"My name is Tony Stark. I once thought I was a genius scientist."
"Because I successfully miniaturized the large-scale reactor my old man invented. This is a technology that other laboratories in the World wouldn't be able to achieve for another ten years."
"Oh, Hammer Industries would need twenty years."
"But less than a month after I made that claim, I was attacked today by someone wearing a bootleg Arc Reactor."
"That's not even the main point. The point is that another one popped up afterward, and his reactor seems even more advanced than mine!"
"Great, let's all get palladium poisoning together."
Tony complained inwardly.
Of course, this was just a sarcastic remark, as the others didn't need an Arc Reactor to stay alive.
But Tony was truly starting to doubt the technical difficulty of the Arc Reactor. With them popping up all at once, anyone would be confused.
Most importantly, this newly appeared "Iron Man," whether in design or level of completion, seemed exceptionally high.
Tony fell into deep doubt: "Is my Iron Man Suit some kind of common technology?"
Ivan was also surprised, but he assumed this new armor was just something new Tony had built.
Regardless, he was a terrorist—he'd fight them both!
He swung his whips directly at the blue Iron Man in front of him. Powered by an Arc Reactor, these whips could easily slice a car in half; hitting a person would result in instant cremation.
But his opponent was Howard, who had been revived, not cremated.
Howard reached out and caught the electric whip directly, leaving both Ivan and Tony stunned.
Tony had estimated the strength of those whips. Even if he were wearing the Mark 5 suitcase armor he had brought this time, he would take considerable damage if hit. Yet, this bootleg Iron Man caught it with his bare hands?
And he was completely undamaged—not even a speck of paint had chipped off!
This suit was already stronger than his most advanced Mark 4.
Had the bootleg surpassed the original?
Where did this powerhouse come from?
Tony was so shocked that it took several seconds for him to hear the shouts of Pepper and Happy, who had rushed to the scene.
*Clatter!*
Pepper quickly threw the Mark 5 over, signaling Tony to put it on to protect himself, but after a couple of glances, Tony suddenly didn't want to wear it.
Compared to the bootleg Iron Man in front of him, the performance of this suit was completely crushed. He didn't want to wear an armor that was inferior to a knockoff.
However, after thinking for a few seconds, Tony still chose to put it on. He suddenly realized that if he didn't wear the suit, tomorrow's headlines would surely be something like "Bootleg Iron Man Saves Iron Man."
Always proud and arrogant, Tony could not accept a front-page photo of himself without a suit, being shielded by a fake Iron Man.
Although being saved by the bootleg Iron Man was already a fact, Tony had to at least make an effort to show he had the ability to escape the crisis himself.
Sure enough, the sight of Tony donning his Iron Man Suit on the spot immediately drew cheers from the audience. This was the first time the public had seen Iron Man transform live.
It was simply cool.
Hearing the cheers of the people, Tony felt a bit ashamed because he knew the truth.
Aside from being portable, this suit of his was useless and couldn't compare to the bootleg Iron Man in front of him at all.
But Tony wouldn't just stand by. He raised his Repulsors, preparing to attack Ivan.
As Iron Man, he wasn't used to hiding behind others.
However, Howard didn't give him the chance to show off. He grabbed both of Ivan's electric whips and then suddenly fired a laser from his hand.
Under the impact of the stronger laser, Ivan's weapons couldn't withstand the energy surge. The two whips exploded piece by piece from where Howard held them, and Ivan was blasted to the ground.
Being a tough Russian man, Ivan managed to scramble back up to put up a final struggle despite his hands being covered in blood. But Howard rushed over, knocked him over, and reached out to rip the Arc Reactor out of Ivan's chest armor.
Now, Ivan no longer had any power to resist.
Howard then had Athena scan the data of the Arc Reactor in his hand. When he saw the structure inside, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
"This is... Anton Vanko?"
Hearing his voice, Ivan immediately burst out laughing: "Haha, that's right! It's Anton Vanko! You Stark thieves actually remember my father's name!"
"Sorry, I need to interrupt."
Tony suddenly spoke up because he heard his own name. "What do you mean 'Stark thieves'? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Thieves are thieves! You stole my father's work!"
Seeing that there was no more danger, the security guards rushed up to restrain Ivan and take him away. Ivan didn't struggle, he just laughed and shouted: "Hahaha, it doesn't matter, I won!"
"Stark, you lost! Hahaha!"
Tony was completely bewildered. He didn't remember making a bet with anyone, and clearly, Ivan was the loser, right?
However, with his quick mind, he immediately realized that since he didn't know this person but was being targeted, it was likely due to a grudge from the previous generation.
A shadow fell over his heart. Could his old man have really plagiarized someone else's technology?
