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*****
The text messages continued to pour in, one after another, a clear indication of just how dire the situation had become.
Left with no other choice, Fini had to feign a sudden bout of illness. Under the watchful eyes of his entire class, he hurriedly requested a leave of absence and rushed out. Once he found a deserted corner, he immediately dialed Tony's number.
"I need your help with something!"
The moment the call connected, Tony's frantic voice came through the speaker. "Outside Stark Tower... someone has remote-controlled nearly a thousand robots and surrounded the building..."
"Wait, you said how many?"
Fini stood frozen in place. Nearly a thousand? In the original plot, Hammer Industries had produced, at most, a dozen or so units for each branch of the military. All added together, the total shouldn't have even crossed a hundred. How were there nearly a thousand now?!
"At least seven hundred, by my visual estimate!"
Tony's voice gradually became steadier, though the tension remained. "If they start causing destruction, the entire United States will fall into chaos. If you have a way to solve this, use it now."
"I..."
Fini found himself momentarily speechless. While the individual strength of these robots was certainly inferior to Tony's meticulously crafted, high-quality armor, there were still seven or eight hundred of them. Even a swarm of ants could bite an elephant to death!
"I'm heading over right now to check it out."
Fini knew he couldn't just ignore this. If New York was wiped off the map in an instant, the future development of this world would spiral completely out of control.
However, before rushing to Stark Tower, Fini made a quick trip home. Ignoring Skye's confused expression, he grabbed her and dropped her off directly at Kamar-Taj for safety.
Only after that did he equip 'Incursio.' Opening a portal, he stepped through and arrived at Stark Tower.
The first thing that met his eyes were rows upon rows of robots, armed to the teeth and standing guard at the entrance like a mechanical security force. Their presence was the reason a crowd of curious onlookers had gathered nearby.
Fini's sudden appearance triggered a wave of surprised cheers from the onlookers.
"Look! It's the Silver Knight!"
"It's him! He's appeared again!"
"Wow, so cool!"
Although a significant amount of time had passed, that previous battle had been Tony's debut show. Combined with Fini's mysterious nature, many people still remembered him vividly.
Not wanting to be bothered by the crowd, Fini reluctantly took to the skies. It was only then that he realized there were even more robots circling the building in the air. No wonder Tony had estimated over seven hundred.
"How the hell did he build all these?!"
Fini couldn't help but feel bewildered. From the time Ivan Vanko had been taken and "disappeared," it had been less than two weeks in total. How did he manage to manufacture so many robots in such a short window of time?
Even if they were ugly, had limited weaponry, and were almost laughably simple in design, there were still seven or eight hundred of them!
Fini sank into thought. With Hammer Industries' capabilities, it was absolutely impossible to achieve this level of production. Or rather, there was only one organization on Earth with the resources to pull this off.
"The Snake Shield Bureau!"
Aside from Hydra, Fini truly couldn't think of anyone else who could help Ivan manufacture so many robots in such a short time. Only they had the resources and the capacity to reach this scale.
What Fini didn't know was that at this very moment, the higher-ups within Hydra were also fuming with rage.
In a Secret Hydra Base
A wrinkled old man, his face contorted with fury, glared at the subordinate standing before him. He questioned through gritted teeth, "You actually thought this situation could be used as a 'distraction'?"
The subordinate bowed his head, whispering timidly, "There were some unexpected circumstances. He left a backdoor in the programming and took all the backup units we had prepared for the organization."
"Are you all a bunch of pigs?"
The old man was so angry he wanted to shoot the man right there, but he knew it wouldn't fix the problem. He could only bark out an order: "Destroy all records. Do not leave a single trace behind. Abandon that base entirely."
The subordinate couldn't help but tremble slightly. That base wasn't small; after all, it was capable of producing so many robots in such a short time.
"Activate the self-destruct sequences on those robots. We can't let him keep making this scene," the old man continued to instruct.
Unfortunately, he didn't see the look of absolute horror that crossed the subordinate's face upon hearing that command.
"He... he... that backdoor he modified... we've lost all control over the robots. And the base... it has been completely locked down for the time being."
Slap!
The old man couldn't hold back anymore and delivered a sharp backhand to the subordinate's face. He decided that as soon as he got back, he would transfer this idiot to a pig farm so he could learn how pigs actually work.
Although Fini had been notified by Tony, he had traveled via portal, so he actually arrived on the scene before Tony did. Looking at the stationary robots, he didn't act rashly for the moment, wondering what Ivan was trying to achieve.
Inside and outside the building, Pepper had received Tony's notice and was quickly organizing an evacuation. However, due to the large number of people and the unique "death-defying" spirit of New Yorkers, progress was slow. Yet, despite the chaos, Ivan remained indifferent, showing no intention of moving.
In reality, Fini didn't know that it wasn't that Ivan didn't want to act, but that he temporarily couldn't. The main server controlling the robots was back at the Hydra base.
He couldn't issue complex real-time commands, so the activation command he set before leaving the Hydra base was keyed to Tony Stark. Only upon seeing Tony would these robots begin to move.
The reason for doing this was simple: he wanted his enemy to watch with his own eyes as everything he owned was destroyed.
The Mark VI was the latest armor Tony had designed for his new element. It was more powerful, had greater strength, and possessed a much higher flight speed.
Fini didn't have to wait long before a streak of light cut across the sky and landed beside him.
Before either of them could say a word, the previously motionless robots simultaneously turned their heads toward Tony. The crimson electronic eyes in their heads scanned him, and in the next instant, they all raised their weapons, locking onto the duo.
Or more accurately, locking onto Tony Stark.
Fini was startled, but he reacted immediately. The robots were definitely moving because of Tony's arrival.
"Do you have a plan?" Fini asked Tony quickly, not wasting a second.
Tony remained silent. Having rushed over in such a hurry, he hadn't had time to think things through.
Seeing this, Fini gave up hope on Tony having a strategy. Thinking of a certain possibility, he immediately said, "Find a way to cluster them together as much as possible!"
"Are you planning to teleport them away?"
"I'm planning to wipe them out directly!" Fini replied crossly, his expression turning serious.
Luckily, his strength had been improving rapidly lately. Had this happened before, he truly wouldn't have had a way to handle this.
Tony didn't know what Fini intended to do, but having no other options, he could only follow the arrangement for now. He immediately took to the sky, intending to test the robots' reactions while searching for Ivan Vanko's location.
The moment Tony ascended, the robots moved. The flying units chased after Tony in the air, a dark, oppressive mass that was quite a sight to behold.
Meanwhile, the units on the ground deployed their weapons and began to fire.
The continuous sound of gunfire sent the people evacuating the building into a full-blown panic. Inexperienced with such violence, many were paralyzed with fear, unable to even move.
Seeing this, Fini had no choice but to land first, intending to help clear out the ground robots.
Facing these mass-produced products that sacrificed quality for quantity, Fini was essentially taking them down with a single punch each. Not a single one could last more than two moves against him.
The scene was practically identical to playing a game in "Musou Mode," mowing down grass with unrivaled ease. The terrified crowd was left staring in stunned silence!
(End of Chapter)