The battle at the Expo

After spending a dozen or so hours looking up information online with Tony, Luke finally helped him put together a decent plan for confessing his feelings. Next came figuring out how to lure Pepper out.

According to Tony, what many people actually enjoyed was the feeling of suddenly having someone confess to them, so he planned to spring a surprise on Pepper.

Watching Tony act like a relationship expert after spending a day reading confession tips online left Luke rather speechless.

Looking at the densely packed steps Tony had listed, Luke felt that the guy had never been this serious even when building his armor.

Checking the time, Luke suddenly realized it was almost seven. Hammer Industries' presentation was about to begin.

The phone suddenly rang, too. Tony was furious. Who had nothing better to do than call his landline? They were interrupting his train of thought!

People he knew, or anyone with an urgent matter, generally called his cell directly. His landline was only there for outsiders, so Tony had no intention of having a proper conversation.

"You mother-effing son of a..." Tony picked up the phone, unleashed a torrent of abuse, and angrily hung up without caring about the consequences.

Luke, who had been waiting to enjoy the show, froze. Why weren't you following the script? How were you supposed to get the idea to head to the Expo now?

Just as he was wondering whether to tie Tony up and drag him over, the phone rang again. Luke sighed in relief. Ivan, good man. Such persistence. After this, I'll leave your corpse intact!

Tony, however, was even more annoyed and told JARVIS to hang up.

Luke couldn't let that happen and hurriedly stopped JARVIS. "Tony, this guy's still calling after you cursed him out like that. Maybe it really is urgent. Just answer it."

Tony frowned, but set down the flowchart in his hand and picked up the phone.

"Tony Stark!"

Before Tony could speak, the person on the other end spoke first.

Tony's brow furrowed, sensing that something was up. "Who are you?"

Ivan froze on the other end. Did I really leave that little impression on you? You don't even recognize my voice?

"I'm Ivan!" Ivan roared angrily, feeling a little better.

"How can you still make phone calls in prison?" Tony was rather speechless. So it was this little bastard.

"I'm not in the hospital. I'm somewhere else. Guess where?" Ivan let out a villainous laugh, but Tony wasn't buying it.

"Why the hell would I waste my time guessing? What's wrong with you? Fine, you broke out. I'll send you back in a couple of days!" Tony grew increasingly impatient. Now that he had created the new element, the Preliminary Technology Reactor wasn't so important anymore. If someone offered enough money, he might even sell it.

He had a more powerful, longer-lasting new element now anyway. The other side couldn't beat him in an energy race, so Ivan naturally wasn't that important anymore.

Ivan froze, growing even angrier, but he couldn't kill Tony through the internet.

"Tonight at the Expo, I'll make you and your family pay! Mark my words!" Ivan roared, then hung up.

Tony helplessly picked at his ear. That shout had actually left it aching a little.

But remembering what Ivan had just said, Tony asked JARVIS to pull up the Expo's schedule for tonight.

Tony discovered that tonight happened to be Hammer Industries' presentation, featuring something called Mechanical Soldiers. Combined with Ivan's words, that gave him a bad feeling.

"JARVIS, call Pepper!"

Inside the venue, Pepper sat in her seat, with Natasha beside her arranging various matters.

Pepper looked exhausted. Over all these days, she had hardly gotten any proper rest. After the Stark Group's restructuring, there was a tremendous amount to do, and she had no experience handling it. Without Natasha's assistance, she really couldn't have managed the Stark Group properly.

Thinking of those hosts who said she lacked experience and simply didn't have the talent to shoulder such a major responsibility made Pepper angry.

But angry as she was, she was now the Stark Group's CEO. She couldn't exactly jump into a public spat with a host herself.

Glancing at the schedule Natasha handed her, Pepper felt utterly exhausted, but she still had to keep going so she wouldn't disappoint Tony's expectations of her!

Her phone rang just then. Pepper checked it and saw that it was Tony.

Pepper answered, only to hear Tony's tense voice.

