In the spacious underground plaza, Tony went all out against Howard. The latter had exhausted his ammunition and lacked any effective means of retaliation, leaving him with no choice but to endure passively.
That description sounded a little dirty, but that was the truth. Father and son, alone in a room, with artillery fire raging nonstop.
Tony maintained maximum output for about a minute, keeping Howard from getting close. However, the drain was too great, and he could no longer use energy weapons.
The Mark 50 Nano Suit was forced into close-combat mode!
The good news was that after Tony's relentless bombardment, Howard's suit had also depleted much of its energy. Its defensive shield had dropped out of combat mode, leaving only its turtle shell as protection.
"Sir, Mr. Howard has stopped invading my systems. I can continue assisting you in battle," Jarvis said, bringing Tony a second piece of good news.
"Why?"
"Perhaps Mr. Howard could not bear to hurt you!"
"Don't be stupid, Jarvis. I'd rather believe there's something wrong with his system."
Tony rolled his eyes. "That is good news, but stop calling him 'Mr. Howard.' Change his contact name to 'bastard.'"
"Sir, but bastard is indeed your..."
"Jarvis, do you know the difference between machines and humans?"
Tony muttered to himself, "Machines trust data, so he fooled you. Humans have more ways of thinking logically, so he can't fool me."
"But sir, what if the bastard really is your father?"
"Then that's bad news. Just now, he didn't show even the slightest mercy..."
Tony looked across at Howard. The nanotech components on Howard's arm armor had assembled into a sharp blade. Behind that cold steel, blazing fury simmered faintly.
"Jarvis, analyze his combat patterns and activate the countermeasure system."
"Scanning..."
Tony took a deep breath at