Whiplash in the Restroom

"Why did I have to come to this racing event with you?" Lu Qi asked Tony helplessly.

Tony was equally helpless. "I originally wanted to bring Pepper here. I didn't want to come here with a man either."

"Then why did you make Pepper angry?" Lu Qi glanced at the reporters constantly taking pictures of him and Tony, then sighed. He had originally wanted to avoid these reporters, but Tony had gotten him directly kicked out by Pepper.

Natasha emerged from the side and handed each of them a badge, gesturing for them to put them on.

Lu Qi looked at his badge. It identified him as a representative of 67 Mobile Company.

At least he wasn't Tony's lackey. Lu Qi nodded.

After Tony had angered Pepper last time, he had actually forcefully taken Natasha to be his assistant, reminding Pepper of unpleasant memories from the past.

Furious, Pepper left Natasha behind and walked away. Tony had not seen her for a long time afterward, except when she occasionally assigned him tasks through Natasha.

Experience had taught Tony not to provoke a woman in the middle of her anger, so he had finally come out to make an appearance and do some work. Even if he were given another chance, though, he would still have taken Natasha. He felt this woman was definitely not simple and could not be left at Pepper's side.

As long as Lu Qi was with him, his safety was absolutely guaranteed. He did not have to worry about whether this newcomer truly harbored ill intentions.

Under Natasha's introduction, Tony greeted several people and soon spotted someone he really did not want to see.

"Good luck. I'm leaving first."

When he saw Hammer approaching, Lu Qi quietly walked away. He did not like that flamboyant guy either. Being around him made Lu Qi feel like he would become stupid.

Tony glanced at the person leaving and sighed just as Hammer approached with a reporter.

From a corner, Lu Qi glanced at Hammer and Tony having a "pleasant" conversation and smiled. At some point, Natasha had sat down in front of him.

"Fury sent you to monitor Tony?" Lu Qi asked, looking at Natasha.

"That's right. Logically speaking, Stark should be severely poisoned by now, but his mental state and everything else are normal. Was that your doing?"

"Yes. Since you people weren't doing anything, I couldn't just watch Tony give up on himself. But my method only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. It would be nice if you could completely solve the palladium poisoning. It would save me the trouble too."

Natasha nodded. No wonder Tony had been acting so normal.

Lu Qi casually chatted with Natasha for a while, taking the opportunity to complain about Egghead with her.

They were having a pleasant conversation here, while those two were having a "pleasant" conversation over there. Tony soon fled to the restroom to avoid Hammer. Surely that guy would not follow him into the restroom.

Then Lu Qi noticed Hammer actually walking toward him.

"Hello, you're that superhero, Shadow Lord, right? To be honest, I figured out long ago that you were Shadow Lord. After you took down Iron Monger, you suddenly appeared beside Tony. You two seem to be very good friends? Tony and I also..."

Lu Qi watched helplessly as Hammer began rambling on. How had this guy managed to take over the military's business? Just because he was gay and had backdoor dealings with those people?

Lu Qi helplessly apologized to Natasha, then tried to slip away by going to the restroom as well.

Just as Lu Qi stood and headed toward the restroom, Tony came running out in a panic.

"Lu Qi, there's a freak in there!"

Lu Qi was still a little stunned as he watched Tony run out. What was going on?

An electric whip tore through the restroom door, nearly striking Tony.

Damn, wasn't this guy supposed to be waiting for Tony on the track? Why was he in the restroom?

Lu Qi quickly summoned several Ninja Soldiers and had them escort Tony outside to a safe place.

When the people nearby saw a supervillain appear, they hurriedly ran outside as well.

Lu Qi sent more Ninja Soldiers to surround the restroom entrance, intending to trap Ivan Vanko inside. That guy's weapons were only a little stronger, and his armor was nothing special. One punch would still knock him down.

Two electric whips sliced through the walls, directly striking the surrounding Ninja Soldiers back into the shadows.

Lu Qi watched his Ninja Soldiers turn into shadows without any change in expression. Still, he had not expected Whiplash's electric whips to be so powerful that they could slice through walls. Then again, they could even pierce the superalloy used to make Iron Man armor, so that level of power made sense.

But then a figure charged straight out and pounced toward Lu Qi.

Lu Qi looked at the device on the man's body, wondering how he dared to charge in so recklessly. Was he not going to put on some defensive armor or something?

Don't Russians all pursue bigger calibers and heavier armor? You're practically running around naked. That's not authentic at all.

Several Ninja Soldiers emerged and threw wave after wave of darts from their hands. Seeing that things were going badly, Whiplash spun his whips into a blur, blocking every attack.

"What are you, some kind of gymnast?" Lu Qi could not help remarking as he watched Whiplash's agile whips.

That guy was unbelievably skilled with those whips. Lu Qi felt that if Whiplash entered a rhythmic gymnastics competition, he could take home a gold medal without question.

Whiplash turned to look at Stark, who had run outside. He did not continue tangling with Lu Qi, instead turning and slicing through the wall before running out.

Lu Qi followed right behind him, only to discover that Tony had somehow produced a suitcase and stepped onto it.

After a series of transformations, the suitcase turned into a suit of armor.

With the armor on, Tony finally had some confidence. He glared furiously at Whiplash and immediately fired two energy blasts, but Whiplash swung his whips and blocked them.

"His whip work is pretty good, right?" Lu Qi said to Tony.

"It is, but looking like that, he can forget about competing."

Tony played along, but soon noticed the glowing device on Whiplash's chest.

"Hey, freak, what's that on your chest?"

Whiplash lowered his head for a glance and smiled. "The thing that saved your life."

"Impossible!" Tony became agitated. How could his technology have fallen into someone else's hands?

The thrusters beneath his feet activated, and Tony flew rapidly toward Whiplash. However, the two electric whips immediately wrapped around him. Whiplash grinned and increased the energy output, quickly tearing apart Mark 5's already thin outer armor.

With a flick of his hand, he redirected Tony's flight path with a deft force and slammed Tony into the ground.

"Tony?" Lu Qi had originally wanted to watch Tony beat Whiplash up, but he had not expected Tony to get beaten so badly. He quickly sent a whole group of Ninja Soldiers to attack Whiplash.

Whiplash looked at the blades stabbing toward him and tried to release Tony, but Tony instead grabbed the electric whips and yanked them toward himself, restraining Whiplash.

Several long blades slashed at the inescapable Whiplash, severing one of his arms and one of his legs.

Lu Qi felt somewhat helpless. He had originally wanted to kill Whiplash outright, but Tony's pull had allowed Whiplash to avoid the vital strikes.

Whiplash had been subdued now. Seeing the crowd in the distance beginning to take pictures, Lu Qi gave up on finishing him off.

Tony looked at Whiplash lying on the ground, walked over, and tore the large light from his chest.

After briefly analyzing the device, Tony crushed it in his hand.

Only then did a group of police officers finally dare to approach and arrest Whiplash.

"You okay?" After regretting for a while that he had not killed the supervillain outright, Lu Qi looked at the dazed Tony.

Tony removed his helmet, and Lu Qi saw the grave expression on his face.

"I'm in trouble," Tony said.