Iron Man's Anxiety

Iron Man shrugged helplessly. "Tang, you know so much, yet you refuse to say anything. At first, I thought you had fallen for my good looks."

"Get lost..."

Apocalypse did not recruit him on the spot. For one thing, Ivan's bird had not yet been obtained; for another, without Hammer's help in letting him build armored suits and fulfill his desire for revenge, Ivan would not be able to let go.

Although he had failed to kill Iron Man in the original storyline, after all this turmoil, he would at least vent the resentment in his heart.

After all, the grudge between his father and Iron Man's father had only been work-related. It was not the hatred of a murdered father, so there was still room for reconciliation.

Sure enough, not long after Apocalypse and Iron Man left, Hammer came knocking.

Ivan's technology displayed at the racetrack had opened his eyes.

He soon learned that it shared the same power source as the Iron Man armor. As long as he got Ivan, it would be equivalent to obtaining the core of the Iron Man armor.

What did losing 20% of the shares matter? As long as I obtain this core power source, I, Hammer, can build an even greater weapons empire.

Tony does not manufacture armor, but I will not be such a hypocrite!

With Hammer's influence, extracting an insignificant prisoner was not much of a problem. By using his government connections and claiming that the person attacked was an American, he had Ivan transferred to the United States for trial.

What small European country would dare defy the demands of the United States? Besides, he was only a prisoner, so they naturally handed him over with both hands.

But Ivan was no fool. He knew Hammer was merely using him, and all those promises were castles in the air, with no real guarantee behind them.

So, while conducting secret research at Hammer Industries, he also quietly left many contingencies within the mechanical armor.

Poor Hammer thought he was the chess player controlling everything, never realizing that he was merely a stepping stone in the struggle between Ivan and Iron Man.

As the days passed, more and more palladium toxins accumulated inside Iron Man's body. To reduce his consumption of Recovery Potions, he could only take one every few days to delay the onset of poisoning.

Unless his heart stopped beating, the palladium toxins would continue to be produced without end.

Iron Man grew increasingly agitated and began attending various parties more frequently.

Pepper Potts, unaware of the reason, was deeply dissatisfied with Iron Man's reckless behavior, yet for the moment, she did not know where to begin persuading him.

"Tang, will I die? My toxin level has already reached 90%."

Apocalypse replied calmly, "If you do not find a solution, you will! My Recovery Potions have run out as well. From now on, I cannot provide any more for you."

Iron Man looked despondent and asked Black Widow, "Suppose this were your last birthday. What would you do?"

Black Widow said, "I would spend it with my husband."

Iron Man asked strangely, "You two are married? How come I did not know? Tang, secretly getting married is not something a good friend should do, is it?"

The question left Black Widow embarrassed and annoyed. She had inadvertently revealed her relationship with Apocalypse and did not know how to explain it.

Apocalypse said, "You should be worrying about your relationship with Pepper Potts. You are so severely poisoned. Are you not going to tell her?"

"What would be the point of telling her?" Iron Man said. "It would only make her worry for nothing. Forget it, enough of these boring topics. Tonight's party—let's get wild..."

At the party.

Wearing his armor, Iron Man frolicked with a group of blonde beauties. Sometimes he used his laser repulsors to shatter wine bottles, sometimes he performed acrobatics in his armor, drawing endless shrieks from the women.

Colonel Rhodes, who had been invited over, was utterly shocked. Iron Man possessed the world's most advanced armor technology, yet he had irresponsibly worn the armor out like this. If he got drunk and did something reckless, it would be no small matter.

Even when Pepper Potts came to persuade him, Iron Man ignored her and smashed the party venue into a complete mess.

Seeing Iron Man act so willfully, Colonel Rhodes flew into a rage.

Believing Iron Man could no longer shoulder the mission of maintaining world peace, he strode into the laboratory and put on another prototype armor. It had not yet been painted, its exterior displaying the raw silvery-white sheen of metal.

