"It's definitely not me!
If it were, would we still be running for our lives?" Tony shouted back.
He could tell at a glance that the drone had fallen because its electronics had short-circuited.
But it wasn't raining, and no one had touched the drone.
Short-circuit? Now?
What was this, a defective product?
Before the two could process it, another drone jittered violently and dropped from the sky in the exact same way.
"Someone's breaking the drones' control link!"
Tony immediately understood.
Only forcibly burning out the control module would cause this.
Lucas instantly thought of Skye.
He looked toward the barrier below.
Sure enough—Skye was standing behind Pepper, giving instructions while Pepper typed furiously.
Lucas didn't think further.
If Skye could break the control, then everything else could be handled.
Suddenly, Rhodey—flying right behind Tony—started spiraling.
His suit's control system completely failed.
Rhodey's vision blacked out for a second, and he plummeted helplessly toward the ground.
"TONY! Tony—my system's down! Help me!!"
Rhodey shouted with all the strength he had, his voice cracking with panic.
Tony swerved instantly and dived.
Just a few meters from the ground, he swooped in and caught Rhodey in a full-on princess carry.
At that moment, Rhodey's backup system kicked in.
His armor rebooted—this time under his control only.
"Wow—look at you. You really trashed my suit there, buddy," Tony said dryly.
Rhodey practically tore himself out of Tony's arms.
As a proud U.S. Army colonel, being princess-carried by another man?
Humiliation of the century.
How was he supposed to look anyone in the eye again?
Once steady, Rhodey shot back into the air.
"Colonel Rhodes is pissed off. Time to shred some scrap metal!"
His arm compartments snapped open, revealing terrifyingly large-caliber barrels.
He charged straight at a drone.
Originally, he intended to use the Gatling on his back—
But Lucas had sliced that entire assembly off earlier with a wind blade.
Rhodey grabbed a drone by the neck, jammed the gun barrel to it—
BRRRRRRT!!!
He used the machine gun like a sword,
Sawing the drone cleanly in half with nothing but bullets.
Black oil sprayed everywhere like blood, drenching Rhodey's armor.
The scene was downright horrifying.
Then Rhodey went completely berserk—
turning into a flying artillery platform,
guns and cannons deploying all over his armor.
"DIE!! DIE!!!"
Fire spewed from every part of his suit,
a rainstorm of bullets and missiles wiping out every remaining drone.
Lucas and Tony hovered side-by-side, stunned.
"…Was he locked up too long? Did he go feral?" Lucas muttered.
Tony scoffed, "Seriously, does he have some kind of fear of low firepower? He took a perfectly good War Machine and turned it into junkyard cosplay. Ruined my Mark II."
Tony had never added heavy ballistic weapons to his suits—
They weren't elegant enough.
He preferred energy weapons, arc tech, clean futuristic design.
Still—Rhodey's rampage got the job done.
Every drone was annihilated.
With the fight over, the three landed.
Wanda, seeing the danger gone, released her barrier—
and immediately fainted from exhaustion.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived at that moment.
Melinda May and Sharon Carter were already organizing evacuation.
Pepper rushed Wanda and Skye to Stark's private hospital.
Wanda was only drained, but Skye wasn't so lucky—
her hands were fractured again.
If she weren't Inhuman, her hands would've ended up like Doctor Strange's.
Lucas made a note:
It was time to bring up vibranium for Skye.
Otherwise she'd cripple herself sooner or later.
—
FWOOOM—!!
A streak of light shot across the sky,
and a lightning whip cracked downward—
looping around Tony's neck and yanking him away.
"It's Vanko."
The electric whip was unmistakable.
But this time Vanko was no longer wearing a skeletal exosuit—
He piloted a massive three-meter-tall battle mech.
A complete upgrade.
"Shit."
Rhodey cursed and shot after him.
Lucas kicked Onion (his mount), blasting forward as well.
Tony struggled, but the whip was made of ultra-tensile conductive fibers.
There was no brute-forcing this.
"Jarvis—laser cutter!"
"Right away, sir."
A small cube deployed from Tony's wrist—
A thin, bright beam sliced outward.
Zzzip!
The whip severed like tofu, and Tony dropped.
He crashed through the glass roof of a greenhouse-like building.
"Ow—Jarvis, remind me to upgrade the shock absorption. My back…"
Tony groaned, pushing himself up.
Before he had fully risen—
WHAM!!
A dark shape barreled into him, tossing him across the floor.
"Well, look at that…
The great Tony Stark, reduced to such a pitiful mess."
A towering mech landed heavily.
The faceplate slid open—revealing Vanko's broad, cold, Soviet features.
Cough "Knew it was you. You prison-breaking lunatic.
But hey—credit where it's due, you played Hammer like a fiddle.
I might go easy on you."
Tony stood, armor heavily scratched—full battle damage aesthetics.
Vanko sneered.
Gears shifted on his arms,
and the cut whip extended again.
"Tony Stark…
Today is your final day, little thief.
The arc reactor's glory will return to its rightful owner."
"That so? I've got a patent you know.
For the next twenty years, it's legally mine," Tony shrugged.
He still had no idea why Vanko was obsessed with arc reactors.
"Damn you! Still running your mouth!"
Vanko roared.
The faceplate locked shut—
both electrified whips crackled violently, scorching twin trails into the ground.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!!
He spun the whips with terrifying speed.
Even Tony's armor would be scarred deeply if those hit.
"Tony Stark, I should thank you.
I took your advice—boosted the power.
Much better this time, no?"
Vanko lashed at him wildly.
Tony dodged and counterattacked where he could.
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