Chapter 151: Enjoying a Fireworks Show

Rhodey stepped forward, blocking Tony and Gwen, and glared at Ivan Vanko with hostility. "Tonight, I'll make sure you understand," he said darkly, "the consequences of messing around with other people's stuff."

But Vanko barely acknowledged Rhodey, focusing instead on Tony and the Iron Soldier standing beside him. "Your digital butler can fight alongside you now?" he said with a sneer. "I'll admit, that's a surprise."

Tony waved him off, explaining, "No, you've got it wrong. This has nothing to do with Jarvis. The one who hacked into your Iron Soldiers wasn't Jarvis—it was her." He gestured to the Iron Soldier beside him. "Spider-Woman."

Controlled by Gwen, the Iron Soldier raised its hand and said, "Technically, it wasn't me who hacked your system." The Iron Soldier's head turned to glance backward, mimicking Gwen's movement as she looked back at Alan at home. He nodded to her, signaling her to go on.

"It was my AI assistant, Red Queen," Gwen added proudly.

Hearing this, Tony nodded approvingly. "Red Queen—that's a good name."

Vanko's face stiffened as he looked at the Iron Soldier. "Spider-Woman? Red Queen?" Suddenly, he remembered. The last time he caused trouble at Stark Industries, Spider-Woman had been there to stop him. He hadn't expected her to have an AI system, too.

Vanko had immense confidence in his own programming skills. If Tony had hacked him, he could have at least taken solace in the fact that he'd been bested by a recognized genius. But to have his code so easily bypassed by some random AI assistant? That was a blow.

With a dismissive sneer, Vanko looked at Gwen and said, "Seems you got lucky. You must've just stumbled across a vulnerability in my system. Next time, you won't be so fortunate. I'll deal with you here and then take down your Red Queen."

To Vanko, it was more plausible that Gwen had simply found a gap in his programming rather than that her AI was genuinely capable of cracking his code. His attitude infuriated Gwen.

Just as she was about to retort, Alan stopped her. "Wait a second."

"But…" In Gwen's view, Red Queen was Alan's creation. Disrespect toward Red Queen was, in a way, disrespect toward Alan, and she wasn't about to tolerate it. If not for Alan holding her back, she would have already swung over and dismantled Vanko herself.

"He's underestimating Red Queen," Alan said calmly. "So let's let Red Queen handle him."

"Red Queen?" Gwen glanced at her AI assistant. Despite her harmless appearance as a young girl, Red Queen was anything but.

At that moment, Rhodey's voice came through the comms. "Hey, maybe you should start worrying about yourself right now," he said to Vanko. "You've been ignoring me for way too long. You'll regret not stopping me earlier."

The others turned their attention to Rhodey, who had a small missile launcher on his shoulder, loaded with a tiny missile.

As Vanko finally looked his way, Rhodey grinned. "Get ready to feel my 'Ex-Wife's' wrath."

The small missile launched and struck Vanko's armor… only to fall to the ground without detonating. The silence that followed was painfully awkward.

Vanko scoffed, while Gwen couldn't contain her laughter. "Hahaha… Tony, your friend… Haha…"

Rhodey's face fell as he silently cursed Hammer Industries, feeling that today was the most humiliating day of his life—all thanks to them.

Tony, suppressing his own laughter, asked, "Hammer Industries tech, huh?"

"Yes, and I had no idea it was such garbage," Rhodey admitted, wishing he could somehow distance himself from the dud missile he'd just fired.

"Enough with the kids' games," Vanko sneered, swinging his arms to unfurl two enormous electric whips, far more powerful than before.

"Rhodey, move!" Tony yelled, pushing his dazed friend aside as the massive whips lashed toward them.

Gwen tried to dodge as well, but the Iron Soldier's movements weren't nearly as agile as her own.

Seeing her Iron Soldier sliced in half, Gwen turned to Alan, frowning. "These Iron Soldiers are so slow," she complained. "They can't dodge his attacks at all."

Alan explained, "When Hammer Industries designed them, they only focused on battlefield lethality. So, their armor's heavier, with more weapons onboard, but it sacrificed maneuverability."

Gwen nodded in understanding. "Next time, I'll just go myself. These things are way too weak."

Alan smiled. "True, they're weak, but… there are a lot of them." He turned to Red Queen. "Vanko doesn't think much of you. I'm leaving the rest of the fight to you."

"Understood, Master," Red Queen replied. In her projected form, she took control of all the Iron Soldiers.

Watching Gwen's Iron Soldier being sliced, Rhodey seemed to regain some confidence. "Looks like our Spider-Woman's out of the fight. So, Tony, any tactics?"

Tony started to reply, but then his voice filled with surprise. "Actually... I don't think we're needed…"

"What?" Rhodey asked, bewildered. Suddenly, Iron Soldiers surrounded them, closing in on Vanko.

Vanko glanced at the advancing Iron Soldiers with ease. "I modified Hammer's pathetic programming. That's how you managed to hack them," he scoffed. "You think you can take me down with these bullet-spewing hunks of junk?"

He reactivated his helmet, and the electricity flowing along his two whips intensified. "Oh, by the way, I coded this suit's AI myself. Think you can crack it?"

As he spoke, the Iron Soldiers' sensors, once glowing blue, now shifted to a deep red, making them appear almost like an entirely new force.

"Tony, Rhodey." A young, clear voice sounded within their helmets, surprising them both.

"Red Queen?" Tony guessed quickly.

"Yes," Red Queen confirmed. "There's no need for you two to interfere. Go handle whatever you need to."

"Tony, I think she's looking down on us," Rhodey grumbled.

