Late at night, a massive container ship—the Nokk, owned by Roxxon Corporation—was docked at a port. Aldrich was planning to broadcast the execution of U.S. President Ellis there.
This public execution was very "Viking-like."
He had his men hang the President in an X-shape on a gantry crane, all while the President was clad in the Iron Patriot suit, a project the President had once championed.
Undoubtedly, this was the ultimate insult to the American spirit.
A classic case of killing with emotional cruelty! Simply find any excuse for the execution, and then all the crimes would be blamed on the fictional "Mandarin."
Aldrich had long secured the Vice President as his new backer, exploiting the Vice President's love for his disabled granddaughter, a prime example of Hydra's infiltration of the government.
Once President Ellis was dead, power would officially fall into the Vice President's hands, as per protocol.
Now, with the President kidnapped and "missing," and power temporarily concentrated in the hands of the traitorous Vice President, Tony Stark and Colonel James Rhodes had no choice but to rely on themselves to rescue the President, without any external support.
James, accompanied by an armor-less Tony, tried a clumsy secret infiltration. But when they were quickly discovered and surrounded, they shifted to Assassin's Creed mode.
Yes! If you take out all the enemies, no one will know the infiltration failed.
Without any qualms, Tony had his AI, Jarvis, summon all the Iron Man suits stored at his Florida mansion.
In the night sky, a series of "fire comets" streaked toward them. Aldrich's men looked up in astonishment as they saw an entire fleet of Iron Man suits hovering in midair.
The MK33 Silver Centurion, the MK39 Gemini, the MK17 Heartbreaker, the MK40 Shotgun, the MK35 Red Snapper...
It was like a legendary Iron Man catalog.
Even the enemy, and Tony's own side, were left speechless.
James turned to his buddy, his voice filled with disbelief, "You made all of these?"
Tony's expression was slightly awkward. "You know, a man needs hobbies."
For the sake of his "little hobby," he'd even abandoned running his own company, handing over full control to his former secretary, Pepper Potts. If Pepper didn't love him deeply or wasn't highly capable, she could've ruined Tony long ago.
In the next moment, with Tony's command, Jarvis sent over thirty Iron Man suits to attack Aldrich's men at the dock.
In James' eyes, this should've been a one-sided slaughter.
Against the high mobility of the Iron Man suits, regular soldiers should have little chance of resistance.
Unfortunately, fate threw Tony a shocking twist.
In history, the only ones capable of fighting the Iron Man suits were those enhanced soldiers injected with the Extremis virus.
But now, those ordinary soldiers pulled out some deadly weapons.
James was dumbfounded.
"Damn! Chitauri laser weapons!"
After the Battle of New York, the city was littered with the invaders' corpses and gear. Even though the National Guard sealed off the area, declaring all alien technology as government property and prohibiting civilians from possessing it, a large number of Chitauri weapons still ended up on the black market and in the hands of criminal organizations.
The Chitauri weapons weren't like the ones used by Red Skull's men during World War II that required the Tesseract for power.
These were independent, fully operational interstellar weapons.
In another timeline, some petty criminals used this gear to rob an ATM, giving Spider-Man his first taste of alien shock.
As a branch of Hydra, AIM acquiring Chitauri weapons was not impossible.
5.56mm bullets couldn't threaten the Iron Man suits, but laser weapons absolutely could.
Suddenly, the sky was filled with laser fire, resembling the chaotic scene of the Battle of New York.
At the first clash, Tony's expression twitched. He watched as at least three Iron Man suits were hit by concentrated laser fire, exploding into dazzling fireballs.
Just like during the final stage of the Battle of New York, when Tony was bullied by Chitauri grunts, the titanium alloy armor used in the Iron Man suits couldn't effectively withstand the damage from laser weapons.
The intense heat easily burned through the suits, causing the internal components and circuits to explode in a burst of blinding sparks.
The Iron Man suits didn't go down without a fight. Under Jarvis' control, they performed all sorts of aerial maneuvers to confuse the enemy's targeting.
Before the enemies could react, the Iron Man suits began counterattacking, focusing on those who had climbed up the gantry crane or taken other high positions.
With missiles, laser pulses, and even the disassembled parts of the MK42 suit flying like guided missiles, the Iron Man army inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, though not without taking some losses of their own.
In the blink of an eye, two more early-model suits were destroyed.
Tony's heart ached at the sight.
The Iron Man suits were supposed to easily crush these low-level soldiers.
Yet, with the Chitauri weapons in play, it had become an even fight.
Unlike Batman, Tony didn't care about the lives of his enemies, but he did care about his creations being destroyed.
To make matters worse, the enemy started threatening both President Ellis and Pepper Potts, forcing Tony into a moral dilemma: save the girl or save the President?
Tony, true to himself, chose his heart—who's this President guy again?
Dangling above the raging flames, President Ellis watched Tony fly off to save Pepper and felt his own mouth twitch.
At that moment, a mysterious chariot—once the source of shock for New Yorkers—appeared again.
Drawn by three immortal warhorses, the chariot easily reached speeds of 200 kilometers per hour.
Both sides, locked in battle, only saw a flash of golden light speed past. In the next instant, the President had vanished.
Exhausted and bewildered, President Ellis found himself staring at a bald, bearded man dressed like an ancient Greek warrior, alongside a focused charioteer—Penthesilea. His lips quivered for a moment before he finally managed to stammer, "Kratos?"
Imitating Wonder Woman's accent, Atreus spoke in perfect American English, "You can speak to me in any of a hundred languages, and I'll decide if I feel like responding."
A half-hearted reply.
President Ellis, who had thought himself doomed, still found the bald warrior oddly endearing.
"Well, whatever the case, on behalf of the American people, I thank you for standing up for justice."
Atreus curled his lips, saying nothing