Chapter 42: Chapter 42: The Battle of the Stark Expo

After spending nearly ten hours analyzing online confession strategies, Luke and Tony had finally drafted a solid, highly romantic plan to formally confess to Pepper. The only remaining challenge was figuring out how to actually get her out of the CEO's office and into the right setting. 

According to Tony's intense research, the key to a memorable confession was the element of surprise. Therefore, he was planning a highly coordinated 'ambush' confession. 

Watching the forty-year-old billionaire obsessively review his color-coded flowcharts and contingency plans like a seasoned romantic strategist, Luke was utterly speechless. He was fairly certain Tony hadn't even planned the Iron Man armor schematics with this much neurotic detail. 

Glancing at the clock, Luke suddenly realized it was almost 7:00 PM. Justin Hammer's weapons demonstration at the Stark Expo was about to begin. 

Suddenly, the vintage landline phone in Tony's living room began ringing loudly. 

Tony scowled in absolute fury. Who the hell was calling his landline?! It was completely disrupting his romantic concentration! 

Anyone who actually mattered—friends, business partners, or Avengers—had his encrypted cell phone number. The landline was strictly for public appearances and telemarketers. Because of this, Tony didn't even bother trying to be polite. 

He snatched the receiver off the hook. 

"Listen here, you absolute—!" Tony unleashed a highly creative, profanity-laced tirade for ten seconds straight before furiously slamming the phone back down. 

Luke, who had been sitting nearby waiting for the plot to progress, was completely stunned. 

'Wait, what the hell?! You didn't even let him speak! How are you supposed to find out Ivan Vanko is alive and attacking the Expo if you just hang up on him?!' 

Before Luke could debate whether he should just physically kidnap Tony and drag him to the Expo, the landline rang again. 

Luke breathed a massive sigh of relief. 'Ivan, you beautiful, persistent bastard. For this, I promise I'll leave your corpse in one piece later!' 

Tony's scowl deepened. "JARVIS, disconnect the landline!" 

"Wait, wait, wait!" Luke jumped up, waving his hands frantically. "Tony, if this guy is calling you back after you just verbally annihilated him, it might actually be an emergency. You should probably answer it." 

Tony frowned, but reluctantly set his confession flowchart down and picked up the receiver. 

"Tony Stark." 

Before Tony could even start insulting the caller, the voice on the other end spoke. 

Tony's eyes narrowed. "Who the hell is this?" 

On the other end of the line, Ivan Vanko froze in sheer disbelief. 'I literally attacked you with plasma whips two days ago and you don't even recognize my voice?!' 

"It is Ivan!" Vanko roared furiously, his heavy Russian accent bleeding through. 

"Ivan? Oh, the freak from the racetrack," Tony said dismissively. "How are you making phone calls from a maximum-security prison cell?" 

"I am not in a prison cell, Stark. I am somewhere else. Care to guess where?" Ivan let out a dark, villainous chuckle, fully expecting Tony to panic. 

Tony didn't care. 

"I'm not playing twenty questions with a psychopath," Tony snapped, his patience evaporating. "So you broke out of jail? Big deal. Have fun on the run. I'll send the cops to drag you back in a few days when I'm less busy." 

With the new element successfully synthesizing and completely curing his palladium poisoning, Tony was riding a massive high. He no longer cared about Ivan Vanko or the crude Arc Reactor tech. If Hammer or the military wanted to waste billions trying to reverse-engineer Vanko's vastly inferior, highly inefficient tech, let them. Tony was already decades ahead again. Vanko was completely irrelevant to him now. 

Ivan was stunned. His grand, terrifying villain monologue was being completely brushed off! Furious that he couldn't physically reach through the phone to strangle the arrogant billionaire, Ivan abandoned the dramatic buildup. 

"Tonight, at your precious Expo... I will make you and your entire legacy pay! I promise you that!" Ivan roared, violently slamming the phone down on his end. 

Tony winced, rubbing his ringing ear. "Geez, guy needs anger management." 

However, Ivan's final threat finally registered in Tony's brain. He immediately ordered JARVIS to pull up the schedule for tonight's Stark Expo. 

