Grandma was in the hospital, and there was too much to deal with there today.
So the update was a little late. Sorry, everyone.
The new reactor ran steadily on the workbench for half an hour, and the data curves JARVIS monitored remained stable throughout.
Tony stared at the readings on the screen for a long time, then turned toward the holographic projection table. With a swipe of his finger, he moved the reactor monitoring data to a side screen and opened an entirely new framework for an armor design on the main screen.
"Since the reactor's power output has nearly tripled, the Mark VI's armor structure needs a redesign. The original design can't withstand energy output at this level, and it can't bring out its true capabilities either. JARVIS, scrap our previous design and redesign it around the current reactor's energy readings. Increase the thrusters' power output, too."
Lynn leaned against the workbench, holding a cup of coffee and watching Tony's fingers fly across the holographic screen. He didn't disturb Tony. Once Tony got into the zone, any outside activity would be considered an unnecessary distraction.
But JARVIS's voice interrupted that rhythm.
"Sir, there is an incoming call. It is for Mr. Lynn."
Tony's fingers paused on the holographic screen. He turned to glance at Lynn, raising his eyebrows slightly, but said nothing.
Lynn was just as surprised. Everyone he knew well knew he was at Tony's, and they all had his cell phone number. If something urgent came up, they would never call the mansion's landline. He walked over to the telephone beside the lab bench and picked up the receiver.
"This is Lynn. Who's calling?"
The other end was quiet for a moment. Then a low male voice with a heavy Russian accent came through the receiver. Lynn had heard that voice once under the fluorescent lights of the detention center in Monaco, and he had never forgotten it.
"Ivan Vanko."
Lynn fell silent for a while. His fingers tightened slightly around the receiver, but no surprise showed on his face. He leaned against the edge of the lab bench and lowered his eyes, as though organizing his thoughts. Tony turned from behind the holographic screen, looked at his expression, and silently pushed the design aside.
"So you've decided to take this step after all..." Lynn's voice was calm, without accusation, merely a quiet question.
"If I'm not mistaken, Hammer Industries should have swapped you out quite some time ago. You should be in the laboratory Justin Hammer prepared for you right now, making those unmanned suits. Why call at a time like this? Knowing you, you'd want to defeat Tony in front of everyone. It isn't time yet."
The other end remained silent for a long time. Long enough that Lynn thought the connection had dropped.
"These past few days," Ivan Vanko's voice sounded again, low and carrying a measure of fatigue and despondency, "I've been turning over what you said to me back then, again and again. I wanted to ignore it, but those thoughts keep circling in my head."
He paused, as though weighing his words, or perhaps unaccustomed to speaking at such length.
"You told me before that our enemies shouldn't be each other here on Earth. What did you mean?"
Lynn didn't answer immediately. He carried his coffee to the window on the other side of the laboratory and looked at the clouds gathering over the Pacific Ocean outside.
"Exactly what you're thinking right now."
Lynn's tone was a little more relaxed than before, but it still retained a measured seriousness. "Let me formally introduce myself. Lynn, a sorcerer of Kamar-Taj. You probably don't know where Kamar-Taj is. That's fine. Just think of the sorcerers from legends. I can foresee part of the future."
He paused, putting every word that followed in order in his mind.
"That future is difficult. Extremely difficult. So I want to preserve as much of Earth's existing strength as possible to confront that less-than-ideal future. You're a scientist with formidable reverse-engineering skills and extraordinary intelligence. If your intelligence were put to proper use, it would be a tremendous help. But... I'm not some bleeding-heart saint who tries to recruit anyone with ability, pulling them over to my side regardless of whether they can be controlled or how unstable they are. That would be far too reckless."
He set his coffee cup on a cabinet beside him and straightened.
"That's why I gave you two choices. First, follow your original plan. Use your electric arcs and Justin Hammer's unmanned suits to crush Tony Stark in front of everyone. Avenge your father and reclaim everything you've suffered over the years through force. Second, use the method I told you about. Use the intelligence the Vanko Family takes such pride in to defeat Stark where he's proudest. Technology, innovation, science-the fields in which your father and Howard once competed at the same table. Prove that the Vanko Family's intelligence is no less than Stark's. Prove that driving Anton Vanko out was Howard's greatest mistake. Prove that you're better than Tony."
