Ironclad Resolve (Part 2)

A few days later, Pepper came to pick up the injured Stark from the hospital. The driver took Pepper and Stark out of Presbyterian Hospital and onto the main road.

They had not gone far when a violent explosion rang out from the rear of a sedan, followed by the sound of Smoke Bombs being thrown. With faint hisses, white mist spread out and quickly blanketed everything in sight.

Stark hurriedly pressed Pepper down beside him. Bullets whizzed nonstop, striking the bulletproof glass and making the entire car shake.

Stark cursed under his breath and pulled out his phone to summon his mecha, but Pepper shoved him. "Damn it, your injuries haven’t healed yet. Call Rhodey first and have him pilot the mecha!"

Before Stark could argue, Pepper snatched the phone away, ducked beneath the car seat, and called Rhodey. "Tony and I were attacked on our way out of the hospital! Get someone here, now!"

The moment she finished speaking, the ground began to shake violently. Heavy objects hit the ground amid the clanking of machinery. Stark turned around and saw several massive robots surrounding them outside the window.

The driver in the front seat had already been shot. Stark had no choice but to climb into the driver’s seat himself. Pepper smoothed her hair and said, "Turn right toward the plaza. Reinforcements will spot us immediately there!"

Fortunately, Stark’s secure vehicle was sturdy enough. He ignited the engine, accelerated in an instant, and fled for his life.

He slammed a fist against the steering wheel. "Good thing we were discharged at night!"

Then he looked back and saw five or six enormous robots chasing after them. Stark said, "I have to get out and fight. If they plan to self-destruct here, we’re in serious trouble!"

"This is downtown, and Presbyterian Hospital isn’t far away. If so many robots detonate here, the whole hospital could be leveled!"

The car went faster and faster, and Stark was starting to lose control. He drifted around a corner, leaving black streaks across the pavement as the screech of brakes carried far into the distance.

Just as the nearest robot was about to leap onto the car, Stark heard a loud impact. A figure swinging through the air kicked the robot in the head, sending it flying.

Peter landed on the roof with a bang, stuck his head into the driver’s compartment, and said, "Was that timely enough?"

Then he looked ahead and rapidly said, "Hey! Listen! Don’t go straight, turn left! There’s a traffic jam up ahead! If those big guys get through, they’ll stomp every car into scrap metal!"

With that, he fired another webline, which quickly stuck to the wall of a building. Then he darted between the robots, stepping off them until he had thoroughly enraged them.

One robot raised its arm and fired a Rocket Launcher at him. An explosion boomed. Spider-Man was unharmed, but a storefront door was blasted away, and the clerk inside was cut by shattered glass. Spider-Man had to rush in and pull him out.

"Looks like Spider-Boy is tied up too," Stark said. "These guys are causing too much chaos. Someone has to save the civilians."

Pepper said, "Rhodey must have called Steve and Schiller too. Let’s worry about ourselves first!"

Stark’s wounds still throbbed faintly. A few days were nowhere near enough for him to fully recover. Then he looked up and saw the shadow of a helicopter cover the car. Rhodey hung from the helicopter door and shouted at him, "Drive south!!! Hurry!!! We can’t brawl with them here!! Too many people will die!!"

Stark gritted his teeth and violently jerked the wheel. The car shot to the left, spun around, scraped against two bollards, and slammed hard into a street corner.

Stark opened the damaged car door. Pepper was dizzy from the jolt, and Stark shielded her as she got out.

Spider-Man directly tore down two huge streetlights with his webs. He swung one of them around, causing the robots considerable trouble. Stark shouted, "Jarvis! Suit up!"

Soon, a red-and-gold mecha flew over. Once Iron Man had suited up, he first carried Pepper to the rooftop and placed her somewhere safe. Then Rhodey put on his mecha as well.

This was a small factory that manufactured machinery parts. Fortunately, it was late, so most of the workers had already gone home. The security guards who heard the commotion had fled long ago. By the time the robots arrived, Iron Man and Rhodey were already waiting for them, ready for a fight.

Spider-Man swung in from behind, followed by Captain America. Those hulking machines had trampled their way from the city center, injuring many people. Spider-Man was not very good at organizing evacuations yet, so Steve was handling the crowd.

Although Peter’s close-combat skills were not particularly strong, he possessed immense strength and was fast and agile. He left those metal cans reeling and created an excellent opening for Iron Man to attack.

Sparks from several repulsor blasts triggered small explosions. Iron Man weaved swiftly between the giant robots, while Rhodey knocked down two more. He shouted, "This won’t work! If they all self-destruct, none of us can escape!"

