Inside War Machine, Rhodey saw his systems return to normal, instantly breaking off his pursuit of Tony and hovering mid-air.
"That feeling… I definitely don't want to go through that again!" he muttered. "Ivan Vanko..."
It was clear that everything earlier had been orchestrated by Ivan Vanko. The helpless sensation of being manipulated, especially being forced to hunt down his best friend, was something Rhodey never wanted to experience again. He quickly caught up to Tony, who had flown just outside the venue and was now hovering in front of one of the Iron Soldiers. Tony raised his repulsor, aiming at the Iron Soldier to confirm it wasn't hostile.
"Jarvis, were you able to hack them?"
Given the situation, Tony could only assume the credit went to Jarvis. But hadn't Jarvis just said he couldn't access their system?
As expected, Jarvis's reply was surprising.
"It wasn't me, sir. It seems they were hacked by another system."
Clang!
Rhodey landed beside Tony, kicking up a cloud of dust. He immediately aimed the Gatling gun on his shoulder at the Iron Soldier before them.
"Ivan Vanko, come out and face me!"
Seeing Rhodey prepare to attack, Tony quickly held him back. "Hey, hold on! They're not under Vanko's control anymore."
"What?"
Rhodey paused, still unsure. He looked at the motionless Iron Soldier in front of them. He had assumed his system's return to normal was thanks to Tony and Jarvis. But from Tony's puzzled expression, it seemed he was just as confused.
"You're saying someone else is helping us?" Rhodey asked.
Tony nodded. "It looks that way… but…"
"But who could it be?"
The two stood there, deep in thought, an image that was being transmitted back through the Iron Soldier to Red Queen.
Watching Tony's perplexed expression, Gwen couldn't help but feel a surge of mischief.
"Red Queen, can I control that Iron Soldier?"
"Of course, Miss Gwen," replied Red Queen. "Your movements and voice will be synced."
"Great, give me control!"
Gwen mimicked Tony's classic repulsor pose, raising her hand. The Iron Soldier in front of Tony and Rhodey lifted its hand simultaneously.
The sudden movement startled both Tony and Rhodey.
"Tony, didn't you just say Vanko wasn't controlling it anymore?"
"I only said Vanko wasn't in control; I didn't say no one was!"
The two resumed their bickering, only to be interrupted by a bright, cheerful laugh coming from the Iron Soldier: "Hahaha…"
Gwen, watching their antics, couldn't hold back her laughter, which echoed through the Iron Soldier's speakers.
Rhodey immediately asked, "Who are you?"
The moment Tony heard that unmistakable laugh, he quickly lowered his repulsor.
At the same time, Gwen lowered Rhodey's raised arm through the Iron Soldier.
"Is that you, Spider-Woman?"
"What? Spider-Woman?" Rhodey, aware of Spider-Woman as a superhero, was puzzled. Wasn't she supposed to have superpowers? How could she be behind an Iron Soldier?
"Hahaha…" Gwen's laughter echoed. "Tony, aren't you going to thank me? Without my help, you'd be running for your life all night!"
Reluctantly, Tony muttered, "Thanks. But… how did you hack into Vanko's backend system?"
Gwen answered with pride, "Of course! I have an AI assistant too, you know. She's not bad either. As soon as we saw you being chased, we hacked in right away. Now, all of Hammer Industries' Iron Soldiers are under our control."
The Iron Soldier mirrored Gwen's proud, hands-on-hips stance. Rhodey, unfamiliar with Gwen, could tell from her mannerisms that she was young. Watching this girl act so smug right in front of him, he couldn't help but grumble, "Big deal. Given enough time, Jarvis could have done it too."
To Gwen, this felt less like an insult to her and more like a jab at Red Queen and Alan. She immediately snapped back, "When I said all the Iron Soldiers, I meant including yours!"
Rhodey's display suddenly flashed red again. "Come on, not again!" Just as Rhodey was about to argue, Tony cut him off, halting his self-sabotaging behavior.
"Rhodey, I'd advise you not to piss her off," Tony warned. "Remember what happened to Obadiah in the Iron Monger suit? He ended up provoking her, and you know how that turned out."
Rhodey paused, recalling Obadiah's disastrous end, which he had witnessed firsthand. Tony had never explained how it all went down, and Rhodey had assumed it was a team effort between Tony and Spider-Woman, with Tony doing most of the work. But now it seemed like Tony might have only been a bystander...
"Uhm… Spider-Woman, could you maybe unlock me? I'm sorry…"
Rhodey quickly backed down. He didn't have much choice since his life was practically in her hands. If she decided to blow up his War Machine suit out of annoyance, it would be over for him.
Gwen wasn't one to hold grudges, but she still warned him, "Watch your mouth next time." With that, Rhodey's system returned to normal.
Feeling humbled, Rhodey reflected on his earlier vow to avoid this situation ever happening again—only to be immediately proven wrong. He swore to himself that when he got back, he'd hand over full control of his system to Tony.
Tony, seeing that Gwen had let it go, continued, "Our next priority is finding Ivan Vanko. Until we deal with him, this isn't over."
"No need to look," Gwen interjected, "he's here."
Above them, an enlarged Iron Soldier slowly descended, landing heavily before the trio. Tony and Rhodey instinctively flanked Gwen on either side as the Iron Soldier's faceplate lifted, revealing Ivan Vanko's defiant glare.
"Tony, it seems I underestimated your AI assistant," Vanko sneered.
Before Tony could reply, Rhodey stepped forward. "I'm not in the mood tonight. Tony, let me handle him."
"I want him to meet my 'ex-wife'…"
"Ex-wife?" Gwen and Tony exchanged a puzzled look, unsure of what he meant. Something about that sounded… off.
...
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