Chapter 143: Beaten Up Tony and Ivan Plans to Beat Up Tony

Tony Stark had his share of traumatic memories, but the scars from this year were still fresh. When Pepper Potts returned home after a long day at Stark Industries, she found him hanging from the pristine white ceiling, his face a bruised and swollen mess.

Pepper covered her mouth, a scream catching in her throat. Her first thought was that he'd been attacked. She scrambled to get him down, her heart pounding. "Tony? Are you okay?"

He woke with a groan. "Oh, hey, Pepper." The simple greeting pulled at the corner of his split lip, making him gasp. "Can you get me some ice?"

Pepper immediately reached for her phone to call a doctor, but Tony, his pride far more wounded than his body, pleaded with her not to. After much convincing, she relented.

"You were beaten up?" Pepper fumed, her concern turning to anger. "Was it John?"

"Yes," Tony admitted, his bravado deflating as he gingerly applied an ice pack to his cheek. "I'm really glad you weren't here."

"That's too much!" Pepper felt a surge of protectiveness for Tony. "Does it still hurt?"

"It's fine," Tony croaked, accepting Pepper's gentle touch. "I just... might have flirted with his mother. It didn't go over well."

Pepper's sympathetic hand froze. Her expression shifted from pity and anger to confusion, then to pure, unadulterated shock. She processed this for a solid three seconds.

Then she snatched the ice pack from his hand and threw it into the nearest trash can.

"Sir," JARVIS chimed in, with impeccable comedic timing, "your exact words were, 'I was almost your stepfather'."

Pepper's departing footsteps paused. She turned, her eyes scanning the room for a baseball bat or a similarly heavy object. She was going to kill Tony Stark with her own hands.

Sometimes, a beating is entirely self-inflicted. John had been shocked by Tony's initial comment, but the follow-up line had sealed his fate.

"I was almost your stepfather."

Without a moment's hesitation, John had cast a Blasting Curse, sending a torrent of blood from Tony's nose. A Levitation Charm and an Incarcerous Curse followed, hoisting the bound billionaire into the air. With Bruce Banner looking on as if he'd seen a ghost, John proceeded to give Tony a thorough and well-deserved thrashing. Banner, who had been dragged along as a potential shield, offered no objections, even declaring that scumbags like Tony Stark deserved to be brought to justice by any means necessary.

John swore that if it weren't for that last sentence, his hard-won self-control as a Wizard King would have allowed him to hold back. Hmm, okay, probably. Maybe. Perhaps...

John's face darkened at the memory. Given Tony's past behavior, it was a miracle his own father hadn't killed him. It was no wonder Tony had been so certain John's father was behind the assassination attempts on his life. After the incident with John's mother, Tony had faced no less than three separate attempts on his life, one of which involved a gun pressed to his head by an agent sent by John's father. If Happy Hogan hadn't intervened at the last second, Iron Man would have been permanently decommissioned.

After that, Tony had quieted down considerably.

"Some people just need a harsh lesson from society," John snorted.

Hattie, his assistant, glanced over, clearly wondering why her boss had returned from his trip in such a foul mood. She briefly considered reporting this to her superior but decided against it. As an agent with significant autonomy, she only reported matters she deemed truly important, and her boss's probing look suggested this was personal.

Making a judgment call, Hattie simply brought over a report on new experimental equipment. Maya Hansen had shifted her focus to healing capsules, and A.I.M. now had a dedicated team under her direction. As the lead researcher for the entire Extremis project, she was making rapid progress. By stabilizing the Extremis virus on a reduced scale, it wouldn't take long to perfect the capsule. With the addition of the brilliant Dr. Helen Cho, the first prototype was completed within a week and had already passed animal trials on disabled subjects with flying colors. Soon, after human trials, the capsule capable of regenerating severed limbs would be ready for the market, silencing any remaining critics of A.I.M.'s new direction.

"Where is Olov?" John asked, inquiring about the official CEO of Taran Industries. Why was he here dealing with company matters while Mr. Olov was nowhere to be seen?