Seeing that Justin Hammer's live demonstration of his new 'tactical drones' was literally minutes away, a cold, sickening realization washed over Tony. Connecting the dots between Vanko's escape and Hammer's sudden technological leap, Tony knew exactly what was about to happen. 

"JARVIS! Call Pepper immediately!" 

Meanwhile, inside the main pavilion of the Stark Expo. 

Pepper Potts was sitting in the front row of the VIP section, looking incredibly exhausted. Natasha Romanoff sat beside her, efficiently managing the constant stream of executive emails. 

Over the past few days, Pepper had barely slept. Transitioning Stark Industries away from weapons manufacturing while simultaneously managing the massive Expo logistics was a monumental task. She was constantly battling hostile board members and aggressive media pundits who publicly claimed she lacked the experience to run a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. 

Thinking about those condescending talk show hosts made Pepper furious, but as the CEO, she couldn't exactly go on live television and start screaming at them. She had to maintain absolute professionalism. 

Glancing at the jam-packed itinerary Natasha handed her, Pepper felt a wave of crushing fatigue, but she forced herself to sit up straight. She refused to let Tony down. 

Suddenly, her phone buzzed. Seeing Tony's caller ID, Pepper smiled and answered. 

"Tony?" 

"Pepper! Are you inside the Expo pavilion right now?!" Tony's voice was frantic, bordering on panic. 

"Of course I am. I'm the CEO of Stark Industries. How could I not be at our own Expo?" Pepper replied, slightly confused by his tone. 

"Damn it! Pepper, you need to leave that building immediately! It's a trap! Give the phone to Natalie right now! I need to speak to her!" 

Pepper frowned, her heart rate spiking. She immediately handed the phone to Natasha. 

Natasha listened for a few seconds. Her polite, professional smile instantly vanished, replaced by a cold, deadly serious expression. She stood up abruptly. 

"We need to evacuate right now," Natasha ordered, her tone completely shifting from 'assistant' to 'highly trained operative.' 

"Wait, what's going on?" Pepper asked as Natasha practically dragged her out of the VIP section toward the exit. 

Their sudden movement attracted a lot of attention. Justin Hammer, who was currently mingling near the stage, spotted them leaving and frowned. 

'Tonight is the grand unveiling of Hammer Industries! The CEO of Stark Industries walking out right before the presentation starts is a massive insult!' 

Hammer quickly marched over to intercept them. "Hey! Where do you think you're going—" 

Before Hammer could finish his sentence, Natasha stepped forward. In a blur of motion, she grabbed his arm, twisted it violently behind his back, and slammed him face-first onto the marble floor. 

"Argh!" Hammer shrieked in pain. 

"Where is Ivan Vanko?!" Natasha demanded, her voice dripping with pure killing intent. She was a top-tier S.H.I.E.L.D. assassin; she didn't have time for this idiot's games. 

"What... who is Ivan?!" Hammer tried to play dumb, but Natasha simply applied more pressure, nearly dislocating his shoulder. 

"Ahhh! Okay! Okay! Hammer Industries! He's at the Hammer Industries facility in Queens!" Hammer squealed instantly, completely breaking under the threat of physical pain. 

Natasha released him in disgust. She pulled out a secure comms earpiece, relayed the coordinates, and quickly escorted Pepper out of the pavilion. 

A few seconds later, Tony and Luke stepped through a Sling Ring portal into a secluded hallway near the pavilion's exit. JARVIS quickly triangulated Pepper's phone signal, leading them right to her. 

"Tony! What is going on?!" Pepper demanded, still shaken by her assistant casually assaulting a rival CEO. 

"Justin Hammer broke Ivan Vanko out of prison. Vanko just called me and threatened the Expo. I guarantee you those new Hammer Drones are rigged!" Tony explained rapidly. He told Pepper to get to a secure S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house, then turned to Luke. 

"I'll handle the drones inside. You go find Ivan," Tony said, deploying his suitcase armor. 

"Actually, it's better if I handle the drones," Luke countered, tapping his earpiece. "I can deploy hundreds of ninjas to evacuate the civilians while neutralizing the robots simultaneously. You're too flashy; you'll cause collateral damage inside the crowded hall. You go arrest Vanko." 