Tony didn't want to believe it. Although his father was impersonal, cold, and calculating, he was very serious about scientific research. He didn't seem like someone who would steal technology.
Howard, however, understood everything. Once he recognized the design of Ivan's Arc Reactor, he knew the general sequence of events.
So, he quickly spoke up to defend himself: "Anton Vanko participated in the early and middle stages of the Arc Reactor's development, but he was expelled because of his malicious intentions."
Hearing this, Tony felt relieved. This ruled out the possibility of his father plagiarizing the technology.
Then he immediately asked back: "How do you know? Did you participate in the design of the Arc Reactor too?"
Because Howard's current voice sounded like someone in his forties, but he had been in his fifties when Tony was born, and the voice was a bit distorted through the Iron Man Suit, Tony didn't recognize it as his father.
Hearing Tony's question, Howard froze.
The incident had happened so suddenly. After seeing the attack at the racetrack, he had rushed over immediately. All the scripts he had prepared beforehand were now useless, and he didn't know what to say.
In front of his son, Howard suddenly became socially anxious.
So, he subconsciously fell back on his habitual attitude.
"Did you come to race without any preparation? Has the palladium poisoning affected your brain?" Howard said with concern.
That's right, this was his way of expressing concern.
This explained why, even though Howard loved Tony to his core, Tony couldn't feel it at all.
Who could possibly understand this?
It was really a case of 'tough love,' wasn't it?
"That tone of yours is just as annoying as my father's," Tony said immediately. "Who exactly are you?"
He wasn't surprised that the other party knew about the palladium poisoning. After all, if they could build an Arc Reactor, they could naturally deduce that he was being poisoned.
What surprised Tony more was this person's tone. They shouldn't even know each other, right? Why was he lecturing him?
Where did this old geezer come from, daring to talk to me like that?
If he hadn't known his parents had been dead for twenty years, he almost would have thought it was that grumpy old man lecturing him.
Tony's thinking was still quite grounded in physical science, so he didn't think further in that direction, but this served as a wake-up call for Howard.
Fang Yuan had told him that his previous way of interacting with his child was completely wrong and that he should change.
But Howard also knew he couldn't just say, "Son, I'm your father," so he chose to set aside the identity issue for now and turned to the topic he was most concerned about.
"Palladium poisoning is very painful. You should look for an alternative!"
Tony had tried that long ago: "I've tried every element combination on Earth. Maybe you can use your brain, which hasn't been affected by palladium poisoning, to tell me where there's a new element?"
Tony's tongue was also the type that didn't spare anyone.
His intention was sarcasm, but he didn't expect the bootleg Iron Man to actually provide a solution.
"The 1974 Stark World Expo. What you want is there."
"Hmm?"
Tony was surprised. This bootleg Iron Man really had the nerve to say that.
He kept this information in mind but pretended not to believe it: "You're expecting an expo from nearly forty years ago to solve my current problem?"
Tony wanted to see if he could fish for more information, but Howard didn't take the bait.
So Tony could only ask again, "Who are you, really?"
At this point, the reporters on the periphery finally rushed over. Hearing this, they immediately realized that this new Iron Man didn't know the original Iron Man. They knew they had stumbled upon a huge story and also asked one after another, "Who are you?"
With so many people surrounding them, Howard knew it wasn't a good time for a heart-to-heart with his son, so he immediately decided to leave.
However, before flying away, he still left his title: "I am—"
"The Iron Guardian!"
After saying that, Howard flew straight away, leaving both the reporters and Tony very puzzled.
"Iron Guardian? He even plagiarized my name!" Tony complained in his heart.
Tony also turned to leave, ignoring the reporters' interviews.
This crisis had brought him too much confusion. He didn't have time to deal with reporters. Moreover, Tony intended to go see the attacker, wanting to see if he could learn anything from Ivan's mouth.
"How did the emotional exchange with your son go?"
When Howard returned to the island, Fang Yuan was already waiting there.
Howard took off his armor, his brow furrowed deeply.
"I think... I messed up."
He recounted his conversation with Tony in detail to Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan immediately showed a pained expression: "When will you parents who believe in suppressive education realize that a single word of encouragement to a child is worth more than a thousand words of anything else?"
Howard was very anxious: "What should I do, Fang? Tony won't hate me even more now, will he?"
"Sigh!" Fang Yuan let out a heavy sigh. "I'll find a way to help you."
"Thank you, Fang!" Howard immediately cheered up. "It's so good to have you!"
Fang Yuan accepted it calmly, although he knew he didn't really need to do much. As soon as Tony knew his father's true feelings, he would immediately reconcile with Howard.
Because Tony, just like Howard, was full of love for his parents.
Furthermore, Fang Yuan was actually very satisfied with Howard's actions this time, because—
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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