"Potts, are you at the Expo right now?"

"Of course. I'm the Stark Group's CEO. How could I not attend our own Expo?" Pepper said with a smile.

"Damn it! Pepper, get out of there right now! It's dangerous. And hand the phone to Natasha. I need to talk to her!"

Pepper frowned, but still handed Natasha the phone.

After exchanging a few words, Natasha's expression changed dramatically, and she quickly stood up.

"I think we need to leave right away!" The smile Natasha always maintained vanished as she spoke coldly to Pepper.

"Uh, what happened?" Pepper was pulled to her feet by Natasha and led outside.

The two attracted quite a few people's attention, and Hammer also spotted them preparing to leave.

He frowned. Today was Hammer Industries' weapons presentation. If the Stark Group's CEO left, what would the guests think?

He hurried over to stop them, but upon seeing Hammer, Natasha walked straight toward him.

"Where are you going..."

Before Hammer could finish, Natasha pinned him to the floor.

She yanked Hammer's arm hard behind his back, making him scream.

"Where's Ivan?" Natasha radiated murderous intent. She was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents, not some delicate little girl!

"What Ivan?" Hammer still tried to play dumb, but his arm was promptly pulled out of its socket, leaving him in even greater agony.

"Hammer Industries! He's at Hammer Industries!" Hammer hadn't put up any resistance at all, though he was a bottom anyway, so that was hardly anything.

Natasha dropped Hammer, took out a radio and said something, then hurried outside with Pepper.

By then, Tony and Luke had also arrived at the venue through a portal, and JARVIS's tracking quickly located Pepper.

"What happened, Tony?" Pepper still hadn't recovered from seeing her assistant pin Hammer Industries' CEO to the floor, and instinctively asked upon spotting Tony.

"Hammer got Ivan out. He just called and threatened to destroy me. I have a feeling there's definitely something wrong with that batch of Hammer Industries Mechanical Soldiers!"

After briefly explaining the situation, Tony told Pepper to go somewhere safe, then flew toward the main hall with Luke.

Luke used his flying boots to keep close behind Tony and spoke to him through his headset.

"I'll stop Hammer Industries' Mechanical Soldiers. You go capture Ivan."

Tony nodded, though he still needed to find Rhodey. Rhodey was with the military, so once the fighting started, he would need him to explain the situation to them.

"Hey, Rhodey, can you hear me?"

At that moment, Rhodey was beneath the stage in the main hall, standing with a group of Mechanical Soldiers. In a moment, they would rise onto the stage on a lift.

As the military's War Machine, Rhodey had still taken his armor to Hammer Enterprises, the military's biggest partner, to replace a whole series of weapons and enhance its overall firepower. Though it wasn't as high-tech as the Iron Man Armor, its firepower was greater!

"Tony? What's up?" Rhodey, who hadn't fought Tony as he had in the original plot, sounded pleasantly surprised.

"Where are you?"

"Under the stage in the Expo's main hall. I'm helping Hammer Industries with some publicity in a minute. Seriously, buddy, you need to come see these Mechanical Soldiers down here. They make me feel like I'll be out of a job before long."

Rhodey looked back at the Mechanical Soldiers as he spoke to Tony.

"Are all the Mechanical Soldiers there?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, and there sure are a lot of them. Maybe Hammer Industries can make a fortune off these Mechanical Soldiers from now on."

"All right, listen to me, Rhodey. Destroy every Mechanical Soldier! Ivan built them!"

"What?" Rhodey was still confused, but his faceplate suddenly turned red, inexplicably entering combat mode. At the same time, the lift began carrying him and the Mechanical Soldiers upward.

Frowning, Rhodey tried to turn off combat mode, only to discover that he had lost control of his armor.

"Hey! Tony, I can't control my armor! It's entered combat mode, and now I'm heading up onto the stage with all the Mechanical Soldiers!"

"Damn it!"

Tony cursed, spotting the open lift shaft on the stage from afar.

