Tony's Offensive

"How is Fury doing now?"

Shendu sat in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s central command room, watching the prison surveillance feed before him. Fury, Ross, and the others were quietly staying inside.

"His mental state is average. He's in a daze. Before this, he was beaten up by those generals and didn't resist." Steve answered from the side.

Shendu nodded and instructed, "Find an opportunity to rescue Fury. Remember, don't let him become suspicious, and don't let him come into contact with Tony."

"Natasha, cripple S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal systems, then go find Banner. He should have seen the Security Council's condemnation of Fury on television. Tell Banner that Fury has gone mad and that Tony has completely broken with S.H.I.E.L.D."

Natasha and Steve took a step back, their bodies turning into shadows as they vanished.

"Fury, don't you have anything to say? You thought you controlled everything, yet you didn't realize you were being used as a weapon." Ross looked at Fury, who was now sprawled on the ground with a bruise still on his face.

Fury had regained his composure by then and ignored Ross's mockery.

"Tony hasn't allied himself with Shendu. He should already have a countermeasure. We still have Steve and Natasha. Banner isn't here at the moment, but the Captain should already have his own plan in motion." Fury looked toward the corner of the room.

"What do you mean? You're counting on Steve to charge into S.H.I.E.L.D. alone?" Ross had calmed down as well.

The lights in the room suddenly went out, plunging everything into complete darkness.

"What's going on? Is Shendu making his move?"

Ross scanned his surroundings, but he could see nothing. He could only keep his fists clenched, ready for whatever danger might appear.

Bang!

The door was kicked open, and a beam of intense light shone on their faces, making them unable to open their eyes.

"Director!" Steve's voice came from the source of the light.

Hearing the voice, Fury narrowed his eyes. "Steve, you really broke in."

"Now isn't the time for that. Natasha is hacking the security system here. Valmont is heading toward her now, and she won't be able to hold out for long." Steve reached out and pulled Fury to his feet.

All the agents within S.H.I.E.L.D. had already been cleared out by Shendu, leaving the interior feeling utterly empty. Under Steve's lead, the group encountered no resistance.

"I remember this route being longer. Wouldn't it be faster to leave through the main entrance?" Ross, walking at the rear, looked at the stairs leading upward.

"Idiot. Do you think Shendu wouldn't have made preparations? The main entrance is the most dangerous place right now. Who knows how many traps that lunatic has set up." Fury explained impatiently.

The group followed Steve to Fury's office. The floor-to-ceiling window there had been shattered, and a steel cable stretched from it to the rooftop of a distant building.

"Wait." Fury did not immediately use the zipline on the cable. Instead, he turned and walked over to a safe nearby.

"He's not from Earth after all. He didn't even deal with a safe like this." Fury crouched down, seeing no signs that the safe had been damaged.

Password, fingerprints, voiceprint, retinal scan.

Steve watched Fury carry out the series of procedures without stopping him. He watched as Fury took a pager from the safe. It looked very old-fashioned, as though it no longer had any ability to communicate.

"Fury, at a time like this, you're still carrying around that antique? Are you planning to sell it for money when you fall on hard times?" Ross was beside himself with irritation.

Some time after Fury and the others left, Shendu emerged from a corner of the room. Looking at the opened safe in the corner, his figure gradually faded away.

At Stark Industries, Tony lay on a sofa with a button in his hand.

"Sir..." JARVIS's voice sounded.

"I know. Since we have guests, we should prepare a gift."

Tony interrupted JARVIS and pressed the button in his hand. The room's layout transformed as the walls flipped over, revealing a large number of rocket launchers from the other side.

Tony picked up the glass on the table and raised it toward the empty air before him. "Since you're here, why not show yourself and have a drink with me?"

Shendu's figure appeared before Tony. "How did you discover me?"

Tony smiled. "The one who discovered you wasn't me. It was JARVIS."

Shendu raised a brow and looked at the display screen nearby. The image on it had changed, and a new heat source had appeared before Tony.

"Sensors? Ordinary sensors couldn't detect me," Shendu said.

Tony pushed the glass toward Shendu. "Pressure. As long as you appear in this room, the pressure on the floor changes. Detecting you based on those real-time pressure changes is easy enough."

"Humans are always coming up with strange things." Shendu did not drink the wine in the glass.

Tony walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and placed his hand on the table beside it.

Pieces of red metal appeared and covered his body. "I don't want to waste words on you."

The sound of jets rang out as Tony, clad in armor, shot out of Stark Tower. The flipped rocket launchers fired in unison, targeting Shendu inside the room.

A violent explosion erupted. Shendu emerged from the thick smoke without a single injury.

"Just as I thought." Tony hovered in the air, his voice coming from the armor. "Ordinary weapons can't hurt you."

"And you still tried even though you knew? Too much money? You blew up your own property and still look so confident." Shendu taunted.

"You're nothing more than another invader after Loki. You don't really think we have no way to deal with you, do you?"

Tony waved his hand through the air. A roar came from the distance as a vast Iron Legion flew in from afar, hovering in neat formation behind Tony.

Shendu narrowed his eyes at the sight. "You don't know my abilities?"

Tony smiled. "Try it. See whether your ability to control inanimate objects can control my Iron Legion."

Shendu raised his hand, the power of the Mouse Talisman surging within it. Without any surprise, he took control of one suit of armor.

When he tried to command the armor to fire at Tony, he received no response.

"You noticed, didn't you? Even if you can control inanimate objects, you still can't pose any threat to me."

Tony raised his hand as an energy beam continuously gathered in his palm. A laser fired. "No matter what commands my Legion receives, they must pass through a verification process first. It determines whether the command came from me. Without passing that process, they won't react at all."

Shendu raised an arm and blocked the laser. A faint sting came from his arm, and Shendu narrowed his eyes at the wound there.

Seeing Shendu's reaction, Tony continued, "You felt it, didn't you? Guess what I developed from your blood. Then guess what kind of weapon I made specifically for you using it."