Chapter Sixty-Four: The Great Fool Hammer

The two of them walked to the elevator, and Michael gestured at Gwen’s clothes.
“You’re going like that?”
Gwen glanced down at her outfit—just ordinary casual wear, hardly appropriate for an important occasion.
She found Felicia and swapped clothes with her.
By the time Gwen emerged, she was dressed in a fitted blazer and black stockings.
Michael looked at her speechlessly. She was certainly resourceful.
“If you transform, you might rip the skirt. How will you return it to Felicia then?”
“Then I just won’t give it back. Don’t you like this look?”
As she spoke, she stretched out her leg and brushed it against Michael’s calf.
Michael rolled his eyes. “Just keep showing off, why don’t you.”
Gwen giggled mischievously.
...
Elsewhere, Justin Hammer had just finished warning Ivan Vanko, and then hurried off to the expo, filled with bright hopes for the future.
But Ivan Vanko looked at Justin as if he were a fool, unable to suppress a smirk at the corner of his mouth.
Once Justin Hammer left, Vanko dealt with the guards and called Tony.
“Tony, are you alright?”
Tony suddenly felt the voice was familiar, but couldn’t place it at first.
“I’ve increased the speed and boosted the power output,” Vanko said arrogantly, not realizing that Tony had already swapped in a new element.
“What?”
“You said increasing the speed would boost the power. I took your advice.”
Tony now recognized Vanko’s voice and replied mockingly, “Aren’t you supposed to be dead? You sound lively for a corpse.”
Tony had only recently learned that Hammer, that idiot, had sprung Vanko from prison in an attempt to outdo him.
“The legacy of General Stark will be rewritten tonight.”
“Jarvis, where is he?”
Tony couldn’t be bothered to waste words.
“Accessing Oracle Network. East Coast, sir.”
Vanko didn’t care either; it would all be over soon anyway.
“What your father did to my family over forty years ago, I’ll repay in forty minutes.”
“Fine, let’s settle this, then.”
After their exchange of threats, both sides got ready for battle.
Tony, recognizing the seriousness of the situation, ignored Jarvis’s warnings, installed the new arc reactor, and assembled his latest, untested suit.

As everyone knew, Tony had two unique talents: trashing his own house and using untested suits in moments of crisis.
...
Michael and Gwen arrived at the venue and happened to run into Pepper.
Standing beside Pepper was a blonde woman, striking both in figure and in beauty, with an alluring air about her.
Michael guessed she must be the Black Widow. Some claimed Black Widow was the strongest ordinary person in the Avengers, but in truth she was also enhanced, having used the Red Room serum, which slowed her aging dramatically.
She might look youthful and captivating, able to charm any young man, but in fact she was of grandmotherly age—though in the timeline of the films, she was still only in her twenties.
Black Widow was also sizing up Michael. According to the dossier Nick Fury had given her, Michael was a genius on par with Tony.
“Where’s Tony?” Michael asked.
Pepper, worried, replied, “He said he had matters to attend to. Michael, don’t you think Tony’s been acting strange lately?”
Tony had been frantic lately, thinking he was dying.
“Maybe,” Michael said noncommittally. “Let’s head inside. There’s quite a show in store tonight.”
A show?
Pepper thought Michael sounded a little too gleeful about it.
Black Widow, meanwhile, seemed thoughtful.
They all entered the main hall and found their seats. Suddenly, the stage lights flashed and Hammer made his grand, ridiculous entrance, dancing flamboyantly.
He still had no idea what Vanko was planning, even thinking he had Vanko firmly under control. Some people are just too oblivious to their own stupidity.
After his performance, Hammer strode to center stage and bowed.
“Thank you all for coming. Ladies and gentlemen, for too long, this nation has sacrificed its sons and daughters for world peace. Ever since Tony invented Iron Man, we thought perhaps no more would need to be lost.”
“Regrettably, Tony Stark refuses to hand over this invention. That’s not fair, is it?”
“Nevertheless, it’s a remarkable breakthrough, at least making headlines around the world.”
A textbook American speech, Michael thought, feeling almost nauseous.
“Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the new face of the U.S. military.”
“The Hammer Drones.”
“Navy.” “Army.” “Air Force.”
With each word, a row of armored drones rose onto the stage.
The machines appeared well-categorized, one for each branch, but aside from the weapons on their shoulders, they were identical in every other way.
Michael’s assessment of these suits: inferior to a normal army.
The reason was simple—they were expensive.
They were also vulnerable to cyber-attacks and hostile takeovers. Aside from sparing human casualties, they had no merits at all.
Moreover, Vanko’s imagination was limited; each drone was just a robot with a weapon attached, lowering the bar for what a war machine could be.

Other than flying, Michael really couldn’t see what purpose these things served—at best, a waste of military funding.
Hammer played the fool, joining in the military’s charade, but in truth, they were just using him as a tool against Tony, not as a genuine replacement.
How to put it? This kind of posturing was like kids fighting.
If Tony ever yielded and agreed to work with the government, who would even remember Justin Hammer?
A man who only ever imitated, never surpassed—who would care?
Next, Hammer continued, “This technology is revolutionary, but there are still times when real soldiers must take the field. Ladies and gentlemen, let me proudly introduce our prototype, Multi-Threat Response Armor, piloted by Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes.”
Rhodey landed his suit at center stage, scanning his surroundings for any sign of Vanko.
“What?”
Pepper was taken aback. Wasn’t Rhodey Tony’s friend? What was he doing?
And Hammer, passing off Tony’s designs as his own—no wonder he was a professional bootlegger. The shamelessness was astounding.
Michael couldn’t help but laugh outright, utterly contemptuous of such behavior. Typical American thinking—robber’s logic.
“Did you know about this?” Pepper asked, puzzled.
“I did. The thicker your skin, the more invincible you are. And Hammer’s skin is thick enough to fly a plane.”
Pepper and Black Widow couldn’t help but laugh at Michael’s reply.
At that moment, Tony arrived in his red and gold armor, landing directly in front of Rhodey.
The crowd erupted in cheers, some people even rising to their feet in excitement.
As Tony himself had said, building a robot didn’t make you Iron Man. There was only ever one Iron Man—Tony Stark.
“This is bad, Tony. There are civilians here. I’m under orders. Don’t start a fight,” Rhodey said nervously, afraid Tony was still angry at him, and feeling guilty for showing up in Hammer’s showcase, as if betraying their friendship.
Tony ignored him, greeting the audience before stepping behind Rhodey and speaking in a low voice.
“Everyone’s in danger. We need to save them. You have to trust me now.”
Rhodey, worried, said, “So you know about Ivan Vanko?”
Tony was surprised. “How did you find out?”
“The guy from Angel International told me.”
Tony glanced into the crowd—Pepper was sitting with Michael. That put him at ease.
“Alright, time to team up,” Tony said, patting Rhodey on the shoulder before walking toward Justin Hammer.