"Are you sure you sent them invitations?"
Stark hesitated for a second, saying: "...Pepper sent the invitations. I was busy arranging the exhibits then..."
Having said that, he took out his phone to call Pepper. At that moment, Pepper was busy signing orders with some businessmen attending the exhibition. Receiving Stark's call, she irritably said, "Invitations for Hammer Arms Industry? Of course, I didn't send! Weren't you the one who complained last time that their technology is so bad it reaches the core of the Earth, and that appearing in front of you pollutes your brain?"
After hanging up, Stark awkwardly rubbed his hands together, saying, "Things have developed a bit unexpectedly...Pepper didn't send Hammer an invitation..."
"So they just don't come if you don't send them an invitation? Isn't that unprofessional?" Shiller exclaimed.
The two people who had advance knowledge of the plot could only stare at each other in disbelief. Despite their calculations, they didn't expect Hammer Arms Industry to actually play by the rules to such an extent; not attending if they didn't get an invitation. What happened to your villain trait?
"Even if Hammer Arms Industry doesn't come, that Ivan Vanko who has a grudge against you should also..."
"BANG!!!"
The two turned to look at the glass curtain wall. A huge mechanical whip sparking with electricity crashed onto the glass curtain wall, and then... didn't break the glass.
"This is a new technology I've developed recently," explained Stark. "The larger the area, the stronger it is."
"He doesn't seem to be able to get in," observed Shiller, looking at the huge whip constantly beating against the glass curtain wall of the hall. The onlookers thought this was another performance organized by Stark and they excitedly gathered around the glass, taking out their phones to start taking pictures.
Stark took out his phone, saying into it, "Someone is causing a scene, start evacuating the crowd."
When security rushed in to evacuate the crowd, most people didn't understand what was happening. They had already been strolling around for quite a while but clearly did not anticipate the exhibition would end in such an abrupt way.
Many people were reluctant to leave, but they were still driven out through the emergency exits by the guards.
Stark tapped a few things into his phone, and then a window in the corner of the glass curtain wall opened. Stark and Shiller stood in place, both turning their heads to look in the corner, but the much-anticipated villain did not show up as promised. Shiller said somewhat helplessly, "Can't you make some cue so he knows the entrance is here?"
Stark put a hand to his forehead, looking at the electrical whip which was still incessantly striking the glass curtain wall. He said, "Do I really need to prepare him an emergency entrance sign?"
Stark, who was spoiled by his hyper-dimensional perspective, knew well that Hammer Industries and Ivan Vanko wanted to cause trouble, but he went ahead with the Stark Industries Exhibition anyway.
However, he was not going to risk his life for it, so before holding the exhibition, he gave Stark Building a comprehensive upgrade, which included but was not limited to increasing building strength, installing a new defense system, creating a new glass curtain wall with new technology, and preparing emergency evacuation routes and so on.
But the situation right now was that the stage was set, the protagonist had made a grand entrance, yet the villain couldn't break through the upgraded glass curtain wall and was trapped outside.
The protagonist even had to open a door for him to allow him onto the stage, but the door was so high-tech that the villain failed to recognize it and so still couldn't get in.
"Forget it, I'll go help him out."
After saying those words, Shiller disappeared. He turned into a gray mist and arrived outside the Stark Building, seeing Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash, hanging from the wall under the 89th floor of Stark Building, constantly hitting the glass curtain wall with his whip.
In mid-air, Shiller thought carefully and felt that no matter how he appeared, it would seem wrong. So he controlled the gray mist to form several words in the air: "Entrance is over there!"
He saw Whiplash freeze unmistakably.
Seeing no reaction from Whiplash, the words converged into a giant arrow, even making a pointing animation to the side. This was as clear as instructions can get, but Whiplash still didn't move.
Natasha stood by Stark's side, marveling at the whip and gray mist outside the window squaring off: "So, your enemy can't find the door in?"
"Ivan Vanko? He's supposed to be Russian, right?" Natasha said, "I suggest you chuck out a couple of grenades, blow him over."
Stark also sighed, saying: "I'll just fly out there instead."
With that said, the mech suited up around him. He flew out of the corner exit of the glass curtain wall and saw Whiplash hanging on the wall. At that moment, a familiar figure swung by from the other side of the wall. Spider-Man popped his head around the side of the wall, very puzzled, asking: "What is going on? Are you two about to fight?"
However, neither Whiplash nor Iron Man moved. This made Spider-Man even more confused, he asked: "If you guys aren't fighting, why did you evacuate the crowds?"
The situation turned awkward. Firstly, Ivan Vanko couldn't fly, or rather he couldn't fly for a long period of time. He didn't have Stark's vast wealth to support him, his mech was made of very substandard materials, and the output from the chest reactor wasn't enough, so he couldn't just fly off.
Now, to his left was Spider-Man, effortlessly clinging to the wall. To his right, Iron Man hovers in mid-air, arms crossed, staring at him. And above his head was a grey arrow from who knows where.