"Mr. Olov flew to Africa," Hattie replied, proving herself to be a highly competent assistant. "Last week, Mr. Vanko attempted to install a new reactor on a weapon for projectile strikes. There was an accident, causing some damage to the underground laboratory."

Africa? To see the lions? The mention of Ivan Vanko, however, reminded John of the man's work on his third-generation battlesuit. Having witnessed Tony's rapid, pig-headed update schedule, the contrast with Ivan's painstaking, difficult progress made John curious to see his work.

He descended into the basement laboratory. It was, indeed, a miserable sight. The charging pod for the suit was stuck nose-first in the ground, and John was immensely glad they hadn't cut corners on the lab's construction. Ivan stood amidst a sea of scattered manuscripts, his brow furrowed in concentration. He didn't even notice John's arrival.

"Why can't it be done?" he muttered, picking up a design schematic. "I remember John's magic could do it, so logically, the magic crystal should be able to do the same."

John leaned closer. The drawing was for a diamond-shaped machine, designed to use a magic crystal to generate a high-strength energy barrier. It was the equivalent of a Shield Charm, but based on pure hardness rather than magical reflection, more akin to the energy barrier Dr. Selvig had generated to open the space portal. Unlike Tony, who focused on flexibility and maneuverability, Ivan was obsessed with making his armor more effective, equipping it with ever-stronger weapons. After all, in Ivan's engineering philosophy, overwhelming destructive power and sufficient toughness could solve ninety-nine percent of all weapon design problems.

As Ivan pondered, John spoke. "If you can't achieve all-around protection, why not start with a single side?"

Ivan whipped his head around. He crumpled the drawing, a toothpick dangling from his lips. "I need a new experimental field. Not here. Outside. This place limits my potential."

Seeing that Ivan wanted to gloss over his moment of frustration, John didn't press the issue. "Your experiments are indeed too noisy," he chuckled. He had already considered moving Ivan's lab. Given Ivan's creative, and often explosive, personality, keeping him in the city center was a disaster waiting to happen.

"Are you thinking about the third-generation suit?"

"Third generation?" Ivan grinned. "I've already made it." He gestured to the crashed charging pod. He took out a summoner—a ring on his finger. John watched as Ivan swung his fists into a pose.

"Juggernaut—!" he roared. "Combine!"

The pod burst open, and the third-generation suit shot out with a powerful hum. Compared to the second generation, it featured a remote-control system, allowing Ivan to operate it from a distance. The material had been upgraded to a lighter, harder alloy. The suit itself was powerfully built, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, and weapon systems integrated into the calves and hands. Ivan moved his left hand, and a round metal shield unfolded on his arm. The flight engines on the back had been replaced with high-power, reactor-driven thrusters that could double as laser beam cannons.

Ivan opened the faceplate. John applauded sincerely. "Tell me, the transformation sequence wasn't your idea."

"That was my girlfriend's idea," Ivan admitted, a faint blush on his weathered face.

His girlfriend, John thought, clearly understood that a man is a boy until death. He gave a genuine thumbs-up.

"John," Ivan said suddenly, his expression turning serious. "I want to find Tony Stark."

The day had finally come. Ivan now had the means to challenge Tony, and his personality would never allow him to remain hidden in a basement. He craved a battle of revenge, a chance to clear the Vanko family name, regardless of whether his opponent was a superhero.

He looked at John, his eyes searching. "Will you stop me?"

John smiled. "We are on the same side, Ivan."

Ivan smiled back. The fact that the once-unruly Vanko had even asked showed that he valued John's opinion. John, in turn, never disappointed his own.

Yes, they were on the same side. Slytherin always sides with their own. Even if the opponent is a superhero.

Sometime after John decided not to stop Ivan from seeking revenge on Tony, he came home to find his apartment had been broken into once again.

Natasha Romanoff, the beautiful and deadly Slavic spy, was lying on his sofa, completely unguarded. She was like a ripe peach waiting to be picked, and she raised a single, perfect eyebrow at him. Her eyes were hazy, as if holding a mouthful of sweet red wine, and her red lips parted slightly.

"John."

(End of Chapter)

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