"This isn’t right, not right at all…" Stark finally realized. "These robots definitely aren’t Obadiah’s work. Even if he took the core energy source, he couldn’t have built so many robots in such a short time. It would require an entire military-industrial supply chain. Stark’s military production lines are all under Pepper’s control. Obadiah couldn’t possibly have hidden it from her and produced this many all at once…"

The moment he finished, one of the large robots hit by his repulsor blast charged at him. Spider-Man shouted from the other side, "Move!!! It’s dangerous!!!"

Iron Man pushed his armor’s power to the limit and shot sharply upward. With a deafening BOOM!!, another scorched crater was blasted into the ground.

"Good thing I modified the jet propulsion, or I couldn’t have withstood an impact that strong."

As he spoke, he dove again, swiftly grabbed a robot, and hurled it away. This time, Iron Man had learned his lesson. The moment he threw it, he immediately turned and flew back. Sure enough, another violent explosion rang out moments later.

Stark reacted quickly, but Steve behind him was not so fortunate. He raised his shield to block the aftershock, but the blast still sent him tumbling.

"Damn it! What are these things?!"

Iron Man hovered in midair and looked at the charred wreckage below. "I recognize that. Those are the pre-modification Number Seven components, the version I made for the military…"

He looked back at Rhodey, who was still locked in fierce combat with the robots, silently raised his altitude, and went after the next enemy.

Explosions erupted one after another, yet more robots joined the battle. This place was nearly reduced to ruins.

It had to be said that this tactic was highly effective. The constant explosions came with powerful shockwaves, forcing them all to scramble defensively. Worse still, whenever a robot tried to flee the battle zone, the superheroes had to chase it down and capture it. If one reached a residential area and detonated, the consequences would be disastrous.

Although Iron Man had gradually figured out the pattern, the intervals between attacks were too short. He had no time to upgrade his armor to deal with these self-destructing infantry. Two consecutive explosions rang out, sending Iron Man flying as sparks burst from his armor.

The instant he lost his footing, four or five robots surrounded him. They had no intention of engaging Iron Man in close combat. They had only one goal: blow him up.

Just as the first robot’s chest lit up red, the ground shook again. A tremendous roar thundered through the area. A giant arm seized the robot and flung it away, smashing it into a wall where it exploded.

A steel monster twice the size of those self-destructing robots appeared. Iron Man got up from the ground and flew into the air. "What the hell is that? Where did they get so many robots?!!"

The steel monster directly tore one self-destructing robot in half and dug the bomb out of its chest. Rhodey was stunned as well. "What’s going on? Why are they fighting each other?!"

"Can’t you see it?! They’re not on the same side!" Captain America shouted.

The situation on the battlefield had become unbelievably complicated. The superheroes had to deal with the self-destructing robots and stop them from breaking out to explode, while the steel monster seemed interested only in tearing those robots apart.

For the moment, Iron Man had no idea who he should attack. Spider-Man was even more indiscriminate, treating everyone as an enemy. While using webs to trip the self-destructing robots, he also punched the steel monster.

Before long, most of the self-destructing robots had been dealt with. They had either been thrown away to explode or had their bombs dug out.

Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, another enormous figure appeared atop the building across from them. An enlarged version of a self-destructing robot jumped down. It had the same black-and-gold paint job, but it was more than three times the size of Iron Man’s mecha. It landed with a tremendous roar.

"My God, what is that now? I’ve never seen this many robots in my life!" Peter said. "What, are they some kind of family of three?"

Captain America walked over with his shield in hand. "If that’s the case, then judging by size alone, you know which one is the son."

"You didn’t keep our agreement!" the robot that had just jumped down said.

"You were the one who played me…" the steel monster said. Clearly, both robots were being piloted.

Stark wore a shocked expression. He and Rhodey spoke almost in unison. "Uncle Obadiah!" "General Johnson!"

But before they could figure out what was going on, the two giant steel robots had already tangled together.

It was obvious that although the robots were powerful, the two pilots were inexperienced. Their fighting consisted entirely of crude street brawling—one punch from you, one punch from me.

Iron Man froze in midair, unsure who he should help. Jarvis had just finished a voice analysis and confirmed that the speaker was indeed Obadiah. But what was going on? Were these self-destructing robots really not Obadiah’s doing? And what was General Johnson’s role in all this? Had the two of them originally planned to join forces against him, only to fall out among themselves???

Iron Man felt that helping either side would be wrong, so he could only hover in the air and watch the show.

The steel monster threw a punch at General Johnson’s mecha. With a bang, the cockpit panel shattered. General Johnson staggered back a step, then waved an arm and said, "Howard’s little lackey! You’re still stepping forward to protect his son! How ridiculous! When he wanted to shut down Stark’s military-industrial division, why didn’t he ask his dear uncle what he thought?!"

