The Stark Expo was no longer a celebration of the future. It was a graveyard.
The transformation had been instant. One moment, the crowd was cheering for the sleek, patriotic Hammer Drones saluting on stage. The next, the command codes had shifted. The lights in the drones' eyes turned from a soft, peacekeeping blue to a harsh, predatory red.
"Kill," the command line whispered across the network.
Pandemonium erupted.
Thirty thousand people surged toward the exits in a blind panic. It was a stampede of terror. Children were separated from their parents; expensive galas were trampled into the dirt. Above them, the night sky turned into a light show of death. Iron Man—Tony Stark—was a streak of red and gold, weaving through the air, hunted by a swarm of flying metal predators.
Explosions shook the ground, shattering the glass windows of the pavilions.
But amidst the screaming chaos, one thing was out of place.
In the center of the main promenade, a man was walking.
He moved against the tide of the crowd. While terrified families sprinted toward the parking lots, he walked calmly toward the war zone. He wore a charcoal three-piece suit that cost more than most people's cars. His tie was perfectly knotted. His cufflinks glinted in the firelight.
Ren checked his watch.
"8:03 PM," he noted. The explosion of a nearby car didn't make him flinch. "The appetizer is here."
Remote Location – Hammer Industries Control Room
Ivan Vanko sat behind his keyboard, a toothpick rolling between his lips. He typed furiously, his fingers dancing over the code. He was laughing.
"You lose, Stark," Vanko muttered in thick Russian. "You lose everything."
On his monitors, he saw the chaos. He saw War Machine, locked down and hijacked, firing its minigun at Iron Man. He saw the ground units—the "Army" and "Navy" drones—securing the perimeter, terrorizing the police.
"Nothing can stop software," Vanko grinned. "Hardware is weak. Flesh is weak."
Then, his eyes flicked to Screen 4.
A "Navy" drone—a two-ton walker armed with a heavy assault cannon—had stopped moving. Its sensors had locked onto a target.
"What is this?" Vanko squinted.
The target wasn't running. The target was a man in a suit. And he was walking toward the drone.
Vanko chuckled. "Stupid American. Die."
He pressed the command key.
The Promenade
The Navy Drone was a masterpiece of military engineering. It stood eight feet tall, encased in titanium-steel alloy plates angled to deflect small-arms fire. Its hydraulic legs crushed the concrete with every step.
It swiveled its torso. The triple-barreled rotary cannon spun up with a high-pitched whine.
Whirrrrrr.
"Citizen," the drone's digitized voice boomed, loud enough to rattle the bones of anyone nearby. "Threat detected. Elimination authorized."
Ren stopped ten meters away. He looked up at the machine.
He didn't see a monster. He didn't see a death machine.
He saw a Gym Equipment.
[ TARGET SCAN ]
» Subject: Hammer Drone (Navy Variant)
» Armor: Titanium-Alloy (Grade 5)
» Weakness: Exposed Hydraulic Seal (Neck Joint)
» Threat Level:Low (Training Dummy)
"You're loud," Ren said. His voice was calm, but it carried a weight that made the air feel heavy.
The drone didn't respond with words. It responded with fire.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The muzzle flash lit up the promenade. Three 20mm explosive rounds—bullets designed to tear through armored personnel carriers—screamed toward Ren at Mach 2.
Time seemed to slow down.
To a normal human, this was death. The kinetic energy of a single 20mm round would turn a human body into red mist.
But Ren wasn't normal.
[ INNATE TALENT: LIMITLESS EVOLUTION ]
» Stimulus Detected: High-Velocity Kinetic Impact.
» Automatic Response: Dermal Hardening.
Ren didn't dodge. He didn't even raise his hand.
The bullets struck his chest.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
There was no blood. There was no scream.
The sound was dull and heavy, like a hammer hitting a thick rubber tire. The bullets hit Ren's chest and stopped. They didn't penetrate. They smashed against his skin, flattening into jagged metal pancakes before falling to the ground.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
Ren looked down at his chest. There were three holes in his expensive jacket. Through the torn fabric, his skin looked pristine. It hadn't even bruised.
