Watching Peter easily take down the female Agents who had caused him no small amount of trouble using Haoshoku, Tony couldn't help but look a bit pained.
Fine, I'm already tired of saying how envious I am!
Tony and Natasha landed and approached Peter.
Natasha frowned almost the instant she landed:
"Why are they acting like they were prepared? Could it be... Melina used me?"
"Don't think the worst of everyone."
Peter gently patted Natasha's shoulder and then said:
"Maybe that scumbag Dreykov just planted some listening devices around your mother."
Natasha glanced at Peter; in the end, she didn't say anything like "she's just my fake mother."
"Who cares about all that!" Tony spoke up from the side:
"They all rushed out at once, which saves us some effort... Let's go in and see what other tricks that old bastard Dreykov has up his sleeve."
With that, Tony was the first to charge into the underground Base.
Seeing this, Peter and Natasha naturally had to follow him deeper into the underground levels.
Just as Tony said, because most of the forces had rushed out, the resistance inside the underground facility was extremely weak.
Peter and the others broke through the defenses of the first four floors without much effort.
But when the three reached the fifth underground floor, the situation reversed instantly.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sound of iron gates slamming shut echoed behind them; the passages to the four floors they had just cleared were all sealed off!
Immediately after, a dense crowd of figures swarmed out from behind the doors.
All of them were women, all wearing black Battle Suits.
The design of these suits was very crude, not even providing 100% armor coverage.
But one look at the Arc Reactors emitting a faint blue light on their chests and the two metal Whiplashes crackling with electric arcs wrapped around each of their arms was enough to be certain.
These suits were the real deal, and they clearly all came from the same hand.
Almost the instant that name surfaced in Peter's mind, the Whiplash army parted like a tide to both sides,
And a tall, long-haired man with a sinister face stepped out, a strange smile on his face.
He wore a clearly more advanced Iron Man Suit; not only was it larger, but the Whiplashes in his hands were also noticeably thicker, dragging on the ground with a grating screech.
It was Ivan Vanko, the man Peter had previously sent Hill to investigate, only to receive news of his death!
"What a pleasant surprise!"
Ivan Vanko pointed a finger at Tony with a hint of madness:
"Before I could even set off for America to find you, did you, the thief, deliver yourself to my doorstep?"
"Thief?" Tony's brow furrowed, clearly not understanding what this guy was raving about.
Seeing Tony's confused look, Ivan felt a surge of rage and began to shout frantically:
"Damn you, Stark! Your whole family is a bunch of hypocrites!"
"Your father stole my father's technology and kicked him back to Siberia to die, and now you have the nerve to act like you have no idea?
Do you think you can just keep stealing other people's research and enjoy your wealth in peace?"
Hearing the keywords "father" and "Siberia," Tony, who had watched Howard Stark's video tapes beforehand, immediately turned cold.
"Oh, it's you." His tone suddenly became nonchalant, even a bit playful,
"I wondered who it was. So you're the pup of that useless old dog who clung to my father's coattails to barely develop the reactor, then immediately tried to steal the tech to sell it, and remained unrepentant even after being caught."
Hearing Tony dare to call him a pup, Ivan's face turned ashen.
His hands gripped the handles of the Whiplashes tightly, the whips crackling in response to his emotions.
"Kill them!"
The inarticulate Ivan couldn't think of a witty comeback, so he chose to strike first.
At his command, dozens of Red Room female Agents in mecha suits activated their Whiplashes simultaneously. Electric arcs wove into a blinding net of light in the air, surging toward Tony's group.
Seeing the female Agents charging aggressively, Tony reacted almost instinctively.
He raised his hands, and the energy beams from his palms knocked the leading female Agents to the ground.
Tony thought that would be enough.
But to his absolute surprise, those three female Agents stood back up within fractions of a second after being knocked down.
Even though their mecha suits were partially paralyzed and they had severe burns from the energy beams—their expressions didn't change at all.
It wasn't that they were gritting their teeth through the pain; they simply couldn't feel it!
"What the hell?" Tony was completely stunned.
If it weren't for the red blood flowing from those female Agents, he would have almost thought they were some new model of android.
"Agents from the Red Room are like this,"
Natasha's cold voice came from behind:
"The mission comes first. As long as the mission is accomplished, it doesn't matter if they die."
"I get the logic, but this is completely beyond human instinct!"
Tony watched as one female Agent's mecha suit shattered, pinning her beneath its weight.
Yet, as if she felt no pain at all, she continued to crawl forward desperately, until... she literally tore her own legs off from under the heavy armor without even noticing!
Looking at the Red Room Agent who only had her upper body left but was still frantically clawing at him with her hands,
Tony couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle, and he instinctively took half a step back.
Because of that momentary lapse and retreat, a Whiplash whistled through the air and struck him hard from the side.
This was followed by a second, a third... countless Whiplashes lashed against Tony's body.
Tony didn't think much of it at first.
He now had 100% confidence in Vibranium.
Even if he were lashed a hundred times in a row like a plantation worker from over a century ago, his armor wouldn't suffer the slightest damage!
Vibranium technology, kid!
However, before he could activate the kinetic energy release function, red warning windows popped up before his eyes in the next second.
"Warning: Abnormal energy loss detected, sir!"
"Weapon systems temporarily paralyzed!"
Only then did Tony suddenly realize.
These Whiplashes weren't meant to lash him! They were... meant to steal his energy!
"Damn it!" Tony's face changed. "Their whips are draining the energy from my reactor!"
Seeing that Tony had finally realized, Ivan Vanko let out a dark, triumphant laugh:
"Do you like it, Stark? This is a gift I designed specifically for you."
"Let's see how long you, the thief, can hold out."