Finally, after taking a full two and a half minutes to digest it,
Tony took a deep breath and silently gave Luca a thumbs-up.
"I lost this time."
"Damn it, you're a complete pervert with no moral limits! Luca! You're a devil!"
Oh?
Tony had actually admitted defeat of his own accord.
Luca raised an eyebrow in surprise.
But he was only surprised for a second.
Then he immediately nodded smugly.
"Thanks for the compliment, Tony. Don't make such a fuss. You'll have to get used to how outstanding I am."
Tony rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Screw you, genius. If the public finds out the truth, they'll hang you from a lamppost."
But jokes aside,
Tony put those thoughts away, and his gaze sharpened.
He spread his arms, his voice full of anticipation.
"All right, enough talk. Come on, Luca."
"The great Iron Man is about to put on his armor for the first time and announce his birth to the world!"
Tony shouted his command.
"JARVIS! Begin the suit-up sequence!"
"Understood, sir."
The two then walked to their respective suit-up stations in the center of the lab and stood with their arms spread.
Luca stood in position and smiled faintly.
"You got that wrong, Tony."
"It's not just Iron Man. There's me too."
The next second,
with the sound of machinery whirring,
the floor around them split open. Dozens of nimble mechanical arms rose rapidly, carrying the armor's components as they began fitting them onto the two men.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The mechanical arms first locked the silver base lining onto Tony's body. Next, the leg armor fastened snugly around his legs.
Tony watched the mechanical arms working away on him and felt the power the armor gave him. He couldn't help letting out a satisfied sigh.
Luca's suit-up process, meanwhile, was simpler and more forceful.
The mechanical arms swiftly fitted the black armor onto him, perfectly outlining his powerful physique.
Finally, the mechanical arms secured a wide black cape to his shoulder armor.
Soon, Tony was fully suited up from the neck down.
At last, a mechanical arm slowly lowered the helmet.
With a soft click,
the helmet fitted perfectly onto Tony's armor.
As the faceplate slowly closed,
the screen inside the sealed helmet lit up. Looking at the flickering data display, Tony spoke in a serious voice.
"I am Iron Man."
The next second,
Hum!!
White light shone from the faceplate's eyes, and the reactor in his chest erupted with a powerful roar.
The Mark Armor was officially activated!
At the same time, Luca had finished putting on his suit.
Under his control, a force field invisible to the naked eye instantly enveloped his entire body.
As the force field surged, his cape drifted slowly in the air, making him look mysterious and imposing.
Luca clenched his fists and smiled with satisfaction.
"I've never felt better."
He raised his head, his gaze passing through the basement ceiling as though he could already see the sky outside.
"World, here I come!"
Then he turned to look at the fully armed Tony.
Tony looked back at Luca.
"System self-check complete. Everything is running smoothly."
"Then..."
Luca's toes left the ground, and he slowly floated upward.
"Let's begin."
Tony nodded, and his engines began to roar.
"Countdown from three. Prepare for takeoff."
"Three..."
"Two..."
But before he could say one,
Boom!
The thrusters erupted in a dazzling blaze, and Tony activated his armor first!
Then he shot into the sky like a streak of light!
The good news was that he'd successfully taken off.
The bad news was...
He hadn't gone through the underground passage. He'd smashed straight through the ceiling instead!
Crash!!!
With a deafening bang, he punched a huge hole through the ceiling!
Tony flew out of the villa and into the night sky!
As the ceiling broke apart, chunks of debris and dust came raining down.
And, as luck would have it, all of it landed on Luca, who hadn't had time to take off!
Clatter...
Although the rubble couldn't hurt Luca, it was extremely insulting.
It also accidentally damaged a blue sports car.
Luca: ???
What the hell?!
Damn you, Tony!
You wanted to fly, so why the hell did you have to wreck the house?!
That's my sports car!
Damn it, Tony! You lying bastard!
What happened to counting down from three?!
Luca wasted no time.
He flew straight out through the hole Tony had just smashed open.
The next second,
Luca was outside the villa.
A cold sea breeze blew against his face.
He looked around, but where was Tony in the night sky?
Damn it!
Tony had long since used his head start to disappear from sight.
"He's pretty fast."
Luca cursed under his breath, then closed his eyes and began to concentrate.
He pushed his hearing to its limit, filtering out the sound of the waves, car horns, and so on.
Just as I thought!
Luca picked up a sound from the clouds a few kilometers away.
Tony was flying thousands of meters up, enjoying the thrill of flying at top speed as he chatted excitedly with JARVIS.
Of course, the first thing Luca heard was Tony's excited laughter.
"Hahaha! This is incredible! JARVIS! This is the best flight of my life!"
"This is even better than driving a Ferrari!"
JARVIS reminded him helplessly,
"Sir, if I may say so, your early departure just now violated the rules you previously set for the race."
"Young Master Luca must be cursing you right now, and I think he has every reason to."
Hearing JARVIS still speaking up for Luca, Tony burst into smug laughter again.
"JARVIS, you're still too rigid! Remember, for a genius, sometimes breaking the rules is the real rule!"
Tony rolled through the clouds and shouted arrogantly,
"So what if I got a head start?"
"There's no way Luca can catch up! I've been in the lead for so long that even if God himself showed up now, all he could do is eat the dust from my taillights!"
Meanwhile, Luca
heard Tony's arrogant declaration loud and clear with his super hearing.
"This idiot really thinks he's already won."
Then,
Luca's eyes suddenly narrowed.
His vision pierced through layer upon layer of clouds, giving him a clear view of Tony several kilometers away.
He didn't know why, but
the thought of overtaking Tony in a moment and leaving him gaping in the sky...
made him want to laugh.
He shook his head and, with a thought,
Boom!!!
A sonic boom exploded with a roar that seemed to tear the sky apart!
Luca had vanished without a trace.
Only a ring-shaped sonic boom cloud remained in the night sky!