Chen Long wanted to speak, but was ruthlessly interrupted by Tony, who said, "I don't care what you're thinking, but this is my territory. I'm going to put you down now, and then go deal with that blue-skinned lizard."
Without giving Chen Long a chance to retort, he safely placed him on the ground, turned, and engaged his thrusters at full power, soaring towards the top of the building.
"Jarvis, initiate the building's automatic security protocols."
"I'm sorry, sir, the entire building has lost power and cannot initiate security protocols."
Jarvis's response surprised Tony.
"Doesn't Stark Tower have its own power supply? And two backup generators? How could it be out of power?"
"I'm very sorry, sir. According to the intelligence I've received, Stark Tower is currently completely without power, and both backup generators have stopped operating."
"Alright," Tony sighed helplessly. "Looks like I'll have to deal with this big lizard myself."
Soon, Tony, clad in his Iron Man suit, arrived at the top of the building and fired a repulsor blast at the swaggering Zhong Su.
"Hey, big lizard, you can't be here. This is private property."
It must be said that Tony's repulsor blasts were effective against ordinary people, or tanks and armored vehicles, but against Zhong Su, they were far too trivial.
A single repulsor blast hit Zhong Su without even tickling him.
"It is no longer yours. This will become the palace of the great lightning demon Zhong Su, and you will pay the price for provoking the demon."
As the saying goes, a word is enough for the wise, and Zhong Su, already filled with malice towards humans, saw Tony's provocation. Without hesitation, he unleashed a barrage of lightning.
At this moment, Tony was merely a playboy in an Iron Man suit, lacking professional training. His only notable achievement was destroying a terrorist base after donning the suit.
Now, facing Zhong Su's dense lightning attacks, even with Jarvis's assistance and Tony's full effort to dodge, a considerable amount of lightning still struck him.
"Alert: Severe electrical damage detected. Armor integrity compromised by 30%."
"Jarvis, remind me to install an insulation layer on the armor next time."
Despite losing 30% of his armor in a single attack, Tony had no intention of retreating. It wasn't a question of victory or defeat, but of pride.
Imagine, as a prominent figure, someone you've never met barges into your home, attacks you without a word, and then declares your home is now his. Who could tolerate such an insult? At least Tony couldn't swallow it.
Since the repulsor cannons in his palms couldn't harm the opponent, he switched to heavier firepower.
The ensuing period saw Tony, in his Iron Man suit, engage in a protracted battle with Zhong Su. Repulsor blasts, micro-missiles, and the chest-mounted unibeam were all deployed. Seeing that he still couldn't harm his opponent, he decisively called for backup, summoning Rhodey, who was about to leave. Two people, two Iron Man suits, unleashed a barrage of attacks on Zhong Su.
While bombarding the enemy, Tony didn't forget to taunt him, fully fueling the animosity.
"Hey, big lizard, what's with your skin? Did you drink too much nuclear wastewater?"
"Big lizard, have you considered getting a skin treatment?"
"Do you shed your skin regularly? I know a specialist whose shedding techniques are excellent. I can introduce you sometime."
Even Rhodey, assisting from the side, found it hard to listen and offered a friendly warning, "Friend, I think you should shut up. Otherwise, we'll both be in big trouble."
Since the beginning, regardless of their attacks, there had been no movement from below, apart from the lingering smoke and dust. Both of them began to wonder if the demon had been killed by their overwhelming firepower.
But as time passed, the smoke gradually cleared, and Rhodey sensed something was wrong. The AI in his suit was issuing frantic, high-energy alerts.
Indeed, Rhodey's suit was also equipped with an AI. However, unlike Tony's Jarvis, the military had equipped War Machine with a very basic AI, capable only of handling simple data and establishing firewalls against external intrusions. As for its effectiveness, to put it bluntly, it was merely decorative.
From the fact that it was easily hacked by Ivan, and then hacked again by Tony's Jarvis, these two points alone could attest to the AI's capabilities.
But none of that mattered. What was important was that just two seconds ago, even this mediocre AI was issuing frantic warnings to Rhodey, indicating the level of danger they were about to face.
If even such an AI was warning, how could Jarvis, whose capabilities were several times greater, not react?
As Rhodey finished speaking, Tony didn't even reply. He grabbed Rhodey's arm and turned to flee.
"Trying to run? Too late!"
At this moment, Zhong Su parted his hands, palms facing upwards. Two currents of electricity emanated from his palms, converging in front of Zhong Su to form a massive ball of lightning, which continued to grow.
Although Zhong Su's charge was not yet at one hundred percent, it was more than enough to deal with two humans hidden in metal cans.
"Go."
Zhong Su gently pushed his palms forward, and the massive ball of lightning surged out like a wild horse, forming a colossal lightning pillar with a diameter of a full five meters, its length stretching straight into the clouds. The immense pillar of light almost illuminated the night, making it as bright as day.
Everyone below trembled.
The fear that had faded with time now echoed in everyone's minds once more.
"Tony."
Pepper, watching from below, also felt fear at the towering pillar of light. But beyond the fear, Pepper felt more worry. She clasped her hands together, praying for Tony's safety.
"Alert! Armor integrity at 97%! Alert! Armor integrity at 97%!"
Even as Jarvis cried out desperately, there was no response from Tony inside the suit.
Fortunately, Tony had dodged in time and didn't take the full brunt of Zhong Su's ultimate attack. However, even the residual energy of this single strike was more than a human could withstand.
The suit was heavily damaged, almost beyond repair, and Tony, hidden inside, was also severely injured by the shockwave, falling unconscious and his life hanging in the balance.
Detecting Tony's weak life signs, Jarvis immediately activated emergency protocols.
"Detecting your weak life signals, sir. Emergency escape protocol initiated."
Upon activation of the emergency escape protocol, control of the Iron Man suit was taken over by Jarvis, who quickly escaped along a calculated optimal route.
The severely damaged Iron Man suit sparked all over, with multiple thrusters having ceased to function. Only one on the right arm was still barely working, supporting the suit as it wobbled away from the scene.