War Machine

In the hospital's intensive care unit, Tony saw Ivan lying in bed, missing a hand and a foot.

"Your little gadget wasn't bad. It just spun a little too slowly." Tony looked at Ivan, who silently watched him. It was hard to imagine that this was the man who had tried to lash him with two whips a few hours ago. Luke followed him inside and looked at Ivan on the hospital bed, wondering whether he should just kill him.

But at the sight of the surveillance cameras all over the room, Luke quietly abandoned that idea.

"Increase the rotation speed, then pass the reverse energy through an ionized plasma channel. That would be very useful, but inefficient."

It was Tony's usual approach: first belittle someone in their field of expertise, then talk to them.

"I don't understand. With just a few minor adjustments, you could make a lot of money off it."

Ivan gave a contemptuous smile. "You come from a family full of robbers and thieves. You think you're no sinner, and you want to rewrite your history, but you've forgotten everyone the Stark Group killed."

"You call me a thief, but where did you steal your technology from?" Stark said slowly, trying to learn something.

"My father, Anton Vanko."

"Sorry, never heard of him."

With just a little provocation, Ivan grew angry.

"You're not alive just because that guy next to you saved you. You owe far more to my father!"

"I'm alive simply because I have a good buddy."

Ivan grew angrier, but then he laughed.

"Tony Stark, do you know what happens when God bleeds? People stop believing in him. You said no one could reproduce your technology for twenty years, but now... the false god has bled."

Tony's expression darkened. The moment he saw the reactor on Ivan's chest, he had known there would be big trouble ahead.

"When blood enters the water, it draws sharks. Even your brother won't be able to save you from the world." Ivan glanced at the innocent Luke, then continued speaking to Tony. "And all I have to do is watch from here."

"Where will you be watching from?" Tony asked. "Prison?"

He called to Luke as he spoke and started walking out.

"Tony Stark, you don't have much time left. Dying of palladium poisoning is very unpleasant."

Tony smiled. "Looks like you don't have a good buddy."

Outside the hospital, Luke glanced at Ivan's room and released a few Shadow Ninjas into several dark corners to see if they could find a chance to dispose of Ivan.

Tony got into the car in silence. Luke glanced at Natasha in the driver's seat, then joined Tony in the back.

The atmosphere on the drive was somewhat heavy, and Rhodey called many times.

The military was now like a swarm of irritating flies, trying to surround Tony and swallow him whole, but Rhodey had used every connection he had to hold off those attacks.

After exchanging a few words with Rhodey, Tony quietly thought things over.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Ivan was out of danger, but he was still wheeled back into his room. Several mechanical limbs were secretly delivered to the hospital.

Early the next morning, Luke watched the morning news over breakfast, but the news was now full of attacks on Tony.

It was not hard to imagine who was directing these people. Luke flipped through many channels before finally settling on Windmill and the Know-It-All.

As he enjoyed his delicious breakfast to the accompaniment of elegant music, Tony soon appeared in the living room as well.

From his heavy dark circles, it was easy to guess that he had spent another whole night working in the lab.

"Is it bad?" Tony asked Luke, glancing at the television.

"Every channel is showing what happened yesterday. This is the only one still showing what it's supposed to," Luke said helplessly.

"Those guys really do love jumping on a hot story."

"Tony?" A voice came from the doorway. It was Pepper, whom they had not seen in a long time.

Luke tactfully took his breakfast out onto the balcony, leaving the living room to those two awkward people.

After spending an hour enjoying his breakfast, Luke glanced back inside and saw Pepper and Tony nestled against each other.

"Looks like I need to find somewhere to live soon. But first, rule out the Big Apple."

Although he had already been carried along into becoming a billionaire, Luke still did not want to buy a little home that was destined to be destroyed.

"JARVIS, show me if there are any good houses in Los Angeles..."

At Hammer Industries, Ivan sat at an expensive dining table, his missing limbs replaced with several mechanical prosthetics that looked very high-tech.

"I hope you like these mechanical arms. They're all extremely advanced." Hammer gave a strange smile that sent a slight chill down Ivan's back.

Looking down at the Stark Group logos that had not been wiped clean from the prosthetics, along with the conspicuous Hammer Industries logos painted on them, Ivan glanced at the man before him.

"I don't know whether you speak English. You can tell me. Perhaps I could get you an interpreter?" Hammer continued in English as he watched Ivan remain silent.

Is this guy an idiot? Still, I could make use of him.

Ivan thought in silence, while Hammer repeated "resources" and "money" like an imbecile, as though that would instantly teach the other man English.

"I think we can work together," Ivan said calmly, and Hammer burst into laughter.

"Of course. That's what I'm hoping for too. I can give you anything you want, but you have to build me armor like Iron Man's."

Ivan looked at his foolish expression. "Good. I want my bird... and videos of that Shadow Lord."