"Thanks for pointing that out, Rhodey," Tony replied. "I noticed." But instead of showing irritation, he said, "Alright, I'll head inside. Let me know if you need backup, Red Queen." And with that, he flew off into the main hall.

Rhodey, stunned, couldn't believe Tony was actually stepping back at the request of an AI. After a moment's hesitation, and with no real choice—considering his own system was under someone else's control—he begrudgingly followed Tony.

Once they'd cleared the battlefield, Rhodey spoke up. "Tony, this isn't like you at all."

Tony didn't offer much explanation. "I'm more worried about Pepper. Justin's people won't surrender so easily." As he spoke, they reached the stage, where an unexpected scene greeted them.

All of Hammer's guards lay scattered across the floor, either unconscious or writhing in pain, while Pepper stood calmly at a nearby console, seemingly coordinating something.

Seeing Tony, Pepper immediately approached, concern evident on her face. "Tony, thank heavens you're alright."

"I'm fine, uh…" Tony's gaze shifted to the downed guards. "What exactly happened here?"

Before Pepper could respond, Black Widow leaped onto the stage from below, now dressed in a sleek black outfit that accentuated her figure. "I handled it," she said to Tony, then added, "Under Director Nick Fury's orders."

"Got it," Tony replied, reassured by Pepper's safety.

"You can't do this to me! Stark Industries—" Justin's voice rang out, seething with frustration. "I know what you're up to—trying to take me down and monopolize my deal with the Department of Defense! I'm telling you…"

Rhodey, fuming from tonight's humiliations, stepped up to the edge of the stage, looking down at the restrained Justin. "Tony, let me handle this."

"Go right ahead—I wasn't planning to bother with him."

Rhodey stepped to the edge of the stage, looking at the bound Hammer.

Tonight's humiliations replayed in his mind like a never-ending reel—being hacked, the failure of "Ex-Wife"…

Justin, noticing Rhodey's approach, didn't seem worried. Instead, he grinned and said, "Colonel, I knew we were still buddies! Come on, untie me. I'm going to drag all of them to a military tribunal! Tony Stark, you just wait. The Colonel was using my 'Ex-Wife'—"

Smack!

Rhodey landed a punch on Justin's face, contorting his features and knocking out a few teeth. Even Tony and the others winced, feeling the pain just from watching.

"Never mention that name in front of me again!"

Pepper spoke up in concern, "Tony, where's Ivan Vanko? He's behind all of this!"

They'd found out from interrogating Hammer that Vanko was indeed the mastermind.

"Don't worry," Tony replied. "Someone's dealing with him."

Black Widow, curious, looked at Tony. "Who?"

"I guess you could say it's Spider-Woman," Tony said vaguely.

Black Widow nodded knowingly, giving Tony a sly smile. "Well, it seems like you're out of mortal danger now."

At those words, Tony's eyes widened—not because Black Widow knew about the palladium poisoning, but because Pepper was right there, and he'd been hiding it from her all along.

"Tony, what does she mean? What kind of 'mortal danger'...?"

"Pepper, let me explain. I'm fine, really…"

Outside the venue

Watching Tony and Rhodey walk away, Ivan Vanko sneered at the surrounding Iron Soldiers. "Spider-Woman, I'll deal with you first, then go after Tony!"

"No chance," came Red Queen's voice.

The new, unfamiliar tone made Vanko's brow furrow, but he had no time to process it, as the Iron Soldiers closed in, forming a defensive perimeter. Electric currents sparked from his whips, but the Iron Soldiers, controlled by Red Queen, continued to advance.

As his whips struck two of the Iron Soldiers, their hands locked onto the whips, halting his movements.

"This… this is impossible!" Vanko couldn't believe it. His whips carried thousands of volts of high-voltage electricity powered by an Arc Reactor, enough to melt through anything they touched—as had just happened to another Iron Soldier.

But now, they were held firmly, with no electricity flowing through them anymore. Vanko glanced at his whips, now appearing dim and lifeless.

"It's a shame—you're out of power," Red Queen's voice mocked.

"What?" Ivan, in disbelief, frantically tried to reroute energy back to his whips, but there was no response.

"No, this can't be happening!" he shouted in desperation. "How did you hack into my system…?"

Red Queen replied with a mocking tone, "I'll give you five minutes to restore your systems. Countdown starts now."

A five-minute countdown appeared on Vanko's screen.

---

4: 59

4: 58

4: 57

As the countdown ticked away, Ivan Vanko was drenched in cold sweat, muttering as if in a trance, "Impossible... this can't be happening..."

"This must be a coincidence... you must have just found a vulnerability in my system… somewhere…"

...

While Vanko was frantically trying to regain control, all the Iron Soldiers stood motionless, simply surrounding him. Meanwhile, a number of police officers had gathered around the perimeter.

The five minutes ticked down quickly.

Death itself was not terrifying—what was terrifying was the mental torture of waiting for it.

As the timer on his screen reached zero, Vanko finally snapped. "No, give me five more minutes! I've found the vulnerability! I'm about to fix it—you lost, not me! Just give me five more minutes!"

"Sorry, time's up," replied Red Queen coldly. "Now, let's treat New York City's citizens to a fireworks show…"

Under her control, the Iron Soldiers slowly rose into the sky.

"No...!" Vanko shouted desperately. "I haven't gotten my revenge on the Stark family… No!"

...

The gathered police officers slowly raised their hands in a salute, watching.

Inside the venue

Tony and the others observed this scene as well.

"It looks like it's over," Tony said, holding Pepper close with one arm. After explaining everything, Pepper had let go of her resentment but firmly warned Tony not to keep secrets like this again.

Under the gaze of countless people, the Iron Soldiers drifted away into the sky.

Alan and Gwen stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the spectacle unfold.

Then, a bright flash lit up the sky…

…

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