Lynn stood before the suite's glass window, watching the two figures locked in combat below. The smile on his lips slowly faded.
Tony had put on his armor earlier than in the original story. Thanks to Lynn's warning, Happy had been in position ahead of time, and the armor had gone on early, too. But the more Lynn watched what followed, the more wrong it seemed.
The lightweight Mark V armor was driven back again and again under Whiplash's strangling cables. Vanko dodged every one of Tony's repulsor blasts without taking so much as a scratch. Whiplash lashed out with a cable and wrapped it around Tony's left arm, electric arcs crawling up the gold-titanium alloy shell. Tony dropped to one knee, using his left-hand armor to withstand the cable's continuous discharge as a row of yellow warnings flashed across the HUD inside his faceplate.
They fought from the center of the track to the guardrail, with Vanko holding the upper hand throughout. The light from the arcs in his hands cast their shadows onto the grandstand wall like two beasts locked in combat.
Watching Tony lose ground, Lynn could not help pressing the comm button again. "Can you actually handle this? I warned you ahead of time, Happy was standing by to deliver your armor, you got it on without a scratch this time, and your car wasn't even wrecked. How are you fighting worse than... why are you struggling so much?"
Tony's reply came through the earpiece, mixed with crackling electricity and dull metallic impacts. "If you're so good, you do it. This damn armor is the portable version. Its output is only sixty percent of the standard model's. Do you have any idea how much energy those electric whips discharge in an instant...?"
"No," Lynn answered bluntly.
"Then shut up and watch me fight."
Tony finally ended the fight with his armor covered in damage, without any surprises at all. Vanko lay flat on his back on the asphalt, still smiling. Monaco's sun shone on his face, covered in grease and burn scars. The eyes peering through his tangled hair stared at Tony Stark standing above him, and his lips moved slightly.
Tony stood before him, his faceplate already open, sweat mingling with dust as it ran down his temples. He did not answer. He simply stared at the smile on Vanko's face for two seconds, then turned and walked toward the undamaged blue-and-white race car parked at the edge of the track.
Track staff and Monaco police swarmed in from every direction. As Vanko was led away, he was still shouting at Tony, "You lost, Stark! You lost!"
Cleaning up the mess at the racetrack took nearly two hours. Pepper handled discussions with the event organizers about the aftermath of Tony's abrupt withdrawal, while Yinsen helped check Tony for injuries. Tony remained silent throughout, sunk into a leather chair in the VIP suite, holding an unopened bottle of sparkling water between his fingertips.
"He didn't win anything," Tony suddenly said, his voice soft, as though speaking to himself. "I was standing in front of him in my armor. I destroyed his reactor. He was pinned to the ground and handcuffed. Then he said I lost. He said it twice! He was humiliating me!"
Lynn sat in the chair beside him with his legs crossed, holding a glass of juice that was no longer cold. He said nothing.
Tony unscrewed the sparkling water bottle, then screwed it shut, then opened it again. His fingers rubbed around the cap twice before he set the bottle on the windowsill and stood. He turned to Lynn, his lips moving before pressing into a thin line, as though swallowing the words "come with me" to replace them with something less embarrassing. Lynn spared him the trouble.
"Let's go."
The temporary holding cells were on the second basement level of the Monte Carlo police station. The air smelled of disinfectant and rust. Stark white fluorescent tubes lit the corridor, one flickering every few fixtures, making the cracks in the concrete walls alternately brighten and dim. Vanko was held in the single cell at the very end. Tony walked in with his hands in his pockets and his chin slightly raised, exactly the same posture he had adopted before Stern at the congressional hearing. Vanko sat on the metal-framed bed, his wrists handcuffed.
"Pretty impressive technology," Tony began, his usual Stark sarcasm returning. "The cycles per second are a little low. You could have doubled the revolutions. Passable, but still a defective knockoff. I'm curious, though. You could have sold it for a fortune."
Vanko raised his head, the light falling across his face. His voice was low and steady, with an accusatory edge.
"Your family are all thieves and butchers. Like all sinners, you rewrite history, erasing the countless lives you destroyed."
Tony was not angered. He merely tilted his head slightly, the contempt in his tone becoming even more pronounced. "Speaking of thieves, where did you get that reactor design? Looks like you know plenty of shady people."
"My father. Anton Vanko."
"I've never heard that name."
"My father is the reason you're still alive."
Vanko's voice abruptly rose, but he immediately lowered it again, returning to that low, steady tone. Only the muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably. Tony fell silent for a moment, looking into Vanko's eyes, then spoke.
"No. I'm alive because you took your shot and missed."
Vanko did not answer immediately. He leaned against the rail of the metal bed, his handcuffs gleaming coldly beneath the fluorescent light. The smile on his face shifted from mockery into something deeper.
"Once a god bleeds, people stop believing in him." His voice was soft, as though reciting a line he had memorized over and over. "Blood in the water brings the sharks. All I have to do is sit back and watch the world devour you."
Lynn leaned against the wall by the door, arms folded, watching the two men rub salt into each other's old wounds. Tony turned toward the doorway, pausing as he passed Lynn.
"Finished talking?" Lynn asked.
"Finished." Tony did not turn to look at him, merely raising a hand in a do-as-you-please gesture. "I'll head out first. The disinfectant smell in here is giving me a headache."
Lynn watched Tony disappear through the doorway, lowered his arms, then turned and sat down beside Vanko. He did not rush to speak. He put the matters he had been considering while leaning against the wall in order in his head, then spoke in a tone completely different from Tony's.
"I don't know what your father was like in your memories, but as far as I know, he wasn't the man you imagine. He did develop the reactor technology together with Howard. Howard wanted to use it to change the world, but Anton Vanko wanted to sell it. Your father didn't care at all whether that technology would drag a world that had only just crawled out of the wounds of World War II back into war."
Vanko's lips moved, but Lynn gave him no chance to interrupt.
"I'm sorry about your father's death. But this world shouldn't be plunged into war for personal gain. Whether it's finance, weapons, or energy, whenever there's war, it's always innocent civilians who suffer. You have formidable reverse-engineering skills, outstanding intelligence, and knowledge. You should be able to understand what I mean."
Lynn paused, then continued earnestly, "I don't want hatred from the previous generation to blind you. Humanity's enemies have never been what you see before you now. Our enemies have never been one another here on Earth. Besides, don't you think using your talents to take revenge on a dying billionaire is a poor return on your investment?"
Vanko said nothing. He sat on the metal-framed bed, his handcuffs gleaming coldly beneath the fluorescent light. Lynn did not know how much he had taken in. Perhaps none of it, or perhaps all of it, but he did not care. That did not matter. Lynn had never intended to overturn decades of deep-seated hatred with a single conversation. He simply wanted to put a path before him. What he chose was Ivan Vanko's business.
"I don't think a few words can make you let go of your hatred."
Lynn pushed open the iron door and stood in the doorway. "But I still want to give you a choice. You can use your intelligence to prove that the Vanko family really is stronger than Howard's family. Or you can keep seeking revenge through force, as you intended before. But force won't necessarily destroy Tony. It will, however, certainly destroy your life and the lives of many ordinary people."
Lynn waited a while, but Vanko showed no reaction. He left him with these words: "That's all I have to say. You can think it over. I'll come see you again in a few days. I've already sent someone to find your bird, so don't worry about it having no one to look after it. Still, I hope you'll take what I said to heart and come out to look after it yourself."
Lynn turned and left the holding cell. The iron door slowly closed behind him.