Very soon, Nick Fury's worries became reality.
On the screen, the last suit of armor appeared on stage—it was none other than Colonel Rhodes wearing the War Machine armor.
"This paint job isn't bad. Not as stylish as mine, but still… not ugly."
Outside the screen, Tony Stark thought arrogantly.
After all, that armor was originally his creation. Even though it had gone through a few unnecessary and rather ridiculous modifications in his eyes, it still looked decent enough. His gesture of giving away the Mark armor hadn't been wasted.
Just then, Tony Stark himself appeared on screen, clad in his Mark Armor.
"There's big trouble here," Tony said as he stepped forward under countless watching eyes.
"Tony, there are civilians here! I'm acting under orders—don't start a fight now!"
Inside the War Machine suit, Colonel Rhodes spoke urgently.
He thought Tony was about to lose his mind again and hurriedly tried to stop him.
"Everyone's in danger. We need to find a way to get them out of here." Tony waved his hand casually while pretending to stay calm. "You've got to trust me this time."
"I tried that before—and got my ass kicked in your house!" Rhodes shot back sarcastically.
That reminder instantly made everyone recall the earlier scene when the two had brawled inside Tony's luxurious mansion.
So this happened after that incident?
Which meant that Tony had already found the new element and cured his palladium poisoning by this point.
No wonder Rhodes didn't believe him. Tony's earlier behavior had been way too insane.
But in the end, he was still his brother-in-arms. Once Tony revealed that Justin Hammer might be working together with Ivan Vanko, Rhodes immediately understood the gravity of the situation.
"Vanko's still alive?" Rhodes said in shock.
Moments later, Vanko hijacked the suits remotely from backstage and sent them charging straight at Tony.
Outside the screen, Tony's expression darkened—not because he was being surrounded, but because he suddenly realized something.
The armor he'd given Rhodes… its operating system had been tampered with. Vanko had planted a backdoor inside it!
Clearly, the military hadn't just "repainted" the armor; they'd likely incorporated Vanko's stolen tech too.
After all, if Vanko had really been capable of creating all this from scratch before, he would've done it long ago. It wasn't just a matter of being broke.
A full armor system—shock absorption, flight stabilizers, weapon modules—all required enormous time, money, and energy to perfect.
Even with Vanko's talent, he shouldn't have had the resources.
As Lin Feng once joked: The rich rely on technology, the poor rely on mutation.
Just one of Tony's Mark suits cost over a hundred million dollars to build—comparable to the most advanced fighter jets in the U.S. military.
He had always believed that even if the Defense Department had a hundred years, they could never replicate his designs.
Yet now, in such a short time, reality had proven him wrong.
Sure, his armor was still the best, but with Vanko's help, they had achieved a real technological leap—from nothing to something.
On screen, the many armored suits rushed out, chasing after Tony.
Meanwhile, Justin Hammer finally realized that his company's entire system had been hacked.
In the control room, Ivan Vanko watched with satisfaction at the chaos he had unleashed.
Tony could only keep dodging endlessly, relying on his superior mobility to stay alive.
The entire scene was explosive—literally and figuratively!
Even Rhodes and Tony ended up grappling in a public park, rolling together in a flurry of punches and repulsor blasts. Thankfully, at the critical moment, Natasha Romanoff hacked back into the control system and rewrote the code.
"System rebooted. You just saved your friend," Natasha said with a small smile.
"Thanks, Agent Romanoff," Tony replied.
"Your new energy core looks good—the power output's stronger, and your vitals are stable," she noted while monitoring the data.
"Yeah, looks like I'm not dying yet. Thanks," Tony said dryly.
"What do you mean 'not dying'? You were dying before?!" Pepper Potts exclaimed in shock.
Tony froze—he'd forgotten Pepper was standing right beside him. Things got awkward fast.
Faced with Pepper's angry questioning, Tony fumbled for words, completely unsure how to explain.
But before he could say anything, he and Rhodes found themselves surrounded again by a new wave of drone armors.
The battle exploded once more, fiercer than ever.
