The electronic projection screen inside Rhodes' helmet, which showed his tactical interface, suddenly began flashing warnings.
"Tony, listen up! All the location dots for those Iron Warriors—the drones—have completely vanished off the grid. I'm not sure if Ivan managed to remotely cancel their location beacon or if they were somehow vaporized by some other force. Either way, they're gone."
"Fantastic! It seems Leo has stepped in and cleaned house. That kid is an absolute lifesaver. This has seriously solved a massive problem for us!" Tony shouted excitedly from inside the sleek Mark VI suit, feeling the fresh surge of the new element.
"Leo? Look out, Tony, I've just been retargeted to you! I can't stop the lock!" Rhodes warned desperately.
The two figures—Iron Man, a streak of red and gold, and the hulking War Machine, a gray, intimidating shadow—sped across the skies above New York City. Rhodes' massive M134 heavy machine gun mounted on his shoulder armor opened fire again, and countless tracer bullets formed a bright, deadly belt in the night air.
The bullets were locked onto Iron Man, but even though Tony was technically immune due to his superior armor and maneuvering, countless stray bullets ricocheted off the Mark VI's plating and sprayed onto the roads, cars, and buildings below.
In the bustling grid of New York City, the one place where collateral damage could be minimized was the spherical, empty natural environment simulation space at the center of the Expo grounds—a huge, desolate dome off-limits to visitors.
Tony immediately directed the chase toward that vast, enclosed sphere. The two armored figures rushed toward that direction, one after the other.
Meanwhile, Natasha Romanoff and Happy Hogan had arrived at Hammer's company building in Queens, where the signal trace had led them.
Natasha quickly and efficiently unlocked the electronic keypad lock on the main door using a handheld tool. Happy, ever the loyal head of security, went in first, pushing past her.
"I can't let you go in alone, Nat."
"Then don't stop the engine, Happy. And stay close," she ordered, already moving.
Natasha had no time to waste on his heroics. She expertly dodged a burly security guard who was rushing toward Happy and slipped inside the secure area first.
Happy, relying on sheer brute force and indignation, raised his fists and charged forward, initiating a surprisingly clumsy fight, exchanging powerful but inefficient punches and kicks with the guard.
Natasha, facing three more armed guards who rushed toward her, appeared remarkably relaxed. She moved like a striking snake, disarming, twisting, and incapacitating the ordinary security guards in silent, professional motions.
When Happy was finally exhausted, his face covered in a few fresh bruises, he defeated the first security guard by delivering a lucky hook and then, in sheer desperation, biting his ear.
As he triumphantly prepared to look back at Natasha with a victorious, if slightly deranged, smile, he froze.
All that could be seen ahead of him were eight or nine security guards lying on the ground, incapacitated, groaning, and writhing in pain. Natasha stood over them, utterly untouched.
They both rushed into the main control office. Apart from the two guards hanging ominously from the ceiling—a grim display of Ivan's brutality—there was no one else in sight.
Seeing the control screen still lit, Natasha immediately put down her dual pistols.
She went up to the console and rapidly typed out a long, complex string of command characters that Happy couldn't possibly understand. She was taking manual control of the software.
"What are you doing, Nat?"
"I'm forcing a complete system shutdown and reboot. Rhodes's armor is about to be back under its original operational parameters."
On the other side, the Mark VI had successfully lured Rhodes into the sprawling field simulation environment—a dense, miniature forest and stream ecosystem under the vast dome.
The War Machine, controlled entirely by Ivan's rogue AI, was incredibly powerful but completely unable to anticipate or harm Tony, who was focused purely on defense and evasion.
Tony, still unable to bear the thought of hurting Rhodey, finally closed the distance. He latched onto the heavy machine gun mounted on Rhodey's shoulder with both armored hands, wrestling it into a forceful stalemate.
Suddenly, Natasha's code took effect. She had successfully accessed Rhodes's armor program and shut down the malicious core process completely, even connecting to Tony's channel to confirm.
The War Machine's engine stalled, and Tony seized the opportunity, kicking the suddenly dead-weight armor away, sending Rhodes skidding into the stream below.
"Your good friend is back in the driver's seat, Tony," Natasha said into the comms, breathing a genuine sigh of relief.
"Thank you very much, Agent Romanov. That was extremely timely."
"Your new energy plate is fantastic, by the way. I've noticed that it's outputting more than triple the energy of the palladium core, and your vital signs are currently running completely normal. Excellent work."
Tony glanced down at Rhodes, who was slowly trying to pull himself out of the shallow stream, and replied casually, "Yes, I won't die anytime soon, thanks to Leo. That should make the world happy."
"Wait, what do you mean? Were you about to die?" Pepper, who had made the initial contact with Natasha and was still on the connected channel, heard this exchange and her voice was sharp with alarm.
"What exactly happened, Tony?"
"Uh, I was going to tell you," Tony stammered, genuinely alarmed that Pepper was also on the channel.
"You were going to tell me? That you were supposed to die from palladium poisoning? Why didn't you tell me any of this! When were you going to mention that detail?"
"I was going to say this when I made the omelets last time, but..."
"Hey! You two can talk about this on your honeymoon after the dust settles. The enemy is coming, Tony."
Natasha, finding their domestic argument unbearable, quickly glanced at the tactical icon that had just appeared on her computer screen, marking a new, powerful energy signature nearby. "Watch out, Stark. This looks like a huge, heavily armored guy is about to show up. Also, where exactly are the rest of the Iron Warriors?"
