The Proper Use of a Hunk of Iron

When the two suits of armor crossed the border, the soldiers monitoring the area thought Superman had arrived. They immediately hit the emergency button and reported it to their superiors.

That was why an elite flight formation of more than a dozen fighter jets had been dispatched.

"But where did this thing come from? Rhodey, did you just say 'just'?"

An Air Force lieutenant colonel slapped the table. "The two of them held up an entire formation, and you still think they aren't powerful? You called them just exoskeletal mechs?"

Rhodey rubbed his face. "I was comparing them to Superman! I work in the weapons research department. Of course I know what these two things mean!"

"But 'just' really is the right word for them!"

"Look at the technology on them."

"Unknown high-output stable energy sources, ultra-high-strength and high-precision metal materials, unbelievable anti-gravity systems and energy transmission systems..."

"These technologies are at least ten years ahead of ours!"

"If we had this technology, the Pentagon could start planning world domination tomorrow!"

"What I can't understand is why they used technology like this to make armor. It's like sending someone protected by a group of tanks onto a battlefield to fight hand-to-hand..."

"And haven't you noticed they haven't launched a single proactive attack? Is it possible they're actually on our side?"

Rhodey advised, "So why don't we try communicating with them first?"

But General Ross, the highest-ranking officer present, made the call directly. "Whether they're on our side or not, shoot them down first!"

"Wait, what's that? It looks like another exoskeletal suit?" A colonel suddenly pointed at the screen and cried out.

Everyone looked over.

At some point, a silver-white suit of armor had appeared beside the red-and-gold one.

"Damn it, they're organized! Shoot them all down!" The mustache above Ross's mouth twitched.

Leon spotted the two suits weaving through the hail of gunfire from far away.

He accelerated and flew to Tony's side, who looked utterly bedraggled.

"Tony, it's only been half a day. Why do you look like you took a bath in an oil field?"

"Ah!" Tony cried out from inside the red-and-gold armor. When he turned and saw Leon, he nearly attacked him.

"Leon! Maybe next time you show up, you could look a little more human and a little less like a ghost!" Tony had genuinely been startled.

His body nearly lost balance in midair. "And why are you wearing my armor?"

Leon tilted his head. "Obviously because you took my armor away."

He glanced back. More than a dozen fighter jets were closing in hard behind them, their bullets never ceasing. A dozen aerial firing lines blocked most escape routes.

"What I mean is, why aren't you wearing that skintight underwear of yours?" Tony barely dodged a stream of bullets.

"Did you forget that I can't meet you while I'm wearing the Superman uniform because of that identity?"

Compared to Tony, Leon's evasive movements looked effortless.

"But more importantly, I was planning to show you the proper use of this hunk of iron!"

"What? You mean you brought me the instruction manual for the Mark armor? That would be fantastic. That's exactly what I'm missing." Tony curled his lip.

"The instruction manual doesn't cover what comes next. Watch closely. I won't use any of my own strength throughout the entire process!"

Leon firmly memorized the positions of every fighter jet behind him, then suddenly shouted.

"JARVIS, deploy the flaps!"

With a hiss, the silver-white Mark II deployed its flaps and abruptly decelerated!

At crucial moments, JARVIS was always so considerate. Whatever you told him to do, he did it immediately, without the slightest hesitation.

Even when Leon's command sent the Mark armor directly into the fighter formation.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Tony was stunned as he turned to watch Leon vanish behind him.

The fighter pilots behind them were equally dumbfounded.

They turned their heads and saw the silver-white armor flying beside their cockpits, enthusiastically waving at them.

"Command, this is formation leader! Target Three has suddenly decelerated and entered our formation. Request permission to change targets!" The squadron leader immediately grabbed his radio and shouted.

"Permission granted! Shoot it down at all costs!" The command center issued the order at once.

"Attack! Attack! Attack!" The fighter formation immediately split apart.

Some accelerated ahead while others slowed behind, surrounding Mark II in the middle as though they had rehearsed it hundreds of times.

Although there had been some initial panic, once the formation was in place, the fighter pilots could barely keep the grins off their faces.

To them, an enemy voluntarily entering their encirclement was no different from delivering itself on a platter.

"Aircraft One has locked onto the target!"

"Aircraft Two has locked on..."

"..."

Reports rang out continuously over the channel, and the squadron leader immediately gave the order to attack.

"Attack! Launch air-to-air missiles!"

Launch! Fire all missiles!

Every fighter jet launched missiles while also using its onboard cannons to seal off any room for evasive maneuvers.

Artillery fire came at Leon from every direction.

More than a dozen missiles rapidly accelerated after launch and would hit Mark II within seconds.

Naturally, Leon would not sit and wait for death.

He completely shut down the propulsion system and fell in a horizontal arc toward the ground below.

Such a move was completely outside their expectations.

The missiles coming from all directions immediately all passed in front of Mark II.

Though the tracking systems quickly turned them around again.

That single exchange drastically reduced the missile swarm's speed to less than one-third of what it had been.

"Pursue downward!" The fighter formation began turning as well.

"JARVIS, activate the intelligent targeting system." Leon used neither super vision nor super strength, relying entirely on the functions of the Mark II armor itself to counterattack.

JARVIS moved quickly. On the projection inside the helmet, it rapidly marked the trajectories and current speeds of each missile.

"Very good." Leon began accelerating backward as the missile swarm pursued him from the front.

At this point, they were moving in the complete opposite direction from Tony's earlier course.

"Leon!" Tony's voice cut into his helmet. "What are you trying to do? Calm down. Try not to attack. We're the 'intruders' right now. Don't escalate this!"

Their armor had never been registered with the Eagle side.

And since the armor carried conventional weapons, strictly speaking, they were hostile intruders.

The fighter jets were perfectly justified in shooting them down.

"I'm handling it. Don't worry. Just watch how I deal with them." Leon replied briefly.

He controlled the Mark armor as it accelerated, while keeping its speed slower than the missile swarm behind it.

When the missiles drew extremely close, he suddenly shifted aside. In that brief instant, the armor's acceleration first dropped, then surged.

As its speed changed, he slammed against the side of a missile with a clang!

"JARVIS, use electrical current to adhere to the missile casing. Be sure to shield the electromagnetic signal and avoid triggering the fuse sensors!"

After giving the order, Leon controlled the thruster flames beneath Mark II's feet and sharply increased their output.

He began accelerating with the missile in tow!