章節 63: Sad Hammer

Liam walked up the stairs to the stadium, approaching the gates where security personnel were checking tickets. He handed over his card, and after the ticket was verified, the security guard waved him in.

Walking inside, Liam was almost blinded by all the disco lights. 'If I didn't know any better, I'd assume this was the new NYC strip club,' Liam mused. He continued strolling through the halls, curious to see what he might find among the smaller gadgets displayed along the way.

The halls were lined with areas showcasing inventions for purchase. As he walked, Liam spotted products he recognized from his past life: the iPhone 3GS, the PlayStation 3, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295. But what really surprised him was the vaccine for AIDS. 'So, this isn't just a weapons expo—it's also for advancements in technology and medicine,' Liam thought.

He made his way to the main stage, where the event's highlight would soon take place. Liam hoped Tony would arrive quickly; he really did not want to endure Justin Hammer's talking for long.

Finding a spot in the middle of the crowd, Liam sat down, positioning himself in case he needed to act later. 'Now we just wait,' he thought.

Minutes passed before the lights suddenly cut out, leaving only a spotlight on Hammer, who awkwardly danced his way to the microphone. Watching the insufferably cringeworthy performance, Liam grimaced. 'I swear, I'll commit seppuku right here if someone makes him dance back off the podium,' he thought, horrified.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Hammer announced with enthusiasm. "Thanks for coming."

"Ladies and gentlemen, for far too long, this country has had to place its brave men and women in harm's way," Hammer began his speech. "Then Iron Man came along, and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us."

"But, sadly, that technology was kept out of reach. That's not fair. That's not right. And, frankly, it's just too bad."

"Regardless, it was an impressive innovation—" Hammer continued talking, and Liam felt himself getting drowsy. 'With all this talk, could he have actually managed to make something similar after all?' Liam wondered, while in battle with his closing eyelids.

He awoke slightly as Hammer finally stopped talking, knowing the main event was about to begin.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today I present to you the new face of the U.S. military…"

"The Hammer Robotic Suits!" Hammer announced, gesturing dramatically at fifteen large robots that rose onto the stage.

The robots were pure white, bulky, and large enough to fit human pilots inside. Liam's eyebrows rose in surprise. 'It was Ivan's idea to make them drones. These must be Hammer's original designs. Makes sense,' he thought. 'But how well will these robots actually do?'

Hammer rambled on about the robots before revealing his "finest creation"—the War Machine, piloted by James Rhodes.

As Hammer continued on about features and capabilities, the anticipation in the crowd grew. Then, right on cue, the sound of jet thrusters filled the air as Tony Stark flew into view.

Tony landed on the stage in his usual style, standing up to a wave of applause and cheers.

"Jarvis, scan the crowd," Tony said inside his suit.

"Yes, sir."

Meanwhile, Hammer tried to play it off like Tony's appearance was part of the plan. "Hey, all right! Yeah, Iron Man, everyone! How about that?"

Tony walked closer to Hammer, addressing the audience.

"So, how's everyone enjoying tonight? Are we all having fun?" Tony asked. The crowd responded with more cheers.

"Those cheers are a little soft," Tony teased. "I guess you're all still trying to wake up after this guy's speech."

"What are you doing here, man?" Hammer asked, trying to maintain composure.

"Just stopping by to check on some pirated tech," Tony replied casually.

"Hey—" Hammer started but was cut off as Tony turned back to the audience.

"I'm here for the exciting part," Tony continued. "Justin here promised us a demonstration of his robots' abilities."

The crowd's excitement grew, and they began to cheer again, eager to see the show.

"What are you doing, Tony?" Rhodes asked through the comms.

"Just here for a little fun," Tony replied.

"I'm here on orders. Let's not do this right now," Rhodes said.

"Come on, give these people a little wave," Tony joked. "By the way, did I mention I'm also looking for a potential serial murderer in an armored suit?"

"What?" Rhodes asked, confused.

"Jarvis, have you found our target yet?" Tony asked.

"Scan is almost complete, sir. Two more minutes," Jarvis replied.

Tony smirked, his plan forming. "Come on, Hammer, show us what these robots can do."

Hammer hesitated, stammering. "Due to safety precautions, we'll only let them fly briefly."

He gestured backstage, where a military officer walked onto the stage. "Everyone, give a round of applause for Air Force TSgt Rob Bowles!"

The audience erupted in applause as the pilot walked onto the stage.

Tony approached the Technical Sergeant. "Ready to be one of the big guys?" he teased.

The nervous pilot ignored Tony, stepping into the suit which was brought forward and lowered to stage level. The front plates shifted open, allowing him inside, and then sealed shut behind him.

