"Is it over?"
Tony coughed as the smoke and dust choked him.
The blast threw Tony and Rhodey through the air.
As a soldier, Rhodey had better combat instincts.
He quickly realized Ivan didn't seem to be there and cried out, "He's not here!"
Tony caught on and turned to look behind him.
Blue thruster flames flared, and Ivan's armor rocketed toward him, sending him flying with a punch.
Rhodey unleashed the weapons on both arms at Ivan, but his firepower still wasn't enough to breach the armor's defenses.
Ivan charged at Rhodey, and the two heavy suits began fighting hand to hand.
"Fuck, this guy knows how to box!"
As a soldier, Rhodey's fighting ability was not to be underestimated.
But Ivan, a scientist, possessed formidable combat skills that hardly suited his profession.
His armor was heavier, hit harder, and had stronger defenses.
He grabbed Rhodey by the shoulders and threw him away, only for a flash of white light to strike his armor from the side and send him flying.
Ivan steadied himself with his thrusters. His faceplate flipped open, and he laughed wildly. "Tony, you never suffered the way I did, tortured by those monsters in that frozen wasteland. You can't beat me!"
He snapped both whips, blue electricity dancing along them.
"History is about to be rewritten, you despicable Stark."
Ivan rolled his neck and grinned viciously at Tony. "I'm not the man I used to be!"
"Ivan!"
Standing beside Rhodey, Tony roared his name.
Rhodey quipped, "What happened to him that made him so into whips? S&M?"
"Whatever it was, we need to finish him quickly."
Tony had thought that explosion would secure their victory. He hadn't expected Ivan to evade it.
It didn't make sense.
Ivan's faceplate closed. He swung his whips, their sharp cracks through the air putting immense pressure on his opponents.
"I really don't want to touch those whips," Rhodey remarked, closing his own faceplate.
"Then let's take them out first." Tony locked onto Ivan's left hand and shouted, "You take the right, I'll take the left!"
Their years of friendship gave them perfect coordination.
They raised their palms and fired their energy blasts simultaneously.
Ivan sensed something wrong and swung his whips, but the blasts struck his arm armor.
With the whips' power supplies damaged, Tony and Rhodey accelerated toward Ivan together and began pummeling him with punches and kicks.
Neither of them had much power left.
Rhodey in particular had a suit modified by the military with additional weapons, but no one had been able to alter its core power system from Tony's original design.
He still used the previous generation's reactor, and powering that heavy machine consumed a tremendous amount of energy.
His earlier fight against the Iron Soldiers had also depleted much of his ammunition.
A fierce battle began, with Ivan's armor taking on both of them.
Despite its immense bulk, Ivan could make it react quickly and land blows on his opponents.
"It bears some resemblance to boxing, with elements of the Shield Guard Technique."
Even with JARVIS's analysis, Tony struggled to keep up.
Ivan leaped up and drove a punch into Tony's faceplate, snapping his head sideways and nearly breaking his neck.
Fortunately, Tony's armor was better built. He caught Ivan's arm and roared, "Rhodey!"
"On it!"
Rhodey grabbed Ivan's other arm.
Both men increased their thrusters' output, hauling Ivan's armor along as they accelerated toward an artificial hill in the ecological park.
The armor slammed into the hill, nearly making Ivan cough up blood.
His armor was tough, but it lacked Tony's shock absorption.
Sparks burst from the thrusters on his back. That impact had damaged them.
With a low growl, Ivan kicked Rhodey away, turned, grabbed Tony with his left hand, and pummeled him with his fists.
Tony fought back fiercely, trading blows with him.
Rhodey rejoined the fray. The three armored men battered one another, leaving it down to who could take the most punishment.
Clearly, no matter how capable Ivan was, he couldn't overcome the difference in materials.
Tony's newest armor also featured upgraded materials.
Ivan's arm armor failed first, followed by the machine gun on Rhodey's shoulder being torn off.
Sparks kept flashing across their suits.
In the end, Ivan fell just short.
He went down.
Tony and Rhodey fell with him.
"JARVIS, put combat training on my schedule."
Having paid for his inferior fighting skills, Tony stared at Ivan across from him, breathing heavily.
All three opened their faceplates and gasped for breath.
The difference was that Ivan was hurt much worse. His power system had been destroyed, and now he couldn't even stand.
The heavy armor had become a prison, leaving him a lamb awaiting slaughter.
Tony and Rhodey's suits were in terrible shape too, but at least they could still function normally.
"Looks like this won't end until one side is dead."
