I Became Spider-Man's Cousin in Anime Crossover

Chapter 508 [Two Chapters Combined] A Cunning Plan

After Obadiah left, a brief silence fell over the office.

Tony stood in front of the holographic screen, staring at the cargo ship manifest, his brow furrowed.

Riley remained leaning against the window, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon, but his mind was no longer on admiring the city's night view. Instead, he was constantly simulating various potential crises in his mind and considering corresponding solutions.

"Railley".

Just then, Tony suddenly spoke, looking up at Riley with curiosity in his eyes.

"How do you know that Russian is Ivan Vanko? You shouldn't have met him before. Even I, as his son, only learned of his name and this incident from you before today."

Riley turned his head and met Tony's probing gaze.

When he presented a clear direction for the investigation, Riley had already guessed that Tony would ask this question, and he had prepared his answer in advance, responding with a mix of truth and falsehood.

"You should know that besides Spider-Man's superpowers, I also know a little magic, right? With this ability, I can foresee things that might happen in the future to some extent."

"So, imagine, Tony, what would you do if I hadn't pointed out the new element your father left behind?"

"You will go through a painful and long treatment process, and in the end, because you can't solve the problem of palladium poisoning no matter how hard you try, you will think that you are going to die soon, choose to give up on yourself, and revert to your old playboy ways, indulging in pleasure again."

"This made Ivan Vanko think that he had waited for the right time for revenge. So when you were participating in a race, he suddenly rushed onto the track wearing a crude exoskeleton armor and carrying an electrified whip, attacked you, and almost killed you."

Upon hearing this, Tony's pupils contracted slightly. He remained silent for a few seconds, then slowly sat back down on the sofa and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"...So you're telling me all this now, is it to let me know that I owe you another life, or... that our meeting back then was also part of your plan?"

Even though Riley's claims seemed baseless, Tony was still willing to believe every word the man in front of him said.

So much so that for Tony, compared to Ivan Vanko, whom he had never met...

Tony was even more worried that this "big brother next door" who had helped him several times had never been sincere towards him, but was deliberately getting close to him with some ulterior motive.

"What nonsense are you thinking about now? That encounter back then was truly an accident; even I didn't expect things to turn out this way. Besides, after we finished, didn't I just leave?"

If it were anyone else, Tony might have become confused, or even started to doubt Riley, leading to a melodramatic internal conflict.

But Riley had no intention of being the riddle-maker. Almost as soon as Tony finished speaking, Riley walked up to Tony, flicked his finger, and gave Tony a flick on the forehead without any hesitation.

Then, amidst Tony's instinctive cry of pain as he covered his forehead, she put her hands on her hips and complained to Tony in an annoyed tone.

"To put it more bluntly, I'm male and I like women. With my abilities, making money isn't a problem for me. Even the Iron Man suit you developed is no match for me... Think about it yourself, if I did this on purpose, what benefit would I actually gain?"

After hearing Riley's explanation, Tony covered his forehead and stared blankly for two seconds before bursting out laughing.

It must be admitted that Riley was telling the truth, which led Tony, who was severely insecure after being betrayed by the Skrull disguised as "Obadia," to further choose to trust Riley.

"Alright, alright, I guess I was overthinking it." He rubbed his forehead, stood up, and looked at the holographic screen again. "So, in your original 'premonition,' how did this Ivan Vanko attack me?"

"At the Monaco Grand Prix, when you were competing in person, he disguised himself as a track worker and suddenly appeared."

"That sounds dramatic... so his weapon, the one you mentioned, the 'electrified whip'? That sounds pretty rudimentary, nothing sophisticated at all."

"Because he lacked materials back then, but even with a self-made arc reactor for power, that thing's power shouldn't be underestimated. It was enough to penetrate your armor and nearly killed you." Leli paused, his tone becoming more serious. "And as you said, that was a rudimentary version. Now, with the support of Hammer Industries and the island nation, the weapons he creates will only be more dangerous."

Tony paused for a moment, then turned to the holographic screen: "Jarvis, pull up all of Hammer Industries' import and export records for the past three months, especially the list of goods shipped to the island nation."

