ALL NOVEL Chapter 31. Drone Destruction
Peter and Ned peeked outside. The expo visitors had already scattered, and there wasn't a single drone in sight—only scattered debris of the machines, sparking with electricity. They exchanged looks of disbelief and, gathering their courage, stepped out onto the street. No drones were threatening their safety anymore.
"What happened here? Did Iron Man save us?" Peter asked quietly, staring at the mechanical wreckage.
"I don't know, Peter. Maybe we should go out and take a look?" Ned wasn't sure but, feeling safe now, his curiosity got the better of him.
"It could still be dangerous, Ned, but I also want to know what happened," Peter hesitated at first, but seeing others begin to step out, he felt more confident.
A group of people emerged from the building. Some wanted to leave the dangerous area, while others were eager to satisfy their curiosity and film the scene for YouTube. Peter and Ned found themselves amidst the crowd.
They saw a mess of drone wreckage: some were sliced in half, others were blown apart, and a few had massive holes in their chests, as if someone had punched right through them. Peter shuddered at the thought of who—or what—could've done this.
Meanwhile, outside the expo center, Noah swung his sword, cutting down a drone that was about to launch rockets. He stepped out into the open and saw the panicking crowd and numerous drones attacking people.
A few Navy Drones targeted fleeing civilians and fired rockets. This attack could have led to massive casualties. But Noah reacted instantly: the magical energy within him activated his armor, creating a 10-meter-tall wind wall. All the rockets hit the wall and flew back into the air.
"What the hell?" muttered Tony Stark as he flew by. He saw the rockets being deflected upward and barely dodged them. However, the Air Force Drones chasing him weren't so lucky—rockets collided with them, causing explosions in the sky.
"What is that thing? And who is that guy?" Tony stared at the wind wall and Noah in his PROJECT armor on the ground. The sight of a stranger in armor, different from his own, left him with questions.
But before he could process it, the drones resumed their attack on him, forcing him back into the fight.
Meanwhile, at Hammer's Factory, in the room where Ivan Vanko was being held, two guards hung from the ceiling with broken necks. Ivan sat at a computer, inputting commands to control the drones.
"What's going on?" Ivan frowned. He noticed the number of drones decreasing rapidly. Iron Man must have been using some kind of weapon for mass destruction.
At that moment, Ivan heard a noise outside the door. Realizing someone was coming for him, he entered his final commands to send the remaining drones airborne. Then, he started donning his armor.
His new armor was an upgraded version of the first suit he used to attack Tony on the racetrack. It was now a full steel suit, similar to Iron Man's armor. Ivan was preparing to take matters into his own hands.
A few minutes later, the door to the room was kicked open. Natasha Romanoff burst in with her weapons ready, followed by Happy Hogan. But inside, they found no one—only the bodies of the guards and a still-active computer.
Natasha approached the computer. The enemy had already fled, leaving her with only one option: to try and reboot Rhodey's armor, which had been compromised.
Meanwhile, Tony and Rhodey, now under Ivan's control, crashed into the eco-park and fell into an artificial stream, sending water splashing everywhere. The controlled Rhodey got up and hit Tony, starting another fight. Finally, Tony managed to immobilize his friend, who now lay motionless in the stream.
"Whew," Tony exhaled. But before he could check on Rhodey's status, a signal came through his display from an unfamiliar channel.
"Your buddy's back," Natasha's voice said.
"Thanks a lot, Agent Romanoff," Tony recognized Natasha's voice. Though he was still a little sore about her past deception, he thanked her anyway.
"Your vitals look promising," Natasha said.
"Yeah, I don't plan on dying just yet," Tony responded.
At that moment, he didn't notice that Pepper was also on the same channel and had overheard his words. Her surprise and frustration were evident in her voice.
"Alright, alright, that's my bad. Are you safe?" Tony tried to change the subject, checking if Pepper was okay.
"I'm fine, Tony. There's someone else in armor here. Is that one of your new inventions?" Pepper knew Tony couldn't explain everything right now and planned to discuss it later. She asked about the mysterious figure in high-tech armor she had seen at the expo.
"No, that's not mine, I—"
"Cut the chatter, Tony, they're closing in," Natasha interrupted, noticing drones approaching Tony on her radar.
Tony had to cut the conversation short, promising to apologize to Pepper later, and focused on waking Rhodey up.
Natasha monitored Hammer's drones as they flew toward Tony, but suddenly, their signals started disappearing one by one. She didn't understand what was happening and began checking the data.
Back at the expo, Noah saw Iron Man fly by and noticed the missiles deflected by his wind wall explode, taking out several drones. Nodding in satisfaction, he continued his mission but was interrupted by Lissandra.
"Noah, all remaining drones have activated flight mode and are heading toward Tony Stark," she reported.
"Good, let them go. That makes it easier for me to destroy them all at once," Noah was pleased that the drones were gathering in one place.
He scanned the area, making sure there were no more threats. All the drones capable of causing explosions had been destroyed with his Hextech micro-missiles and sword energy, preventing any accidental detonations.
After that, Noah activated the jet engines on his back and shot into the sky. The whirlwind from his takeoff caused the nearby crowd to wave their hands and cough, before they gazed in awe at him flying away.
Noah quickly caught up with the last wave of drones and fired a magical beam, piercing through one drone, causing it to lose control and crash to the ground. Then, focusing again, he fired several more beams, taking down several more drones. But the remaining drones launched an attack.
Bullets whizzed around him, and he dodged, just like in a video game. Realizing he couldn't let the drones keep firing and endanger the people below, he drew his sword and slashed, releasing a powerful wind blast that sliced through all the drones in front of him. Shards of metal rained down from the sky.
"Lissandra, locate Tony Stark."
"Understood, Noah. Search complete, location marked," Lissandra quickly found Tony.
Noah accelerated toward the target, encountering more drones along the way. He used the Kircheis Shard, a component of Statikk Shiv that he had acquired earlier.
He slotted the orange shard into a special slot on his right arm. After embedding it, he aimed at the drones and fired a yellow lightning bolt, piercing through them.
Lightning flashed across the sky, taking out drone after drone. Having finished off the nearby threats, Noah flew toward Tony.
Soon, he reached the eco-park where Tony was located.
------
You can read up to 10+ advanced chapters and support me at patreon.com/raaaaven