23. First Fight, Killing Ivan

Ivan lashed out with his electrified whip, the weapon hissing through the air like a venomous serpent. John sidestepped with fluid precision, the whip missing him by mere inches and striking the ground instead, leaving a scorched line.

In response, John raised his hand, summoning a stream of water that surged forward in a serpentine motion. The water clashed against Ivan's whip, short-circuiting the immediate charge but not enough to disable it entirely.

"You think water can stop me? Amateur!" Even though Ivan was baffled by this strange water and the way it appeared but Ivan wasn't in a mood to ask questions. Ivan roared, unleashing both whips in a frenzied attack.

John flipped backward, his movements graceful. Mid-air, he conjured a flaming orb and hurled it at Ivan. The ball of fire exploded on impact, momentarily engulfing Ivan in flames.

When the fire cleared, Ivan emerged unscathed, his armor glowing faintly. "Nice try, but my suit is fireproof," Ivan growled.

"Good. Let's try something else," John said with a smirk.

Ivan charged, the whips flailing like metallic vipers. John stood his ground, extending his palms. As the whips closed in, John absorbed the electricity into his body, the arcs of energy crackling around him harmlessly.

"What?" Ivan exclaimed, momentarily stunned.

"You're not the only one who plays with electricity," John replied.

John unleashed a concentrated burst of electricity, the bolt striking Ivan directly in the chest. Sparks flew as Ivan staggered back, his suit straining to handle the unexpected assault.

Ivan roared in anger, recovering quickly. "Who the hell are you?"

The room became a whirlwind of chaos as John and Ivan exchanged relentless blows. John summoned walls of water to deflect the whips, countering with fire streams and electrified punches. Ivan's armor absorbed some of the attacks, but cracks began to show in his confidence.

John leaped onto a nearby scaffold, his slim suit amplifying his agility. From the elevated position, he created a fiery lance and hurled it at Ivan. The lance pierced through one of the power cores on Ivan's suit, causing a small explosion that sent Ivan stumbling.

"You're losing your edge," John taunted, landing gracefully back on the ground.

Ivan snarled, redirecting his energy. The whips spun faster, creating a deadly vortex of electricity that surged toward John.

John remained calm, raising both hands as water and fire intertwined to form a swirling sphere of steam and lightning. With a powerful thrust, he sent the sphere hurtling toward Ivan.

The attack collided with Ivan's vortex, resulting in a deafening explosion that rocked the entire facility. Smoke and debris filled the air, obscuring the battlefield.

When the dust settled, John emerged. And Ivan lay sprawled on the ground, his Whiplash suit sparking and hissing with damaged circuits.

John approached, standing over Ivan. "It's over. You've lost."

Ivan gritted his teeth, his body too weak to move. "This… isn't… over…"

John shook his head, summoning a small fire ball in his hand and threw it toward ivan's head. Which after the collision burst apart with loud explosion.

Looking at the blood all over the floor. Jhon was silent for a moment. And started thinking about the fight. Where he did wrong and how to improve it.

All the abilities shown in this fight. Have been prectice by jhon many times. Now all this ability have become a muscle memory. And it doesn't take much time for jhon to activate all this abilities.

Suddenly jhon looked in a certain direction and without waiting for anything directly flew away.

****

Outside the facility, Natasha and Happy had just arrived by car.

"Stay in the car," Natasha said firmly.

"I'm not staying in the car," Happy replied.

"I said, stay in the car." Saying that, Natasha got out of the car and headed up the stairs toward the broken door.

"What are you wearing? Look, I'm not letting you go in there..." Happy protested, following Natasha inside. However, he stopped abruptly, frozen in shock at the scene before him.

Natasha, equally surprised, raised her gun and became alert. Slowly, she walked inside. The further she went, the more shocked she became. She followed the corridor leading to the room where John had just fought.

Reaching the room, already open, Natasha stepped in cautiously. Happy followed hesitantly, and both took a deep breath as they surveyed the destruction. In the middle of the room lay Ivan, his face unrecognizable, lifeless on the floor.

"Oh my god," Happy muttered, his face pale with fright.

Natasha looked around the room but found nothing else of significance. Turning back, she headed to the computer room and started typing on the system.

"What are you doing?" Happy asked, snapping out of his shock.

"I'm rebooting Rhodey's suit," Natasha replied.

As the reboot completed, an image of Tony appeared on the screen.

"You've got your best friend back," Natasha informed Tony. "And Ivan is dead."

Tony, visibly shocked, responded, "Thank you very much, Agent Romanoff. And what now?"

"It doesn't matter," Natasha said, changing the subject. "By the way, well done on the new chest piece. I'm reading significantly higher output, and your vitals all look promising."

"Yes, for the moment, I'm not dying. Thank you."

Just as Tony finished speaking, a second screen lit up, revealing Pepper's voice.

"What do you mean you're not dying? Did you just say you're dying?"

"Is that you? No, I'm not. Not anymore," Tony stammered, caught off guard by Pepper's sudden appearance.

Natasha raised an eyebrow, confused by their bickering.

"What's going on?" Pepper demanded seriously.

"I was going to tell you. I didn't want to alarm you," Tony tried to explain.

"You were going to tell me? You really were dying?"

"You didn't let me," Tony said defensively.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to make you an omelette and tell you."

"Hey, hey! Save it for the honeymoon. You've got incoming, Tony. Looks like the fight's coming to you," Natasha interrupted, clearly fed up with their argument.

"Great. Pepper?" Tony called out.

"Are you okay now?" Pepper asked.

"I am fine. Don't be mad. I'll formally apologize—"

"I am mad!" Pepper interrupted.

"—when I'm not fending off a Hammeroid attack."

"Fine."

"We could have been in Venice," tony muttered.

"Oh, please," pepper retorted.