When Colonel Rhodes emerged in the armor, the women screamed again, while Iron Man enthusiastically invited Rhodey to join them.

Without saying much, Colonel Rhodes directly tackled Iron Man to the ground, trying to subdue him.

Iron Man asked in surprise, "Rhodey, what are you doing?"

Colonel Rhodes roared, "Tony, look at what you have become! And you said you had monopolized world peace?"

"What the hell is peace? Whoever wants to maintain it can maintain it. Tonight, we just drink and dance!"

"Then I'll dance with you until you've had enough!"

The two began brawling at the party.

Fortunately, Apocalypse had known this scene would happen in the original storyline and saved quite a few people at the critical moment.

When the guests saw the two steel monsters getting serious, they screamed and fled. The party came to an abrupt end.

Seeing that Iron Man seemed truly drunk, Colonel Rhodes had no choice but to let him go wild alone at home.

Still wearing the armor, he flew directly to the military base.

Watching Colonel Rhodes leave, Iron Man suddenly quieted down and remained silent.

The armor had remote-control technology. Without authorization, no one could possibly operate it.

In Iron Man 3, he had made dozens of armors self-destruct as fireworks for Pepper Potts, comforting her.

Letting Colonel Rhodes leave now was actually a contingency he had prepared.

If he truly could not overcome this life-or-death crisis, then he would hand this technology over to the country.

This was also the only Iron Man armor to end up outside his control, creating the later famous War Machine.

The next day.

Coulson brought over a large stack of documents and said to Iron Man, "These are research materials your father left with S.H.I.E.L.D. They are related to the Arc Reactor. Perhaps you can find a solution in them."

Iron Man said, "Leave them there. I'll look through them when I have time."

He did not hold much hope. After all, he was as exceptionally talented as his father, and several decades of technological progress had passed. These old materials held more commemorative value than research value.

In the original storyline, Nick Fury had Coulson keep an eye on Iron Man and make him search for a solution in the laboratory. But due to Apocalypse's appearance, what had been semi-house arrest became mere advice. They did not dare be too forceful.

At least, before finding someone powerful enough to contend with Apocalypse, Nick Fury wisely showed Apocalypse sufficient respect.

Coulson turned to Apocalypse and said, "Mr. Tang, I need to go on a business trip. I'll leave Tony to you. His talent is very useful to humanity. Please find a way to help him overcome this crisis."

"Of course," Apocalypse said. "But my Recovery Potions are basically exhausted. We will need another method. By the way, are you going to New Mexico?"

"How did you know?" Coulson asked in astonishment. This was classified information; even Black Widow had not been informed.

"I also know it has something to do with a hammer. Once Tony's matter is settled, I'll go take a look."

Coulson was delighted. "With Mr. Tang taking action, we can rest assured."

After Coulson encountered Apocalypse last time, he went back and questioned Nick Fury. Nick Fury had no choice but to let him see Apocalypse's file.

After all, his subordinate had already crossed paths with Apocalypse. If they continued keeping it secret and an ignorant agent provoked that monster, no one knew how it would end.

After reading the file, Coulson sucked in a cold breath.

Back at Stark Industries, he truly had been fearless through ignorance. He had actually dared to shoot at a monster-class powerhouse like this.

Fortunately, Mr. Tang had recognized him as being from S.H.I.E.L.D. at the time. Otherwise, whether he could have walked out of Stark Industries alive was uncertain.

Afterward, he had tracked and observed him, discovering that Mr. Tang was naturally kindhearted. He loved saving people at disaster sites but showed little interest in fighting. With him going there, the threat that mysterious hammer might bring would be greatly reduced.

The hammer Apocalypse spoke of was Thor's Hammer!

According to the original storyline's timeline, the events of Thor took place after Iron Man 2.

To test Thor, the Allfather Odin threw the hammer onto Earth, then exiled Thor to the town near it, hoping he would reflect on his mistakes.

They had only just discovered the hammer. Thor had probably not yet arrived on Earth, so Apocalypse was in no hurry. He would solve Iron Man's problem first.