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*****
Watching Ivan descend from the sky, the three of them stood ready, their guard fully up.
Hydra's resources were naturally far superior to anything Hammer Industries could offer. Consequently, Ivan's battle armor was significantly more advanced than in the original timeline—at least in terms of the materials used for its construction.
As for the power source, he was still utilizing an older version of the miniature Arc Reactor, though he had managed to make a few slight improvements to its efficiency.
Perhaps out of a personal obsession with whips, his weaponry hadn't changed much in design. However, they were larger and thicker now. Two shimmering energy whips crackled with power, looking exceptionally dazzling even in the middle of a bright day.
"Who are you?"
Ivan directed his question at Fini, voicing the curiosity that many others felt.
"Take a guess!"
Fini's answer was the kind that could make someone's blood boil instantly.
Ivan clearly wasn't in the mood to engage in a "guess if I'll guess" banter. He turned his head toward Tony and said through gritted teeth, "Tony, you should have died right here."
As he spoke, he actually retracted his faceplate, revealing a face that looked somewhat weathered and aged.
Before Tony could even formulate a reply, Fini found he couldn't hold back anymore. To open one's armor right in front of him—was this man looking down on his damage output?
"I—"
BOOM!
A slender pillar of fire descended from the heavens, cutting Tony off mid-sentence. They watched as Ivan began to scream frantically, his hair catching fire instantly.
The expressions under Tony and Rhodey's faceplates looked something like this:
(°ー°〃) (⊙⊙)
Then, both of them turned their heads in unison to stare at Fini.
Fini put on an innocent expression, though it was unfortunately hidden by his own mask, so the other two couldn't see it.
"What? Strike first to gain the upper hand!" Seeing the two of them standing there in a daze, Fini couldn't help but explain, "Why do we have to talk for ages before fighting? He opened his faceplate—such a golden opportunity! I really couldn't bear to let it slide."
"But..."
Looking at Ivan, who had finally snapped his faceplate shut but was still screaming in agony, Tony felt a flicker of pity in his heart. Who just starts blasting the moment they see someone? It felt against the unspoken rules of engagement.
"Makes sense."
Rhodey, on the other hand, nodded in deep agreement, looking as though he had just learned a valuable lesson. This left Tony even more speechless.
"You... you all..."
To control the collateral damage, Fini's 'Explosion Magic' just now hadn't finished Ivan off directly. However, this restraint only served to make the villain's suffering more acute.
Ivan began swinging his whips like a madman. His movements were fierce and imposing, but his aim was considerably off. It was likely because his eyes had been scorched by the previous attack.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Tony! Tony!"
Even though it was Fini who had burned him, Ivan continued to scream Tony's name while lashing out. Then again, it was possible Tony was the only one of the three whose name he actually knew.
"Explosion!"
Fini flew up into the air, keeping a safe distance, and launched another round of Explosion Magic at Ivan. This left the vision-impaired Ivan even more incapable of locating his enemy, leaving him to vent in a state of powerless rage.
"How tragic."
Rhodey couldn't help but sigh. The scene was so pitiable that he didn't even have the heart to join the fray.
Beside him, Tony frowned slightly. He had actually wanted to interrogate Ivan about who had rescued him and helped him build so many robots, but looking at the situation, there was clearly no chance to talk.
Seemingly unable to bear watching Fini 'torture' Ivan any longer, Tony finally joined the battle.
At that moment, Ivan had recovered slightly, and his vision was clearing up. With his arch-enemy right in front of him, the sheer rage in his heart was enough to level a city if he were the Hulk.
"Tony!"
Ivan roared madly. This time, he didn't dare open his faceplate. Two energy whips, crackling with electricity, lashed out toward Tony with immense force.
Unfortunately for him, Tony wasn't the same Tony from the original story. Faced with Ivan's violent assault, he calmly reached out and grabbed the energy whips with his hands.
Since their last encounter, Tony had accounted for these types of weapons and had reinforced his palms accordingly. He wasn't afraid of Ivan in the slightest.
But before Tony could make his next move...
With a massive CRASH, accompanied by layers of mysterious magic circles, a crimson pillar of fire descended from the sky once more.
Ivan fell.
Before he had started his operation, he never could have imagined such an outcome. In fact, he had only managed to say one complete sentence the entire time.
Carrying his hatred, his pain, and a deep sense of unwillingness, Ivan finally collapsed to the ground. In his final moments, he vaguely heard a voice saying:
"Okay, mission accomplished. Rhodey, don't rush off later. I'll treat you to some fried chicken rolls!"
Watching Ivan collapse under the bombardment of Fini's 'Explosion Magic,' Tony felt as if he had swallowed a fly. He felt like he had been getting the short end of the stick all day.
First, he was threatened and mocked by Ivan over the phone. Then, he was chased by robots until he was hovering between life and death. When he finally met the villain face-to-face, he was interrupted before he could say a word. And just when he was finally ready to show off, someone else stole his thunder before he could even move.
"Hey, gentlemen, would you mind if I interrupted for a moment?"
Just as Tony was about to go full 'keyboard warrior' and lecture Fini on the proper way to handle things, a slightly lazy voice suddenly drifted from the side.
"Natasha?" Tony frowned upon seeing the newcomer and immediately asked, "This isn't a place you should be. Where's Pepper?"
"Tony!"
Not far behind Natasha, Pepper came running out as well.
Just as the two were about to start a romantic reunion, Fini suddenly heard a rapid beep-beep-beep sound. His expression changed instantly as realization dawned on him.
"Tony, these robots might self-destruct!"
"What?"
Tony froze for a second. As he turned around, he saw the severely burned Ivan open his mask one last time. Three words escaped his lips; based on the shape of his mouth, it looked like:
"You lose!"
Tony looked at a relatively intact robot wreck near his feet. Near the energy source in its chest, a ticking sound had also begun to resonate.
Without another word, Tony lunged toward Pepper. Amidst her startled cry, he swept her up by the waist and took to the skies.
As a Colonel in the Air Force, Rhodey's combat experience was arguably the most extensive among them. He reacted the moment Fini finished speaking. His first instinct was to stop the robots from exploding, but he quickly realized there were too many wreckage pieces nearby to stop them all. He, too, quickly took flight.
Only Fini was left in a bit of a bind. Although he was the first to react, he was the slowest to ascend because a figure had suddenly grabbed onto him.
Looking at Black Widow hanging off him, Fini was utterly speechless. The moment he had warned them about the self-destruct sequence, he was ready to use the Sky Walk to fly away. Who would have thought that as soon as the words left his mouth, Natasha would sprint over and wrap her arms around him without saying a word?
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Today was destined to be an extraordinary day for New York as the sounds of explosions rang out once again.
However, because these robots were somewhat crudely made, the power of their self-destruction was actually inferior to the ones Hammer Industries had meticulously crafted in the original timeline.
Furthermore, Fini's 'Explosion Magic' had already completely obliterated the majority of the machines. The ones capable of blowing up now were just the scraps Rhodey and Tony had taken down earlier, along with a few stragglers.
Nevertheless, a bomb was still a bomb. Watching the ground light up like a brilliant fireworks display, Fini couldn't help but remark:
"Nuclear peace in America, gunfights every single day!"
(End of Chapter)