Liam reacted in an instant. He activated Plasma Star, throwing a glowing projectile at Iron Monger's faceplate. It pierced through the left side of his visor, partially blinding him.
Tony didn't waste the opportunity. He soared up, summoning Living Flame, a burning sphere of fire that homed in on Iron Monger's exposed wound. The fireball slammed into his helmet, melting through.
Iron Monger's screams turned to static. His thrusters sputtered, and his massive frame crashed into the ground, creating a deep crater.
"Time to finish this." Liam landed next to Tony.
Tony nodded. He raised a hand, summoning Ice Blast, encasing Iron Monger's entire lower half in a thick layer of ice.
Liam dashed forward at blinding speed, leaping onto Iron Monger's chest. His Wraith Strike activated, and a projection of himself delivered the final blow—his energy blades sliced through the reactor core in Monger's chest, ripping it apart.
A final, garbled scream echoed before Iron Monger's body slumped lifelessly.
"I will kill you—" Whiplash, still recovering, growled, his one free hand clutching a remaining whip.
Liam didn't let him finish. He threw a Venom Bomb directly at Whiplash's face. The acidic explosion coated his suit, eating away at the metal.
"How about a little shock therapy?" Tony smirked.
He raised his hand one last time, summoning a Lightning Strike. The bolt struck Whiplash square in the chest, sending thousands of volts coursing through him. His body convulsed violently before he collapsed, smoke rising from his burned-out circuits.
"All down." Liam said as Tony slowly hovered in front of him. The Expo was damaged, his supposed legacy was now in tatters. But thankfully it was clear of civilians and there had only been wounds among the civilians. No deaths.
This was not what Liam expected as he remembered that Whiplash wanted to blow everything up at the end. But then he remembered that they had come here to showcase their power and with the assumption that Tony wouldn't be able to put up a fight. They came here to do future business, and killing people around would be very bad for their portfolio.
Thus civilians weren't that harmed, but another bad thing that came with it was the fact their heroics were now in multiple cameras and in no way they would be able to escape that. It would be on the front page for sure tomorrow.
"Well," Tony said. "That was fun. Soooo, what are the chances I get to keep this suit?"
"Zero."
"Damn, had to try." Tony said.
"I will give you something better later." Liam said.
"Really? Now I am more excited." Tony had a smile.
Soon sirens blared at the distance and Liam recalled back the Storm and Interceptor. Tony's wasn't happy seeing multiple sirens but his bad mood was lifted when he saw Pepper and others come running in. Even Bonnie and Chris was with her. They both looked very scared but once they saw Tony and Liam to be alive and well, they were more than relieved.
Pepper came running and hugged Tony while Chris and Bonnie came to hug Liam together. It really showed the care that these two have for him, even though Liam had always been hands off in this friendship. Maybe he should allow them to have a glimpse into his life, in the future.
These three weren't the only ones. Colonel Rhodes too showed up, and Liam met him for the first time. He had a very angry and ugly look on his face as he looked at the destruction around. He didn't expect that US Military's greatest asset would be in such danger, but thankfully they were able to come out of it fine. SHIELD too showed up, and Colson led the charge here.
He looked at the destruction around and gave a knowing look to Liam before starting to clear the things around. Tony had also taken away the two arc reactors before everyone was here. Without the reactor, these were just tin cans, and in no way he would allow anyone to get their hands on it.
Though he was still unsure of how this Ivan Vanko guy got his hands on an arc reactor, it could be tackled later. Reporters also showed up at the scene a few minutes later, while Tony was being tended as he did have some bruises, but they were not allowed to take any interviews.
"We should leave." Liam said.
"Yeah, I can't wait to hit the bed tonight. My nightmares are much sweeter than what we faced today." Tony said.
------
The next day
Tony was sitting sipping coffee. He looked particularly annoyed as he was brought to the HQ of Stark Industries and was forced to give a press conference. Pepper, Liam, Rhodey and Phil Colson were also present.
"Okay, Tony, let's go over this one more time," Rhodey said. "You do not say anything about the armor. Don't mention a peep about it and do not go off-script."
"We'd appreciate it if you'd cooperate. Your statement should be simple: 'The incident at the Expo was a result of an unauthorized attack by rogue military forces. You were present but uninvolved in the combat. And have no idea of what was going on since many people had seen you and Liam get indoors."
"Sigh. And you called me here to speak those rehearsed lines. I have better things to do, you know."
"Funny you should mention that." Rhodey sighed and tossed a newspaper onto the table.
Tony picked up the paper and scanned the front page.
"IRON MAGE SAVES STARK EXPO – NEW HERO OR JUST ANOTHER STARK STUNT?"
"Iron Mage? Iron Mage! Oh, I love that." Tony said.
"No you don't." Pepper rebutted in, while Liam just looked at the newspaper. So his involvement was so huge that even the name of Iron Man was in the dumpster and out came Iron Mage.
"But you got to admit. The name does make me some kind of Gandalf in armor."
"You are not Iron Mage." Pepper spoke again and this time with more conviction.
"Tony, focus." Rhodey said.
"Oh, I'm focused. Laser-focused. But let's be real—nobody's buying this 'rogue technology' excuse. You think they're just gonna ignore the fact that someone was throwing actual lightning?"