That Thing was Really Uncomfortable

With the armor protecting him, Tony no longer had anything to fear. He quickly rushed to Black Widow's side and grabbed the energy whip. He turned to Natasha and Happy and said, "Alright, leave this place to me. You guys go find a safe place. Now!"

He turned back to face the unhappy Ivan Vanko and growled, "I don't know where or how you stole my technology, but this game is over."

He pulled the energy whip, intent on dragging Ivan on the ground, but then…

He couldn't pull him.

Mark Five was a light type armor. It was simplistic and convenient to equip, but it sacrificed much of its power in the process. Fortunately, Tony was never the type to rely on brute force. He focused all the power from the new element ark reactor on his chest, and a beam of energy erupted with a flash of light. Ivan was sent flying before he fell to the ground, unmoving.

Another deafening cheer exploded. Everyone was shouting "Iron Man." It was a total failure for the Stark Expo—

But it was an absolute success for Tony's Iron Man.

Tony immediately rushed at Ivan and ripped out the miniaturized ark reactor from its socket, just in case. The crackling energy whips lost their power supply and were finally deactivated.

Tony scanned the reactor with the computer built into his armor and was slightly shocked by the result.

Ivan struggled to bring himself up on his feet, lucky enough to block the sudden energy beam with what little armor pieces he had on his body. He spat out blood and grinned at Tony, saying weakly, "Stark, you lose."

"You lose!"

Tony frowned at Ivan Vanko, silently gripping the improvised miniature ark reactor in his hand.

Seeing that the danger had passed, a squad of security guards rushed onto the stage and grabbed Ivan as if they were the ones who subdued him.

"Mr. Stark, should we detain him?"

The person who was ostensibly in charge asked carefully. The security team would definitely be audited thoroughly after such a major incident.

"Yeah!" Tony answered half-heartedly. He looked at Ivan, who was laughing even while vomiting blood and being restrained. Tony turned around and left the venue.

Fanny watched the entire incident while blending into the crowd. It was an unexpected turn of events. His interference had destroyed the plot that Tony's life was supposed to go through, and he no longer had any idea about what would happen in the future.

Fanny looked at Ivan Vanko's flailing body with conflicted emotion. Now that the plot had changed significantly, he wasn't sure that Hammer Industry would still take Ivan in.

"I should keep an eye on Skye and make her stay at home for a while," Fanny silently thought.

Then again, Ivan's primary target was definitely Tony. The target of his vengeance was the entire Stark family, including their company and assets.

That was probably also why he didn't kill Tony immediately. He wanted to crush everything that Tony had.

The Expo went on mostly undisturbed.

Ivan Vanko's appearance did not affect Fanny's mood too much—he was even a little happy that the two nuisances would leave her sooner than expected. However, he still had his promise to Billy, so he called him to explain the situation.

But Billy's sad voice interrupted his thought right as the phone got connected.

"Fanny, I got fired."

"What?" Fanny was slightly stunned.

"That damn fatty said it was our fault for letting that weird guy in without proper examination. We're all fired," Billy said while gritting his teeth. Someone must have blamed Ivan's intrusion on Billy and the other new interns. "By the way, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I just got separated from girls—and I forgot to give them my contact. You should call them," Fanny replied honestly.

"Then I'll talk to you later." Billy's mood obviously worsened after he heard that the girls were also lost. He said nothing else and hung up the phone.

Fanny did not care. He kind of agreed with Billy's boss that Ivan's intrusion was due to overly lax security. After all, someone like Billy had been able to get so many tickets.

Fanny continued to tour the Expo after sneaking away from the group of fanatic fans. He was amazed by the many creative and fantastical ideas displayed in the exhibits.

Billy called him again a short while later, telling him that he had found the two women and asking if Fanny would join them again. Fanny refused; he would've had more fun browsing the Expo on his own. Billy didn't press him. It would be harder to keep the two women's attention if Fanny was with him.

Fanny wandered around for two hours, but he still didn't come close to seeing all the exhibits. On top of that, as the expo would last for a whole year, there would be a constant stream of new exhibits.

Sky waited for him in the living room when he returned home.

"Why did you come back so late today?"

Skye thought that Fanny was in Kamar-Taj.

"I went to the Stark Expo opening ceremony," Fanny explained as he changed his shoes.

"Was the news true?" Skye suddenly became interested. She spent her days in front of the computer and grasping the flow of information across the media, so she already knew what happened at the opening before Fanny returned home.

"What news?" Fanny was the one being confused.

"The person with the whip was all over the news. They said that his existence exposed Tony Stark's lies in front of the military court about his technology being one of a kind and cannot be replicated."

"How should I put it?"

Fanny felt that it was a hard question to answer. He can't really say that the news was wrong, since Ivan Vanko did complete the ark reactor by himself, even if he relied on extant design.

But the news wasn't exactly true either, because the reactor was based on the original design, not truly reverse-engineered. Moreover, Tony was currently using the new element in his ark reactor.

"Well, long story short, that guy is not a good person." Fanny avoided giving a real answer to the question. He instead warned Skye, "You shouldn't go out too much for the next few days, especially near Stark. I feel that something is about to happen."

Skye had always believed what Fanny said, so she simply nodded and asked out of curiosity, "What will it be?"

"I'm not sure either." Fanny shook his head. The plot had spiraled out of control due to his intervention.

At that same moment, Tony was in Ivan Vanko's interrogation room while holding the device that Ivan made.

"What I don't understand is why you aren't selling this stuff."

Tony already changed to his normal business suit. He looked at Ivan, who was stripped of his own suit, and continued, "You could've made a lot of money selling this to other countries."

Ivan lowered his head. The dim light made it hard to see the expression on his face. However, his voice sounded happy.

"Tony, if you can make God bleed, then people wouldn't believe in Him anymore!"

"What, are you trying to convert me?!" Tony's face was not good. He had been slapped not long ago, after saying some harsh word.

"There is blood in the water now. And the shark will come. I don't have to do anything; I just have to sit back and watch them swallow you."

Ivan raised his head with a smile on his face. He seemed to think that he had settled his vengeance. He continued, "And..."

"Death of palladium poisoning is very painful!"

"Is that so?" Tony responded casually. If he hadn't discovered the new element, his expression would probably darken, but he had fortunately solved this threat. "You are right; that thing was really uncomfortable."

Tony gently pulled his tie and asked while looking straight at Ivan's eyes, "So, how did you steal my design?"