"All right, everyone, are you ready?" Hammer hyped up the audience. The robot suit powered up, hovering slightly before rising a meter and a half above the stage.

The crowd cheered, and the man inside felt like he was on top of the world—that was until Tony approached him atleast.

"It's so impressive," Tony said, addressing the audience. "Feels like just yesterday when I debuted my suit, and now look at this—a perfect copy!"

Tony clapped mockingly. "Congratulations, Hammer. And you too, Rob."

Tony suddenly patted the robot's feet, causing the suit to jerk wildly. It flew off, straight into a wall before changing direction again due to the impact and flew for the ceiling.

Onstage, Hammer panicked. "Cut the power! Cut the power!"

Hearing the command, the pilot powered down the suit, but it began plummeting directly above the audience. Screams erupted as people scattered. Tony arrived just in time, catching the falling robot suit.

"Scan complete, sir. Target located," Jarvis informed Tony, highlighting a specific individual in the crowd.

The audience roared with applause, completely drowning out Hammer's flustered excuses.

Tony landed back on stage, raising his hand to quiet the crowd.

"I stand corrected," Tony said, voice filled with sarcasm. "This isn't a perfect copy. But let's give Hammer a round of applause for almost killing you all!"

The audience booed, their hostility directed at Hammer, whose face turned beet red. ''Rob...Rob is inexperienced. That's why he couldn't properly use the suit!'' Hammer made up an excuse on the spot.

The booing grew louder, with people screaming out things like "Get off the stage!" and "Iron Man is better!" echoing through the stadium. Hammer got frustrated as he realized the crowd was turning entirely against him.

Seeing there was no way to win them back, Hammer muttered something no one could hear and shuffled offstage, his shoulders dropped in defeat, feeling completely humiliated.

"What's your plan now, Tony?" Rhodes asked over comms.

"I got a scan on him. We wait until everyone starts leaving, then we follow our target," Tony replied, returning his attention to the audience.

'Leadership isn't going to like Tony's jokes this time,' Rhodes thought with a sigh.

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章節 64: Fighting Tony and Rhodey

With Hammer leaving the podium, Tony continued with a brief speech before officially ending the Expo for the day.

The audience began dispersing, leaving the stadium in groups, while Liam stood up, feeling something lock onto him. 'Tony must've found me,' Liam thought, glancing back at the Iron Man standing on the podium.

Liam continued walking out of the stadium, blending in with the crowd. As he exited, he heard the sound of Tony's thrusters firing as he took off into the air, followed by the War Machine who took off right after him.

'Let's just get this over with,' Liam decided, breaking away from the crowd and heading to the right. 'I'm not sure if Tony improved his suit as much as he should've and there's really only one way to find out.'

He passed through a small park, eventually stopping near Meadow Lake, where there were almost no civilians around. He stood there, waiting, knowing Tony wouldn't be far behind.

It didn't take long before Liam heard the sound of jet thrusters approaching. Without hesitation, he summoned Incursio to wrap around his body. With his right hand, he reached out, summoning Neontote from thin air. In addition, he also cast an Eldritch Constructs spell, forming a whip in his left hand.

"Ah, flying entities. My favorites," Liam mumbled sarcastically.

Moments later, Tony arrived in his Iron Man suit, accompanied by Rhodey in the War Machine armor. The two hovered side by side in the air, facing Liam.

"Well, isn't this a funny coincidence, Liam Hawthorne," Tony said, his voice filled with sarcasm as he hovered in place.

"I'd like to say that it's been a while, but that wouldn't exactly be true," Liam replied. "At least I don't have to introduce myself this time."

"That's right. Executing defenseless people like that tends to leave a lasting impression," Tony mocked. "I don't know what deal you have with Fury, but killing a defenseless man doesn't make you better than the criminal you're supposedly stopping."

"Oh, naturally, you'd know all about the moral high ground," Liam shot back.

"You don't see the difference between defending civilians and what you did to Ivan?" Tony asked, his voice held some irritation and anger.

"Defending civilians? Interesting choice of words, especially coming from someone who, until recently, armed criminals with weapons that got thousands killed," Liam responded, his tone cold as he deliberately took a step forward. "But then again, like father, like son."

Tony's eyes narrowed beneath his helmet at the mention of his father. Irritated and slightly angered, he spoke over his comms.

"Rhodey, take my eight o'clock. Stay in the air as much as possible. He doesn't seem to have any means of flight, but watch out for his spear throws. We'll have to improvise for anything else."

"Roger that," Rhodey replied, taking position to Tony's left.

Tony raised a repulsor, aiming it at Liam, while Rhodey activated the War Machine's shoulder machine gun.

