Chapter Sixty-Five: The Electrotherapy Regimen of the Mourning Whip

Tony strode over and demanded of Hammer, “Where’s Vanko?”

“Who?”

Hammer feigned ignorance, unaware that soon enough, he’d become truly clueless.

“Ivan Vanko. Where is he?”

“What? I don’t know him. Man, what are you doing here?”

Hammer kept up the act. Some people think they’re just pretending to be fools, when in fact, they really are fools.

Ivan Vanko, watching Tony, manipulated Rhodes’ armor backstage, taking aim at Tony.

Hearing the sound, Tony turned back and asked, “Is that you?”

Rhodes replied frantically, “It’s not me—I can’t move, I’m locked up.”

All the drones raised their arms, targeting Tony.

“Get out of here, he’s controlling all the systems,” Rhodes warned.

Tony launched himself into the air. “Follow me, let’s take this outside.”

Instantly, all the drones opened fire, raking the ceiling with bullets. The roof shattered, debris raining down.

Panic erupted as people scrambled to escape. Fortunately, George had already led the police to take over security, responding swiftly and organizing a safe evacuation.

Vanko’s plan wasn’t to wreak havoc on society, so he didn’t target anyone else. The drones took off and pursued Tony.

“Jarvis, infiltrate his systems,” Tony commanded.

He knew how to handle machines—just stall for time, and Jarvis could resolve everything.

“Tony, my weapons are locked on target,” Rhodes said.

“On whom?”

“On you.”

Tony darted around the venue with the drones in tow, nearly endangering the crowd and prompting fresh screams.

In a flash, Gwen transformed into Ghost-Spider and leaped onto the stage, kicking a drone off with swift force.

George, sensing something, looked at Gwen’s white armored suit and couldn’t help but feel a familiar tug in his heart.

“Damn it—”

Pepper watched the chaos unfold, surprised but reassured by Michael’s calm demeanor. She felt unsettled and uncertain what to do, just as she spotted Justin Hammer heading backstage.

Pepper quickly hurried after him, bringing Black Widow along.

“Our software’s been overwritten. He’s controlling the drones,” Pepper said.

“That’s impossible. Contact security,” Hammer replied.

Justin Hammer still hoped that the guards could subdue Vanko, but Vanko had anticipated everything, severing all outside communication.

“He’s locked us out of the main system.”

Pepper rushed over and asked, “Who locked you out of the main system?”

Seeing Pepper, Justin Hammer snapped, “Move aside, I can handle this.”

“Can you?” Pepper retorted.

“Yes,” Hammer insisted. “In fact, if Tony Stark hadn’t come, nothing would have happened.”

Even now, he tried to shift all blame onto Tony.

Michael, unfazed, lifted him up and said, “Idiot, do you really think a planned, deliberate act of revenge would stop just because Tony’s not here? If Tony didn’t show up, don’t you think Ivan Vanko would have taken you out first, then gone after Tony?”

Hammer was startled, unable to reply for a long moment.

“Where is Ivan Vanko?”

“He’s at my company.”

Pepper immediately took out her phone to call the police, arranging for Hammer’s arrest.

Black Widow headed for Hammer Industries, showing off her skills by changing outfits in the backseat, leaving Happy convinced she was interested in him.

Upon arrival, Happy, spurred by his attraction, insisted on being the hero before the woman. Black Widow dispatched an entire squad of security guards, while Happy barely managed to knock out one—thanks only to Tyson’s famous ear-biting move.

Meanwhile, Michael produced an animal orb and transformed into a scorpion. The scorpion crawled onto a seat, its tail morphing into a connector that plugged into the computer mainframe, allowing Red Queen to seize control of their systems.

Red Queen quickly cracked Vanko’s communication protocol, written in Russian, and through encrypted channels, took control of all the drones, rebooting Rhodes’ armor as well.

Just like that, Tony’s crisis was resolved.

“Well done, Jarvis,” Tony said excitedly, watching the now obedient drones.

“Actually, it wasn’t me, sir,” Jarvis replied.

“Who was it then?” Tony asked, puzzled.

“Another data stream—it appears to be an artificial intelligence as well.”

“Oh.”

How could there possibly be an AI more powerful than Jarvis? Even SHIELD’s systems were child’s play for him to infiltrate.

Suppressing his doubts, Tony rushed down to rouse Rhodes.

“Wake up, buddy, I need you.”

Rhodes, knocked out by the reboot, had taken a nasty spill. Thankfully, Tony reached him in time.

“Tony, I’m sorry,” Rhodes said as he came to.

“No need.”

“I should have trusted you more. I’m the reason you’re in this mess.”

“No, it’s all my fault.”

Rhodes stubbornly insisted, “Maybe you made mistakes, but I still want to apologize.”

“Thank you. That’s what I wanted to hear, partner.”

Since Rhodes insisted, Tony accepted the apology.

“What’s the plan now?”

“No idea. We’ll take it step by step.”

Vanko descended from above, wielding the Whiplash. His new armor was nothing like before—no exposed flesh this time. He’d learned his lesson, reinforcing the outer shell.

The weapons mounted on Tony and Rhodes couldn’t break through his armor, and Vanko delivered a brutal beating.

“Duck!” Tony called out.

He fired twin lasers from his arms, slicing at Vanko. Tree trunks along the path were severed instantly.

In a moment of crisis, Vanko couldn’t dodge in time and fell backward. The laser that would've cut him in half only sheared off the electric whip from his left hand.

Rhodes, confused, remarked, “Why don’t I have one of those? And if you did, why didn’t you use it earlier?”

“It can only be used once.”

Upon learning Tony’s trump card was one-time use, Rhodes started boasting.

“Watch me. I’ll take him out with my Ex-Wife.”

“What?” Tony was utterly baffled by the name.

The Ex-Wife? What kind of nonsense is that?

Rhodes’ shoulder compartment opened, revealing a missile which he fired at Vanko. But Vanko couldn’t be bothered to dodge.

With a thud, the missile struck Vanko and dropped harmlessly into a puddle, extinguished by water.

Watching this, Tony realized that expecting anything from Hammer’s products was an insult to his own intelligence.

“A Hammer Industries special?”

The grandstanding had failed, and Rhodes admitted, dejected, “Yes.”

Vanko couldn’t help but laugh. Guess who installed your weapons? He’d anticipated that Rhodes and Tony would team up, so he’d prepared two electric whips.

Once again, Vanko extended his whips, lashing out at Tony and Rhodes. Both of them were helpless, unable to do anything but take the blows.

Soon they were trapped by Vanko’s whips as he unleashed a furious surge of electricity.

Following his principle—if you don’t obey, I’ll shock you until you beg for mercy—Whiplash let out a wild, triumphant laugh.