Chapter 75: Beating Up Little Tony

Luke ordered Christina to cut off the Arc Reactor’s power supply on Ivan Vanko. The Vengeance of Light thus ceased to activate.

Inside the suit, charred black by lightning, Ivan Vanko’s eyes rolled back, foam frothing from his mouth, his face scorched crimson and still twitching. Yet his gaze had already lost all sign of consciousness.

The formidable villain of Iron Man 2, Ivan Vanko, met his end in such an abrupt and bewildering manner.

He had barely had time to make a single move upon his entrance.

Even the line he stubbornly spat out in the film, after being defeated by Tony and Rhodey—“Stark, you lose…”—was left unsaid.

No doubt, this comrade, who had schemed so meticulously, was now making his way to meet Marx, filled with bitter resentment.

“Young man, I must inform you that you’ve earned my A-rank evaluation! For now, you’re eligible for one of my hero-grade collectibles!” Rotas announced to Luke.

But Luke replied, “It’s not enough!”

Before he finished speaking, he let go of the electric whip in his hand. The Warlord’s eyes flashed, and without warning, he swung his fist and sent it crashing toward Tony standing before him!

Tony was startled.

With a deafening bang, Tony felt as though he’d been hit head-on by a speeding truck, his whole body blasted away like a cannonball!

He crashed through a patch of small trees before tumbling to the ground.

Moments later, Tony climbed to his feet, unharmed.

Luke had predicted Tony would be fine after that punch.

The wealthy hound had already incorporated vibranium into the Mark VI.

Tony, obviously, had no idea just how well Luke understood his Iron Man suits.

Before his rebirth, Luke had been an Iron Man fan himself; among all the Avengers, Iron Man was his favorite—even Tony’s arrogant, narcissistic personality.

But that was from a bystander’s perspective.

Now, experiencing the man in reality, Luke felt differently.

Tony was the kind of man who could drive other men mad on the battlefield and women wild in bed.

With a gust, Tony flew back.

He kept his distance from Luke and demanded seriously, “What do you think you’re doing?”

He couldn’t understand what had gotten into Luke so suddenly.

Rhodey stood there, dumbfounded as well. What happened to their supposed ally?

The next moment, the six-meter-tall Warlord vanished right under Tony and Rhodey’s noses. In a blink, he was gone.

“Causing trouble!” Luke’s voice echoed in the air, along with a bizarre background sound still playing, “Ah, ah, ah—”

“Invisibility tech?”

Inside his suit, Tony’s expression was tinged with surprise. This flawless cloaking reminded him of those defensive force fields.

He had to admit, the Apostle had repeatedly demonstrated technology at least five or ten years ahead of his own… well, perhaps ten to fifteen years, but no more than that.

Tony wasn’t unfamiliar with optical camouflage; he’d researched the technology himself and it was already quite advanced.

Yet it still couldn’t achieve the perfect invisibility Luke had just shown in actual combat.

“Jarvis, what’s the status?”

“Sir, the target is invisible across all frequencies. Both visible and infrared spectrums cannot scan him.”

“What about thermal imaging?”

“It’s been proven ineffective.”

Such a mature technology—Tony frowned.

Luke had given up trying to win Tony’s approval.

His system still showed Tony’s favorability at zero, and frankly, he had no intention of boosting it. There were plenty of other Marvel figures to earn favor with. He’d already made great progress with Spider-Man and was busy copying his skills.

Within the Avengers alone, there were still Hulk, Thor, the Sorcerer Supreme, and several other powerhouses.

Tony? He was better off being bullied.

Whether Luke could upgrade his A-rank to S-rank depended on bullying Tony.

If not now, then when?

Should he wait for Tony to develop anxiety after the Battle of New York and start frantically upgrading his suits?

In a single year, Tony went from Mark VII to Mark XLII.

Bear in mind, from Iron Man 1 to Iron Man 2, including the cave-made prototype, Tony had only updated his suits six times in total.

By the first Avengers, Tony was still using Mark VII.

But after fighting aliens in the first Avengers film, Tony developed a serious persecution complex, convinced that everyone was out to get him. He became a recluse, spending all his time tinkering with his suits at home.

Then, in just two and a half years, he jumped from Mark VII all the way to Mark XLII.

By then, the Iron Man armor was incredibly advanced. Tony absorbed a great deal of Chitauri alien technology and innovated on his own.

Interestingly, after overcoming his anxiety in Iron Man 3, Tony’s pace slowed again. From Iron Man 3 to Avengers: Age of Ultron, three years passed and he only upgraded from Mark XLII to Mark XLIII, which was just an optimization of the previous model.

After Ultron, perhaps sensing time was short, Tony’s suits began to evolve rapidly once more.

“From now until Thanos arrives ten years later, Tony will be wearing the Mark L—the iconic Bleeding Edge armor, cutting-edge nanotech fused with his very flesh, able to morph at will. Strong enough to take on Thanos head-on, though he ultimately loses. Right now, Tony is at his weakest.”

Luke’s rebirth had occurred right around the release of Avengers: Infinity War, and he remembered vividly Tony’s solo duel with Thanos.

Back to the point—at Monaco, the Mark V was the flimsiest of all the suits, designed for portability and barely equipped with heavy weaponry. That was why, back then, his makeshift warframe assembled from scraps could match Tony blow for blow.

Now, the G-0 Warlord, in terms of technology alone, utterly outclassed the Mark VI. Celestial technology was no joke.

It was only in materials that he lagged behind.

As a wealthy dog, Tony had already incorporated vibranium into the Mark VI.

That’s why, if you’re going to bully Tony, there’s no time like the present.

Why wait to challenge the Bleeding Edge armor?

“By then, it won’t be so easy to bully him… How could anything compare to thrashing a kid now?”

In matters like this, Luke was always shrewd!

As soon as he finished speaking, the Warlord fell completely silent.

The strange “ah, ah, ah” background music also stopped.

Suddenly, Tony raised his palm to the side, the arc pulse cannon in his gauntlet just flickering to life—only to be swatted away by a tremendous force and sent flying again, crashing down dozens of meters away.

In the darkness, Rhodey broke out in a cold sweat, catching a glimpse of the giant sword’s chilling gleam flashing from the warframe…

He considered whether, amidst this clash of gods, it might be wise to quietly slip away.