Boom, boom, boom!
Inside Tony's lab, explosions echoed through the air. After reviewing the test results, Yinsen adjusted his glasses. "The firepower is impressive, but you'll need to control it."
"No problem, this is just the recoil from a single mechanical arm," Tony replied.
He was wearing a silver mechanical arm, the palm still radiating heat from the recent test. The trial had involved the functionality of the repulsor in the palm of the suit.
"The fifteen-mile radius around Gulmira can only be described as a living hell," reported the television, which was showing news footage of the region. "The militants occupying the area…"
Tony glanced at the screen, recognizing a few of the Ten Rings members who briefly appeared on camera. He immediately remembered them from outside the cave where he had been imprisoned.
"Jarvis, how's the Mark III coming along?"
The Mark III armor had been redesigned after addressing the flaws from its previous high-altitude flight issues.
"It's ready, sir. You can equip it at any time."
"Okay. Let's go."
"Time to destroy those things that should never have existed in this world."
Five minutes later, Tony stood on a platform wearing a black bodysuit. The platform beneath him slowly shifted, extending several mechanical arms that began equipping him with the Mark III armor.
Once fully suited, Tony began to hover in the air and turned to Yinsen behind him. "Any last words for those bastards?"
Yinsen thought for a moment, his face twisting with anger. "Fuck you!"
"I'll make sure they get the message!"
With that, Tony shot off at full speed towards Gulmira. His mission was twofold: destroy the weapons and get revenge.
Tony's departure quickly caught the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., particularly Nick Fury.
"Did he really build a new suit that fast?" Fury muttered, watching Tony fly across the screen with some surprise. Perhaps this was the power of wealth at work.
Although Fury didn't know the exact value of Tony's assets, one thing was clear: compared to Tony, S.H.I.E.L.D. was practically broke.
What caught Fury's eye even more was the gradual evolution of Tony's suit—it was starting to resemble that mysterious golden armor. This reinforced Fury's suspicion that Tony was somehow connected to that armor, and not just tangentially.
But no matter how much Nick Fury racked his brain, he couldn't guess the real reason behind Tony's design choice.
The truth was, Tony had simply thought the Emperor Armor looked incredibly cool the first time he saw it, so he had modeled the Mark suit after it.
"Hill, where's Tony headed?" Fury asked.
After roughly calculating Tony's trajectory, Hill replied, "Judging by his direction, he's heading towards Gulmira. If I'm not mistaken, he's going after the Ten Rings to seek revenge."
Fury added, "And I think the bigger reason is to destroy the weapons Obadiah sold through the black market."
"We'll just have to wait and see."
"Anything from the NYPD?"
"They're preparing to enter the sewers to investigate the Lizard's lair."
"And Spider-Woman? Any luck finding out who she is?"
Agent Hill responded, "No…"
"Another one hiding in plain sight. Such a nuisance…" Nick Fury muttered a few curses under his breath.
Meanwhile, Gwen, who was attending class, suddenly sneezed several times in a row. Alan handed her a tissue. "Are you alright? Did you catch a cold last night?"
Gwen took the tissue. "Thanks, I think it was just a few sudden sneezes. Nothing to worry about."
Their close interaction naturally drew envious stares from the other guys in the class, who glared at Alan with hostility.
Even the teacher coughed a few times, signaling the two of them to settle down. Gwen blushed and sat up straight, focusing back on the lesson.
Just then, Gwen's phone screen lit up with a red alert message: "Captain George has led a team into the sewers to search for Connors."
Gwen's expression suddenly changed, and she looked over at Alan. They were in the middle of class, so they needed to find a way to slip out. Alan gave Gwen a reassuring look, then lightly tapped on her phone.
The next second, the school bell rang.
The previously dead-silent classroom instantly buzzed with life. The teacher stood there bewildered, announcing the end of class with a confused expression.
"Class is over already? Was I that lost in my teaching today?"
Alan grabbed Gwen's hand and immediately dashed out of the classroom, leaving their classmates staring in shock.
"You two, is it really that urgent? It's still morning…"
Before long, in a secluded part of the campus, Gwen—now in her Spider-Woman suit—swung out of the school grounds, while Alan made his way to the library.
Inside, Alan opened his laptop and put on a pair of headphones. As soon as they were on, the voice of Red Queen echoed in his ears:
"Master, Tony Stark has left New York and is flying towards the Middle East."
"Oh? Do we have footage?" Alan's interest was piqued immediately. After all, Tony's safety directly impacted Stark Industries' stock prices, which meant it also affected Alan's future financial prospects.
"Yes, this morning I hacked into the military's satellite feed and picked up Tony's movements. The image quality was poor, but I've enhanced it."
The computer screen displayed a video. A bright streak of light cut across the sky, and after a few adjustments to the image, the full form of Tony Stark's Iron Man suit appeared before Alan. He couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Iron Man… has his style changed a bit?
The video showed Tony Stark ruthlessly mowing down members of the Ten Rings with ease. He spared a few of them, leaving them to be dealt with by the local villagers. Their fate, Alan knew, would be brutal.
This was one of the things Alan admired about Tony Stark: he was gentle with his allies but showed no mercy to his enemies.
"Alright, let's check in on Gwen now…"
In Queens, Gwen perched atop a tree, observing the area. The whole place had been swarmed with police, especially around every sewer entrance. Several detectives were stationed at each one, armed not with handguns but with powerful shotguns.
"Red Queen, are there any other entrances into the sewers?"
"In the alley behind you, hidden behind an old door, there's an unguarded entrance to the sewers."
Gwen thanked her and swung off in that direction.
Meanwhile, down in the sewers, George and his team stopped at a corner. The scene before them left everyone stunned…
...