Chapter 28: Harvest
What an incredible weapons show this had become.
Iron Man flew rapidly through the sky, with dozens of steel soldiers chasing behind him. Yet despite the relentless barrage of bullets fired by those machines, none of them could penetrate the armor of Tony Stark's suit.
Ivan Vanko was undeniably a brilliant scientist.
The steel soldiers he designed were comparable to Stark's armor in many ways—especially in terms of power. Their energy systems were at least as strong as the earlier palladium-based Arc Reactor that Stark once used, perhaps even stronger.
Although Stark had appeared to invent that reactor himself while trapped in the Middle East desert, the original design actually traced back to Anton Vanko, Ivan's father.
Decades earlier, Anton Vanko had worked on the technology before being expelled from the United States and forced to live in Siberia. He spent the rest of his life obsessing over what had happened.
Even though he eventually died from excessive drinking, his ideas and research had survived.
Ivan Vanko had inherited that talent.
Just as Tony Stark had turned Howard Stark's theoretical work into reality, Ivan Vanko had done the same with his father's designs.
If Stark hadn't already developed the new element reactor inspired by the Tesseract, the outcome of this battle might have been very different.
But now the result was already decided.
The bullets fired by the pursuing steel soldiers streaked through the air, passing between buildings and streets below.
When they struck Stark's armor, however, they left almost no trace.
His gold-titanium alloy armor was simply too strong.
Hammer Industries had invested significant resources into their weapons, but their goals were fundamentally different from Stark's.
Tony Stark built his armor primarily for personal use.
Hammer Industries built weapons for mass production.
Mass production meant lower costs.
And that meant compromises.
Justin Hammer could never afford to construct entire armies of gold-titanium armor.
Even building a single suit from that material was incredibly expensive.
The military would never agree to pay for something like that.
As a result, although the steel soldiers had impressive firepower, their defensive capability was far weaker.
As the drones continued firing at Iron Man, many of their bullets missed entirely and struck the ground below.
Cars exploded into flames.
Within moments, dozens of armored machines had flown across the sky, while the streets beneath them turned into a blazing sea of wreckage.
Against Stark's armor, the steel soldiers seemed powerless.
But against ordinary vehicles—
They were devastating.
Hammer Industries had become a military contractor for a reason.
Their basic engineering capabilities were undeniably strong.
After leading the drones through the city for a while, Stark suddenly changed direction.
He flew back toward the Stark Expo.
His target was the enormous globe-shaped structure in the center of the exhibition grounds.
The building's interior was filled with complex layers of reinforced steel bars arranged in a precise framework.
Navigating through it safely required extremely advanced flight control.
Something Stark possessed.
Something Ivan Vanko—who was remotely controlling the drones—did not.
Ivan Vanko was a master of mechanical engineering.
But his knowledge of artificial intelligence systems was limited.
One by one, the steel soldiers followed Stark into the globe structure at high speed.
Within seconds, several of them smashed directly into the complex steel framework.
Explosions echoed through the building.
Metal fragments scattered everywhere as flames quickly spread.
After flying through the structure, Stark slowed briefly.
There was even a hint of sadness in his expression.
But more steel soldiers were still chasing him.
Moments later, he accelerated again and flew away from the expo grounds.
Stark had already left the expo earlier.
But he had returned for one reason—
To destroy that globe structure.
Because it contained the architectural framework that had inspired the creation of his new element.
Standing within the flames of the burning structure, Lance Ryder smiled faintly.
He had arrived slightly earlier than Stark.
And during that brief window of time, he had already memorized everything he needed.
The fire only made certain details clearer.
As a mage, Lance's mental abilities were extremely strong.
While he didn't possess perfect photographic memory, he could retain nearly every detail when he concentrated.
Especially the details that mattered most.
The outer sphere of the globe structure formed the largest framework.
Inside it, the carefully arranged steel bars and connection nodes created the underlying geometric pattern.
That pattern had been the foundation for Stark's discovery of the new element.
Of course, there were still countless details that needed further analysis.
Over the years, the structure had experienced natural wear and human modifications.
Lance would have to reconstruct the original design through careful study.
But he now possessed the essential foundation.
As Lance stepped forward, the flames parted before him.
They opened a clear path.
Although Lance had become famous for his ice magic, that had only been during his time as a legendary mage.
Before that, his greatest strengths had been wood magic and fire magic.
