Chapter 73 - Whiplash

Tony's impulsive behavior caught Pepper completely off guard, but it thrilled all the media broadcasting live and the audience present.

Even the reporter who was previously interviewing Justin Hammer rushed to the TV to watch Tony Stark enthusiastically wave at the camera.

The reporter was frantically drafting in her mind how to conduct an exclusive interview with him later.

This is why wherever Tony Stark appears, it inevitably becomes the center of news.

Justin Hammer's face was as grim as if he had eaten something foul.

Pepper had previously mentioned that this female reporter had once had a deep interaction with Tony Stark.

Hammer originally intended to use all his charm to lure this rather attractive reporter into his bed, at least to enjoy the thrill of defeating Tony Stark in another arena.

He had even instructed his men to prepare some enhancing drugs for him, but who could have predicted...

In frustration, he downed a large glass of alcohol from the table in one gulp.

Justin Hammer irritably loosened his tie.

The next moment, the image that suddenly appeared on the TV made him unable to look away.

It was a rugged man with an unmistakable Slavic heritage.

Dressed in a mechanic's uniform, with a matchstick dangling sexily from his mouth, he suddenly leaped out from the vehicle maintenance area of the racetrack.

By this time, the race had already begun, and the track was full of roaring race cars.

It's important to know that in F1 racing, the average speed of a driver taking a turn is over 300 kilometers per hour.

If someone suddenly appears on the track, and the driver can't steer away in time, the impact would be fatal, crushing at least eight out of nine lives on the spot.

But this Slavic man didn't just step out. He shook his hands, and two whips appeared in his grasp.

He then opened up his orange work uniform.

The miniature Arc Reactor on his chest began outputting power at full capacity, emitting a blue glow.

Energy surged along the simple circuits on his body toward the two metal whips in his hands.

The thin work uniform disintegrated into ashes, floating away in the wind.

The whips in his hands crackled with violent energy, and as he lightly dragged them on the ground, they carved small grooves into the track's surface.

"My God, this is made for me!"

Justin Hammer couldn't help but stand up from the table.

The Arc Reactor—this could solve most of the world's energy problems.

It's rumored that Elon Musk had offered a significant portion of his company's shares to Tony Stark in exchange for the rights to use this technology, promising to only install it in his cars, but Tony Stark refused.

In fact, Justin Hammer's military project had stalled at this very stage.

Even after removing all the weapon systems from the armor and cramming the entire internal space with the most advanced batteries, the energy provided wasn't enough to lift the suit even a meter off the ground, let alone sustain prolonged combat.

Unfortunately, even under heavy pressure from the Senate, Tony Stark refused to hand over the technology.

And now, here appeared another seemingly well-developed miniature Arc Reactor. Seeing the violent energy coursing through that whip, Justin Hammer thought about what it could do if installed on his company's suits.

Looking at the Arc Reactor, and especially at Ivan Vanko's crude equipment and his rugged face that clearly hadn't seen good days, Justin Hammer smiled with great satisfaction.

Unlike Justin Hammer, Blake was on the rooftop of the hotel, grinding his teeth in frustration as he watched what was happening below.

Strutting down the racetrack, even with all those roaring race cars speeding towards him, there wasn't a hint of panic or disorder in his stride.

Blake angrily spat off the rooftop.

Instinctively, he touched his nose and eyes with his right hand.

The last time he tried to show off in Mexico, it took less than three seconds before he was hit square in the face by a rocket launcher.

Even now, he could still remember the throbbing pain in his eyes.

Why does a villain have to act so arrogantly?

The more Blake thought about it, the angrier he got. His eyes began darting around the rooftop.

Ivan Vanko's appearance caused an uproar among the wealthy elites in the bar of the Paris Grand Hotel.

Especially when he used his whip to slice an oncoming F1 car in half, the entire place descended into chaos.

At that moment, Happy, carrying the new Mark 5 suitcase armor Tony Stark had developed, quickly pulled Pepper into the car and sped toward the racetrack.

The reactor on this guy's chest looked a lot like the one Tony had, so there was a good chance he was targeting Tony Stark.

When Thor saw this, he immediately stood up.

"Thor, what are you doing?" Jane asked loudly.

"Didn't you just say that this guy is going after Blake's friend? Blake is nowhere to be found, so I need to help save his friend!"

Without waiting for Jane's response, Thor dashed out like the wind.

Meanwhile, on the racetrack, the car Tony was driving had already come into Ivan Vanko's view.

With a slight tilt of his body to the side, Vanko whipped his arm down hard toward Tony's car.

The violent energy in the whip was as unstoppable as a lightsaber, slicing off the front of the car.

Tony, sitting in the half-destroyed car, was flung into the air, spinning several times before crashing heavily onto the ground.

He then watched as Ivan Vanko, with murder in his eyes, advanced toward him, shaking his whips menacingly.

Several cars behind him saw the crash and swerved to avoid it, but they collided with each other instead, leading to explosions, overturned cars, and debris flying through the air.

All of this happened right around Ivan Vanko, yet he remained completely unharmed.

He ignored the explosions and chaos behind him, focusing only on walking step by step toward Tony Stark, who was just crawling out of the wrecked car.

Just before he entered striking distance, Ivan Vanko deliberately cracked his whips on the ground a couple of times, trying to add even more psychological pressure on Tony Stark.

As Vanko was about to lash out with his whips, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air.

Ivan Vanko quickly turned his head, only to see a dark object hurtling toward him.

"Boom!"

He didn't even see what hit him.

All he felt was a sudden darkness as something moving at high speed shattered against his face.

The force of the impact sent him flying, crashing into the wire fence along the racetrack. His head lolled to the side as he passed out.

"Oh! Yes!"

Not far away on the hotel rooftop, Blake pumped his fist in victory!

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