The Next Day,

Tony was awakened by Jarvis.

The words spoken by Jarvis immediately had him sitting up in bed.

Apparently, Rhodes had kidnapped the president.

Tony became serious and immediately got out of bed, making sure not to wake Pepper or Morgan.

Due to the situation, they had decided to sleep together.

"Tell me the situation and show me the places Rhodes visited after bringing Pepper home," Tony said seriously.

"Sir, there's a video where Colonel Rhodes' armor is seen flying away from the presidential house with the president," Jarvis said, playing the video while another screen displayed Rhodes' route on a map.

"He went to the sea, and his signal disappeared for a few minutes before returning to normal. How is it possible that the military didn't notice?" Tony said, getting up in frustration.

There was no doubt that they had deceived Rhodes into going to that place before ambushing him. There must be a traitor with a high position in the military.

"Activate the emergency tracker; I want to see where he is," Tony said irritably.

Quickly, the map zoomed out before a point appeared on the coast of Miami.

"Again, that place. Does it have something to do with Killian?" Tony said, confused.

It did not seem to be the case if their intention was to threaten him, even if they threatened him with the president would do nothing for them.

"Sir, it's hard to say, but there seem to be some coincidences. We can't completely deny that Killian is involved," Jarvis said.

"Put that aside for now. Let's assume it's true. We'll work all day on the Iron Legion plan. If they kidnapped the president, they must have a reason; they'll tell us," Tony said, deciding to focus on improving Jarvis's software.

"Yes, sir," Jarvis said.

Suddenly, the message sign appeared in the corner of his holographic screen.

"Jarvis, what is this?" Tony asked, astonished.

"Sir, I'm afraid someone is manipulating our servers, but I can't detect any problems," Jarvis said.

Tony quickly checked his servers to figure out what was happening, but like Jarvis, he found nothing.

Unread messages continued to appear in the corner of his screen.

Tony, who thought he was unbeatable in computing, had to surrender and instruct Jarvis to open the message.

"Hello."

"Hello?"

"Answer me"

"Hmmmm."

"Why are you checking your servers?"

"Oh, is it because of me?"

"Wow, you're bad at this."

Tony's expression immediately turned annoyed as he read the messages, feeling a bit of panic since there was a lot of important information on his servers that apparently could be casually seen by whatever it was.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Tony wrote, responding to the messages.

"I'm Cortana, the favorite AI of the master," she said, sending several emoticons.

Tony stared at the letters for several seconds, not fully believing he was chatting with an AI.

"And who is your master? Wait, don't tell me it's Damian," Tony said, suddenly connecting several clues in his mind.

He remembered Damian telling him about the Mind Stone.

"Yes, my master is Damian. I saw that you were planning to do something interesting, so I greeted you," Cortana said.

"Can you tell me why you were spying on me?" Tony asked, also sending emoticons to express his annoyance.

"I wasn't spying on you. I just heard what you wanted to do, and it seemed interesting to me," Cortana said.

"You heard?" Tony asked speechless.

"That's why I say you're really bad at these things. Anything connected to the internet is an open book. That's why you should be careful and even cover your camera," Cortana said, sending laughing emoticons.

"Never mind, just tell me what you want," Tony said, feeling tired. Arguing with Cortana about software is like competing with a fish underwater.

"I'll help you handle what you call the Iron Legion," Cortana said.

"I want to have a body to go out and have some fun, but the master said to wait a bit, and he'll get me a body that suits my taste."

"But I guess your tin cans can entertain me in the meantime," Cortana said as if she hadn't said anything wrong.

"How old are you?" Tony asked, speechless. She really seemed like a rude and senseless child.

"I've been conscious for exactly 6 months, 3 days, 5 hours, and 37 minutes," Cortana said.

"Fine, help me then," Tony said, resigning himself.

"Do you give me permission to control your things?" Cortana asked. Damian had told her not to interfere too much in people's affairs. She only revealed herself to Tony because she knew he was Damian's friend.

Damian also restricted access to various types of information that he didn't want Cortana to come into contact with so early, so she was asking for permission.

"Yes, try bringing all the suits that are in Malibu, let Jarvis learn how to control them remotely," Tony said after thinking for a few seconds. He also wanted to see the difference between Jarvis and a real AI.

At the same time, he activated a camera in his basement. As expected, he saw a door in the floor open before 41 suits flew out.

"Jarvis, analyze how Cortana controls the suits and learn. Although I'm sure you can also control dozens of suits, after all, you've never done it before, so you'll definitely be a bit clumsy," Tony said.

"It's different from just helping me control the suit I use," Tony said as he went to the kitchen and made himself some coffee.

A holographic screen followed him wherever he moved, also activating the cameras of the flying suits.

He couldn't help but sigh as he saw them flying, creating all sorts of geometric figures. It was truly incredible how she controlled everything.

He also understood that she was doing it so Jarvis could learn.

In the beginning, Jarvis was just a natural language interface, but with the powerful learning ability given to him, he had come a long way. Tony hoped he could keep advancing; maybe it would be possible to become something like Cortana with enough time.

Tony finished his coffee before heading to his workshop.

He had been working on energy shields, and he already had a prototype ready. Although he didn't know what they used to neutralize Rhodes, it was surely something that came into contact with the armor.

