Crushing Victory

"It wasn't for nothing. These chips taste pretty good."

Ivan grabbed a handful of chips like a Bear Man and tossed them into his mouth, then threw a camera to Wang Bert. "Clip it onto yourself. That way, we'll get a clearer view!"

Wang Bert got angry. "Are you the boss, or am I?"

"The more I know, the stronger the armor I create. The stronger my armor is, the more money you'll make!"

Ivan leaned back on the sofa and spoke arrogantly. Wang Bert was speechless. This was what they called a top technical talent—even the boss had to give him some face!

Unfortunately, Wang Bert was no ordinary boss. He flipped him off, turned off the television and drone surveillance with the remote, and said, "I'll record it first. You can watch when I get back."

"No!"

Ivan and Anton shouted at the same time. Wang Bert grinned smugly and strode out of the villa. What a joke. It's not like I'm short on money. Why should I suck up to you?

Giving you face was one thing. Taking advantage of it was another!

After Wang Bert left, Ivan and Anton, who had both been furious moments ago, smiled at the same time. Ivan took out his phone and tapped the television. The image reappeared on the screen.

Ivan tapped again, and the view changed from the drone's perspective to Wang Bert's—the camera Wang Bert had clipped to his chest.

For a genius like Ivan, taking control of surveillance was effortless. He stuffed another handful of chips into his mouth and said, "With a temper like that, he probably isn't too devious!"

"I heard he's only twenty-one. Having that much money at twenty-one, it's normal for him to have a bad temper!"

Anton said, "Ivan, remember this: the Vanko Family repays kindness, and it repays grudges too!"

"I know, Dad. I'll surpass Tony Stark and let everyone know that the Stark Family are nothing but thieves, liars, and butchers!"

Anton shouted, "I'll help you! Our Vanko Family will not lose to the Stark Family! Ivan, I'll make up for everything I owe you!"

"Dad, you know I don't care about that!"

"But I do. Once you have children, you'll understand this feeling of guilt. Every father wants to give his child the best life possible!"

At Stark Industries, in the Sector Sixteen laboratory housing the large Arc Reactor, Little Pepper, Coulson, and the others had their hands and feet tied and were thrown onto the floor. A group of Terrorists around them aimed guns at them. Growing impatient, Raza asked Coulson, "Did you lie to me? Is Iron Fist really coming?"

Coulson glanced at Raza and the two freaks beside him, one large and one thin, then smiled with perfect composure. "He'll come. But that may not be good news for you."

"If he comes, he's dead!"

Raza sneered. He did not think Iron Fist was much stronger than himself. With his two brothers helping him, if Iron Fist dared show up today, he would undoubtedly die!

Little Pepper looked at Obadiah, standing in front of Iron Monger, and shouted, "Tony won't let you get away with this!"

"There won't be a Tony anymore, Pepper. You chose the wrong side!"

Obadiah sneered. Just as he was about to urge Raza to act, the glass ceiling shattered with a crash. A gold-and-red figure descended from above, landing on one knee with a heavy BANG.

"Tony!" Little Pepper cried excitedly.

Raza stared at the Iron Man who had landed before him and asked suspiciously, "I feel like I've seen that landing pose somewhere before?"

Tony's face darkened. He suddenly felt as though someone had stolen something from him. He rose to his feet, aimed his glowing palms at Raza and Obadiah, and said, "Surrender, or don't blame me for getting rough!"

"Open fire! Kill him!"

Raza shouted, and the Terrorists immediately fired at Tony. Tony unleashed a pulse blast that sent several Terrorists flying, then charged through the bullets to rescue Little Pepper.

At that moment, a massive figure rushed over. A steel arm swung with tremendous force, and with a BANG, Tony smashed through a wall and flew outside, rolling several times across the ground before stopping!

Obadiah had taken the opportunity to put on Iron Monger. He crashed through the wall after Tony with a thunderous roar and shouted, "Tony, I built armor too! Let's see whose is stronger!"

"Now that's the kind of armor a real man should wear!"

Back at the villa, Ivan saw Iron Monger through the drone feed and shouted excitedly, "Come on! Kill that sissy!"

Naturally, Iron Monger had no idea Ivan was cheering for him, nor did he care. All he wanted now was to kill Tony! Tony climbed to his feet and fought Iron Monger, but whether in size, strength, or weapon loadout, he was no match for him. He was beaten around mercilessly, sent flying in every direction!

Before long, they reached the street. Though it was nighttime, traffic still flowed constantly. Iron Monger did not care in the slightest. He casually flipped an approaching sedan into the air. Amid the driver's screams, the car rolled through the air and smashed into another sedan, and the two vehicles skidded and spun wildly across the street!

