Peter POV:
The Hammer Drones turned on the crowd, weapons primed. Screams filled the night as Iron Man streaked across the sky, repulsor blasts lighting up the Expo like an aerial battlefield.
"Rhodey, stay sharp!" Tony barked through comms, weaving between missile trails.
"I'm sharp!" Rhodey growled, firing a salvo of repulsor bursts. The newly refitted War Machine armor shimmered as energy shields bloomed, deflecting incoming fire like rain off glass. "Your upgrades are barely holding. You didn't give me the best because you don't trust the government."
"Make that a we." Adds Tony as he flies through the globe.
Below, civilians scrambled for exits. Their panic was muted by the calm of my voice over Gwen's comms.
"Keep them moving. Left flank is clear."
Gwen dropped down invisibly, her magenta-tipped spider limbs flashing just long enough to cut a drone in half before she cloaked again. "Clear." She ushered a family toward the safe zone.
Unseen, I pulsed a nanobot burst, redirecting a collapsing support beam just before it crushed a fleeing group. We were everywhere and nowhere. Silent guardians in the chaos.
Meanwhile, Tony and Rhodey diverted the Navy, Air Force and USMC drones to the nature pavilion, leaving the land-based units to Peter and Gwen.
Gwen POV:
A pile of drones lay scattered around me, their edges glowing red where my plasma-tipped limbs had sliced them clean.
"All missile battery drones eliminated. How're things on your side?" I asked Peter.
"All machine gun drones eliminated. Did you deactivate the self-destruct systems?" Peter replied.
"Yup. The disassembly drones are already cleaning up the wreckage."
"Good. Then it's up to Tony to finish things."
Nature Pavilion
Tony and Rhodey had cleared the skies, their suits steaming from the heat of battle.
"Hey boys, a massive drone is headed your way." Natasha reported from Ivan's abandoned workshop in Hammer Industries' lab.
The moment she finished, the glass ceilings shattered. Dust and debris blasted across the pavilion as something heavy landed in the clearing.
Ivan Vanko emerged, armored in his upgraded Whiplash suit. His chest reactor pulsed with white energy, feeding two massive, electrified whips that coiled and cracked with lethal intent.
"Tony Stark!" Ivan roared, his thick Russian accent dripping with hate. "You lose!"
The whips snapped, carving trenches across the ground as sparks flew.
Tony steadied in mid-air, visor narrowing. "Great. Discount cosplay gladiator's back."
Rhodey braced. "You said he'd be gone."
Tony sighed. "Yeah. I was optimistic."
The Clash
Vanko charged, whips lashing in wide arcs. Tony raised an arm. His Vibranium-S reinforced plating flashed as the whip struck and held. The energy crackled, but the battleplates absorbed the force and dispersed it harmlessly across the suit.
Tony smirked. "Not bad, huh? Vibranium-S. Shiny, expensive and not yours."
Rhodey opened up with a barrage of .50 cals from his shoulder-mounted rotary cannon. Vanko spun his whips and snared Rhodey by the throat, electricity pouring into the War Machine armor. But the energy shielding absorbed the searing current.
"Guess what, Ivan?" Rhodey shouted over the roar. "You're not the only one with toys."
He charged forward, shoulder cannon blazing, forcing Vanko back.
Ivan grinned. "You think two is enough?" He flicked his wrists, the whips extending unnaturally to ensnare them both.
Tony shot upward, pulling the whips taut. "Rhodey... now!!!!"
Rhodey's gauntlets flared. Twin repulsors blasted directly into the whip cables. The energy feedback surged, rattling through Ivan's armor like lightning in a cage.
Vanko screamed as his suit convulsed.
---
On the ground, my voice cut into Peter's comms. "They've got him."
Peter stayed focused, his nanotech swarm intercepting a falling drone before it could crush a group of civilians. "Then let's keep everyone alive while they finish it."
From the shadows, we watched as sparks and plasma ripped through Vanko's armor.
The End of Whiplash
Tony descended, palm repulsor glowing with Vibranium-S energy. "Hey, Ivan."
Vanko raised his head weakly, eyes burning with hatred.
"You lose."
The reactor went critical and the suit detonated in a blinding fireball. But Tony and Rhodey were already gone, pulling back to safety.
War Machine's shields flickered out. Rhodey exhaled hard. "Well… that's one hell of a debut for Hammer Industries."
Tony glanced at the wreckage, then at the cheering civilians. "Guess the market just crashed for him."
I smirked. "That was almost fun."
Peter's reply was quieter, darker. "Almost."
The Expo had survived. But the storm around Peter Parker's world was only growing.
Read 67 chapters ahead on P.A.T.R.E.O.N
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