"Now what's happening?" Hammer, who had finally gotten his arm reset, stared at the unexpected development onstage. What kind of presentation mishap was this now?

But the moment the Mechanical Soldiers appeared onstage, their gun barrels, which weren't supposed to be able to fire, automatically rose and aimed at the approaching Iron Man.

After a brief silence, all the Mechanical Soldiers opened fire together, sending bullets and missiles of every kind toward Tony.

"Fuck!" Tony cursed viciously, making an emergency evasive maneuver to dodge the hail of bullets. Meanwhile, the continuous gunfire threw the venue into chaos.

These people were all major figures in business and the military. They couldn't be allowed to die here, or how would the Stark Expo ever be held again?

Luke gauged the distance and teleported over, arriving near the hall as over a thousand Shadow Ninjas appeared.

The Blade Soldiers charged the Mechanical Soldiers onstage, while the Ninja Soldiers simply picked up the ordinary people one by one and carried them out of the venue.

The Sniper Mechanical Soldiers watched the incoming Blade Soldiers, rapidly swiveling their guns. Directed by computers, they predicted the Blade Soldiers' paths and opened fire.

Large-caliber bullets tore straight through the bodies of over half the Blade Soldiers, returning them to shadow.

Luke frowned, not expecting these Mechanical Soldiers to react so quickly. He promptly had the Blade Soldiers move erratically as they approached, but the Mechanical Soldiers came in numerous types and actually assembled into a formation.

Under computer direction, their coordination was perfect, keeping the Blade Soldiers firmly at bay.

Luke moved a little closer and summoned Troll Soldiers.

The hulking figures lunged at the opposing formation, blocking incoming bullets and missiles with both hands and forcibly smashing the enemy formation apart.

Blade Soldiers followed close behind, their sharp claws slicing open one Mechanical Soldier after another.

"Damn it, I'm about to take off!" Rhodey shouted as he read the information on his display.

Luke hurriedly ordered several nearby Troll Soldiers to pin Rhodey to the floor.

The weapons on Rhodey's armor automatically opened to retaliate, but Blade Soldiers closed in and destroyed every weapon on him with a few strikes.

"Sorry, Rhodey, but you can have Tony give you some better weapons later."

Rhodey looked regretfully at the destroyed Ex-Wife on his shoulder. He hadn't even tried out that weapon with its badass name yet.

Although Rhodey's warning had allowed the Troll Soldiers to grab him, some Flying Soldiers still managed to take off, escaping the range of the Blade Soldiers on the ground.

Tony arrived just then, destroying that batch of Mechanical Soldiers with the lasers in his hands and the precision missiles on his shoulders.

"Good work! We shouldn't have any enemies left now! But could you let me go?"

Rhodey shouted from where he was pinned to the floor, but Luke answered helplessly, "Sorry, but you're being controlled. I can't let you go until you're freed."

As he spoke, he took out a camera and snapped pictures like mad, frightening Tony beside him. He absolutely could not make a fool of himself in front of this guy in the future.

"So, can somebody save me?" Watching Luke take pictures beside him, Rhodey wanted to crawl straight into a crack in the floor.

"I'm on my way." Natasha's voice came over the voice channel. At that moment, she and Happy were heading to Hammer Industries.

Hearing the rustle of clothing from the other end, the men fell into a strange silence.

"Tony, are you all right?" Pepper ran into the hall and saw the destroyed Mechanical Soldiers. Several police officers followed her, holding the endlessly babbling Hammer.

"It's safe here now, Potts." Tony went up and gave Potts a reassuring hug, but the Iron Man Armor dug painfully into her.

Pushing Tony away in distaste, Pepper surveyed the scene.

"So, is it all over?"

Luke and Tony exchanged a glance.

"No, there's still one guy." Tony thought of Ivan, but didn't know where he was.

"Hey, Tony! Come out and have a proper fight with me!"

An arrogant voice rang out from outside.