Battle
Li Qi stood on the balcony, powered up his armor, and flew several uninhibited circles around the balcony and above the villa. JARVIS had already been installed in the armor.
After a few circuits, Li Qi keenly noticed two helicopters slowly approaching over the sea to the southwest.
Using the armor's ultra-long-range telescope, he clearly identified them as two armed helicopters. Their cabin doors were open on both sides, and inside were a dozen or so armed men carrying guns, ammunition, and rocket launchers.
Li Qi knew these were undoubtedly Killian's armed squad. He absolutely could not let these helicopters approach the villa. Just two rockets would blast it to dust. He had to intercept them in advance.
Facing armed helicopters, Li Qi naturally would not let Daisy Johnson and Xu Xialing take the risk. He quickly changed direction in midair and accelerated his armor, charging toward the two helicopters.
Before long, the two sides came within visual range.
The bald man leading them had a face full of malice and unmistakably typical Eastern European features. He froze for a moment, then burst into wild laughter, assuming this was a defensive machine sent out by the mansion.
He immediately barked viciously into his radio, "Listen up! Open fire now! Don't hold back! Take this thing out first, then blow up that villa!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the bald man took the lead, snatching up a rocket launcher and firing a rocket at the armor.
In the air, Li Qi showed no weakness either. Several miniature missiles had already been synthesized inside his armor. These were all guided, portable, miniature high-explosive bombs produced by his own Stark arms company.
With a series of sharp whooshes, four or five miniature missiles shot toward the two helicopters like arrows loosed from a bow, shrieking through the air.
The two sides exchanged fierce fire in midair. Li Qi maneuvered his armor, while the two helicopters also swiftly took evasive action.
The frantic rattle of the helicopters' externally mounted machine guns instantly filled the sky. A torrential rain of 10.2-millimeter bullets poured toward Li Qi, seemingly intent on tearing the sky apart.
Li Qi dared not let his guard down for an instant, maneuvering and changing course as fast as he could.
With a whoosh, he nimbly swept above one helicopter. Then, with a boom, he used the repulsor in his right palm to shoot off its tail fin with pinpoint accuracy.
The helicopter instantly lost its balance and swayed as it plummeted sideways. Seeing this, Li Qi left it alone and turned to attack the other armed helicopter with all his strength.
The two sides traded blows, once again maneuvering and changing course as they fiercely exchanged rockets and missiles in the air. Brilliant, deadly sparks seemed to bloom across the sky.
Another rocket howled past Li Qi's armor, trailing scorching air. Reacting swiftly, Li Qi hurriedly made a sharp sixty-degree turn in midair.
On the other side of his field of vision, three more armed helicopters were approaching just above the sea. At this distance, sight alone could not tell him whether they were accomplices of these bandits or an armed squad from the Ten Rings.
His immediate priority was to shoot down the armed helicopter carrying the bald man.
Having made up his mind, Li Qi increased his armor's maneuverability again, taking the speed of its aerial course changes up another notch.
Now the bald man was struggling to cope. Neither his rockets nor the helicopter's machine guns could hit the humanoid machine after its sharp increase in speed.
The bald man flew into a rage when he realized that the humanoid armor intended to use the same trick as before to bring down his helicopter.
Cornered, the bald man threw caution to the wind. After Li Qi destroyed the helicopter's tail rotor, he pushed off hard inside the cabin and leaped upward like a crazed black panther, clamping tightly onto the legs of Li Qi's armor.
By now, his right hand had turned red-hot like a branding iron. He viciously pressed it against the armor's left leg, attempting to burn through it with the heat and destroy this humanoid machine.
Li Qi inwardly cursed and hurriedly maneuvered from side to side, trying to shake the bald man off. But the bald man clung to his legs like a madman, refusing to let go even when Li Qi kicked him hard. He seemed determined to take Li Qi down with him.
Soon, an alarm sounded inside the armor's helmet, indicating abnormal temperatures in the left leg and damage beginning to develop in its components. JARVIS's voice rang out as well.