Several cars behind them had no time to avoid the crash and slammed into them with a series of BANGS. Before anyone inside could escape, the first two cars exploded with a roar. Flames spread rapidly, engulfing several surrounding vehicles!

"Help! Somebody save me?" The people trapped in the cars could not escape and could only scream and beg for help in terror amid the flames.

With one casual move, several people had died. This was the real Marvel World. The fairy tale from the movies, where aliens invaded and yet barely anyone died, could never happen in reality! "No!"

Tony wanted to go save them, but Iron Monger kicked him away. Still not satisfied, Iron Monger activated the Gatling gun mounted on his armor and sprayed Tony with bullets. As for whether it would hit anyone else, what did he care?

Leaving Iron Monger and Iron Man's battle outside aside for the moment, a Terrorist stood watch at the laboratory entrance. Suddenly, a silver-white sports car raced toward them at breakneck speed! "Someone's coming!"

The Terrorist shouted, then realized in horror that the sports car had no intention of slowing down. It was charging straight for the entrance! He hurriedly fled in terror. The next moment, with a crash, the glass doors were smashed apart by the sports car. The doorframe, glass, and handles flew everywhere. Then the car turned sharply inside the hall and came to a stop with an awful screech of friction!

Wang Bert stepped out of the sports car with an unhappy expression and said to the furious Raza across from him, "You called me here. Have you decided what price you're going to pay?"

Raza stopped the Terrorists from firing. He stepped forward with his two brothers and said resentfully, "The price is that K'un-Lun will never have another Iron Fist!"

"Just you?"

Wang Bert smiled disdainfully. The large and thin men beside Raza were indeed a little strange, but what were they to him? Hearing Wang Bert's words, the muscular giant, whose body was as solid as stone, cracked his knuckles and taunted in broken English, "I heard your fists are hard. I wonder if they're harder than my body?"

Raza hurriedly shouted in the Middle Eastern language, "Aku, this kid is very strong, but his technique is poor. There's no need to meet him head-on."

"So what if I do? The body the Mandarin gave me can't even be pierced by bullets!"

Aku was full of confidence. He slammed his fists together, then charged at Wang Bert like a savage beast, his pounding steps making even the ground tremble.

"Good!"

Wang Bert shouted. His right arm lit up with dazzling red light, as though a fire dragon were coiling around it. Then he threw a thunderous punch, and the faint sound of a Dragon Roar echoed through the air!

Sensing danger, Aku hurriedly crossed his arms in front of himself. The next moment, an irresistible force struck his arms. His proud arms snapped on the spot, then were driven into his chest by the punch, sending him flying backward like a cannonball!

BANG! Aku smashed through the wall and fell outside. Raza rushed to the hole to check, only to find Aku lying in a pool of blood like a deflated rag doll, his fate unknown! "How is that possible? How can you be this strong?"

Raza turned around and shouted in disbelief. Last time, the other man had clearly been about as strong as him! "Last time, I only used twenty percent of my strength. This time, I used fifty percent."

Wang Bert answered calmly. Last time had been for fun, so there had been no need to do more than go through the motions. This time, they had come looking for him themselves. Naturally, he had to get a little more serious and kill them properly!

"You were actually telling the truth?"

A chill ran through Raza's entire body. Wang Bert said, "Of course I was. Come to think of it, being too strong is troublesome too. I'm always having to suppress my strength because I'm afraid of killing people!"

Little Pepper and Coulson were both speechless. Was he really showing off right now? Raza, who had just wanted a martial arts match, immediately chose survival. He turned and shouted at the Terrorists, "Fire! Shoot him!"

The Terrorists immediately raised their AKs and sprayed Wang Bert with bullets. Wang Bert did not dodge. He spread his hands, and red light filled the space before him. Every incoming bullet was stopped by the red light and floated in midair.

Then Wang Bert pushed forward. The bullets suspended in the red light shot back at even greater speed than before. The Terrorists screamed as they fell one after another, their bodies riddled with bloody holes!

Raza and his men, as well as the captives, were all stunned. Little Pepper even stood with her mouth open inelegantly. Was this a movie? This was way too exaggerated!

Wang Bert clasped his hands behind his back, looking calm and detached, like a grandmaster reborn!

Iron Fist was no joke, especially not an Iron Fist like Wang Bert, who absorbed Dragon Bone at an astonishing rate! Seeing Wang Bert's power, deep fear rose in Raza's heart before transforming into intense rage. He shouted at Skinny, "Hold him back."

Skinny gritted his teeth, drew two curved blades from his lower back, and rushed toward Wang Bert. Instead of attacking, however, he rapidly circled Wang Bert. He was so fast that, at a glance, Wang Bert saw him everywhere.