Of course, those mass-produced suits were no match for their customized armors. In the end, Tony used his laser cutters to slice through them all, completely wiping them out.
But the fight wasn't over.
This time, Ivan Vanko himself arrived—wearing his own upgraded armor. The electric whips in his hands were even deadlier than before.
"This time, let me handle it. I've got a special weapon for him—'Ex-Wife.' Watch me blow him to hell," Rhodes said confidently.
But as soon as the small missile on his shoulder fired… it fizzled out midair. No explosion.
Tony stared blankly. "Hammer's weapon?"
"Yeah…" Rhodes admitted, looking just as embarrassed.
Outside the screen, Tony almost burst out laughing. Hammer Industries—completely unreliable.
Inside the footage, Tony's expression said the same thing.
Nick Fury, watching all this, quietly removed Hammer Industries from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s list of approved weapon suppliers.
If their tech failed at a crucial moment like this, who in their right mind would trust them?
S.H.I.E.L.D. fought high-stakes battles—against terrorists at best, vampires and werewolves at worst.
When you face enemies like that, an unreliable weapon means dead agents.
Meanwhile, Justin Hammer still had no idea he'd just lost one of the biggest government contracts on Earth.
Against Vanko's enhanced whips, Tony and Rhodes were both being completely overpowered. The weapon's close-range potential made Vanko a walking nightmare.
"Getting beaten up again…" Tony gritted his teeth. Since becoming Iron Man, had he ever had a shining moment?
Or maybe it was just Lin Feng's diary—why did it always show him getting humiliated?
Maybe only the New York battle could count as a highlight.
"Two-on-one and still losing, Tony—you're kinda lame," Natasha teased as she watched.
Tony's face darkened even more.
If it had been aliens, fine, he could've made excuses. But these were just humans—humans far beneath his own level of genius.
Yet even two against one, he was struggling miserably.
And those opponents shared one thing in common: massive builds and heavy firepower.
Tony's suits were built for agility and precision. Against those brute-force types, he was always at a disadvantage.
Pure strength—he just couldn't compete.
Maybe it was time to rethink his design philosophy for large-scale threats.
"Rhodey, I've got an idea. You wanna play the hero?" Tony suddenly said.
"What idea?" Rhodes asked.
In the final clash, Tony and Rhodes fired their Repulsor Blasts together, unleashing a massive explosion that finally destroyed Vanko's armor.
"You lose."
Even as his armor broke apart, Ivan Vanko smiled coldly.
He had done it—he had dragged Tony Stark down from his pedestal. He had shown the world that Tony Stark could lose.
That realization alone would make Stark a target for countless others.
Even as the wrecked drones collapsed, their countdown timers hit zero—each one detonated violently.
At the last moment, Tony rushed in and pulled Pepper to safety.
Outside the footage, Tony exhaled in relief. For a second there, when he saw Pepper almost get blown up, his heart had stopped.
Watching himself save her just in time made him relax—then he remembered Lin Feng's words:
"Becoming a superhero is dangerous.But being the family or friend of a superhero… is far more dangerous."
Now he couldn't help but feel like Lin Feng had been talking directly about him.
When the video ended, silence filled the room.
A moment later, Hawkeye finally said, "That guy really is dangerous. In hindsight, it's actually a good thing Lin Feng managed to recruit him."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Hill frowned slightly. "Still… doesn't it seem like Lin Feng's turning into some kind of secret mastermind villain? First Whiplash, now Vanko—what is this, his collection of supervillains?"
Nick Fury shook his head. "Whether he likes villains or not doesn't matter. What matters is that he can control them. That's what's important.
"But we can't drop our guard. Vanko isn't exactly a tame guy. If he ever decides to use Lin Feng's resources for revenge against Tony, things could get ugly fast.
"We know how strong Lin Feng is—but Vanko doesn't. If he causes trouble under that man's protection, the fallout could be catastrophic."
They all nodded gravely.
Even without the context, anyone experienced could tell from the footage: that battle had caused massive destruction, injuries, maybe even deaths.
Cleaning up something like that would take enormous manpower and money—it wasn't just another flashy superhero fight.
-----------------------
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