Meanwhile.
In the night sky, dozens of kilometers from Malibu Beach.
Tony swaggered through the clouds.
Feeling the thrust of the thrusters pressing him back, Tony felt as though his blood was about to boil.
This is true freedom! This is the pinnacle of technology!
He would bet that even the most advanced fighter jet could only eat his dust.
As for Luca?
He's probably still back at the villa, hopping mad!
Just as Tony was lost in his fantasies, a glaring alert suddenly flashed on his screen.
"Beep, beep, beep!"
JARVIS issued a warning.
"Sir! The radar has detected a high-density energy mass approaching at extreme speed from behind!"
"The target is moving extremely fast! It has already exceeded Mach five! It will reach your position in ten seconds!"
Tony froze for a moment, his brow furrowing instantly.
A high-density energy mass? Mach five?
Other than the armor I, Tony Stark, just developed, what else could fly that fast?!
Could it be a secret military weapon? Or some alien who doesn't know any better?
"No, sir! The data has updated! Three seconds!" JARVIS's voice rang out again.
"What?!"
Tony had barely finished speaking, before he could even ask JARVIS to bring up the image.
"Boom!!!"
A powerful blast of wind swept fiercely past the edge of the armor!
The shockwave was incredibly violent.
The Mark Armor instantly lost its balance and began spinning wildly.
The sudden jolt left Tony thoroughly disoriented, his stomach churning.
He gripped the controls tightly and shouted.
"Stabilization system! Activate the auxiliary side thrusters!"
After finally steadying himself in midair, Tony immediately looked ahead.
All he saw was an afterimage radiating a dazzling white light flash across the edge of his vision, then vanish into the night.
Tony stared blankly for a full two and a half seconds before he came to his senses.
"JARVIS! What the hell was that?!"
"That's definitely a supervillain, right?! Or some secret aircraft from another country!"
"There's absolutely no way that was Luca! How could a human body possibly reach that kind of speed?! He's definitely still at the villa looking for a broom to clean up the dust!"
JARVIS was just about to enlarge the image he had captured for Tony.
"Sir, based on a comparative body scan, the person who just flew past was indeed..."
Tony loudly cut off JARVIS's report.
"Shut up! I don't want to hear that useless data!"
"Whether that's some superpowered person up ahead or an alien spaceship, nobody is faster than Tony Stark!"
Tony's eyes seemed ready to shoot flames as he shouted an order.
"Concentrate all the power in the foot and hand thrusters! Set the output to maximum! I'm going to catch him and kick his ass!"
JARVIS replied helplessly.
"Understood, sir. The reactor is at maximum output, and the propulsion system is operating beyond capacity."
The next second.
A trail of flame brighter than before burst from the armor's foot jets!
With a roar, the armor accelerated sharply, and Tony became a streak of light, vanishing from where he had been.
The wind howled outside his helmet.
Tony stared fixedly at the tracking marker on his screen.
But a minute passed.
Tony soon discovered in despair that no matter how much he opened the throttle, he couldn't close the distance to the red dot ahead!
Even more painfully, the red dot was slowly pulling farther away from him!
"Damn Luca! How can he be so fast?!"
Tony lost his composure, unable to accept that the fruit of his hard work couldn't outrun a superhuman.
"Did he secretly install miniature boosters in his suit?! Yes! That has to be it! He definitely cheated!"
JARVIS chose that moment to twist the knife.
"Sir, Mr. Luca and I designed and created that suit together. I can assure you that no boosters of any kind were installed in it."
"Mr. Luca's flight is powered entirely by a special energy field within his body. From a physics standpoint, this is a form of external energy release."
Tony was even more speechless.
He felt as though he'd been slapped repeatedly across the face.
He was just about to come up with another excuse.
Just then, the red dot on the radar suddenly stopped moving.
Through the camera, Tony saw Luca hovering quietly in midair a short distance ahead, his arms folded across his chest.
His black cape drifted slowly behind him.
His entire figure exuded unparalleled dominance and pressure.
Luca was watching Tony fly toward him with a faint smile.
His meaning was clear.
Bro, you're too slow.
Tony steeled himself and flew up to Luca, stopping to hover in front of him.
For a moment, the atmosphere was a little awkward.
Tony was glad his faceplate was closed; otherwise, Luca would definitely have seen how embarrassed he looked.
Luca, on the other hand, didn't think that much of it.
He looked the panting Tony up and down and raised an eyebrow, somewhat amused.
"Bro, looks like your armor still needs some upgrades."
"It's pretty slow. I've been waiting here for ages. Do you need me to introduce you to a few reliable mechanics to help clear out your exhaust pipes?"
Faced with Luca's sarcasm, Tony immediately raised his chin proudly.
"Don't get cocky too soon, Luca."
"I was only testing the armor's cruising fuel consumption. As your older brother, I have to go a little easy on you. Understand? If I really got serious, you wouldn't even catch a whiff of my exhaust."
Luca knew Tony too well.
He knew he had already won the speed contest, so he couldn't be bothered to keep bickering over it.
The best way to beat Tony was to crush him with facts.
Luca raised his head, looking up at the pitch-black night sky.
"Since you've already shown how considerate you are in level flight, how about we try something more exciting?"
"Do you know the altitude record for a reconnaissance aircraft?"
Tony raised an eyebrow and immediately asked JARVIS.
"JARVIS, tell him the answer. Show this guy, who barely spent any time at a proper university, what professional data looks like."
"Sir, according to the public records of aviation authorities around the world, the current altitude record for a fixed-wing aircraft was set by the SR-71 Blackbird Reconnaissance Aircraft, at eighty-five thousand feet."
After hearing JARVIS's answer, Luca nodded in satisfaction.
"Eighty-five thousand feet. That sounds pretty high."
"But records are made to be broken!"
Luca beckoned to Tony.
"Come on, Tony. Let me see if you can really reach the limits of the sky."
The moment he finished speaking.
"Boom!"
A ring of white energy suddenly surged around Luca!
The energy glowed like a tangible substance, enveloping his entire body.
It was an ability Luca had only discovered that day.
He called it the Emperor Force Field!
Tony stared at the sight, utterly baffled.
"Good God! What's all that glowing stuff?! Did you turn yourself into a giant light bulb?!"
Luca couldn't be bothered to answer Tony's question.
It wasn't something he could explain in a few words.
He made a simple gesture, signaling Tony to get ready.
"Hold on to your steering wheel, Tony. We're going up."
Seeing how serious Luca was, Tony's own competitive spirit flared up.
"JARVIS, switch the propulsion system to vertical ascent mode!"
The two quickly got ready.
The next second.
"Bang!!!"
Two deafening sonic booms rang out at the same time!
Luca and Tony became two streaks of light, one white and one red, and began to ascend.