Chapter 175: George, Technology's Nemesis
War Machine was originally a suit Tony had gifted. Even after Hammer Industries' modifications and Ivan Vanko's control system installation, given time, Tony could restore it.
"JARVIS, begin system correction."
"Correcting... Correction in progress... Correction complete."
With JARVIS hacking into War Machine's systems, in just ten seconds, War Machine broke free from Ivan Vanko's remote control and returned to normal.
"I have to say, why did you put the backdoor in the ass? That's just too awkward!"
After regaining control of War Machine, Rhodes couldn't help but complain.
Tony pulled out his finger helplessly:
"If it's a backdoor, it makes sense to put it in the back, doesn't it? I didn't expect someone to be inside the armor when fixing the system."
He had designed it this way for system optimization, usually performed when the armor was removed in the lab using connection cables, like plugging into a computer's rear ports. He never anticipated needing to manually insert his finger to access the backdoor and correct the system under these circumstances.
"Next time I'll move it to the front... Actually, the front might not be better either. Maybe the back is fine after all."
"What now? Go find that Ivan Vanko guy?"
George looked at the two bickering men and asked.
Rhodes curiously examined George's wings before shrugging:
"The problem is we don't know where Ivan Vanko is hiding. Maybe we should question Hammer first."
"No need, George is the best at finding people."
Tony turned to George. He knew George had tracking abilities - if he wanted to find someone, they couldn't hide.
George was about to nod when he suddenly turned and looked at the distant sky with a smile:
"No need to search. The man himself is coming."
"Sir, detecting a high-energy object approaching rapidly."
JARVIS simultaneously alerted Tony.
Moments later, a humanoid mech larger than both Tony and War Machine stopped before the three of them.
It was Ivan Vanko. Seeing all his drones destroyed and War Machine's control lost, he had personally donned his Whiplash armor and come.
The one who destroyed his drone army was indeed formidable, but he had confidence in his Whiplash armor design. Moreover, he came determined to take Tony down with him even if it meant his own death.
If a god is wounded and bleeds, people will no longer fear or believe in that god. And blood in water will attract sharks.
All he needed to do was make everyone understand that Iron Man wasn't invincible - that if they wanted, they could take his technology and swallow up Stark Industries.
So whether he could actually kill Tony Stark wasn't even that important.
"Don't move! I'm going to blast this guy with my 'Ex-Wife'!"
Seeing Ivan Vanko open his visor to reveal his face, Rhodes immediately flew in front of George and Tony, deploying a special launcher from his shoulder.
Having been controlled by Vanko until now, he was seething with anger.
The so-called "Ex-Wife" was the most powerful weapon Hammer Industries had added when modifying the armor - a small Sidewinder missile capable of destroying a bunker.
"What ex-wife?"
Tony clearly hadn't grasped what Rhodes meant yet.
"Pew!"
The Ex-Wife launched from War Machine's shoulder and... simply impacted the Whiplash armor (which didn't even bother dodging), then fell from the sky without detonating.
"Did Hammer forget to tell you it needs sufficient acceleration and distance to explode? Otherwise it's just a dud?"
Vanko mocked before closing his visor. He then flicked both hands, deploying two titanium whips crackling with high-voltage electricity.
Tony couldn't help but comment from behind:
"Hammer's Sidewinder missiles - trash among trash."
"Come then, let the world see how fragile you really are."
Vanko accelerated, his electric whips lashing toward George and the others.
Tony and War Machine immediately activated their armor's weapons systems to counterattack, but all their attacks were blocked by Vanko's heavily armored Whiplash suit - they couldn't penetrate its defenses.
But just as Whiplash was halfway through his charge, he froze mid-air like the drones before him.
"What's this? Here to demonstrate 'Lightning Five-Strike Whip'?"
"Again with this trick? But my Whiplash armor is no ordinary drone!"
Vanko maxed out his arc reactor's output, the Whiplash armor's powerful kinetic energy breaking through the magnetic restraint as it charged again.
From controlling the drones earlier, he'd realized George could somehow restrict mechanical units' movements but couldn't completely immobilize them.
His Whiplash's performance was several times better than the drones - as long as he maintained sufficient power, this guy couldn't restrain his movements.
"I'm in a hurry to get back, so let's not play around anymore."
Seeing Whiplash charging straight at him, George waved his hand:
"Expelliarmus!"
The Disarming Charm activated, instantly knocking the electric whips from Vanko's hands.
Before Vanko could process losing his weapons, George's hand was already on his armor.
"Mimic Morph!"
The transformation magic from the Sorcerer's Apprentice world activated. Vanko's advanced Whiplash armor immediately began changing, transforming into a rusty, broken iron model.
Mimic Morph could bring inanimate objects to life, turn a beat-up car into a luxury supercar, transform a taxi into a tank, or reduce a tank to a jalopy slower than a bicycle.
George couldn't yet turn a taxi into a tank or transform a model into complex advanced armor, but reducing sophisticated armor into a simple, broken model was easy.
Thus, no matter how advanced the technology, if George touched it with Mimic Morph (and it wasn't too large), it would basically become scrap.
A true nemesis of high technology.
Watching this, Tony Stark and War Machine both gasped and instinctively backed away, afraid George might accidentally touch them too.
Actually, Transfiguration could achieve similar effects, but the more complex the object, the harder it was to transfigure. Even NEWT-level exams only required turning an owl into small binoculars - something many students struggled with.
Let alone more complex firearms and technological devices.
Even Professor McGonagall, a Transfiguration master, couldn't transfigure airplanes or artillery.
But Transfiguration could work on living beings - human transfiguration. Barty Crouch Jr. (disguised as Mad-Eye Moody) had used Transfiguration to turn young Malfoy into a white ferret.
This was something Mimic Morph couldn't do.
(End of Chapter)