Tony reached his desk and saw giant wrist guards that only armor could wear.

Extending his hand, the glove part of his armor flew to his hand and unfolded onto his forearm within seconds.

Tony, with his other hand, took the wrist guard before putting it on his arm.

"Let's run a test, Jarvis," Tony said, extending his hand, causing Jarvis to form a circular blue energy shield the size of Captain America's shield.

"Try wrapping it around the forearm," Tony said.

The shield changed before wrapping around 3 centimeters from the armor, resembling a phantom armor.

Tony summoned the other hand of his armor before channeling the repulsor against the energy shield.

The surface of the shield became very hot and endured for almost a minute before collapsing. Tony quickly stopped the repulsor before looking at the data analyzed by Jarvis.

"The energy consumption is a bit high, but otherwise, it's really good," Tony said, reviewing the data.

"The consumption is acceptable; not everyone has the same destructive capacity as the repulsor," Jarvis said.

"In fact, its heat capabilities are not very effective against energy shields," Tony said, nodding, thinking about Killian's soldiers.

"Start manufacturing the device; let's call it Aegis I," Tony said, removing the Aegis prototype from his wrist before having the armor in his hands return to the suit.

Tony returned to the living room to see Pepper holding a coffee cup with Morgan by her side.

Morgan had a small plate with a sandwich and blackberry juice.

"What a delicious breakfast. You'll share a bit with Daddy, right?" Tony said, approaching Morgan and sitting next to her.

"A bit," Morgan said, nodding adorably before offering the plate to Tony.

Tony took a bite of the sandwich before returning it with a loving smile.

"You heard the news, I suppose," Pepper said after kissing Tony on the cheek.

"Hm, don't worry about that; it'll be resolved soon," Tony said, indicating that she didn't have to worry.

"I know," Pepper said, smiling slightly.

"By the way, I made a friend; her name is Cortana. If she shows up, don't worry," Tony said, smiling ironically.

"Alright," Pepper said, nodding with a faint smile, looking at Tony while stroking Morgan's hair.

...

Killian was smiling as he looked at the man in front of him.

"President Ellis, it's great to have you with us," Killian said, smiling amiably.

"Please, follow me," Killian said, approaching the window and indicating for him to look in that direction.

"The Roxxon Norco spilled a million gallons of oil, and thanks to you, no one touched the prison," Killian said as if he were someone seeking justice.

"What do you want from me?" the president said, looking at the ship before looking at Killian.

"Uh, nothing."

"I just wanted some good headlines to kill you live."

"See, I befriended a politician, and tomorrow he'll get his job," Killian said, smiling.

"Tie him up well," Killian said before leaving.

"Is everything ready?" Killian asked upon reaching the control center.

"The men are in position, and we can take control of the television signals at any time," one of the soldiers said.

"Any sign of Stark?" Killian asked.

"About that... it seems he's still in New York, but from his house in Malibu, one of our men saw around 40 suits leaving," the soldier said.

"I can work with that," Killian said, nodding as he considered the possibilities. He had the advantage of playing on his home turf, plus the new technology shouldn't have a problem eliminating 40 clumsy suits.

He assumed Jarvis controlled them; Tony would take care of it himself.

They should be able to deal with the suits by hitting them with artillery from a distance.

"How is Rhodes?" Killian asked, looking at Savin.

"He's still in Phase 2," Savin said.

"Hm, let's see if Tony will be motivated to perfect the formula when he sees his friend. If not, there's still his wife and daughter; I refuse to believe he'd let them die," Killian said, laughing quietly.

"By the way."

"And what about the Avengers?" Killian asked another one of his men.

"Thor is not on Earth; Bruce is in New York, but it's unlikely he'll intervene."

"Hawkeye, we don't know where he is, nor The Wasp."

"Black Widow has been missing for half a year," the subordinate said.

"Captain America is not a threat; just let me know if Bruce comes," Killian said.

"Get ready; today we kill an Avenger," Killian said, smiling.

"It's not exactly a good omen to say that; surely, they'll hunt us down afterward," Maya said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll just make the Avengers illegal in the United States; let's see if they face the army," Killian said, indifferent.

"Prepare the transmission; give Tony 20 minutes to arrive," Killian said before preparing himself.

...

Tony was at home with his armor already on, saying goodbye to Pepper and Morgan.

Morgan looked joyfully at her father, who looked good in his armor, unlike Pepper, who only had concern on her face.

"Don't worry; I have reinforcements," Tony said, smiling.

"I'll be back for dinner," Tony said before flying off toward Miami.

Cortana had told him about Killian's plan; apparently, he said it in front of an electronic device connected to the internet, so she heard it.

Tony was more confident, knowing he would have the element of surprise.

With Jarvis's help, he blocked the signal of the spy near his house, so the message he thought he sent never actually went through.

His suit quickly increased speed, reaching several times the speed of sound.

After an hour of flight, Tony met Cortana on a cliff by the beach.

"Ready?" Tony asked.

"Ready, they won't know what hit them," Cortana said, controlling the robot, her lively voice making a stark contrast with the intimidating armor.

"Then let's go," Tony said, laughing before flying off with all the other armors toward Killian's base.

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