A few days later, Pepper arrived to discharge the injured Stark from the hospital. Their driver picked them up from Presbyterian and pulled onto the main road.
They hadn't gone far when a deafening explosion rocked the rear of a sedan ahead. A moment later, the hiss of smoke grenades filled the air, billowing white fog that swallowed everything in sight.
Stark instantly shoved Pepper down. Gunfire rattled against the bulletproof glass, each impact making the entire vehicle shudder.
"Damn it!" Stark cursed, fumbling for his phone to call in a suit.
Pepper shoved him. "You're still hurt! Call Rhodey—let him pilot the armor!"
Before Stark could argue, she snatched the phone, ducked beneath the seat, and shouted into it: "Rhodey! We're under attack, leaving the hospital! Send backup now!"
The ground shook violently. Heavy metallic thuds echoed all around as machines drew near. Stark glanced out the window—towering black robots had them surrounded.
The driver in front slumped forward, riddled with bullets. Stark climbed over into the driver's seat himself.
"Turn right toward the square!" Pepper snapped, brushing hair from her face. "That's the only place backup can spot us right away!"
Fortunately, Stark's reinforced car could still take a beating. He floored it, tires screeching as the vehicle lurched forward.
"Good thing we checked out at night!" Stark muttered.
Glancing in the mirror, he saw five or six massive robots pounding after them. His jaw tightened. "If they're planning to self-destruct here, the entire hospital will be rubble!"
He yanked the wheel. The car fishtailed, leaving black tire marks across the pavement as the tires screeched.
One robot leapt high, ready to crush the car. Before it landed, a blur swung in from above.
Wham!
A figure kicked the robot square in the head, sending it flying.
Spider-Man landed with a thud on the roof, poked his head into the cabin, and grinned. "Am I late, or just on time?"
He glanced forward. "Hey! Don't go straight—turn left! Big traffic jam ahead. If those tin cans plow through, every car there is toast!"
He launched another web and slingshotted off, taunting robots and drawing them away.
One fired a rocket. The blast blew apart a storefront, showering glass on screaming clerks inside. Spidey dashed in to pull them out, unharmed himself.
"Looks like the kid's busy," Stark muttered. "These things are making too much noise. Someone has to rescue civilians."
"Rhodey must have called Steve and Schiller already," Pepper said urgently. "Let's focus on staying alive!"
Pain throbbed through Stark's half-healed ribs. Before he could reply, a helicopter shadow loomed overhead. Rhodey leaned out the side hatch, yelling:
"South! Drive south, now! We can't fight them here—too many will die!"
Stark gritted his teeth, yanked the wheel, and swerved hard. The car spun, clipped two posts, and smashed into a street corner.
He dragged Pepper out of the wreckage. She was dazed, but alive.
Above, Spidey had webbed down two lamp posts and swung them like bats, knocking robots sprawling.
"JARVIS! Suit me up!" Stark roared.
A crimson-and-gold armor streaked in, locking around him. He scooped Pepper up, carried her to a rooftop, and set her safely aside. Rhodey arrived in his own suit seconds later.
They regrouped in the shadow of a small machine parts factory—thankfully deserted at this late hour.
Robots stormed the yard. Iron Man and War Machine stood ready. Spidey swung in from behind, and Captain America jogged up moments later, having stayed behind to organize evacuations.
Together, they clashed.
Spider-Man's strikes were clumsy but fast and strong, keeping robots off balance. Stark darted through the melee, palm repulsors lighting up the night with explosions. Rhodey smashed down two with brute force.
"This won't work!" Rhodey shouted. "If they all self-destruct, we're done!"
Stark's brow furrowed. "No… this isn't Obadiah's work. Even with the arc cores, he couldn't mass-produce this many in so little time. This took a full military supply chain—one Pepper would have noticed!"
As if on cue, a smoking robot lurched toward him.
"Tony, look out!" Spider-Man shouted.
Stark blasted skyward just before it detonated, leaving a smoldering crater.
Another robot charged. He caught it, hurled it aside, and turned away just in time to avoid the second blast.
Steve wasn't so lucky—the shockwave knocked him flat even behind his shield.
"Damn it! What the hell are these things?!" Cap spat, scrambling up.
Hovering, Stark stared at the wreckage. His eyes narrowed. "That's Mark VII pre-modification tech… the version I gave the military."
He glanced at Rhodey. His jaw clenched.
Explosions thundered one after another, leveling half the factory. The heroes scrambled to contain the destruction, forced to chase any robot that tried escaping toward civilians.
Then, as Stark reeled from back-to-back detonations, four machines swarmed him. Their chests lit up, priming to blow.
But before they could, the ground quaked again. A colossal metal fist punched through one, ripping its bomb core free.
A massive steel monster—twice the size of the robots—strode into the fray.
"What the hell is that?!" Stark shouted. "Where are they pulling these things from?!"
The giant tore robots apart like toys. Rhodey blinked. "They're fighting each other?! What's going on?!"
"They're not on the same side!" Cap barked.
The battlefield turned chaotic. Heroes battled to keep explosions contained, while the new juggernaut rampaged against the robots.
Spider-Man, confused and reckless, webbed one machine down and even punched the giant itself.
Soon, most of the suicide bots were destroyed. Just as they caught their breath, another massive figure dropped from a nearby rooftop.
It was a scaled-up version of the suicide units—black-and-gold, towering three times Iron Man's size. The ground shook when it landed.
"Holy crap," Peter gasped. "Please tell me that's not the mommy-bot."
Cap hefted his shield. "If it is, you can guess who the son is."
The new arrival's speakers boomed: "You broke our deal!"
The giant responded in kind: "And you tricked me!"
Stark's stomach dropped. JARVIS confirmed voice matches.
One pilot was Obadiah Stane.
The other… General Johnson.
The two titans brawled clumsily, hurling wild haymakers.
Stark hovered in shock. So Obadiah wasn't behind the suicide bots? And Johnson… he's in this, too?
"Howard's lapdog!" Johnson roared at Obadiah. "Still protecting his brat after all these years? Pathetic! He shut down the weapons division without even asking you!"
From Obadiah's mech came only a calm, mocking reply: "Decades, and you still don't understand. You were never chosen—for good reason."
Johnson's fury boiled over. He smashed a button.
Another mushroom cloud tore through the factory. His mech self-destructed with devastating force, leaving a crater hundreds of meters wide.
Rhodey's armor was shredded. Stark's suit barely held together. Even the giant staggered, half-broken.
But Johnson lived, crawling from an escape pod, clutching a remote. "You thought this was the end? No… this is only the beginning."
Fresh swarms of sleeker, deadlier robots swarmed into the ruined yard.
Coughing blood, Stark pulled Rhodey up. "Your boss… has a hell of a temper."
Rhodey spat bitterly. "Why do you think I wanted out?"
Johnson sneered. "Howard promised Obadiah everything, but gave him nothing—just as his son robs you now. Tony shines in the spotlight, and you rot in his shadow. Just like Howard and his watchdog."
Obadiah's tired voice drifted from his crippled mech. "…All these years, and you're still a fool."
Stark sagged against a wall, bloodied but strangely calm. His gaze swept the advancing machines.
"Maybe they're right," he murmured. "An iron shell won't save me. It never will."
Rhodey clenched his fists. "Then what? You want to lie down and die?"
Stark gave a thin smile. "No. I'm asking if we're really like them."
Rhodey blinked. "…You're worse than your father."
Amid the smoke and ruin, Stark chuckled softly. He reached to his chest, then glanced sidelong at Rhodey.
"…Got a light?"