Anyone else in this situation would have been shocked, but Wang Bert only wanted to laugh. Trying to compete with the Blood Clan in speed was like showing off an axe at a master carpenter's door. "Such petty tricks, and you dare show off before an expert?"

Wang Bert smiled disdainfully and stomped his glowing red right foot down hard. Power erupted, and the ground rippled like waves. Skinny staggered into view and nearly fell! Before he could steady himself, a fist that seemed to burn with flames grew larger and larger in his vision. He was instantly overwhelmed by despair, because he knew he was dead! Skinny was right. In the next moment, his head burst like a watermelon. His headless body swayed twice, then collapsed to the ground!

"A little disgusting. I should avoid hitting heads in the future."

Wang Bert looked disgusted. At that moment, dazzling electric light suddenly flared from Raza's direction. Wang Bert turned and saw a large crackling bolt of Green Lightning shooting toward him.

"Die, Iron Fist!"

Raza's face twisted viciously. Skinny's sacrifice had not been in vain. He had finally activated the ring the Mandarin had bestowed upon him!

"Do young people these days have no martial virtue? We agreed to fight, and you're using lightning?"

Wang Bert cursed irritably. His body suddenly transformed into blood and split apart to either side. The lightning passed through the gap and hit the wall behind him, blasting out a huge hole!

Wang Bert's blood fused back together. Raza and the captives stared dumbfounded. What kind of move was that? "No matter what monster you are, I'm going to kill you!"

Raza aimed the ring at Wang Bert and was about to attack again when Wang Bert appeared in front of him as if using Teleportation. A flash of blood-red light passed, and his arm fell straight to the ground.

Only after the arm hit the floor did Raza react. He let out a shrill scream, but Wang Bert grabbed his neck and squeezed. With a CRACK, Raza's head drooped limply to one side, declaring his death!

"Overestimating yourself."

Wang Bert tossed Raza's corpse aside. No one noticed him quietly taking a bottle of Red Potion from Raza's body. This was something worth studying!

Then Wang Bert bent down and picked up Raza's hand. Two rings were on it. One was the Ten Rings Gang identification ring, while the other was a green Lightning Ring. The lightning earlier must have come from it!

Just as Wang Bert was about to remove the Lightning Ring, it suddenly transformed into specks of light and vanished!

"Just a fragment of power? It seems the Mandarin is even stronger than I imagined!"

Wang Bert snorted inwardly. So what? Am I not powerful too? I'm ridiculously strong, okay?

After tossing the hand away, Wang Bert walked over to Little Pepper and removed the restraints from her hands and feet. Little Pepper hurriedly said, "Mr. Wang, go save Tony. He's in danger!"

Wang Bert was about to reply when a gold-and-red figure dropped through the shattered glass ceiling from earlier. It was Tony, covered in wounds. He opened his faceplate and said arrogantly, "Who's in danger? I can help!"

Tony truly was no match for Iron Monger, but Iron Monger had never been tested and had many flaws. For example, it would freeze at high altitude. Tony had used that weakness to lure it into the sky, causing its systems to fail and sending it crashing down.

"Tony!"

Seeing Tony was unharmed, Little Pepper was about to rush over, but Wang Bert held her back. "Don't go over there. People who brag usually don't end well."

"You said wh—"

Tony was about to retort when a massive figure dropped from the sky. Tony immediately lowered his faceplate and turned around, only to be struck by the other man's arm and driven into the wall, chunks of concrete raining down around him!

Wang Bert laughed. "See? I wasn't wrong. Be honest in life!"

"Mr. Wang, stop gloating and go save Tony!" Little Pepper said anxiously.

"It's nothing. Go help untie the others."

Wang Bert smiled and strode toward Iron Monger. Iron Monger had intended to continue beating Tony, but when he saw Wang Bert approach, he aimed his Gatling gun directly at him. An ant wanted to die, so naturally he would oblige! Just as the Gatling was about to fire, Wang Bert suddenly vanished. When he reappeared, he was already behind Iron Monger.

"Where did he go?"

Obadiah's Iron Monger was only a half-finished product and far from complete, so he did not notice Wang Bert behind him. He turned his head in every direction, searching.

Wang Bert took a deep breath. Dazzling red light ignited across his body, like a fire dragon dancing around him. Then all the red light converged on his fists. He exhaled sharply and drove both fists into Iron Monger's back like twin dragons emerging from the sea!

BANG! Iron Monger flew high into the air. The tremendous force even left two deep fist marks in the steel on its back. Obadiah screamed inside Iron Monger and spat a mouthful of blood across his faceplate! The shock absorption system of steel armor had its limits too!

"Jarvis, concentrate all energy in my chest."