In Ivan's perspective, he was a hero filled with vengeance, risking his life to expose Stark's evil secrets. Stark used his evil wealth to build layers of defenses, and due to the equipment gap, he was unable to infiltrate the enemy's base.
Meanwhile, the evil capitalist Iron Man had called upon his companions, trapping himself in encirclement. Their web of deceit left him with almost no way out.
Yet, from the perspective of an observation helicopter not far away, this scene was rather comical.
Iron Man in his mecha stood motionless mid-air, Spider Man in his red and blue suit, seemed puzzled and unmoving, the gray mist-shaped arrow also remained still, and Whiplash - who believed he was besieged and dared not show any weakness - didn't move either.
These four strangely-shaped things were at a standoff on the glass curtain wall of the Stark Building.
Suddenly, the gray arrow at the top moved. It reverted back to a cloud of gray mist and then with a 'pop', turned into a question mark, seemingly confused about the situation.
Spider Man was intrigued by the change. As he looked up, a bolt of electricity crackled on a whiplashing towards him. Thanks to his spider-sense, he deftly leaped aside to avoid it. Stark, extended his hand and fired his palm cannon at Whiplash. In an instant, the three were embroiled in a skirmish.
The gray mist with a 'pop' transformed into an exclamation mark, seemingly astonished by the rapidly changing situation.
Whether Whiplash could defeat the evolved Iron Man and Spider Man or not remained to be seen. But the military believed he could not, and so they were ready to intervene.
As the three military helicopters flew in, they saw the gray mist with a 'pop' turn into three-dot ellipsis.
The pilot of the armed helicopter was puzzled: "I've been wanting to ask, what the hell is that thing???"
As they approached Stark Building, each dot from the ellipsis flew towards the three helicopters, obstructing their views entirely.
The armed helicopters, deprived of a clear view, began spiralling chaotically like headless flies.
"...You're asking me about the situation here?" Rhodes, who was in a negotiation with the military, glanced out the window as he held his cell phone: "I'm not sure how to describe it to you."
On the floor-to-ceiling windows, an electric whip crackled, instantly followed by a spider web sticking on the wall. A figure in red and blue swung quickly past, then a shiny mecha zoomed by and finally, a helicopter, its nose full of gray mist, spun down.
"In any case, the battle is intense...you're asking who has the upper hand?"
A shadow appeared over Rhodes' head. He glanced up and saw a huge parachute slowly descending outside the window, with the helicopter's pilot, who was swearing while on call, tethered beneath it. Then Rhodes asked his phone: "...Do you know the opposite term of evenly matched?"
At this point, Whiplash realized he couldn't compete in mid-air with Spider Man and Iron Man. He pounced downward, landing on the terrace of the building to the west of Stark Building, with Stark landing in front of him.
Whiplash glared viciously at him as Stark's face guard rose, and he looked at Whiplash, saying, "Although I know you definitely won't listen to my explanation, and if it were the former me, I wouldn't bother explaining to you..."
"Shut your mouth! You and your father are both despicable, you're all thieves, a bunch of dirty, loathsome rats..."
"Right now, it's clear you can't beat me, the reactor in your chest is too outdated, and it lacks power. If you don't adjust the power, you can't even sustain a long flight..."
There was no trace of mockery in Stark's tone, he was merely stating a fact, but it fully infuriated Ivan.
In Ivan's view, the Starks were all thieves – they had stolen his father's achievements to amass their current wealth and used that wealth to create a superior reactor. Having no money himself, he had to submit to Justin Hammer, adhering to his stupid ideas, and making mechas for him.
This anger had been festering in him for a long time. He didn't want to hear another word from Stark. With a swing of his whip, Stark dodged as he seemingly wanted to say more. However, the mecha army flew in from the horizon at that moment.
Whiplash turned his head, his teeth clenched, "Hammer! You imbecile, you promised me, you wouldn't interfere..."
The voice of Justin Hammer sounded from the leading mecha, "I'm here to help you. You can't possibly expect to fight Stark and his mecha army on your own?"
The mecha landed, Justin said to Stark: "It's time to expose your lies, Stark! The Ark Reactor was not invented by you or your father, and it's not exclusive to you. Your technology is mediocre…"
"Is that so?"
As Stark stood leaning against one of the buildings of Stark tower, he didn't need to reply. Rhodes arrived in his mecha, leading the group of mechas seen at the Industrial Exposition, and landed beside Stark.
"You think you're the only one with a mecha army?" Justin, evidently inflated by military support, had good reason to be.
The mechas behind him were no longer individual modifications and developments by Hammer Industries. Ivan had provided the core energy for this batch of mechas, and the military had participated in the modification. Even some of the technology of Life Foundation was used. At least on the surface, there was no difference between them and the mechas, led by Rhodes. In fact, they even outnumbered them.
Stark merely responded: "Well, that was the previous version."
Before Justin and Ivan could comprehend what he meant, Stark flew back up into the air, and extending his hand he said, "Jarvis, initiate defense protocol."
The moment his hands clenched, thousands of gun turrets on the Stark Building behind him shone brightly.