Three days later, New York, the former site of the Stark Industries Expo.
Justin Hammer had spent a fortune to rent this place, which once belonged to the glory of the Stark family, intending to stage a commercial drama of the newcomer surpassing the old. Unfortunately, the entire stage design was a mimicry of Stark's aesthetics, yet it exuded a sense of over-the-top cheapness everywhere. Huge holographic screens cheaply displayed sycophantic logos, and laser lights swept haphazardly across the audience, reeking of a nouveau riche's frantic desperation.
"Ladies and gentlemen! An era belonging to Hammer Industries is about to begin!"
Below the stage, in the first row of the brightly lit VIP area, Tony Stark sat with his legs crossed, his face showing unabashed mockery as he whispered to Pepper beside him, "He hasn't even figured out that the essence of my dancing is that 'I'm number one in the World' confidence, not a circus monkey doing somersaults."
Pepper helplessly helped him straighten his tie, murmuring softly, "Why did you insist on coming here to see this? This invitation is practically a provocation."
The invitation was indeed unsolicited, sent in Justin Hammer's name through official channels, and semi-forcibly thrust into Tony's hands. But Tony and Lin Huai knew perfectly well that the real sender of this letter... was the Russian hiding behind Hammer—Ivan Vanko.
"A good actor never misses an opponent's bad play; only by seeing how the opponent performs do you know how to respond." Lin Huai answered before Tony could, and after speaking, he stopped watching the farce on stage, repeatedly shuffling a deck of specially textured tarot cards in his hands.
As he spoke, he casually drew a card from the deck.
[XIII. Death]
Lin Huai's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly. He calmly tucked the card back into the deck, reshuffled, and drew another.
It was still [Death].
His expression finally began to crack. Under the puzzled gazes of Pepper and Tony, he solemnly spread the entire deck in his palm and took a deep breath.
With the cards face down, his fingertips flipped one over. The skeletal knight holding a scythe and riding a white horse appeared before his eyes for the third time.
"What is it?" Tony asked in a low voice.
"It seems today's story won't be that simple. Maybe that fellow Johnny wants to join the fun too." Lin Huai slowly put away the tarot cards, cast his gaze toward the stage, and let out a mischievous grin. "It's about to start."
The performance on stage continued. The atmosphere exploded when Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes appeared, wearing a suit of ferocious gun-metal grey armor.
"Mr. Hammer and his team have provided us with the strongest combat supplement of this era." Rhodes' voice was steady. On the giant screen behind him, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps versions of the Iron Soldier Drone legions marched out gallantly to show off, causing a sea of camera flashes from the audience.
"What a perfect straight man. Rhodes probably wants to dig out a seaside Villa on the floor right now out of embarrassment." Tony watched his best friend endorsing his rival and shook his head, while simultaneously whispering an order to Jarvis, "Lock onto Rhodes' communication channel and monitor his vital signs throughout."
At that very moment, Ivan Vanko, who had been hiding in the backstage monitoring room, clearly saw through the cameras the figure he hated to the bone in the VIP section—Tony Stark. He could even imagine the self-righteous, mocking expression on the other's face.
Hatred instantly rushed to his head, and logic went offline on the spot.
A sudden change occurred!!!
All the lights in the exhibition hall went out with a'snap'! Two full seconds of absolute Darkness plunged the noisy venue into a deathly silence, followed by uncontrollable gasps and commotion. Then, the giant screen at the back of the stage lit up again amidst a piercing sound of electrical current. It was no longer the Hammer Industries logo on the screen, but a scruffy face shrouded in Shadow, with bloodshot eyes burning with nothing but hate.
Ivan Vanko!
"Stark... you have some courage after all. I thought you wouldn't dare to come." Ivan's Russian, through all the speakers in the venue, hammered coldly into everyone's ears.
The next second, all the Iron Soldiers on stage as exhibits, as well as the War Machine suit on Rhodes, simultaneously lit up with the same ominous red glow as Ivan's eyes!
"Damn it! He's actually this crazy, there are so many innocent people here." Tony stood up abruptly, understanding everything in an instant. "Happy! Give me the case! Then get Pepper out of here, fuck!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the two nearest Army-type Drones had already turned their muzzles toward the VIP section, locking onto his position. A rain of scorching bullets poured over!
"God Almighty! Save me." This sudden turn of events sent the crowd fleeing in panic, but Lin Huai remained like a rock pinned in a Riptide. He performed a clumsy but extremely effective roll to avoid the crowd, stopping right between the two mechs. With a flick of his hand, he threw two poker cards with faintly glowing edges, which sliced precisely into the leg joints of the mechs like blades. He didn't use lethal force, but it was enough to jam them for a few seconds.
Those few seconds were enough for Tony Stark.
He performed a 'lazy donkey roll' to dodge the first volley. At the critical moment, Happy Hogan, fueled by an unknown surge of strength, rushed over holding the emergency armor disguised as a briefcase and slammed it down at Tony's feet.
Under the horrified gazes of countless guests and the frantic flashes of cameras, the playboy Tony Stark stepped onto the case. Amidst a series of fluid mechanical clicks, he completed his most disheveled yet coolest public transformation ever.
As the red and gold helmet closed, a cold electronic voice sounded:
"Mark V armor is online."
At that moment, all the Drones on stage, along with Rhodes' completely locked War Machine, turned around, aiming their dark muzzles and missile launchers at the newly standing Tony.
Ivan Vanko's face filled the entire screen. His gaze seemed to pierce through the lens, pinning itself directly onto the Iron Man Suit, his voice filled with the thrill of revenge.
"Now, it's your turn to feel my pain, Tony Stark."
"Let the whole World watch with their own eyes as the heir of the Stark family dies for the blood debts the Starks owe."
As soon as he finished speaking, the iron legion, painstakingly built by Hammer Industries but reduced to tools of revenge, instantly unleashed its devastating firepower upon the solitary red and gold figure standing in the ruins!
The fire and thick smoke from the explosions instantly swallowed everything. Rubble and shrapnel flew everywhere like a rainstorm, but according to the'smoke but no damage' rule, Stark was perfectly fine.