?
"Listen, Vanko isn't dead yet. He's taken control of Rhodey's armor and all of Hammer Industries' robots. Hack into those robots' systems and take back control as soon as you can."
Tony Stark spoke at a breakneck pace, then abruptly twisted aside to evade the barrage of machine-gun fire and missiles sweeping in from behind him.
"All right, looks like you're in a pretty bad spot. Give me five minutes. I'll be right there."
Though he had wanted to take the chance to needle Tony Stark, Lee Stein didn't joke around when it came to serious matters. He quickly nodded and cut off the call.
"Pandora, you can come over now. Let's put on an arms show worthy of Stein Group."
"No problem, sir!"
On the top floor of Stein Tower, in the product testing room of the executive laboratory.
Otto Gunther and Max had returned to their respective posts after completing the development project, so the place was empty. The lights were off, and the interior was pitch-black.
Yet amid the endless darkness, a ghostly blue glow suddenly lit up, accompanied by the sounds of machinery moving.
"Beep. Comprehensive multifunctional combat platform commencing self-diagnostic!"
"Self-diagnostic complete! Operations normal!"
"Locating assistance site. Location confirmed. Departing!"
Accompanied by a series of deliberately installed voice prompts meant to alert and warn others, the thrusters on Pandora's Box, which was shaped like a massive metal chest, ignited rapidly. With a thunderous roar and blazing flames, it shot through the automatically opening dome and straight into the sky.
Since they were both in Queens, Pandora's Box caught up with Bumblebee in no time, hovering in the air above it.
In fact, Lee was already near the expo by then.
Two starkly different scenes were unfolding around the expo. On one side, people