"Warning! Armor integrity down to 64%! Right leg servomotor offline!"
Inside the Mark V's cramped helmet, blinding red lights flashed wildly. Tony gritted his teeth and gripped the thick electric whip wrapped around his waist with both hands.
High-voltage arcs carrying tens of thousands of volts clung like a festering infection, racing across the silver-and-red special alloy. The acrid stench of melting metal and scorched flesh filled the air.
To reduce its size, the portable suit had sacrificed too much armor plating and shock absorption. The lash had not only burned out its outer circuitry; its terrifying kinetic force had left Tony's insides churning.
"Break, damn you!" Tony roared as the Cluster Cannon in his chest lit up.
Boom!
A point-blank Plasma Blast struck the whip's connection point, and the tremendous recoil sent Ivan Vanko staggering.
But like a Siberian Brown Bear incapable of feeling pain, he plowed two deep furrows through the asphalt road with his feet and forcibly steadied himself.
Ivan grinned, exposing bloodstained teeth. With a sharp swing of his left arm, his second electric whip cracked through the air with an earsplitting sonic boom and wrapped precisely around the Mark V's neck.
Bzzzt!
Sparks exploded across Tony's faceplate, and his visual system instantly went black. Intense suffocation and the high-voltage shock briefly blanked his mind.
Above the track, in the VIP Box.
"That lousy tin can's about to get torn apart!" Jessica pressed herself against the floor-to-ceiling window, slapping the glass in agitation.
"Boss, if you don't make those two stop, we can kiss tonight's five-star hotel and seafood feast goodbye!"
Yang Ming leaned back on the leather sofa and leisurely sipped his thoroughly cold pour-over coffee.
"An overwhelming equipment advantage, and he still turns it into a turn-based fistfight. Between the two of them, they