When Harry turned back and Pepper and Happy were moving forward, and Ivan Vanko had already reached the wreckage of Tony's racing car. He swung his whip down.
Hiss—
The steel-built car was sliced cleanly into two pieces by that strike. But to Ivan Vanke's surprise, the driver's seat was empty.
Boom.
A sudden blow from behind staggered Ivan Vanke, but the brief pain barely affected his powerful body.
Without the slightest hesitation, and clearly unconcerned that no one else should be in this arena, Ivan Vanke turned and lashed his whip.
Boom.
Tony narrowly blocked the strike with the same metal plate he'd just used to hit Ivan Vanke from behind. It kept the whip from cutting him in half, but the impact still sent the plate flying and knocked Tony sprawling to the ground.
"Hmph!" Ivan Vanke sneered. Seeing Tony fall in panic, he mercilessly lashed at him again and again.
Snap!
Snap!
Snap!
Maybe something on Ivan Vanke's rig affected the subtle rhythm of his strikes, because Tony kept dodging left and right, slipping past every blow. Each time the long whip—powered by a high-speed particle stream—hit the track, it only scorched the ground black.
"Harry, hurry up! I can't hold on! Ah!" Tony shouted into the headset, but in his frantic retreat, he stumbled over a shredded piece of a racing car. Boom—he hit the ground, and the earpiece fell out of his ear.
"Okay," Harry answered calmly. But behind that calm tone, his sharp gaze intensified, and an invisible magnetic field burst out from him. The speed of the racing car surged, blue arcs of electricity flashing around the wheels.
Magnetic acceleration—developed by Harry by imitating the principle of magnetic levitation. The interplay of repulsion and gravity pushed his speed even higher. Like Magneto, Harry had long practiced adjusting his own magnetic field for flight, and with his now finely tuned control, this technical ability had gradually taken shape.
"Oof…" Tony pushed himself up with one hand, shaking his head, blinking repeatedly to clear his blurring vision. A long streak of blood down his cheek showed how hard he had fallen.
Ivan Vanke advanced on Tony step by step, like a cat toying with a mouse that resisted stubbornly but hopelessly before dying.
Tony backed up until he finally hit the iron fence behind him.
"Tony Stark, go to hell and atone for my father's sins!" Ivan Vanke declared. Reaching the climax of his rage, he swung his whip directly toward Tony.
Beep!
Boom!
A car suddenly burst onto the track, stopping Ivan Vanke's killing strike. With a heavy bang, the vehicle slammed into him, sending him flying over the roof. He tumbled across the ground several times before skidding to a stop.
"Tony! Here—take this!" Pepper jumped out of the car, holding Tony's compressed steel suit in her hands.
"Hey! Get down!" Tony ran forward to meet her, but a glance through his broken glasses caught Ivan Vanke rising again, swinging his whip toward the car that had hit him.
"What?" Pepper's face filled with confusion. She didn't understand Tony's warning and only glanced back slightly before continuing toward him on her high heels.
"Happy, watch out—move!" Seeing Pepper still confused, Tony dove toward her and shouted to Happy, who hadn't even gotten out of the car yet.
Even if Happy didn't always seem like the most polished bodyguard, he still trained himself to watch for danger around his boss. Spotting Ivan Vanke in the rearview mirror, whip raised and charging toward him, Happy threw himself out of the car. He didn't make it look graceful—he stretched, stumbled, and fell—but he avoided the fatal strike.
Shhh—
Hiss—
Two sounds, one large and one faint, echoed in succession.
Tony, who had tackled Pepper to the ground, winced in pain. Reaching behind his head, he hissed sharply the moment his fingers brushed the wound. Then another harsh smell hit his nose.
"Damn!" Seeing the blood and the burned hairs on his fingers, Tony cursed, then glanced at the black car beside them.
"Uh… looks like we got lucky." Tony pulled his gaze back and spoke to Pepper beneath him.
Beside them, the once-intact car had become a ravaged convertible. One of the electrified whips was still embedded in its frame, and the vehicle was nearly cut in half.
Ivan Vanke yanked the whip free with a violent pull, then swung it at Tony again.
Snap!
Pepper gasped in horror as Tony grabbed her and rolled aside just as the deadly strike hit the ground.
He jumped up quickly, dragging Pepper away from Ivan Vanke.
"Tony—here! Put it on!" Pepper finally snapped out of her confusion and shoved the gorgeous red-and-gold suitcase toward him.
"Yeah." Tony took the suitcase, set it on the ground, stomped on it with both feet, and the case immediately began to unfold. Armor clamped over his boots, two openings appeared for his hands—he slipped them in and stood upright.
K-chk-chk-chk—
The suitcase rapidly transformed. Layer after layer of gold-titanium alloy slid into place across Tony's body. In seconds, the suitcase revealed its true form.
A sleek steel suit with a dual-color finish—Tony Stark's latest creation: Mark V.
Mark V was an emergency-use armor built for speed and portability. It sacrificed most offensive systems, compressing the whole suit into a small suitcase. Its only weapon was the palm repulsor cannon.
But even with reduced armaments, Tony's Iron Suit remained a powerful combat machine.
"Hey—try this!" Now fully armored, Tony raised his hand. Bright energy gathered in the palm of the Mark V, glowing brighter and brighter.
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A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
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