Night
Silas spent the entire day with Misty and was in a cheerful mood. Notably, Misty had gotten a tattoo over her scar. Silas was quite surprised. Misty told him she had been torn between plastic surgery and a tattoo, but after hearing Silas didn't mind her scar, she decided to skip the surgery and choose a tattoo. She generally didn't want to get surgery, which had a major impact.
None of this mattered to Silas. Once he acquired the Horse Talisman, both the scar and the tattoo would vanish.
Waving goodbye to Misty, Silas walked alone on the street.
"Hey kid, I haven't seen you around here," an elderly man with white hair and sunglasses walked up to Silas and asked.
Silas frowned. "Old man, who are you? Do you know everyone on this street?"
"Oh, no, no, it's not that exaggerated. I just think you're a bit special," the old man said, waving his hand.
"Special? What's special about me?" Silas found the old man a bit strange, and familiar?
"I can't quite say. Just a very special feeling," the old man replied.
Silas wondered if his possession of the Talisman powers had been discovered. Did this old man have some special ability?
"What's your name?" Silas asked.
The old man didn't say much, but looked at his watch and exclaimed, "Oh no! Shoot, I'm going to be late for work at Stark Tower!"
"Working at Stark Tower? What can you do?" Silas wasn't looking down on the old man, but his frail physique, which looked like it could be blown over by the wind, made it hard not to question him.
The old man immediately ran toward Stark Tower, shouting without turning back, "Security personnel!"
"Security personnel?!" Silas thought he must have misheard. With a security guard like that, wasn't Stark afraid of being robbed?
Just as Silas was about to ignore the old man, he suddenly remembered someone: Stan Lee! Silas snapped his head up and shouted, "Wait, old man!"
At that moment, Silas was astonished to find that there was no old man in front of him, only the constant stream of people coming and going.
"It's him!" Silas thought excitedly. It had to be him! Otherwise, how could an ordinary old man vanish from Silas's sight without a trace?
"Stark Tower." Silas immediately headed for Stark Tower. After all, the old man had said he worked there.
Stark Tower
"You're asking about Stan Lee?" The security guard at the entrance frowned.
Silas asked, "What's wrong?"
"Actually, during work hours, we shouldn't be talking to you, but..." The security guard weighed the stack of money in his hand, which Silas had given him. "That old guy was fired. I don't know how someone with such a weak build got hired as a security guard in the first place."
"Even if he got hired, he dared to be late today, so we fired him. Now he's probably wandering around some street." The security guard told Silas everything without hesitation. After all, it wasn't a huge secret, and who would turn down money?
"Alright." Silas didn't expect the lead to end here. It couldn't be a coincidence that he was fired today; he must be deliberately hiding from Silas.
"What a hassle~" Silas felt his head spinning. He had finally had a chance to get close to the old man, and he'd blown it.
Freedom City – Birthday Party
"Now, let's welcome the person who's been quite popular recently—Paja... Spider-Man!" Tony had already had a few drinks and almost slipped up and said Pajama Boy.
"Hey!" Peter, wearing his Spider-Suit, arrived before the crowd, sparking cheers.
"Mr. Stark, what do you need me to do?" Peter felt completely out of place at the party, but there was money to be earned. Plus, Mr. Stark had promised to personally explain the source of the money to Uncle Ben and wouldn't reveal his identity.
"Do what?" Tony thought for a moment. "Don't you shoot webs? Perform that."
"But Mr. Stark, the webs..." Peter wanted to explain that his webs were for saving people, not performing.
Tony held up a finger. "Plus ten thousand."
"Mr. Stark, watch my performance!" Peter stopped arguing and started swinging webs around the room.
During the performance, many women asked Peter to hold them and let them experience the feeling of swinging through the air. A few of the more outgoing women even kissed Peter's mask after landing.
"Enough! Everyone present, please evacuate immediately!" Rhodey had put on the silver armor Tony kept in the lab.
However, Rhodey's words had no effect. The party-goers continued to celebrate, and some even joked with Rhodey, thinking Tony had hired him to liven up the atmosphere.
"Get out!" Rhodey put on his helmet, and his eyes glowed.
Rhodey's roar finally worked. Everyone began to flee, realizing this was serious. The music abruptly stopped.
"Little bro, don't stop the music." Tony ignored Rhodey and turned to the person in charge of the music, taking another swig of liquor.
Peter cautiously approached Tony. "Uh, Mr. Stark, what's going on?"
"Kid, you leave too. I know you're a person full of integrity, but this is between Tony and me." Rhodey had learned about Spider-Man; he was highly principled, helpful, and a rare good person.
Tony patted Peter's back and waved his hand. "You can go. I'll handle the rest."
"J.A.R.V.I.S., contact Happy, tell him to send Pajama Boy home," Tony instructed.
"Understood, Mr. Stark." Hearing this, Peter willingly left. The atmosphere here felt a bit too tense.
Peter had just stepped outside when Rhodey suddenly moved! He slammed into Tony. Tony's face mask quickly closed, and the two Iron Men took flight.
Rhodey was no match for Tony in terms of familiarity with the Iron Suit. Tony immediately retaliated, prying open Rhodey's grip with his left hand, grabbing Rhodey's neck with his right, and throwing him to the floor. The sheer force caused Rhodey to crash through the floor and fall down.
"Put the armor back, and don't hurt anyone," Tony said, turning to leave. This was his birthday party; it couldn't end so abruptly.
Rhodey stood up, looked around, grabbed a nearby table, and threw it at Tony.
Bang!
The table hit Tony squarely on the head. Tony slowly turned to face Rhodey.
"You're the one who should put the armor back! You don't deserve to wear it!" Rhodey shouted. Tony's behavior tonight was deeply disappointing! Rhodey stood up and threw a punch at Tony.
Tony crouched slightly, picked up a barbell from the floor, and clanged it against Rhodey's chest, sending Rhodey flying.
Their battle spilled into another room. The party guests, surprisingly, still hadn't left. They peered through the glass, watching the two Iron Men fight.
"Excuse me!" Peter was still worried and pushed through the crowd blocking his way.
Unexpectedly, Tony yelled at the people outside, "Get out!"
"Alright, no need to excuse me," Peter and the crowd left. To be honest, it wasn't that Peter was afraid of Stark; it was just that Stark hadn't given him his payment yet.
Rhodey seized the moment, kicked Tony's legs, causing Tony to fall to the floor. Surprise attack successful! Rhodey raised both hands, power surging. Tony quickly reacted, raising his hands and gathering power as well.
"Put it down! Using that here is too dangerous!" Tony warned.
"Then you put yours down!" Rhodey noticed that while Tony said this, he made no move to disarm himself.
"No! You first!"
"No! You first!"
"Put it down!"
Boom!
The two energy blasts collided. A powerful energy surge roared out. Smash! The glass instantly shattered into shards. Tony and Rhodey were both thrown to opposite sides by the energy blast and knocked unconscious.
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