"Retrieving data, sir," Jarvis's voice rang out. "We need to breach Hammer Industries' firewall. Estimated time: three minutes. Proceed?"

"Go on, it's nothing new for people in the same industry to infiltrate each other." Tony shrugged nonchalantly, glanced at Riley, and said matter-of-factly. "If he wants to sue me over this, he'll have to talk to District 13 first."

Upon hearing this, Riley shook his head, both amused and exasperated, seeing Tony's confident and fearless demeanor, but did not offer any words of dissuasion.

In less than three minutes, a massive amount of data appeared on the holographic screen.

Tony glanced at the screen quickly, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

"Titanium alloy frame... high-energy capacitor array... military-grade gyroscope... and this, a special ceramic coating that not only withstands high temperatures but also has excellent electromagnetic shielding? Goodness, Hammer is really going all out. Riley, you're probably right, that guy named Ivan is building a suit of steel armor with performance no less than the Mark II."

"That's how it is in theory, sir."

Almost as soon as Tony finished speaking, Jarvis had already roughly estimated the performance of the armor using simulation algorithms. He then naturally picked up the thread and reminded Tony.

"However, it's important to note that high power output places extremely high demands on the cooling and operating systems. If Ivan Vanko cannot solve these two problems, his armor's combat performance will be significantly compromised. Furthermore, according to Mr. Riley, the arc reactor technology Ivan Vanko uses is an outdated model, and without Mr. Howard's assistance and the crucial core technology, he might not even be able to build this older model of arc reactor. Therefore, I speculate that his armor, like the Iron Monger, will be a heavy-duty armor, equipped with dual reactors to address the issue of insufficient endurance."

Tony whistled, glanced at Riley with interest, and joked in a serious tone.

"Iron Monger 2.0? Hey, it seems our generation of 'youngsters' are on the same page when it comes to building heavy armor with specialized firepower?"

Tony then paused slightly, his tone becoming serious, and continued speaking to Jarvis.

"However, a dual-reactor power supply is an interesting idea... Jarvis, if he really did that, what level of performance could the Iron Man suit he created reach?"

"A simulation is being performed based on the available data, sir." Jarvis paused for two seconds before quickly giving his answer. "If Ivan Vanko can solve the energy distribution and heat dissipation issues of the parallel reactor, his armor's overall performance will be twice that of the Iron Monger, but the armor weight is expected to exceed 800 kilograms, and like the Iron Monger, its mobility will be far inferior to your Mark series."

"Eight hundred kilograms, that sounds a bit scary... Fortunately, the real combat in Times Square last time gave me some experience in dealing with such big guys."

As Tony spoke, he walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked across at the exhibition hall across from the Stark Industries building, which had been leased by Hammer Industries and was undergoing renovations in full swing.

Their public pronouncements were intended to demonstrate to the public that Hammer Industries was no less capable than Stark Industries after its formal exit from the arms industry. This would appease public sentiment and garner more recognition and investment from the military.

At first, Tony assumed that Hammer Industries, which had been doing very well lately, had gotten arrogant and was deliberately coming up to him to mock him. He thought Hammer was really too naive and didn't take it to heart at all.

But now that Ivan Vanko's existence has been confirmed, this seemingly ordinary arms exhibition has become quite intriguing.

Clearly, this was the stage Ivan Kovan had specially created to get revenge on Tony.

"Jarvis, how long until the Hammer Industries arms expo opens?"

"Ten days."

"Ten days...that's certainly enough time for him to build the suit and complete the final testing," Tony murmured, then turned to Riley. "What do you think we should do next?"

Riley pondered for a moment before giving his answer.

"Directly evacuating the public would arouse suspicion. Therefore, before that day arrives, I will entrust District 13 to cooperate with S.H.I.E.L.D. to carry out the evacuation of the public in advance, and have professional agents disguised as ordinary citizens to infiltrate the Expo. This will ensure that when we fight, the losses can be minimized."

"So, we've been waiting all this time before he reveals his true colors? Your plan is surprisingly conservative..."

