When Dragon Balls Descend Upon Marvel

Outside Tony Stark's seaside villa.

Out over the ocean, Smith Dole, Tony Stark, and Ivan Vanko gathered together. Hovering in the air, Tony said,

"I've already arranged for a flight restriction over this area. No planes will pass through, so we can spar without interruption."

Smith glanced up at the sky, wondering how many satellites were watching them right now, then said,

"OIK, I'll be your referee."

Ivan and Tony lowered their faceplates at the same time and said,

"Then let's begin!"

Smith gave a broad wave of his hand and announced,

"Sparring — start!"

Meanwhile, far away at a League of Assassins facility, the roof of a warehouse slid open. Inside, fifty Whiplash-series suits of various models rose into the air and headed straight for Ivan's position.

As the spar began, the Whiplash suit's back-mounted cannon deployed. Smith immediately recognized the model — a modified M61A1 Vulcan rotary cannon.

The six barrels spun up, and the weapon unleashed M56 high-explosive incendiary rounds at Tony.

"Rat-tat-tat—"

Tony dodged swiftly through the air. The speed difference was obvious — Ivan's Whiplash armor was slower, and despite its targeting assist, the high-explosive rounds mostly missed, detonating in the sea and sending up huge plumes of spray.

"Ivan, if this is all you've got, this fight's over," Tony called.

He stopped abruptly in midair, pivoted, and fired two repulsor blasts from his palms. But in that brief pause, several explosive rounds struck him.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Ivan grinned at the sight of flames engulfing Tony, but the next moment, twin laser beams tore through the fire, blasting Ivan backward. As the flames cleared, Tony's armor appeared completely unscathed — not even a scorch mark.

Ivan steadied himself, his silver-white armor now marred by two black streaks from the repulsors. The upgrade to gold-titanium alloy made it tough enough to shrug off Tony's regular blasts, but not immune to marking.

Seeing that his initial attacks had no effect, Ivan extended his right arm, deploying a small missile.

"Hammer Tech's Ex-Wife missile — supposed to pack a punch!"

He locked on to Tony and fired — but the missile simply dropped after launch, detonating as it hit the water, throwing up a huge wave.

The three men stood in silence for a moment. Then Tony raised his faceplate and said,

"Better steer clear of Hammer's weapons — they're hopeless."

Ivan also opened his faceplate, explaining,

"Capsule and Vanko Industries don't produce munitions. I heard they replaced you as the military's supplier…"

Smith cut in,

"Ivan, blacklist that company from now on. Continue the match."

He hadn't asked where Ivan had gotten his weapons. If Ivan hadn't mentioned the Ex-Wife by name, Smith might have forgotten about that scam of a company entirely. Ivan's defection to his side had spared Hammer from prison and bankruptcy — for now.

Both men closed their faceplates again. Tony lifted his arm.

"Let me show you my missiles."

Three micro-missiles shot from his wrist and hit the Whiplash armor almost instantly.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Unlike the Ex-Wife, these missiles worked perfectly, blasting Ivan into the sea.

"With your gold-titanium alloy, you should be able to tank those just fine."

J.A.R.V.I.S. had already scanned the Whiplash suit's composition — its plating and thickness were superior to Tony's own armor.

Just then, J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice sounded,

"Sir, multiple unidentified aerial objects approaching."

Tony frowned at the radar display. He'd cleared the area with all relevant parties — no one should be here.

"Ivan, we've got incoming. Get back up here."

Ivan, still underwater, didn't respond.

Tony looked at Smith.

"You think something's wrong with his armor?"

Smith shook his head.

"Keep going. If he's in real danger, I'll step in."

Tony realized Ivan was fine — maybe planning a sneak attack. That's when the first wave of Whiplash drones arrived.

Seeing them, Tony immediately understood.

"Remote control."

The drones opened fire.

"Rat-tat-tat—"

Each model was different — some carried dual missile racks, some had 50mm cannons, others twin shoulder-mounted Gatling guns.

As more drones swarmed in, Tony couldn't help but exclaim,

"Whoa, whoa! Ivan, how many of these did you build?!"

Fighting back with full firepower, Tony relied on his adamantium armor to tank machine-gun fire, dodging only the cannons and medium missiles flagged by his threat sensors.

Whenever he got close, he destroyed a suit with a few strikes.

"You really should've made all of these in gold-titanium."

Because of cost-cutting, Ivan had built most drones from cheaper alloys, leaving them easy prey for Tony.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Smith winced as more Whiplash drones exploded — all that money going up in flames.

At least it wasn't his money. The cost would come out of Ivan's profit share. Hopefully, this sparring match wouldn't wipe out Ivan's entire yearly bonus.

(End of Chapter)

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