"My tailor is going to be upset," Ren said, brushing a speck of gunpowder from his lapel.
Inside the Control Room, Ivan Vanko stopped laughing. He stared at the screen, tapping the monitor. "Glitch? Why is he not dead?"
Ren looked up at the drone. "Is that it?"
The drone's logic processor stalled. Target undamaged. Impossible. Rerouting power.
"Inefficient," Ren judged.
He moved.
He didn't run. He exploded into motion.
The pavement beneath his dress shoes cracked into a spiderweb of fractures. In less than a blink, he closed the ten-meter gap. He moved so fast that the drone's targeting sensors couldn't track him; he was just a blur of charcoal fabric.
Ren stepped inside the drone's guard. He was now face-to-face with the machine.
He could have punched through the armor. He had the strength. But that was brute force. Ren preferred Precision.
He reached out with his bare hand. His fingers, elegant and manicured, curled around the thick rubber seal of the drone's hydraulic elbow joint.
"Grip," Ren whispered.
[ ACTIVE SKILL: HYDRAULIC GRIP ]
» Activation: Vascular Pressure Maximized.
» Output: 5 Tons.
His fingers clamped down. The rubber burst. The steel cables underneath snapped like dry twigs.
SCREEECH.
The sound of tearing metal was agonizing. Black hydraulic fluid sprayed out of the wound like arterial blood. The fluid was superheated—pressurized oil boiling at over 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
It coated Ren's hand. It splashed onto his neck.
A normal man would be screaming as his skin melted.
Ren just closed his eyes and inhaled.
[ ADAPTATION TRIGGERED ]
» Stimulus: Extreme Thermal Conductance (300°F).
» Response: Opening Dermal Vents.
» Result:Heat Resistance +5%.
Steam hissed from Ren's pores. His body accepted the heat, processed it, and vented it. He didn't burn. He just got stronger.
"Warm," Ren noted.
With a casual tug, he ripped the drone's arm completely off its socket.
He spun around, using the severed robotic arm as a club, and smashed it into the drone's head.
CRUNCH.
The machine collapsed. Its lights flickered and died.
Ren dropped the severed arm. He stood amidst the wreckage, steam rising from his shoulders, looking like a demon in a bespoke suit.
The Sky – Iron Man
"Jarvis!" Tony Stark shouted, banking hard to avoid a missile. "I'm a little busy here! Why are my sensors pinging Sector 4?"
"Because, Sir," Jarvis's British voice remained maddeningly calm. "Someone is dismantling the ground units. By hand."
"Rhodey? Did he get free?"
"No, Sir. It is the librarian."
Tony almost flew into a billboard. "The who?"
"Ren. The man you met at the gala. The one who reads books."
Tony did a flyby, sweeping low over the burning park. His HUD magnified the image.
He saw Ren. He saw the pile of scrap metal that used to be a terrifying kill-bot.
"Jarvis," Tony said, his voice dropping. "Did he just... slap a tank to death?"
"It appears so, Sir. My sensors indicate his skin density is fluctuating. It's... adapting. Every time he takes a hit, the molecular structure becomes harder."
Tony watched as four more drones landed around Ren. These were the heavy hitters—the "Air Force" variants with shoulder-mounted missiles.
"He's going to get pasteurized," Tony muttered. "I need to go down there."
"Sir, War Machine is locking onto you. You cannot stop."
"Damn it!" Tony banked away, forced to leave Ren to his fate. "Don't die, bookworm!"
Ground Zero
Ren watched Iron Man fly away.
"Good," he thought. "No distractions."
The four new drones encircled him. They didn't use guns this time. They learned. The logic network had realized that bullets were ineffective.
Click-Clack.