Tony raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, asking curiously.

"I thought you'd take me—or maybe nobody at all—and use your magic to teleport to that guy's side, kill him cleanly and swiftly, nipping the crisis in the bud?"

"I'd like to do that, but firstly, if I always have to solve the crisis, you'll miss out on too many opportunities to gain experience. Like last time in Times Square, you, Peter, and Max suffered because of your lack of experience and understanding of magic, and therefore didn't know how to counter it. So, I'm starting to let go and, within a controllable range, arrange some suitable enemies for you to practice against."

Riley didn't hide anything, nodding in agreement that he could indeed resolve the crisis right now if he wanted to, while shrugging his shoulders to answer Tony's questions.

"Secondly... that esteemed Sorcerer Supreme has been keeping a close eye on me, fearing I might run off to the island nation. Because both she and I are quite certain that if I set foot on that land, it will be a bloodbath. Even more ruthless than when we were cracking down on drug traffickers all over the world last time."

Tony paused for a moment, then whistled.

"To have that Sorcerer Supreme personally watching you... I'm really curious now, what exactly did those islanders do to offend you?"

It's not surprising that Tony would have this question.

After all, Riley's current persona is that of a true, native-born American.

Logically speaking, even though the United States fought many battles with the Japanese after joining the war during World War II, given the Japanese's current subservient attitude and their obvious reliance on the US as their "father," Riley had no reason to harbor such deep hatred for the island nation, which was living a comfortable life.

Unless, Riley is hiding some other secret?

Riley, who always answers Tony's questions, did not provide any answer to this question.

He simply turned his head to look out the window, his gaze drifting towards the distant east.

"Never mind, forget I asked."

Seeing Riley's expression, Tony wisely refrained from pressing further and instead steered the conversation back on track.

"Then let's go with your plan. It just so happens that Hammer gave me an invitation. I'll personally attend the exhibition in ten days and give them a chance to make their move."

"Are you sure?" Riley turned to look at him. "If you go, you'll be directly surrounded by dangerous weapons, with absolutely no protection. If he makes a move then, you'll be a sitting duck."

"Isn't that what you're here for? The famous Spider-Man, how could he really just watch me get hurt? Besides, who said I wasn't protected?"

Tony smiled, walked back to the liquor cabinet, and pressed the switch on the hidden door.

Then, as the wine cabinet slid to the sides, a high-tech briefcase with Iron Man's iconic red and gold color scheme was taken down from the hidden hanging cabinet.

The next second, Tony opened the briefcase and put his hands into the two sleeves that rose up from it.

The suitcase, like a living Transformer, kept clinging to Tony's body with a series of clicking sounds as it transformed.

In just a few seconds, it had already transformed into a brand new and complete Iron Man suit, which Tony put on!

"Hiss... Goodness, the Mark II was only built a short time ago, and you've already upgraded it again? The overall structure is intact, it doesn't seem to be just a makeshift emergency unit... Wait, the technical principles behind this... Did you get help from Area 2?"

"That's right, this is my latest Mark 3 suit. Although the limitations of the material strength prevent me from using nanotechnology to create the suit, Kopler's folding technology gave me new inspiration—can you believe that he can shrink a complete helicopter down to the size of a briefcase? So I partnered with Kopler and, with his help, developed this new generation of portable suit."

As the saying goes, a man is a boy until he dies.

Seeing Riley's unwavering gaze fixed on his Iron Man suit, his eyes filled with undisguised envy, Tony felt a surge of satisfaction.

He then stretched his limbs, struck various poses, and showed Riley the details of the new suit while cheerfully continuing to talk.

"While some armor protection was inevitably sacrificed to ensure convenience... precisely because of this, with the reduction in weight, this suit will be faster than the Mark 2, and its firepower output has not been compromised in any way. In fact, according to the 'Eight-Point Light Wheel' protocol you provided earlier, a brand new hidden ultimate move has been added."

"When the time comes, I'll wear this suit to the exhibition. No matter what kind of suit Ivan Vanko makes, I can handle him. Don't worry~"