Tony nodded, acknowledging the tactical logic. But first, he needed to warn Rhodey. 

"Hey, Rhodey, can you hear me?" Tony spoke into his comms. 

Underneath the main stage, James "Rhodey" Rhodes was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with rows of heavily armed Hammer Drones. They were loaded onto the massive hydraulic elevators, preparing to ascend to the stage for the grand reveal. 

Rhodey had taken the Mark II armor straight to the military, who had immediately contracted Hammer Industries to heavily militarize it. The suit was now entirely covered in thick, gunmetal-grey plating and bristling with heavy artillery. It wasn't nearly as technologically elegant as Tony's suits, but its sheer ballistic firepower was devastating. 

"Tony? What's up?" Rhodey answered, pleasantly surprised to hear from his friend. 

"Where exactly are you right now?" 

"I'm standing on the hydraulic lifts under the main stage. I'm about to do a little PR presentation for Hammer Industries. Honestly, Tony, you need to see these drones. They're seriously impressive. I might be out of a job soon," Rhodey chuckled, glancing at the silent, heavily armed robots standing around him in the dark. 

"Are all the drones down there with you?" Tony asked, his voice tight. 

"Yeah, basically all of them. Why?" 

"Listen to me very carefully, Rhodey. You need to destroy every single one of those drones right now! They were built by Ivan Vanko!" 

"What?!" Rhodey was stunned. 

Suddenly, his HUD flashed violently red. The War Machine armor automatically forcefully locked its joints, shifting into high-alert combat mode. At the exact same moment, the massive hydraulic elevators engaged, lifting Rhodey and the army of drones up toward the stage. 

Rhodey frantically tried to manually override the system, but his controls were completely unresponsive. 

"Tony! I'm locked out! The suit is overriding my commands! It's forcing me into combat mode, and we're ascending to the stage!" 

"Damn it!" Tony cursed, flying out into the main hall just as the stage elevators reached the surface. 

Justin Hammer, who had finally managed to pop his shoulder back into place, was standing near the edge of the stage, massaging his arm and preparing to welcome the crowd. But as the drones ascended, he realized something was terribly wrong. 

The moment the drones locked onto Tony hovering in the air above the crowd, their heavy chainguns and missile pods automatically aimed directly at him. 

For a split second, there was dead silence in the massive pavilion. 

Then, all thirty drones opened fire simultaneously. 

"F*CK!" Tony screamed, instantly throwing the Mark VI into a violent evasive spin to dodge the massive barrage of bullets and micro-missiles tearing through the air. 

Absolute chaos erupted in the pavilion. The thousands of civilians, reporters, and wealthy elites instantly panicked, screaming and stampeding toward the exits as stray bullets shattered the glass displays around them. 

Standing near the entrance, Luke watched the chaos unfold. He didn't hesitate. 

With a mental command, over a thousand Shadowkhan flooded into the massive hall from every dark corner. 

Hundreds of standard Shadow Ninjas immediately dashed into the terrified crowd, forcefully grabbing civilians by the collars and literally throwing them out the exit doors to clear the kill zone as fast as possible. 

Simultaneously, hundreds of Razor Claws vaulted over the fleeing crowds and charged the stage, aiming directly for the firing drones. 

The Hammer Drones, controlled by Vanko's advanced targeting software, instantly registered the new, highly lethal threats. The 'Sniper' variant drones rapidly swiveled their high-caliber rifles, perfectly calculating the Razor Claws' trajectories, and opened fire. 

Massive, armor-piercing rounds tore through the air, completely shredding the leading wave of Razor Claws. The shattered magical constructs instantly dissolved into harmless black smoke before they even hit the ground. 

Luke frowned. He hadn't expected Vanko's targeting algorithms to be this fast. 

He immediately ordered the remaining Razor Claws to execute highly erratic, completely unpredictable evasive maneuvers. But Vanko's drones were highly specialized; they instantly shifted into a tight, interlocking defensive phalanx. The heavy 'Assault' drones provided a wall of suppressing fire, creating an impenetrable kill zone that kept the agile assassins at bay. 

"Fine. Let's see you calculate this," Luke muttered. 