Lynn straightened away from the windowsill and walked back to the lab bench.
"But since you're contacting me at this point, you should already have an answer."
The other end fell silent again. This silence was somewhat different from the last time Lynn had faced him in the detention center. It was no longer the struggle of someone swept along by hatred for decades only to have the reins suddenly yanked tight, but something quieter, like a final hesitation before pushing a door halfway open. Ivan Vanko's slow, heavy breathing came through the receiver. Outside, the light over the Pacific Ocean was shifting from afternoon toward evening, tinting the edges of the clouds a very faint orange.
Ivan Vanko's voice came through the receiver. He spoke slowly, leaving a subtle gap between each word, as though weighing every word even as he spoke.
"I can set it aside for now. But it's absolutely not because your speech moved me. I only believe what I see.
You say you can foresee the future, that a powerful enemy awaits Earth ahead. Right now, I have no evidence that what you said is true. So I'll verify it first. Until then, we're only temporary partners. I'm not joining."
He paused. The sound of his fingers tapping a metal tabletop came through the receiver, dull and rhythmic.
"But before that, there's something that has to be settled first. My score with Stark can't just be written off. We don't have to fight to the death now, but at the very least, we have to establish a winner and prove who's better. Since we might be working together later, this matter needs a conclusion. The winner gets a say. That's the rule."
Two more taps followed.
"If I discover you lied after I've verified it, I'll have one more person to take revenge on. Do you understand?"
After hearing him out, Lynn leaned against the lab bench, a knowing smile appearing on his face.
He understood. Ivan Vanko had already worked it out. All that tough talk about verification, winning, and having a say was simply a way to save face. A man who had spent over a decade locked in a Siberian prison, surviving until now on hatred alone, couldn't simply say, "All right, I'm in." He needed a formal contest to bring his past to a close, and he also needed a dignified way to accept Lynn's goodwill rather than accept charity.
"Understood." Lynn's voice regained its casual drawl, though a trace of satisfaction lay hidden beneath it. "Give me your contact information."
Vanko recited a satellite communications code on an encrypted frequency. Lynn picked up the electronic pen beside him, wrote it on a note, and stuck it to the lab bench. Then he looked up at Tony, who was pretending to design armor behind the holographic screen while actually keeping his ears pricked for everything happening on this side.
"Tony."
"Hmm." Tony turned around, wearing an expression that said, "I've been eavesdropping the whole time, but I won't admit it."
"Someone wants to compete with you and see who has the better brain."
Lynn pushed the note toward Tony. "It's Ivan Vanko, the one who attacked you at the Monaco racetrack last time. I invited him to join the team. But he says the two of you need a head-to-head contest to establish a winner. He thinks that if you're going to work together later, the winner should have a say. What do you think? Interested?"
Tony pushed the holographic design aside, folded his arms, and raised his chin slightly. Lynn knew that expression all too well: the arrogant smile that automatically loaded whenever Tony Stark's competitive streak was ignited.
"The Stark Family has never feared a contest. My brain's been winning since I was in the womb." He picked up the note, glanced at it, then set it on the workbench. "But not over the next few days. You know how much I have on my plate right now. Since he wants a contest, let him spend the next few days thinking about what it should involve, and tell him to get ready to lose to me. Once I've finished what I'm working on, I'll contact him about a time."
Lynn picked up the receiver and relayed Tony's words exactly. The other end went silent for two seconds.
"Let him think it through," Ivan Vanko repeated, a faint, almost imperceptible snort in his tone. But that snort held none of his former deep-seated hatred. It sounded more like a chess player's reaction to an opponent saying, "You set up the board."
"All right."
The call ended. Lynn returned the receiver to the communications panel, turned, and leaned against the lab bench, looking at Tony. Tony had already pulled the holographic design back up, his fingers rapidly adjusting a set of thruster nozzle parameters, but the subtle upward curl at the corner of his mouth had yet to fade completely.