Even though Earth's magical environment limited his power, his understanding of magic remained intact.
Controlling flames like this was still simple.
Even after securing the most important information, Lance didn't leave immediately.
He was still curious about the entire Stark Expo complex.
The small architectural model Tony Stark had once used was only a miniature representation of the expo grounds.
The real foundation for discovering the new element was the entire industrial park itself.
Models could be destroyed.
But large facilities often survived for decades.
If Lance could fully understand the layout of the expo grounds—the buildings, roads, trees, walkways, lights, and structures—he might reconstruct the design later.
Once he returned home, he would need to gather every available document related to the expo's construction.
Architectural plans.
Photographs.
Records of modifications over the years.
Especially the original designs created by Howard Stark.
Even though Tony Stark had already discovered the new element, that didn't mean its potential had been fully realized.
Further research and refinement were inevitable.
The ultimate goal wasn't simply to imitate the Tesseract's energy structure.
It was to recreate the Cosmic Cube particle pattern itself.
Lance realized something important.
If he could replicate that particle structure using magic—
Or even simply detect and absorb space-energy particles—
Then he might obtain abilities similar to the Space Stone without possessing the stone itself.
If he could do the same with the other Infinity Stones…
Then perhaps he wouldn't need the stones at all.
Perhaps he could still survive the moment when Thanos snapped his fingers.
Thanos was not only an enemy of Odin.
He was also an enemy Lance could never ignore.
Anyone who possessed even a single Infinity Stone would eventually attract Thanos's attention.
And if Lance wanted to defeat Thanos, the best opportunity would only come after the Snap.
Which meant Lance had to survive until that moment.
The threat of Thanos pushed him to improve his power as quickly as possible.
That was also why Lance didn't react strongly to the fact that Heimdall had likely been watching him.
Lance wandered calmly through the expo grounds.
The chaos around him continued.
Even though Stark had drawn most of the steel soldiers away, several remained behind.
But none of them noticed him.
His invisibility spell easily fooled ordinary sensors.
As Lance stepped out from a small pavilion, one of the remaining steel soldiers suddenly rushed toward him.
Its weapons activated instantly.
Bullets poured out in a deafening storm.
Lance raised his hand calmly.
A powerful magical barrier appeared in front of him.
Every bullet shattered harmlessly against it.
In the next instant, Lance appeared directly in front of the steel soldier.
A flash of light passed through his hand.
The Arc Reactor embedded in the machine's chest fell neatly into his palm.
At the same time, he severed its connection to the self-destruct system.
Then Lance conjured a blazing fireball.
He shoved it into the machine's hollow interior.
A moment later—
Boom.
The steel soldier exploded.
Lance had already vanished.
Across the expo grounds, the remaining steel soldiers began exploding one after another.
But Ivan Vanko didn't notice.
Or perhaps he had already abandoned the area entirely.
All of his attention was now focused on Tony Stark.
Especially after Hammer Industries' headquarters had begun suffering a massive cyberattack.
Ivan knew it was time to leave.
Meanwhile, in Central Park, another battle was underway.
But the real victims weren't Stark or War Machine.
It was the steel soldiers.
Their weapons couldn't penetrate the armor of Iron Man or War Machine.
But Stark's weapons sliced through the drones effortlessly.
Justin Hammer had cut too many corners.
Once Stark's armor gained a clear technological advantage, the steel soldiers might as well have been made of paper.
Fortunately for Hammer, this battle was taking place deep inside Central Park.
Most surveillance systems nearby had already been disabled by JARVIS.
If military leaders or White House officials had seen this performance, their confidence in Hammer Industries would have collapsed instantly.
A brilliant spiral of laser energy flashed across the battlefield.
Stark's attack sliced every remaining steel soldier cleanly in half.
Dozens of machines—and even nearby trees—were cut apart in seconds.
Colonel Rhodes stared in disbelief.
Lance Ryder, who had just arrived nearby, also stopped briefly.
If he had arrived a few seconds earlier, he might have become a target himself.
The attack wouldn't have harmed him.
But it would certainly have exposed his presence.
Stark had finished clearing the field.
Which meant the real opponent was about to appear.
At the same moment, Tony Stark received a report from Natasha Romanoff.
Hammer Industries' systems had detected an approaching machine with an extremely high energy output.
Seconds later—
A massive three-meter-tall armored figure descended from the sky.
Ivan Vanko had arrived.
End of Chapter 28
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