He summoned the Troll Ninjas. 

Dozens of five-meter-tall, heavily muscled behemoths materialized directly in front of the drone phalanx. Completely ignoring the bullets sparking off their incredibly dense, magical hide, the Trolls charged forward like runaway freight trains. 

With a deafening crash, the Trolls physically smashed straight through the defensive line, violently shattering the drones' formation. 

With the firing lines broken, the Razor Claws instantly flooded into the gaps. Twin katanas and bladed feet flashed in the stage lights, effortlessly slicing through the drones' cheap armor plating, severing hydraulic lines, and decapitating the robots in seconds. 

"Tony! My suit is about to launch! Get out of here!" Rhodey screamed over the comms. The War Machine's thrusters were spooling up to maximum power, preparing to chase Tony down. 

"I've got him!" Luke yelled. 

He immediately commanded three nearby Troll Ninjas to dogpile Rhodey. 

The Trolls tackled the heavily armored War Machine, violently pinning him face-down onto the stage. The War Machine's automated defense protocols engaged, trying to swivel its shoulder-mounted minigun to fire at the Trolls. 

But several Razor Claws instantly descended upon him. With terrifying precision, they used their blades to completely dismantle and sever the external weapon mounts, ripping the minigun and missile pods right off the suit. 

"Sorry, Rhodey! I'll tell Tony to build you some better guns later!" Luke shouted over the din of battle. 

"Hey, wait! Don't break the 'Ex-Wife'! I haven't even gotten to use it yet!" Rhodey yelled from beneath the pile of massive shadows, mourning his highly classified bunker-busting missile. 

Despite the Trolls successfully pinning Rhodey, Vanko had anticipated a ground assault. Several of the 'Air Force' variant drones engaged their thrusters and successfully launched into the air, escaping the Razor Claws' melee range and pursuing Tony through the Expo grounds. 

Tony, easily outmaneuvering the clunky drones in the sky, rapidly dispatched them with highly precise repulsor blasts and a few micro-missiles. 

Landing back on the stage, Tony looked around at the piles of completely dismantled, sparking robot parts. The pavilion was entirely secure. 

"Great job, Luke. Looks like we wiped them all out!" Tony sighed in relief. "Now... can you please tell your giant shadow monsters to get off me?!" 

"Sorry, Tony. I can't do that," Luke replied, shaking his head. "Vanko still has full control over Rhodey's suit. If I let him up, the suit will automatically try to kill you." 

While speaking, Luke pulled out his camera and began rapidly snapping photos of Rhodey hopelessly pinned beneath three massive, muscle-bound shadow giants. 

Tony watched Luke taking the humiliating photos with genuine horror. 'I am never, ever going to piss this guy off in public again,' Tony swore to himself. 

"Is someone actually going to reboot my suit, or am I just going to stay down here forever?!" Rhodey yelled, utterly humiliated, trying to hide his faceplate from the camera flashes. 

"I am currently en route to the Hammer Industries mainframe to initiate a hard reboot," Natasha's calm voice echoed through the comms channel. 

Hearing the distinctive sounds of intense physical combat—grunts, shattered glass, and bodies hitting the floor—coming from Natasha's end of the comms, the three men fell into a slightly terrified, highly respectful silence. 

A few minutes later, Pepper burst through the pavilion doors, followed by a squad of NYPD officers who immediately arrested a very confused, babbling Justin Hammer. 

"Tony! Are you okay?!" Pepper ran over. 

Tony immediately retracted his helmet and pulled her into a tight, comforting hug. 

"Everything is secure, Pep. We're safe," Tony said softly. 

Pepper quickly pushed him away, wincing. "Ow! You're literally made of metal! Don't hug me in the suit!" 

Pepper looked around the devastated pavilion. "So... is it finally over?" 

Luke and Tony exchanged a dark look. 

"No. We're still missing one person," Tony said grimly. 

As if on cue, a massive, heavily armored figure slowly descended from the sky, landing heavily just outside the pavilion's shattered entrance. 

"Hey, Stark! Come out here and fight me like a man!" 

Ivan Vanko's heavily distorted, arrogant voice echoed through the Expo grounds.