Having defeated Ivan Vanko and completed the cleanup work, Tony could finally cross an item off his to-do list.
Jarvis: "Congratulations, Sir. It appears your list of enemies has decreased."
"It's not time to celebrate yet, Jarvis. There are still many things to do, and this business with Vanko isn't over yet." Tony shook his head.
He had basically booked the entire hotel, so there were no unauthorized personnel inside. Additionally, he had completely soundproofed and signal-jammed his own room, so no one on the outside knew what had happened in there.
Moreover, even if someone had seen it, it didn't really matter. Tony had recorded the entire fight using his armor. The footage could fully prove that Ivan Vanko had clearly come with killing intent and had struck first.
So even if this battle became known, Tony had retained evidence to prove that he—or judging from the footage, the "Stark bodyguard" wearing the Iron Man armor—had acted in completely lawful self-defense.
However, the video evidence was, of course, just a precaution; Tony didn't want anyone to know what happened here tonight.
In fact, high-profiledly booking the hotel to lure Ivan into the trap was just Plan A that Tony had devised for this trip.
He put himself in Ivan's shoes and reasoned that if he could learn of Stark's residence in advance through the media, there was a high probability he wouldn't choose to attack on the day of the race like in the movie, but would instead pick a time in the dead of night when the target was defenseless.
Of course, this plan was just an attempt. Even if Ivan hadn't taken the bait, there would be no loss... well, except for spending a lot of money, but for Tony's financial power, that was equivalent to no loss at all.
He had also prepared Plan B and Plan C, including contingency plans for how to deploy and respond on the day of the actual race if Ivan didn't take the bait.
It seemed none of those would be needed now.
If possible, Tony actually hoped to deal with Ivan before the race officially opened.
Because if he were to have a showdown with Ivan at the race like in the movie, the existence of the Iron Man armor would inevitably be witnessed by the public in broad daylight.
But Tony felt that compared to his original self in the movie, aside from the advantage of foreknowledge, another thing that could be called an advantage was being low-key.
He hadn't announced he was Iron Man at a press conference, and even Obadiah Stane had been dealt with privately, so the final battle with the "Iron Monger" in the city streets from the Iron Man movie never happened.
So now, apart from S.H.I.E.L.D., who had been monitoring him since he hand-crafted the Mark I to fight his way out of the cave in the Middle East, no one else knew of "Iron Man's" existence.
Tony currently hoped to keep it that way.
As long as his enemies didn't know about the armor's existence, he could maintain an information advantage. The enemies wouldn't know what was coming for them.
Jarvis suggested: "Perhaps you could take a short break. I've noticed your nerves have been tight. Maybe you could use this trip to Monaco to relax."
"That's too luxurious, Jarvis. Our enemies won't stop while I'm on vacation." Tony shook his head. "Cancel the itinerary. We're going back tonight."
Jarvis: "You mean, you booked this entire hotel and high-profiledly announced you would attend the Monaco Grand Prix, but you're planning to leave the night before the opening ceremony?"
"Yes, Old J, don't sound so surprised. You should know I have no interest in racing whatsoever," Tony said.
He came here solely for Ivan. Now that the mission was accomplished, naturally, he was ready to bolt.
Jarvis quipped: "You're the boss, you have the final say."
Although such behavior would likely make the world realize once again that Tony Stark was fickle, his public image was pretty much like that anyway, so it didn't matter. At most, it would just make people admire his financial power even more—throwing a fortune at a hotel he didn't even stay in.
Leaving the task of explaining his inability to attend the race to the liaison team below, Tony boarded his private jet that very night and flew back to New York without a second thought.
He trusted that Stark's professional team would, as skillfully as ever, concoct an excuse about "Mr. Stark having urgent business."
Tony took a nap on the plane, and by the time he returned to his residence, his energy was basically replenished, and he continued his work.
First was the lingering issue of Ivan Vanko.
From Ivan Vanko's personal effects, Tony found an encrypted mobile phone and extracted the SIM card.
After cracking it, Tony tracked the carrier's base station signals through this card, locking onto a certain street in Russia.
Afterward, using connections and money, he contacted the local Russian police in that area, sent Ivan Vanko's photo, and attempted to find the man's residence.
Since the range had been narrowed down to a specific neighborhood, it naturally became much easier.
Ivan Vanko could hide his name and keep a low profile, but it was impossible for him to stay indoors for over a decade in the street where he lived. Someone nearby must have seen him and known his residence.
Thus, Detective Iron Man successfully tracked down Ivan's dwelling.
Tony chose a time when it was early morning locally, put on his newly completed Mark VI armor, activated stealth mode, flew directly to Russia, and found Ivan's home.
After a further structural scan, Jarvis marked that the building had a hidden basement.
Breaking directly through the floor, Tony descended underground and, completely unsurprised, found Ivan's makeshift laboratory beneath the dilapidated old house.
It was full of equipment Ivan had cobbled together over the years, much of it likely stolen. Although old and broken, it was functional.
Tony found the main computer Ivan had left there.
He extended his right hand; the armor on his finger automatically popped open, extending a USB cable that connected to Ivan's work computer.
"Jarvis, download all data from this computer," Tony said. "Take the data back; the equipment will need to be physically destroyed in a moment."
Jarvis: "Of course, Sir."
Jarvis analyzed the data as he downloaded it. As an artificial intelligence, he possessed terrifying information processing speeds, able to browse and filter the information he deemed important to present to his master in the fastest time possible.
Just two seconds later, an information pop-up was displayed by Jarvis on the display interface before Tony's eyes.
"There is good news and bad news, Sir," Jarvis said.
Tony sighed. "Of course there has to be bad news... Give it to me briefly, Jarvis."
Jarvis: "The good news is, this is indeed where Ivan Vanko stored the Arc Reactor blueprints. Simply destroying the blueprints and all data here will suffice."
Tony: "And the bad news?"
"The bad news is, in addition to the blueprints, I also found a transaction record, Sir. Ivan Vanko seemed to have a premonition that he might fail, so he prepared a backup plan."
As Jarvis spoke, he displayed the new information interface on one side of Tony's internal display.
"He sold the design blueprints for the Arc Reactor to someone else."