"All right, General. I'll persuade Stark to hand over the armor technology, but I hope you won't send armored vehicles to seize it. As far as I know, Tony is an extremely conceited man. If you try to take it by force, he might simply delete all the data."

Sitting in his car, Rhodey finally managed, by every means available, to talk the general out of sending tanks to seize Tony's armor. He sighed.

Over the past few days, the public attacks on Tony had grown increasingly vicious, and the military was itching to seize all his armor. They no longer wanted a superhero who merely clocked in and occasionally slacked off, but an army of armored soldiers entirely under their control.

Looking at the quiet Long Island Mansion outside, Rhodey was puzzled. Why had Tony not thrown an attention-grabbing party to celebrate his birthday today, as he had in previous years?

Rhodey saw Tony as soon as he stepped through the front door. He was about to greet him when a figure appeared beside him and clamped a hand over his mouth.

Rhodey looked over in alarm, one hand reaching for the pistol at his waist, but the person was Luke.

Rhodey gave him a questioning look, and Luke motioned for him to look again.

Rhodey looked and discovered that Tony was actually watching a movie with Pepper-a romance, no less, something he would never be interested in.

"What the hell?" Rhodey whispered. How had he not known these two were moving so quickly?

Luke motioned for him to follow, and the two went to the lab, which doubled as a garage.

Although Rhodey could not bear to disturb Tony, remembering his other reason for coming here left him deeply troubled. Luke began chatting with him naturally.

"So, if the military can't have armor of its own, they'll drive tanks over here and take all of Tony's suits?"

Luke nodded, having gotten the general picture.

"Why don't you just take a suit from here? How about that Mark II? It's still just a frame, with no weapons. You can outfit it however you like."

Luke pointed at a suit of armor as he spoke to Rhodey.

"Is that really okay?" Rhodey asked, looking at the silver armor.

Joking around was one thing, but he did not want to steal Tony's armor.

"Tony's armor is already on its fifth generation, and he's developing the sixth. This suit is just a decoration to him. It's no use sitting here," Luke said. Then he walked over, and the display case opened automatically. He simply hoisted the nearly ton-heavy suit onto his shoulder and set it down in front of Rhodey.

"Want to try it?" Luke asked Rhodey. "I take this suit out for fun when I have nothing to do."

Rhodey was tempted now. Although he knew Luke had many strange and powerful abilities, Tony's high-tech armor appealed to him more.

"Can I really try it?"

Rhodey made a token protest, but he was already having JARVIS assemble the armor around him.

Looking at the freshly minted War Machine, Luke silently took out a camera and snapped a photo.

"Send that to me later. I have to keep that picture as a souvenir."

After flying a few simple laps around the garage, Rhodey landed heavily on the floor.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Tony, who had been getting lovey-dovey with Pepper, had arrived in the lab at some point.

"My God, I just rewrote this suit's software. All its previous users were deleted from the system. Great, now it's yours."

"Uh, what do you mean?" Rhodey asked in confusion, glancing at the equally bewildered Luke.

"The program I wrote before let anyone use my armor if they put it on. A while ago, I thought that might be dangerous, so I simply rewrote the system to allow only one wearer to use it. And now you've become its sole wearer." Tony frowned and walked over to the computer.

"Looks like I can't remove you from the users either. Nothing I can do."

Seeing Tony looking troubled, Rhodey grew flustered. He glanced at Luke, shooting him a look that said, That's not what you told me. Luke shrugged helplessly.

"If you can't change it, why not just give it to Rhodey? Didn't you say no one could reproduce your technology for twenty years anyway?" Luke said casually.

Tony raised his head. "Twenty years was giving them too much credit. From that last video, the suits those guys built couldn't even move properly."

He walked over and checked the armor, seemingly at a loss.

"By the way, where's Pepper?" Luke casually brought up Pepper, who had originally been with Tony.

"Damn it, I told Pepper I was going to the bathroom! At this rate, she'll think I'm constipated." He looked at Rhodey. "All right, Rhodey, this suit is yours now. I have to get back to Pepper, so I can't keep talking."

Pointing at the garage door, Tony had JARVIS open it.

"Go out that way, and remember to fly carefully. Don't go too fast, or there's a spot you can easily crash into."

After saying that, Tony hurried upstairs.

Rhodey glanced at the garage door, then at Luke.

Luke spread his hands. "Then I won't disturb them either. I might as well find a hotel outside."

He drew a portal and left straight through it, leaving Rhodey alone.

Rhodey was somewhat puzzled, but a flight route to a military airfield automatically plotted itself on his display.

"Those two really are..." After a little thought, Rhodey understood what had really happened.

With a sigh, Rhodey closed his faceplate and flew out.

"Careful, careful." Rhodey flew very slowly and made it safely out of the garage. He glanced at a dent left by a collision nearby. That was probably the spot Tony had said was easy to hit.

Checking the route plotted by the armor, Rhodey piloted it into the sky.