Chapter 70: Prepared for You

When Luke saw Peter Parker was in danger, he immediately rushed forward to save him.

Peter Parker slowly raised his hand, silently aiming at the Iron Soldier.

“Huh?” This scene made Luke pause in surprise. He remembered this moment from the movie.

Suddenly, it dawned on him—the boy from the film was actually the little Spider?

Tony moved even faster than Luke.

Just as the G-0 War Lord was about to start, Tony had already taken to the sky. The Mark VI’s superb performance was displayed to the fullest at that moment. Like a blazing red meteor, the Mark VI shot upward, then dove sharply from midair, crossing more than ten meters in a single bound, and with one punch sent the Iron Soldier flying.

He immediately followed up by unleashing a repulsor blast from his palm, blasting the fallen Iron Soldier into scrap metal.

“Well done, kid.”

Tony had saved Peter Parker and praised his courage in daring to raise a “repulsor” just now.

His tone was casual as he said, “But your gear is a bit… uh…”

Tony had intended to say “not quite like mine.”

But when Peter Parker turned around, Tony was speechless to discover that the boy wasn’t imitating him at all.

Instead… he was imitating the Apostle!

The mask Peter wore on his head was, by any measure, not Iron Man.

From Luke’s perspective, it looked a lot like Kira Yamato’s Strike Freedom.

In other words, Peter was wearing the head of the airborne mecha Tempest—the Apostle’s mask.

As for the “repulsor” on Peter’s hand, well, that wasn’t a repulsor at all—who knew what strange contraption it was. Maybe it once was a repulsor, but it certainly wasn’t anymore.

Tony fell silent.

Seeing that Peter was safe, Luke halted his mech, glancing at Tony with amused eyes as he stood there wordless.

He remembered this scene clearly: in the movie, Tony saved a little boy wearing an Iron Man mask and a makeshift “repulsor” (really just a lightbulb) on his hand.

He hadn’t expected the little boy to be Spider-Man!

Was this how the story was always meant to go, or had his arrival triggered some interesting butterfly effect?

There was no way to find out now.

But one thing was certain—this time, Tony had saved a devoted Apostle fan.

One could imagine Tony’s expression beneath the helmet at that moment; he must have looked as if he’d swallowed a fly.

Thought the whole world was full of Iron Man fans?

No—a new era had dawned since the Apostle appeared! The old should retire and enjoy their golden years.

Luke could only sigh at this, then silently thought to Spider-Man: “Buddy, that was one beautiful assist!”

At that moment, a middle-aged man hurried over, shot a nervous glance at Luke and Tony, and led Peter Parker away.

That must have been Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben.

Luke saw Peter still waving back at him.

So, he controlled the massive mech’s arm to wave back as well.

Seeing this, Peter was overjoyed.

System prompt: Peter Parker’s favorability +5.

System prompt: Peter Parker’s favorability has reached 100.

System prompt: Peter Parker’s ability is being copied...

“Huh!!”

A string of prompts made Luke giddy with anticipation.

At last! What skill would he copy?

Meanwhile, the remaining Iron Soldiers in the area had been swiftly dealt with by Tony.

Tony approached Luke.

He asked, “Why are you here? How much do you know about tonight’s events? Where is Ivan Vanko?”

“I was hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. to help you with your problem,” Luke shrugged. “As for Ivan Vanko, how would I know?”

“Seems your asking price was too low. They couldn’t afford me,” Tony replied, not pressing further.

Luke thought to himself that Tony should really tell that to Fury.

Tony was comparing the Iron Monger from his memory with the War Lord standing before him.

In the end, he had to admit, compared to the Iron Monger, this much larger and heavier mech was actually more agile. The technology it carried was clearly more advanced than the previous, smaller model.

JARVIS’s analysis showed that, aside from a suspected thruster weapon under the mech’s pelvis, Tony hadn’t detected any other weapons on the War Lord.

“How does this thing attack?” Tony wondered.

Just then, War Machine—Rhodey—descended from the sky.

“Tony, heads up!” Rhodey warned.

From the start, the suit—modified from Mark II—had been Ivan Vanko’s main force, relentlessly hounding Tony. If not for his concern for the friend inside, Tony would have finished it off already.

Tony knew well the destructive power of War Machine.

He turned to Luke, saying, “Apostle, can you fly? There are too many people here. Let’s lure them somewhere else.”

The radar showed more than a dozen Iron Soldiers incoming from who knew where.

Luke recalled there weren’t so many Iron Soldiers in the movie; clearly, reality had diverged from fiction.

Tony didn’t wait for a reply, taking off first and luring War Machine away.

Luke followed closely. The six-meter-tall War Lord’s massive feet unleashed a torrent of fire, launching it into the air like a rocket.

Piloting the War Lord, Luke quickly caught up, flying side by side with Iron Man.

Such an insane flight speed surprised Tony. Clearly, this behemoth possessed a powerful drive system he didn’t understand.

“It’s beta element,” Tony was sure. This machine had to be powered by that magical core.

Behind them, War Machine and a dozen Iron Soldiers followed doggedly.

“There’s a wetland park below. Let’s fight down there,” Tony said to Luke, spotting a suitable battlefield where civilians wouldn’t be harmed.

At that moment, War Machine suddenly accelerated, grabbing Tony in a bear hug—just as Tony had once done to Luke in the Tempest, sending them both crashing to the ground.

Luke could only click his tongue.

“That shock absorption tech is unbelievable. They didn’t die on impact—that fall was much higher than when Tony and I went down.”

In the wetland park below, Tony and Rhodey grappled.

War Machine pinned Iron Man beneath him, the Gatling gun raining bullets down on Tony. He clung desperately to the gun barrel as bullets tore up earth and grass all around. War Machine’s weight kept the Mark VI completely pinned, leaving Tony unable to move.

Tony turned his head to the slowly descending Luke and said, “Aren’t you going to help?”

“Trust me, you’ve got this,” Luke replied breezily.

Tony nearly coughed up blood—wasn’t the deal that you’d help me?

But Luke remained unmoved, seemingly waiting for something.

Just then, Rhodey saw the words “System Unlocked” flash before him, and War Machine abruptly powered down, the lights in his eyes snuffing out. Tony promptly kicked him away, sending him crashing to the ground.

Suddenly, Tony received a video call: “System is rebooting. Got your good friend back.” It was Black Widow.

“Thanks, Agent Romanoff. Much more reliable than someone else,” Tony said with relief.

“Save the chit-chat, Tony. I can see a large number of enemies heading your way,” Black Widow replied gravely.

She was currently inside Hammer Industries’ building. She and Happy had fought their way past layers of security, but hadn’t found Ivan Vanko.

Soon, both Luke and Tony’s radars picked up the signal—this time, more than thirty Iron Soldiers were incoming!

Even Luke was a bit stunned.

Where did so many come from?

This was far beyond the number in the movie.

Moments later, over thirty Iron Soldiers crashed down around the trio like dumplings dropped in boiling water, surrounding them.

From one of the Iron Soldiers’ speakers came a hoarse, sinister voice: “Apostle. Did you think after last time I wouldn’t be prepared? These are all for you. Die with Stark!”