The drone directly in front of him locked its shoulder pod. The "Ex-Wife" Bunker Buster missile. A kinetic kill vehicle designed to punch through six feet of reinforced concrete before detonating.
Ren smiled.
"Now we're talking," he said.
He didn't attack. He waited. He wanted to see if he could take it.
The missile launched.
FWOOSH.
It was too fast to dodge. But Ren didn't want to dodge.
He relied on Physics.
He knew that no armor was invincible if hit at a flat 90-degree angle. But if you angled the armor... the force would deflect.
Ren shifted his stance. He turned his body. He raised his shoulder, hardening the bone and muscle, presenting a perfect 45-degree slope to the incoming projectile.
[ LOGIC INTEGRATION ]
» Concept: Sloped Armor Mechanics.
» Application: Skeletal Geometry Alignment.
The missile hit.
CLANG!
The sound was like a church bell ringing inside a crypt.
The missile didn't detonate. It didn't penetrate. It struck Ren's hardened, angled shoulder and ricocheted.
The projectile skidded off his skin, its trajectory violently altered. It flew past his ear, screaming through the air, and slammed directly into the drone standing behind him.
BOOM!
The explosion was massive. The drone behind him vanished in a fireball of orange and black.
Ren stood in the center of the shockwave. The wind whipped his jacket. Debris rained down around him.
He brushed a jagged piece of shrapnel off his shoulder.
[ CRITICAL THRESHOLD REACHED ]
» Adaptation Complete.
» Rewriting Biological Code...
» CURRENT STATUS:[ TIER 2.0 - HIGH DENSITY ]
He felt the change deep in his marrow. His bones were no longer just calcium. They were something else. Something denser. He felt heavy, grounded, like a mountain compressed into the shape of a man.
The remaining two drones backed away. Even their cold logic circuits were registering something akin to fear.
Ren adjusted his cuffs.
"Physics," Ren said to the burning wreckage. "It works every time."
He checked his watch again. 8:07 PM.
"I have a dinner reservation," Ren said, walking past the frozen machines. "And I hate being late."
As he walked away into the smoke, the System flickered into view, confirming his spoils.
[ STATUS: REN ]
[ I. ORIGIN TALENTS (THE CHEATS) ]
» [ LIMITLESS EVOLUTION ] (Rank: EX)
Effect: You cannot be capped. If it doesn't kill you, you evolve to ignore it.
» [ INFINITE ENGINE ] (Rank: EX)
Effect: Unlimited energy. You never sleep, never eat, never get tired.
» [ ABSOLUTE ANALYSIS ] (Rank: SSS)
Effect: You see the math behind reality. If you see it, you can steal it.
[ II. BODY SPECIFICATIONS ]
» CURRENT TIER:[ 2.0 - HIGH DENSITY ]
» COMPARISON:[ ASGARDIAN WARRIOR ]
Durability:Ballistic Immunity (Bullets bounce off).
Strength:Hydraulic Class (Crushes titanium like paper).
Heat Res:Active Venting (Survives inside fire).
[ III. PHYSICAL SKILLS (BIO-LOGIC) ]
» [ ZERO IMPACT ] (Passive)
Effect: Small arms fire deals 0 damage.
» [ STEAM VENT ] (Passive)
Effect: Releases body heat as steam to prevent burning out.
» [ PHANTOM STEP ] (Passive)
Effect: Your movement creates 0 decibels of sound.
» [ TITAN GRIP ] (Active)
Effect: Pressurizes hands to deliver 5 tons of crush force.
» [ PERFECT PARRY ] (Active)
Effect: Automatically angles bones to ricochet missiles.
[ IV. MYSTIC ARTS (THEORY & SPELLS) ]
» [ MYSTIC VIOLENCE ] (Active)
Effect: Infuses punches with "Sorcery Logic" to bypass physical defense.
» [ ??? ] (LOCKED)
Requirement: Contact with Sorcerer Supreme.
» [ ??? ] (LOCKED)
Requirement: Analysis of Sling Ring.