Li Qi considered his options, but there was truly no other way. He could only risk lowering his altitude and plunge both his burning left leg and the bald man hanging from it beneath the surface of the sea.
The armor gradually cooled, but the bald man still clung tightly to its leg. The seawater hissed from the heat, constantly churning and boiling.
Seizing his chance, Li Qi aimed the repulsor in one palm at the enhanced man and fired at close range.
A large part of the reason it had taken such a long struggle to subdue the bald man was that this was Li Qi's first battle in the armor, and he was not yet proficient at operating it.
By then, the other group of helicopters had entered observable visual range. The images captured by the telescope were projected clearly inside the armor's helmet, and Li Qi saw a man with East Asian features seated in one of the armed helicopters.
He wore a black, armor-like uniform with bare arms, each encircled by five golden rings.
Li Qi knew that Xu Wenwu, leader of the Ten Rings, had arrived.
Piloting his armor, Li Qi skimmed over the sea at extremely low altitude like a bolt of lightning, then climbed swiftly and came to a steady stop directly in front of the helicopters. He spread his arms to bar their way.
At Xu Wenwu's signal, the three helicopters slowly came to a hover. Their huge rotors roared deafeningly.
Xu Wenwu leaned out of the cabin and studied the humanoid war machine nearby with interest.
Naturally, he had come to find his disappointing son, Shang-Chi. Instead of seeing Shang-Chi, however, he had encountered this peculiar contraption, leaving Xu Wenwu rather surprised.
Seeing this, Li Qi slowly removed his armor's faceplate. Their gazes met, and upon realizing they were both East Asian, each immediately felt a distinct sense of affinity.
Thus, Xu Wenwu did not rashly launch an attack. Instead, he thought he would first speak to the person inside the humanoid armor.
He said, "Friend, I'm here to find my good-for-nothing son. I've already confirmed that he's in that seaside villa up ahead. Could you do us a favor and let us through?"
Li Qi firmly shook his head and replied without hesitation, "I certainly can't let you through that easily. He's my guest, after all. I can't let you just take him away so recklessly. If you can get past me, what happens afterward is up to you."
The two East Asian men exchanged a look and instantly understood each other's resolve. Now, only a fight would settle it. Whoever had the stronger fists would have the right to call the shots.
However, Xu Wenwu had no flight capability of his own. Though the ten rings could grant him brief periods of flight, there were many limitations. While he was currently in a helicopter, the air was not his advantageous battlefield.
Thus, he deliberately headed toward the beach, going around the humanoid war machine hovering in the air. Li Qi followed closely in his armor.
As they approached land, Xu Wenwu attacked first. His method of attack was simple: he used the ten rings to fire energy waves or attack waves at his opponent, somewhat like a Kamehameha.
During the flight, Xu Wenwu abruptly shook both arms, sending wave after wave of energy roaring toward the humanoid machine in the air like surging breakers.
Relying on the armor's nimble maneuverability, Li Qi easily dodged the attacks. At the same time, he fired his palm repulsors and compact missiles, but Xu Wenwu deftly avoided them all.
After exchanging two rounds of attacks, the two reached land. Xu Wenwu decisively abandoned the helicopter and used the ten rings to blast energy waves at the ground, launching himself into the air with the recoil. Using successive energy waves to propel himself, he engaged Li Qi in a fierce battle over the ground.
Xu Wenwu had lived for a thousand years. Thanks to the ten rings, his physical strength and appearance had remained unchanged, while his combat skills had reached perfection.
Li Qi, meanwhile, was only in his second battle piloting the armor, and his fighting style was not yet mature. Though he flew fast and held the aerial advantage, the two were locked in a fierce stalemate for the moment, with neither able to gain the upper hand.
Li Qi grew increasingly appreciative of Xu Wenwu's strength and had already begun thinking of subduing him and bringing him under his command.
With that in mind, he stopped dragging things out. Having figured out Xu Wenwu's combat system, Li Qi decisively activated his mind-control ability, preparing to bring Xu Wenwu under his control in one move.