Seeing the opportunity, Tony's chest immediately shone with brilliant light. Then a massive pulse blast fired from his chest and struck Iron Monger in midair. Iron Monger flew backward, smashed through the glass, and fell into the large Arc Reactor.

Disturbed by the impact, the energy within the Arc Reactor began fluctuating violently. Countless bolts of lightning raced wildly around it like silver snakes.

"It's going to blow! Get out of here!"

Wang Bert shouted and immediately ran toward his sports car. Little Pepper, Coulson, and the others fled outside as well, but Tony did not move. He opened his faceplate and shouted in panic, "Help me! I'm low on power!"

"You didn't leave yourself any energy? You little charging doll, that's pathetic!"

Wang Bert gave up on driving. He grabbed the sports car's bumper and ran to Iron Man, then pulled him out of the wall and slung him over his shoulder. Wang Bert then ran outside, carrying Iron Man while dragging the sports car behind him!

"What kind of pose is that?"

Little Pepper and the others looked back and were utterly speechless. It was their first time seeing someone run while dragging a car.

Only seconds after Wang Bert escaped the laboratory with the sports car and Iron Man, the Arc Reactor exploded with a thunderous roar. Huge flames and shockwaves surged outward, shattering every window with a crash. Other than Wang Bert, everyone was knocked to the ground.

Wang Bert set Iron Man down, turned to look at the laboratory filled with flames and black smoke, and smiled. "I hope you bought insurance!"

Tony lay on the ground and said irritably, "Don't worry, I did. And I'm not a charging doll."

"You're a charging doll with no charge!"

Wang Bert looked at him with disdain. "Tony, your endurance is seriously lacking!"

Tony got angry. "What did you say? I'm lacking? Go ask my girlfriends where I'm lacking!"

"I meant your armor, not you. You're so sensitive. Could it be that...?"

Tony became even angrier. "Who's sensitive?"

At that moment, Little Pepper climbed to her feet and ran nervously to Tony's side. "Tony, are you okay?"

Wang Bert casually said, "He's fine. He was even planning to find his ex-girlfriends and verify his endurance!"

"Tony!"

Little Pepper got angry. Before had been one thing, but now that she was with him, he still wanted to see his ex-girlfriends? Tony hurriedly explained, "I'm not! Little Pepper, he's slandering me! My endurance doesn't need verification!"

"You didn't seem to deny that you wanted to find your ex-girlfriends?"

Little Pepper sneered. Tony immediately froze. Wang Bert burst into laughter, and Tony glared at him. Wasn't this all because of him? At that moment, the nearly bald Coulson walked over and extended his hand to Wang Bert. "Mr. Wang, thank you for saving us. I'm Phil Coulson from S.H.I.E.L.D."

Coulson looked at Wang Bert with amazement. He finally understood why the Director valued this man so highly. This Blood God was truly powerful. Neither Iron Monger nor Iron Man was a match for him.

Wang Bert shook hands with the mayor of Marvel's beginner village and said, "Hello. By the way, Coulson, are you the one handling my appearance fee?"

"Huh?"

Coulson was stunned. There was an appearance fee? Wang Bert laughed and said, "Just kidding. All right, Tony, Pepper, it's settled. I'm heading out!"

"Mr. Wang, thank you."

Little Pepper said gratefully, while Tony muttered, "I could've handled it without him!"

"Tony!"

Little Pepper was displeased. Tony turned away without speaking, but inwardly sighed. He owed two favors now. How was he supposed to repay them? That bastard was not only richer than him, but stronger too!

Wang Bert did not care. He waved a hand and said, "Pepper, call me Bert from now on. Obadiah's era is over. Next comes your era!"

With that, Wang Bert jumped into his sports car and drove away. Little Pepper froze, then remembered the fortune-telling from a few days ago. She felt both expectant and uneasy. Could she really become President of Stark Industries?

The fighting was over, so it was naturally time to deal with the aftermath. Iron Man and Iron Monger's battle had destroyed half a street and killed dozens of people. They had to give the public an explanation! At the press conference the next day, S.H.I.E.L.D. had carefully prepared a cover story. However, the moment the wild Tony stepped onstage, he directly announced that he was Iron Man, causing an uproar throughout the room! "Coulson, I'm sorry!"

Little Pepper apologized helplessly to Coulson, though she was not surprised. After all, that was Tony Stark!

"It's nothing!"

Coulson waved it off and went out to contact the Director and see how they could wrap things up. Remembering something, Yinsen said to Little Pepper, "I know what Bert meant by a great undertaking now!"

"A great undertaking? Super Heroes?"

Little Pepper was stunned. Wang Bert's fortune-telling seemed to be coming true step by step! In other words, she would eventually run away with Happy? Little Pepper silently prayed for Happy. Everyone knew someone was extremely petty!