"It's already started. Saturday, let's begin as well."
Through the surveillance, Artoria saw the robots controlled by Ivan begin to attack Tony. Artoria then had Saturday start the transfer. Tony, who hadn't expected Hammer to suddenly attack him, was stunned for a moment. He quickly ran out of the exhibition hall toward the garage, letting Jarvis remotely summon the suit hidden in his luxury car. Soon, a red and gold object flew over and covered Tony's body. With the new energy source, Tony had dedicated himself to modifying various series of'Sister-Protecting Suits,' not even having time to bother with his good friend Rhodes.
However, he had given his most primitive suit, equipped with an old Arc Reactor, to Rhodes. He wasn't stupid; the Military had long been eyeing his suits, and his friend was under immense pressure. So, he used this suit to shut everyone up. But within the internal system, he left a backdoor that only Rhodes could operate; if anyone else tried, the suit would automatically self-destruct. Seeing the suit modified into such a state just now had actually made him a bit angry, but he soon didn't have time for anger and started running.
"Tony, I've lost control of myself! Take care of yourself!"
Sitting inside War Machine, Rhodes contacted Tony through the communication equipment with a bitter smile. He had absolutely no way to move anything now. He wasn't a science student or a high-level hacker; he didn't understand any of this. He was a soldier.
"Jarvis."
"I am here, sir."
"Take over Rhodes' operating system."
Even though he was locked on by Rhodes' suit, he still didn't dare to counterattack. He kept a bunch of robots trailing behind him. His suit was upgraded to be much more powerful than Rhodes', especially in terms of firepower. If he wasn't careful, he could turn his friend into several pieces. He could only wait for his friend's suit to return to normal before daring to launch an attack.
"Pepper, come over here, don't run around."
Everything happened so suddenly that Tony didn't have time to arrange for Pepper to go to a safe place. One of Artoria's clones had been waiting in a hidden spot nearby for a long time, fearing that something might happen to her sister-in-law. Seeing that Pepper was still confused, Artoria called out to her.
"Artoria, why are you here? Didn't you say you didn't want to come?"
Hearing Artoria's voice, Pepper didn't hesitate and crouched down, moving toward Artoria. She asked while holding Artoria's arm, still a bit shaken, her tone slightly reproachful. Given the current scene, it wasn't suitable for Artoria to be here. Just a moment ago, she had been glad Artoria hadn't come, but now she had shown up, and at a very bad time. She was truly worried about Artoria's safety.
"Don't worry, let's go check the backstage."
Now was the perfect time to collect evidence to send Justin to prison to visit his buddy. Artoria led Pepper toward the safety of the backstage, where they happened to run into Natasha. The moment she saw her, Artoria knew S.H.I.E.L.D. was also planning to take a piece of the pie. But Artoria wouldn't leave them much. Those sets of robots created with hundreds of millions of dollars were the last good things Artoria would leave behind. As for the self-destruct function, Saturday could disable it.
"Miss Artoria, long time no see."
Natasha showed no surprise the moment she encountered Artoria and Pepper. As a veteran Special Agent and assassin of several decades, she had that level of mental fortitude. S.H.I.E.L.D. had received news ever since Ivan was broken out of prison, but they hadn't taken the initiative to act. Natasha couldn't understand this, but Nick had his own plans. Nick wasn't interested in Justin Hammer's money—that was pocket change to someone who could squeeze several hundred million out of the Council every month—but he had to get his hands on the suit technology. This was of great interest to him, which was why he allowed Ivan's actions; he wanted to obtain the technology for the suits.
It was fundamentally impossible to get this technology from Tony. If he tried to do it himself, then that guy Howard Stark would surely flame him to death. He had already experienced the stark family's 'poisonous tongue' many times; every time, it was enough to make one's blood pressure soar.
"Miss Natasha is no ordinary person, is she?"
"Miss Stark, you are very clever, but now is not the time for you to know."
Pepper dominantly confronted the cowardly Justin, with S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Agents helping out a bit. Artoria pulled Natasha to a corner to chat. Although Natasha, as a Russian, was already quite tall and slender, Artoria was actually a bit taller than her. Especially with the single ahoge standing proudly and upright on her head, it gave Artoria the feeling of looking down at Natasha.
"Miss Natasha, I don't care which faction you belong to—be it the Military or the political arena—please do not mess with the members of our stark family. Thank you!"
Taking advantage of her height and the overbearing Dragon Factor, Artoria's aura pressed down on Natasha. She placed both hands on the wall behind Natasha's ears, their posture quite intimate, but the words spoken were not warm or romantic. Artoria, who already knew Natasha's background, didn't plan to let this chance to tease the Black Widow pass. She pretended to have discovered something.
"Please rest assured on that point, Miss Artoria. We will not baselessly slander a good person, but we certainly won't let a bad person go, either."
These words were watertight, as expected of an Special Agent with high intelligence. The implication was: if you Starks do something bad, don't blame me for being strictly professional.
"I hope so."
Artoria said just that and walked toward Pepper, leaving behind a thoughtful Natasha.
"What an overbearing little girl, though not a dislikeable one."
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