With a deafening boom, the robot at Clark's feet exploded violently. Still crouched beside the machine, Tony didn't even have time to curse before he was blasted backward by the shockwave.
Thankfully, the reactor in the robot's chest had already been removed—Tony had taken it just seconds before—so the explosion wasn't as devastating as it could've been. The blast radius was only about six or seven meters, and within that range, the only people present were Clark and Tony.
Clark, of course, was completely unharmed.
"You okay, Tony?" Clark walked over, crouched beside him, and offered a hand.
Tony groaned and pulled off his helmet. "Just a little dizzy."
"Tony, are you alright?!" Pepper ran over the moment the danger passed.
"I'm okay… but I should probably get checked out anyway."
As he stood, Tony picked up the crude arc reactor lying nearby. It was hastily assembled—wires exposed, casing dented. Still, it had done its job.
Due to the sudden attack, the Monaco Grand Prix was canceled. Not that anyone could've kept racing—part of the track was destroyed.
After a short rest, Tony and Clark decided to return to New York. With the attempt on Tony's life, staying in Monaco seemed like asking for trouble.
Clark had expected this. Ever since the "Whiplash" attacker had turned out to be a drone rather than Ivan himself, he knew the timeline had shifted. His presence was starting to change things.
He couldn't remember every detail, but one thing was clear—Ivan Vanko shouldn't have had the resources to build a robot like that. Not on his own.
It wasn't a matter of intelligence—Ivan was a genius. But money? That, he lacked.
His first suit was cobbled together with scrap, powered by a stolen arc reactor, and the only fancy bits were the electric whips. But this drone? Metal armor, painted chassis, internal circuits, sensors, even explosives—that took real funding.
"Hydra? Or Justin Hammer?"
Clark doubted Hydra. An assassination attempt using only a single robot didn't fit their MO. They played the long game—deep infiltration, strategic collapse. A brute-force attack in broad daylight? Too loud.
That left Justin Hammer.
Clark remembered the robot from the original timeline, co-developed by Hammer and Ivan for Tony's expo. But now it had appeared early, and without warning.
And Hammer? Since Clark had brought Tony back to the hotel, he hadn't seen the CEO once. That only fueled his suspicion.
Meanwhile, Justin Hammer had just arrived at his private research facility in Queens, New York. It was here that Ivan Vanko had been quietly working on the "next generation" of combat drones.
Hammer burst into the workshop and immediately spotted Ivan tinkering with one of the robots, completely calm, as if Monaco hadn't just happened.
That calm infuriated Hammer.
"Care to explain why my still-in-development Iron Soldier showed up in Monaco and tried to kill Tony Stark?!" he shouted. "Yesterday, you told me not to reveal it to anyone! I spent hours buttering up Senator Stern so he'd agree to a demo!"
He was seething. He'd finally gotten the Senator's attention, and then Ivan hijacked the drone for a personal grudge?
Ivan didn't even look at him. A toothpick hanging lazily from his lips, he continued inspecting the robot.
"Told you it wasn't ready. Can't show off a prototype—it's just a test run."
"What's the difference?!" Hammer barked.
"Demonstration means it flies. Shoots. Impresses. This? It just walks and falls over. Useless."
"So attacking Tony Stark was your idea of a test?!"
Ivan removed the reactor from the drone's chest and twirled a screwdriver between his fingers.
"This thing's just a shell. I needed real-world data. To learn its limits. To improve it."
"Then ask me, damn it! I could've arranged a test site! Why the hell would you pull this stunt in public? You've ruined me!"
Hammer was spiraling now—furious, flustered, and full of regret. He'd thought hiring Ivan was a shortcut to beating Stark. But he'd forgotten that Ivan wasn't just a genius… he was a loose cannon.
Still, what choice did he have? His own engineers couldn't even explain how Stark's arc reactor worked. Ivan could build one.
"Shooting at targets? Firing a few missiles? That's not a real test," Ivan said dismissively. "Only Stark can push these machines to their limit. I needed to fight him."
He tossed the screwdriver aside and turned to his pet parrot, the white bird Hammer had gifted him.
"Didn't you say you wanted to make Iron Man into a relic? Embarrass him at the Expo?" Ivan asked. "You think these toys can do that without being battle-tested?"
He smirked.
"Relax. The drone I sent today? It was built to explode. No trace. Just like I planned."
Hammer didn't find that reassuring. Not after the media storm Ivan had caused.
Then, as Ivan cooed to the parrot, Hammer suddenly turned cold.
"You like that bird, huh? But is it even yours?" he asked with a false smile. "Didn't you say you didn't want it before?" He waved to his security. "Take the bird."
Two men stepped forward and took the parrot from Ivan's arms. Ivan didn't resist, but his expression soured.
Hammer kept going. "Take his coat too. And his shoes."
Once they'd stripped Ivan of his things, Hammer stood before him, smug and defiant.
"Let me be clear. We had a deal. You build me Iron Men, I give you shares in Hammer Industries. Help you ruin Stark. That's the contract."
"But if you screw me over again, if you keep pulling stunts like this?" Hammer leaned closer.
"You'll be as good as dead."
With that, Hammer turned to leave, motioning for his goons to toss Ivan's belongings back at him.
Left alone, Ivan sat down slowly, slid his shoes back on, and retrieved the parrot from where it had been tossed.
He stared at the bird for a long moment, then smiled faintly.
"Don't worry. I'll keep my promise…"
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