's side, and tapped Rhodey's mask. "Rhodey! Wake up. I need you, buddy."
"Oh..." Rhodey opened his mask. "Dude, you can have your armor back."
Tony just smiled and pulled Rhodey up. "You alright?"
"Listen, Tony, I apologize. I should have listened to you," Rhodey apologized.
Tony said, "No, you don't need to apologize. I was the one who dragged you into this."
"I know it was all your fault. I just wanted to say sorry," Rhodey clarified.
"That's more like it." This was the Rhodey Tony knew.
"What's the plan now?" Tony asked.
Rhodey pointed into the distance. "We need to get to high ground and suppress them with maximum firepower."
"Got it." With that, Tony and Rhodey moved simultaneously.
"Where are you going?" Tony and Rhodey asked in unison.
"Come on, Rhodey. You don't actually think having a big gun on your shoulder means maximum firepower, do you?" Tony teased.
Rhodey nodded. "Of course. It's so cool. You're just jealous."
As Tony and Rhodey continued to argue, a swarm of drones flew over and surrounded them.
"Looks like Mr. Stark and the others are in trouble," Peter said, clinging to a nearby wall.
Silas, clinging to the wall next to Peter, asked, "Are you going to help?"
"Of course," Peter said, flexing his hands.
Just then, Tony's side started fighting fiercely, engaging in a gun battle. They had armor, but Peter and Silas were just flesh and blood.
Peter grabbed a drone, punched the drone's head, and used the drone as a shield to block bullets. He ran to Tony's side. "Need some help?"
"What are you guys doing here?" Tony asked, casually destroying a drone. He and Rhodey had armor and didn't need to fear the bullets, but Peter and Silas didn't.
"I think you need help," Peter said, also destroying a drone.
Tony rolled his eyes in frustration. "Whatever. Everybody duck!"
Peter and Rhodey quickly crouched down. Tony fired two laser beams from his hands, spinning around. All the nearby drones were sliced in half, along with the trees.
"Wow~ I think you should have used that move first," Rhodey said, looking around.
"Sorry, that was a one-time thing." If Tony could use that move anytime, he would have done so already.
Peter slowly stood up, holding his head. "That was really powerful."
Silas remained on the other side, not joining them. He was waiting for the big boss, Whiplash.
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