A voice rang out, sounding somewhat familiar to Tony.
He looked back and saw John standing there.
"When did you get here?"
"Probably around the time you and this Black gentleman were shooting at each other."
John shrugged. "I have to say, you two were really getting into it."
Rhodey was speechless. Why does this guy talk as cheekily as I do?
Ivan saw John too. At the sight of his face, his pupils contracted as though he had seen something terrifying.
"Wait, you know him?" Seeing Ivan's reaction, Tony immediately confronted John. "So your family really did send him to assassinate me."
"Don't make things up. I don't even know him." John rolled his eyes at Tony.
Still, Ivan's reaction warranted some consideration.
Did Dad really send him?
Surely not?
What exactly did Tony Stark do in the past to make Dad so angry?
Holding his wand in his left hand, John raised it and pointed it at the three men. "All right, gentlemen. Nobody move. Let me clear a few things up first."
He looked at Ivan. "Do you really have a connection to my father?"
"Your father?" Ivan stared at John's face. "You look more like your mother, both your face and your hair."
John was speechless. Why does that sound so strange?
Now even John wasn't sure.
Did Dad really send someone to kill Tony?
Should I finish him off now, or destroy the evidence?
If he made an enemy of Iron Man, his only option was to crush him early.
Later on, no one could know whether Tony might develop some kind of anti-John armor.
As John stood deep in thought with his wand raised, Rhodey leaned toward Tony and whispered, "What's that supposed to be? A fairy wand?"
Tony answered his friend, "That stick can do some pretty amazing things."
Ivan struggled to his feet. Looking at John, he said, "Leave, Jovanovic. This place will soon be rubble."
"Hmm?" John frowned. "You know me?"
"Your mother once knocked out my back molars." Nostalgia filled Ivan's eyes, and memories surfaced as he looked at John. "She's the strongest woman in the world."
Ivan Vanko had once lived in that country with his father.
Natasha Jovanovich, a daughter of the Jovanovich Estate.
A powerful, beautiful, black-haired girl.
She and her family had once helped Ivan's father.
Although the elder Jovanovic had been furious with the elder Vanko for betraying his country and rarely met him, he had helped Ivan resolve many problems.
Without Jovanovic, Ivan would never have become the man he was today. He could practically be called a child of the Jovanovic family.
He had inherited the elder Vanko's intelligence, but he had also inherited those debts of gratitude.
Although he hadn't taken John's threat seriously, Ivan couldn't bring himself to drag a child of the Jovanovic family into the grave with him.
He simply looked at John and said dazedly, "Your uncle is my friend. Having you as his nephew is what he's proudest of."
Remembering how those monstrous people would show off pictures of the boy to him, Ivan finally recognized John.
"In that case, trust me and put the fight aside for now."
John had originally come only to watch the excitement and ask about his father's whereabouts.
Now that Ivan turned out to be an old acquaintance of his mother's family, he might as well intervene.
He pointed his wand at Ivan and said calmly, "I have some questions for you, so stop for now."
"I can't." Ivan looked at the fallen Iron Soldiers. The power source on his chest glowed red as he smiled faintly. "I've already activated it."
Tony immediately looked around, his expression changing.
"Pepper!"
Remembering that there were Iron Soldier wrecks near Pepper Potts, he feared for her safety and immediately moved to leave.
Rhodey also noticed the Iron Soldiers about to explode. He reached out to John and urged, "Grab my hand! Let's get out of here!"
"You're surprisingly nice." Seeing that Rhodey hadn't immediately fled, John raised an eyebrow. "Go on ahead."
"All right. Take care, then." Rhodey took off.
With his flight systems gone, Ivan could only watch them leave.
He seethed with hatred. Even in death, he had failed to take that thieving Stark down with him.
Seeing John still there, he shouted angrily, "Get the hell out of here, Jovanovic!"
Once the bombs were activated, he couldn't turn them off.
Staying here meant certain death for John.
Looking into Ivan's eyes, John could tell through Legilimency.
The man before him bore him no ill will.
"Then let's leave together."
"Don't be stupid! The armor's power system is damaged. Without specialized equipment, I can't take this thing off!"
Desperately anxious, Ivan shouted at John.
"I have more options than you think." John smiled calmly and raised his wand.
"Expelliarmus!"
Red light flared in Ivan's eyes.
All the Iron Soldiers used for the display contained bombs Ivan had planted as a last resort to take his enemies down with him.
When the flashing red lights on their chests stopped.
Flames engulfed the New York Ecological Park.
The massive explosion destroyed the place.
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