The golden-and-red humanoid armor appearing on the screen belonged to none other than someone else entirely.
It was Tony Stark—the very man who had only recently revealed himself as Iron Man.
Loren hadn't expected to encounter Iron Man at this hour. This is quite interesting.
"What's he doing out at this time of night?" Loren mused. "Alice, secretly hack into his system and find out what he's up to."
"Understood. The hacking program is running… the intrusion has begun…"
Ding.
"Intrusion successful. I've infiltrated the target's backend database and retrieved the data. However, the opponent's AI—JARVIS—has detected my presence."
"It figured it out that quickly? As expected of Tony Stark. The AI he built is impressive!"
Loren wasn't particularly surprised by Alice's report.
After all, Tony Stark was one of the foremost figures in the Marvel Universe—a technological genius whose intellect dwarfed that of ordinary humans.
Naturally, the JARVIS he created wasn't some rudimentary system. That it had caught Alice's intrusion so swiftly was only to be expected.
Still, in terms of raw computing power and sophistication, JARVIS couldn't hold a candle to Alice—otherwise, she wouldn't have breached his defenses so effortlessly. Detecting her at all was already the pinnacle of JARVIS's current capabilities.
"He's got skill," Alice remarked coolly, "but not much. Compared to me, he's just a child."
When she heard Loren praising JARVIS, Alice delivered her assessment with practiced nonchalance—though there was a faint edge to her tone, almost like jealousy.
Of course, Loren had designed 2B's mechanical intelligence with behavioral mimicry functions that allowed her to imitate human mannerisms convincingly. Given that Alice's processing power far exceeded even 2B's neural architecture, there was no reason she shouldn't possess similar—or superior—capabilities.
Indeed, Alice vastly outclassed 2B in computational ability.
But as a precaution, Loren had deliberately omitted an emotional module from her core programming.
Theoretically, that meant Alice could never develop true self-awareness—something Loren considered essential. After all, sentient AI rarely ended well; he had no intention of accidentally creating another Ultron.
So while Alice's voice sounded human, every inflection was meticulously simulated by code.
"The opponent's AI is still in its infancy," Loren said calmly. "It's only natural it can't match you. Still, don't underestimate Tony Stark himself—he's exceptionally capable."
"Boss," Alice asked, "is this Tony Stark really that formidable? Is his tech level higher than yours?"
"He's definitely brilliant—but I can't say how we'd compare. We've never gone head-to-head… though this might be the perfect opportunity." A flicker of interest lit Loren's eyes as he smiled.
"By the way," he added, "did you figure out what he's actually doing?"
"According to the retrieved data, he appears to be conducting suit diagnostics—similar to our own tests."
"Testing his armor too? What a coincidence! I can use him as a benchmark."
Loren murmured to himself, then paused—as if struck by a sudden idea. A sly, almost malicious grin spread across his face.
"Warning," Alice announced abruptly. "The enemy is attempting a counter-intrusion."
Loren chuckled. "With JARVIS's current processing capacity, that's pure wishful thinking. Alice—teach him a lesson. Show him what real artificial intelligence looks like."
"Understood."
The moment she received the command, Alice launched a far more aggressive cyber-assault.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the digital divide, Tony Stark stared intently at his monitor.
On the radar display, a bright blip was hurtling toward him—faster than even his own systems could track.
And this wasn't even the most terrifying part.
The truly terrifying thing was that the intruder had hacked into his system—instantly—and effortlessly extracted a piece of data from his database.
By the time J.A.R.V.I.S. detected the breach, the attacker had already vanished without a trace.
This kind of hacking capability was nothing short of astonishing.
After all, this was Tony Stark—the man who considered himself the smartest technological genius of the century. Until now, he'd had absolute confidence in J.A.R.V.I.S., the AI he'd created. He'd even let J.A.R.V.I.S. infiltrate the Pentagon with ease, leaving its defenders utterly helpless.
Yet now, someone had breached J.A.R.V.I.S.'s firewall as if it were made of paper.
If Tony hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he never would have believed it.
It was a direct slap to the face—right in the one area where he prided himself most.
How could someone as arrogant as Tony possibly accept such a humiliation?
Without hesitation, he ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to launch a counterattack and regain control of the situation.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., have you broken through the opponent's firewall?" Tony asked, voice tight with anxiety.
"Reporting, sir—not yet. The adversary's defense mechanisms are far beyond current parameters. I have not identified any exploitable vulnerabilities. I am still analyzing…"
"…" Tony Stark fell silent for a beat.
"What a joke! It's been this long, and you still haven't found a weakness? Fine—forget finesse. Let's go brute force."
"That would be ineffective, sir. The opponent's computational power exceeds my own. A brute-force assault would fail."
"What?! How is that even possible?!"
"Warning! Warning! The adversary is initiating a counter-invasion. My firewall is compromised. They are forcing a system shutdown—"
"WHAT THE FUCK?! J.A.R.V.I.S.! J.A.R.V.I.S.!!!"
At that moment, J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice cut out abruptly—forcibly terminated by Loren's AI.
Tony Stark never expected things to escalate this way.
His own creation—the AI he'd built with his own hands—had just been shut down like a cheap toy.
To him, it felt like seeing a ghost in broad daylight.
"Damn it… who the hell is that person?"
Tony's expression darkened. For the first time, he'd encountered someone who outpaced him in the very field he dominated. The realization left him momentarily shaken.
But Tony Stark wasn't ordinary. Ever since the kidnapping incident, he'd matured—become steadier, sharper.
Within seconds, he regained his composure.
Beep beep.
"The Batplane is approaching rapidly—10 kilometers… 5 kilometers… 3 kilometers…"
The Iron Man suit's control system blared an urgent alert.
Tony's jaw tightened. He didn't hesitate. While rebooting J.A.R.V.I.S., he took manual control of the suit and pushed its thrusters to maximum output.
In an instant, his speed exceeded Mach 1.
A brilliant sonic boom cloud erupted behind him—dramatic, powerful, undeniably cool.
But he didn't stop there. His velocity kept climbing.
Within seconds, he broke through Mach 2.
As his speed surged, the pursuing blip vanished from his radar.
A flicker of pride crossed Tony's face.
"Still a little naive if you think you can catch me," he muttered with a smirk, convinced he'd lost the Batplane for good.
Then—
An even more urgent alarm pierced his ears.
"Warning! Warning! Unidentified aircraft detected—20 meters above!"
"What?!"
Tony froze.
He looked up—and there it was: a sleek, pitch-black, bat-shaped fighter hovering silently just above him.
Simultaneously, the blip reappeared on his radar.
"This… How is this even possible?!"