"I'm going to need you to take off the armor and drop the spear," Rhodey demanded.

Liam stood still, holding Neontote and his whip in both hands. 'Let's have a go, birdies,' he thought.

Without waiting for them to make the first move, Liam swung his whip. The construct shot towards Tony, who narrowly dodged it with a burst of his thrusters. Tony countered by firing repulsor shots with temperatures over 3632 fahrenheit, which Liam evaded as he sprinted closer.

Meanwhile, Rhodey flew in from above, using the minigun on his back to shoot at Liam.

Liam didn't dodge the bullets, they all ricocheted off his armor anyway. Instead of dodging, he jumped up towards Tony, aiming to grab him and pull him to the ground.

"Divert power to the chest repulsor," Tony commanded JARVIS.

A beam of concentrated energy burst from Tony's chest, hitting Liam midair and sending him flying back to the ground. The impact created cracks in the earth beneath Liam's feet as he landed because of the energy that came from the repulsor shot.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Rhodey fired a barrage of rockets at Liam from above. Liam couldn't dodge because of the wide radius, but neither did he need to, he knew that the level of heat coming from these simple rockets is nowhere near enough to do significant damage.

While the explosions went off, Tony descended, circling Liam as he unleashed a series of repulsor blasts. Liam dodged and deflected most of the shots, using Neontote to cut through some of the energy beams while predicting Tony's predictable pathing.

"His armor's extremely resistant to heat and overall really durable. We need to hit the same spot repeatedly to burn through," Tony instructed Rhodey over the comms. "Target the top left of his chest. I hit it earlier with the chest ray, there's still damage over there.''

"Got it," Rhodey acknowledged, taking aim.

Before Rhodey could act, Liam's whip flew out, wrapping around his leg. With a hard tug, Liam pulled Rhodey from the sky, spinning him a full circle through the air at high speeds before slamming him into the ground.

Tony took the distraction as a chance to strike, firing at Liam's exposed chest. Liam blocked, letting the shots hit Neontote. 'I can't let him keep hitting the same spot.' Liam thought as he weaved between the attacks.

Liam dodged the blasts and slowly got closer to Rhodey who had just stood up again. Despite standing up again, Rhodey was unable to fly because of his damaged repulsors. Instead Rhodey started firing normal bullets again, aimed at the damaged area at Liam's upper chest.

Seeing Liam move closer to Rhodey, Tony prepared to charge. Liam smirked as he knew his bait had worked. When Tony got close, Liam struck, landing a solid punch to the side of Tony's helmet. The blow sent Tony flying off his course with his helmet dented. Tony was just barely able to pull up in time and avoided crashing into the ground.

Rhodey remembered the weapons Hammer had installed and decided to deploy his Hammer Tech bunker buster: the ex wife.

"I've got something for this," Rhodey said, revealing a small missile launcher from his shoulder.

Rhodey fired the missile, but it bounced harmlessly off Liam's armor before extinguishing on the ground.

"Don't bother with Hammer Tech," Tony said over the comms.

"Noted," Rhodey replied, irritated.

Tony formulated a plan. "Rhodey, I need you to hold him. When I give the signal, dodge immediately."

Rhodey acknowledged the order and charged Liam, firing his remaining bullets to distract him. As Rhodey grappled Liam, Tony flew closer to Liam, preparing his unibeam laser.

'Not this trick,' Liam thought, recognizing the move from the movies. Knowing he had to act quickly, Liam overpowered Rhodey, ripping off his helmet and tearing out his arc reactor. Rhodey fell to the ground slowly, while his suit was without power.

Liam turned his attention to Tony, who had just started powering up the unibeam laser. He quickly unsummoned Neontote and raised his right hand. With a burst of dimensional energy, Liam aimed and fired the Bolt of Balthakk, the spell flew to Tony at very high speeds. It struck Tony head-on, shorting out his suit's systems and sending him falling to the ground.

''Bolts of Balthakk really is indeed very good for these type of enemy's.'' Liam nodded, satisfied. 'After the months of training I really dont need to use an incantation or spell circle anymore, so it will look just like I had my own repulsors.'

Liam walked over to the fallen Tony, ripping off his helmet before tearing off the rest of his repulsors. Dragging Tony and Rhodey together, Liam bound them with his whip.

"You're both still too weak," Liam said, his voice steady. "And let me make one thing clear, Stark: I don't work for Fury, SHIELD, or anyone else. I work for myself. That's it."

"What about all the other strange incidents around you?" Tony demanded, his tone angry. "The factory explosion that killed random civilians? The intentional car crash?"

"The first had nothing to do with me," Liam replied firmly. "As for the second, ask Fury. Though I doubt he'd tell you the truth."