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"…Arasaka. We have no grievance with each other," Ivan Vanko said as he stood up. His gaze lingered briefly on the Arasaka flower logo on Sharon's back as she turned away, reaching down to pull Tony out from beneath the broken guardrails and scattered debris.
"Don't come between us, or you will regret it," Whiplash said coldly, his eyes locked on her.
Tony staggered away. "I'll come back wearing my armor," he said urgently.
"No need," Sharon replied calmly from beneath her mask. She turned back toward Whiplash.
"Surrender," Sharon said, holding her sword at her side, her stance relaxed but precise, "and you'll spare yourself a beating."
Whiplash laughed—a harsh, metallic sound—before cracking his whips together. Electricity screamed through the air.
"You think a sword scares me?" he sneered.
In the next instant, he lunged.
The electrified whips lashed out like serpents, tearing up the asphalt as they snapped toward her. Sharon moved.
She vanished from where she stood.
The first whip struck nothing but air. The second barely missed as Sharon slid beneath it, her boots skidding across shattered debris. She came up in a single smooth motion, blade flashing violet under the floodlights.
Clang.
Vibranium sword met charged coils.
Sparks exploded outward as Sharon deflected the whip with her sword, the weapon humming as it absorbed and redirected the energy. She twisted her wrist and sent the whip aside, closing the distance before Whiplash could react.
Too fast.
Whiplash's eyes widened as Sharon appeared inside his guard.
Her knee slammed into his ribs.
The impact sent him skidding backward across the track, tearing up rubber and dust. He snarled, dug his heels in, and swung both whips in a wide arc, forming a crackling electric barrier around himself.
Sharon who was coming after him halted just short of the electric field, jumping back to avoid it.
'Hm… he's more powerful than I remember from the movies,' Ethan murmured calmly, watching from the party hall through the large screen.
Unlike in the movie, Whiplash is wearing full armor from head to toe, Ethan thought as he observed the fight. Sharon was fast—blindingly so—while Whiplash had begun using his whips defensively, not just to attack.
He also has real combat experience, Ethan noted, nodding slightly as he analyzed their movements.
Then his thoughts drifted to Tony.
Poor Tony, Ethan mused. He just said no one could replicate his armor anytime soon… and a week later, a guy shows up in full-body armor and attacks him.
A faint smile crossed Ethan's face as he imagined Tony's expression when the press inevitably asked him about it later.
Sharon exhaled slowly, grounding herself as the electric arcs snapped and hissed in front of her.
The air smelled of ozone and burnt rubber.
Whiplash rolled his shoulders, the armor plates shifting with a metallic grind. The glowing coils along his arms pulsed brighter, feeding power into the twin whips as he spun them in tight circles, the electric barrier thickening into a violent storm of blue-white light.
"You are fast," Ivan Vanko said, his voice calm, almost appreciative. "But speed alone is not enough."
Sharon didn't answer.
She moved.
In a blur, she sprinted sideways instead of forward, boots pounding against the track. The moment Whiplash adjusted his stance to track her, she hurled a handful of violet shuriken.
They didn't aim for him.
They struck the asphalt.
—Boom.
The discs detonated in sharp bursts of compressed force, shredding the surface and kicking up a dense cloud of dust and debris. The electric barrier crackled wildly as the particles disrupted the field.
Sharon was already inside.
Her blade flashed.
Steel rang against energized metal as she struck low, then high, testing his defenses. Whiplash snarled, crossing his whips to block, electricity exploding outward with every impact. The force sent Sharon skidding back, her boots carving lines into the track—but she twisted with the momentum, flipping back onto her feet.
Whiplash didn't pause.
He surged forward, propulsion units in his boots flaring in short, violent bursts. The ground shattered beneath him as he jumped rather than flew, closing the distance in an instant.
Sharon's eyes narrowed.
He can't fly like Tony, she noted immediately.
That realization changed everything.
With a sharp thought-command, she activated her own systems. The thrusters embedded in her boots and along her back ignited with a controlled hum, violet exhaust flaring as she shot upward.
Within seconds, she was high in the sky.
Ethan let out a slow sigh, calmly sipping his wine as the footage played on the massive screen.
'…Why is she showing all the functions of the suit I made for them?' he muttered.
Reporters immediately swarmed him, cameras flashing nonstop. Questions overlapped as they zeroed in on the armored woman dominating the battlefield.
Ethan's heart skipped for a brief moment when he saw Sharon activate the flight system as well.
Can't you hold back a little? he complained internally. Great. Now seeing this, half the government's defense contractors will come knocking, and the other half will start panicking. And after Whiplash, they'll all have the perfect excuse to get themsleves the Iron Man tech.
His expression remained neutral, but internally he was already imagining the headaches to come.
"Mister Cliff—who is she?" a reporter asked sharply.
Ethan glanced at the screen once more before answering calmly."She's Violet," he said. "Second-in-command, directly under Storm."
That caused another ripple.
"How does she compare to Storm?" someone asked immediately.
"She's trained by Storm," Ethan replied simply.
That answer alone caused murmurs to spread like wildfire.
Ethan stopped responding after that, his attention shifting back to the screen as the fight was coming near to end.
High above the track, Sharon stabilized midair.
Her targeting system locked on.
She flicked her wrist.
A single shuriken shot forward—but unlike before, this one glowed faintly red as it cut through the air.
Whiplash reacted instantly, snarling as he lashed out with a whip. The energized coil struck the shuriken dead-on—
—and sliced it cleanly in half.
"Ha—" Ivan scoffed.
But then he froze.