"He never gave a damn about the work you poured your hearts into, yet now you’re still acting as his bodyguard?! Old Andello was right back then. The only correct thing that bastard Howard ever did in his life was find himself a watchdog like you!"

The steel monster did not make a sound. Then General Johnson took another step back and said to Rhodey on the other side, "Look at this—this is your future! You all love following Stark around, always coming whenever he calls. Friends? Heh. If he really considered you a friend, he wouldn’t have handed you a pile of outdated, obsolete armor specs!"

"Our friend over there spent his whole life as Howard’s watchdog! What did he get for it? He doesn’t even dare to resist!"

Rhodey and Stark were both about to speak when Jarvis issued another urgent warning. "High-energy reaction detected! Evade immediately! Take cover immediately! Take cover immediately! 3! 2…"

In an instant, another massive Mushroom cloud rose into the air. The explosion from General Johnson’s giant machine was on an entirely different scale. A crater several hundred meters wide was left in the ground, and half the factory was blown to pieces.

No one had expected him to be so decisive. Iron Man could not dodge in time, and his armor was nearly shattered. Rhodey’s suit had been completely scrapped. The steel monster’s defenses were formidable, but it seemed unable to stand either.

Perhaps General Johnson had prepared in advance. Though he was at the center of the self-destruction, he was not killed. Instead, he emerged from an escape pod with a remote control in his hand.

"You may think this is the end, but on the contrary, this is only the beginning!" General Johnson said.

Stark had been slammed around until his head was bleeding. He wiped his eyes, helped Rhodey out of his mecha, and said, "Your boss really has a temper."

"Otherwise, how could he have driven me into a corner?" Rhodey said mockingly.

"You still refuse to repent, Colonel Rhodes! Howard never fulfilled a single thing he promised Obadiah. He still only cared about his own son. Young Stark can shut down the most important military-industrial system with a single word, destroying the work the previous generation spent half their lives building. How laughable!"

"For his sake, you rejected my requests time and again, bringing me nothing but a set of old, outdated mecha technical files. And what did that get you? You’re nothing more than Iron Man’s supporting act. He basks in glory while you remain unknown, just like Howard and Obadiah…"

"…The barking of a loser," came a voice from the steel monster still lying on the ground.

"Back then, we chose old Andello because you were too stupid. Decades later, you still haven’t changed at all. That’s why I still didn’t choose you, idiot."

Obadiah’s tone was slow and light, completely unlike someone speaking on a battlefield. That only made Johnson burn with even greater fury.

He gritted his teeth and viciously pressed the remote. Dozens more robots flew over. They were smaller than the self-destructing robots, but they looked more advanced.

"Now you have no mecha, while I do," General Johnson said. "Just like old Stark back then. He used his new invention to outmaneuver me. Now it’s my turn!"

"Cough, cough… After all these decades, there’s still one thing you haven’t figured out." Obadiah’s voice came through. "A shell of iron is completely useless."

Hearing that, Stark let out a breath and slowly relaxed his shoulder muscles. He spoke as if talking to himself. "…Maybe he’s right. They’re all right. A shell of iron alone really is useless. It won’t make me feel any better."

Rhodey stared ahead. The towering robots made their unarmed figures seem even smaller. "Save the soul-searching. Don’t you think we should come up with a plan?"

Stark looked up at the army of robots surrounding them, then turned to Rhodey. "Do you think we’re like them?"

"No. You’re worse than your father."

On the charred wasteland left by the explosions, Stark lowered his head and touched his chest. Compared to the giant robots before them, they seemed isolated and outnumbered. Yet Stark was not anxious at all. His tone relaxed, as though he were chatting with an old friend.

Then, beneath the pitch-black night sky, only the faint glow of the robots’ eyes flickered like scattered stars. Stark turned to Rhodey and asked:

"Want a cigarette?"

A 5,000-word bonus chapter!!

Celebrating this book’s first Alliance Leader, "Yi Anfei"!!! Applause!!

(It actually happened a few days ago, but I’m only posting the bonus chapter now.)

Let me explain why updates have been slow lately. First, I dictate my writing, and it’s inconvenient when people come over to my house. Second, my editor said there’s a chance the book might make the Sanjiang list, so I need to keep the word count under control. Don’t you think this new book already has too many words?

But don’t worry, after it goes premium, I’ll add extra chapters to thank every Alliance Leader and Hall Master! Alliance Leaders from before the premium launch will receive one additional bonus chapter! Thank you, everyone!