...
Rumble!
On the racetrack, the roar of the F1 engines was incessant.
When the five red lights, serving as the start signal, lit up in sequence and then extinguished, the race began instantly.
Boom—
Perhaps it was due to his familiarity with the speed of Mark armor or his inherent talent, but Tony, in the fourth position, showed a fierce momentum right from the start.
Not only did he not fall behind, but he also showed great potential to overtake.
The car in the fifth position was directly left behind by him.
“Tony!”
Pepper and her group anxiously arrived at the spectator stands, but the race had already started. She could only pray in her heart that Tony would finish the race safely.
On the racetrack.
The number four car driven by Tony surged forward, quickly overtaking the number three car ahead, moving up to the third position, and relentlessly closing in on the number two car.
But at this moment.
A disheveled staff member in an orange uniform appeared on the racetrack amidst the exclamations of the spectators. He held two long whips and slowly walked towards the group of F1 cars speeding towards him.
One could see.
With every step he took, another scorched Mark appeared on his work uniform, quickly revealing the small Arc Reactor and the incompletely covered exoskeleton armor hidden beneath.
This person is the villain from “Iron Man 2”—Whiplash, whose real name is Ivan Vanko.
He hand-crafted the exoskeleton armor he was wearing, codenamed “Whiplash,” using the Arc Reactor technology left behind by his father, Anton Vanko, a former Soviet nuclear physicist.
His goal was to fulfill his father's dying wish: to seek revenge on Stark, who had stolen the Arc Reactor technology.
However.
In reality, the Arc Reactor technology was the joint research result of his father, Anton Vanko, and Tony and Leon's father, Howard Stark.
Anton Vanko, however, had formed a connection with high-ranking military and political officials of an enemy nation when the research was nearing completion, in order to gain huge profits.
Therefore.
After the incident came to light, Howard Stark, who held the dominant position, simply waved his hand and kicked him out.
The feud between the two parties was thus established and continued into the next generation.
Boom, boom, boom!
As the leading number one car sped closer, Ivan Vanko did not dodge or evade. He suddenly swung his whip, and the long whip, flashing with blue and white electrical arcs, instantly sliced the number one car in half as easily as a knife cutting tofu.
Bang!!!
The speeding number one car's body disintegrated in the air and exploded upon landing due to inertia.
The number two car, seeing the unfavorable situation, executed a lightning drift to bypass Ivan Vanko. Ivan Vanko did not act against the number two car because the number four car, driven by Tony, was close behind, and that was his target.
“Tony Stark.”
Ivan Vanko's stubbled mouth curled into an evil grin. The whip in his hand, constantly flashing with blue and white electrical arcs, suddenly struck vertically towards the number four racing car driven by Tony.
Judging by the posture,
He intended to cut him, along with the car, in half.
“Holy shit!”
Upon seeing this, Tony instinctively cursed, then quickly slammed the steering wheel, turning the car body, and simultaneously yelled, “Jarvis, maximize the anti-inertia field!”
“Sir...”
Tony didn't hear the rest of what Jarvis said, because the whip had already melted the front of the number four race car, which had turned sideways.
The anti-inertia field generator was also directly scrapped by this attack, and Tony, along with the rear part of the race car, was flung out by the extreme inertia.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The number four race car, with Tony inside, tumbled 720 degrees.
Fortunately, the anti-inertia field momentarily offset the inertia, and the F1 safety device, the Halo system, jokingly called “flip-flops,” also played a significant protective role. It was originally intended for use in 2018, but Tony's quick thinking brought it out early, inadvertently saving himself.
So when the number four car stopped rolling, Tony only felt dizzy, but at least he was still alive and physically intact.
After a while of recovery.
Tony somewhat disheveledly crawled out from under the inverted car body.
Ivan Vanko, seeing that his revenge target was not yet dead, dragged the two powerful electrical whips in his hands and walked towards Tony with an oppressive presence.
Behind him.
The F1 drivers, unaware of what was happening, emergency-drifted when they saw someone on the track, but all lost control and crashed and exploded due to excessive speed.
For a moment.
The scene was extremely chaotic.
Panic spread rapidly like toppled dominoes.
“Damn it!”
“How does he have a miniature Arc Reactor?”
Tony knew full well that he was just a mortal flesh and blood being now, and without his Iron Man armor, he couldn't possibly deal with Ivan Vanko, who had exoskeleton armor. So, he instinctively thought of retreating.
But upon seeing the panicked escape of the spectators, knowing his life was short, he suddenly stopped his escape, turned back, and shouted at Ivan Vanko:
“Come on!”
“I'm not afraid of You!”
“Oh really?”
Ivan Vanko grinned and lashed out with a whip.
“!!!”
Tony was so startled that he did a split on the spot, narrowly avoiding having his 'Brother' electrocuted into charcoal.
After just one encounter, Tony abandoned the idea of a head-on confrontation and began to use himself as bait, luring Ivan Vanko to a less crowded area.
However, Ivan Vanko, with the aid of his exoskeleton armor, ran considerably faster than Tony and quickly caught up to him.
Crackling!
Tony didn't even need to look back to smell the scorching odor of high-voltage electric cables burning the air.
‘I'm going to die!’
‘I'm going to die!!’
‘I'm going to die!!!’
Just as Tony thought his life was over, Happy, transforming into a racing god, drove Pepper, with two thousand horsepower churning.
With a loud bang!
He slammed into the unsuspecting Ivan Vanko from behind, sending him flying.
“Tony!”
“Do you know how worried I was about You?”
“Ugh—”
Pepper started scolding him as soon as she got out of the car, but Tony didn't play by the rules. He directly blocked Pepper's mouth, then snatched the “Mark V” briefcase from her hand.
While suiting up, he reminded her:
“Pepper, it's not over yet. It's dangerous here. Get back in the car with Happy and wait for me in a safe place. As for him, I'll take care of it, I promise You.”
“You—”
“You must be careful!”
Looking at Ivan Vanko, who had already stood up not far away, Pepper knew she would only be a burden if she stayed. So, after giving Tony a glare, she quickly got back in the car and reversed out of the scene with Happy.
“Now, it's round two.”
After donning the Mark V armor, even though a significant portion of its defensive capabilities was sacrificed for portability, Tony still felt exceptionally secure, feeling like he was capable again.
So he provocatively beckoned to Ivan Vanko.
Upon seeing this.
Ivan Vanko merely curved his lip and taught Tony a lesson with a five-strike lightning whip.
One could see.
The Mark V armor's defense, as thin as paper, simply couldn't withstand Ivan Vanko's high-voltage whip attacks, and it was breached in an instant.
Then, Tony, his body paralyzed, was entangled by the whip around his ankle and flung out like a pinwheel.
Bang!!!
After crashing through a wall, Tony was pinned underneath, unable to break free for a moment, looking as anxious as his future Spider-Son.
“Damn it!”
“Move it!”
“Mark V, how can you be such an inconvenience!”
“Tony Stark, vile thief, arrogant hypocrite, foolish incompetent, next year this day will be your memorial day!”
“Go down obediently and be buried with my father!”
“Unfortunately—”
“It's already full down there.”
“!!!”
The mocking voice from behind made Ivan Vanko freeze.
And then,
There was no then.
Because Leon, who had arrived, had already blasted him and his Whiplash suit into dust with a repulsor blast.
Then.
Leon stood with one foot on the concrete wall panel next to Tony, extending a helping hand to him from above, while teasingly remarking with a smirk:
“Oh~ Brother, are You crying?”