"They shouldn't have left the showroom floor. Leo's there! Pepper?"
"Tony, are you alright now?" Pepper asked, her anger temporarily replaced by concern for his health.
"I'm fine, Honey. Don't be angry, I sincerely apologize for the lack of communication, and I..."
"I am angry, Tony."
"Let's talk about it after I finish this battle, okay?"
"All right. But you owe me a vacation."
"We should have been in Venice for the Expo kickoff," Tony lamented, trying to inject some levity.
"Oh, please. Just fight the lunatic," Pepper snapped.
Tony instantly turned off the channel before she could say anything else and dialed another number.
"Mr. Stark? What's the situation now?" Leo answered, leading Peter at a leisurely pace toward the massive Expo dome.
"Leo, I'm in the central field simulation environment at the Expo right now. Ivan is probably going to be here very soon, based on the energy spike. How's Pepper doing? And what was the deal with those drones?"
"Everything is solved. The thirty-two little robots were dismantled into fine scrap metal in less than a minute. They're just a pile of shredded aluminum now," Leo reported casually.
Upon hearing Leo's calm confirmation, Tony breathed a profound sigh of relief, though he couldn't help shivering at the sheer, cold efficiency of that action.
"Okay, that's good news. Rhodes and I are going to have a little chat with Ivan here and ask him to take good care of Pepper... if he gets the chance."
"Do you need any help, Mr. Stark?"
"No, I can handle this! We're a team, Leo! The new core is running perfectly, and I've got a full load of firepower equipment still barely used. I've got this!" Tony said confidently, though perhaps a little too loudly.
Leo continued walking toward the central sphere at a leisurely pace, not trusting Tony's inexplicable confidence one bit.
The Whip is incredibly powerful, designed specifically to counter the physics and structure of mechanical armor. If Ivan weren't such an incredibly reckless, vengeance-driven personality, he might have actually managed to permanently take down both Tony and Rhodey back in Monaco.
Tony tapped War Machine's mask with his armored fist, making a loud, metallic 'clanging' sound.
"Wake up, Rhodes. I need you in one piece."
Rhodes, who had been momentarily knocked unconscious by the systems reboot and the fall into the stream, finally managed to regain his senses. He manually removed his helmet and looked at Tony, who was staring at him with genuine concern.
"Oh, man, Tony, you can take this bulky steel coffin back now. It's got serious software issues."
Tony laughed heartily and pulled him up out of the water.
"Tony, I'm sorry about the past few weeks..."
"Don't apologize, Rhodes."
"No, I should have trusted you more with the suit."
"It's my fault, I was a wreck. Let's just drop it," Tony said, quickly recalling the disastrous birthday party.
"No, I should apologize for overreacting. It's absolutely your fault, but I just wanted to apologize anyway," said Rhodes, the tough Marine making a grudging admission.
"Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to hear, buddy." Tony looked up, spotting the energy signature rapidly approaching. "A big, angry guy is definitely coming. Do you have any plans to deal with him?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a rugged, dark steel figure—significantly larger and bulkier than the Iron Man suits—descended from the broken glass ceiling with a loud, metallic thud.
The dark gray helmet retracted, revealing Ivan Vanko's smiling, scarred face. He snarled in a strange, thick accent, "It's good to be back on American soil, Anton."
As he spoke, he dramatically spread his hands, and two impossibly thick, plasma-charged whips quickly extended out of the rotating reels behind his shoulders, crackling with blinding blue energy.
The whips struck the wet ground, leaving deep, charred marks and vaporizing the stream water instantly. Their power far exceeded the previous, crude whips.
Rhodes stepped forward, still dripping wet. "Tony, let me beat him to a pulp with my... ex-wife."
"Ex-wife?"
The heavy shoulder armor on War Machine raised a missile launch pod, and a delicate, high-explosive missile began to spew flames. After two seconds of charging, it detached from the armor and flew out directly at Ivan.
When Ivan saw the missile approaching, he didn't even bother to put his helmet back on, instead using his thick chest armor to shield the impact point.
Ding....Zzz...Pfft...Zzz
The 'ex-wife'—the missile—fell harmlessly into the small stream at Ivan's feet, fizzling out as if it had let out a silent, pathetic fart.
Tony glanced at Rhodes with an expression of utter speechlessness. "Rhodes, you seriously just brought Hammer's weapon to a superhuman fight."
Rhodes didn't want to talk; he just wanted to pull Justin Hammer over and shove his 'ex-wife' straight down his throat.
"Let me handle this, Rhodes." Tony quickly raised two rapid-fire, six-barreled mini-cannons—the upgraded shoulder weapons—and fired a continuous stream of armor-piercing rounds.
Ivan, now serious, immediately put his helmet back on and swung the electromagnetic whip in his hand, lashing out hard to intercept the heavy fire.
"Brother Leo, what are we doing here? Doesn't it clearly say 'No Entry' on the door, and isn't this where the fight is?"
Peter, holding Leo's hand tightly, looked at the dark, desolate environment under the massive, silent dome with some fear.
Leo's eyes gleamed slightly as he looked at the three armored figures a few hundred meters ahead—Tony and Rhodes fighting Ivan Vanko. He laughed, a low, confident sound. "Come on, Peter. I'll take you to see the true meaning of 'Iron Man.' We're just going to watch the show from a safe distance."