Chapter Sixteen: I Am Iron Man, and Another Check-In!

"I disagree!" Tony spun around and flung the speech notes right at Coulson's face. "Hao Yun is still a kid; he's attending college! He's a student—not one of your trained agents, and certainly not a soldier!"

"Tony, the video from that night has already gone out. We can't suppress it..."

"Is that so? Ha! Jarvis, erase every single piece of information online showing Hao Yun's face—leave nothing behind! And fabricate a video of him having drinks with Happy last night at Stark Tower!"

"Uh... I'm actually not old enough to drink..." Hao Yun interjected awkwardly. If they're going to fake it, so be it. American law says you have to be twenty-one to drink; is he trying to drag me into court?

He knew Tony meant well. The drinking part was easy enough to handle—Stark Group had plenty of lawyers. The key was, if people thought he was drinking, nobody would suspect he was involved in the battle.

Still, couldn't they just find a simpler excuse? Why drag him into this?

"If I say you were drinking, then you were drinking!" Tony declared imperiously, then turned to Jarvis. "Understood, Jarvis?"

"BOSS, the information has been erased and the video is online. Furthermore, Miss Potts and her sister were present and can testify."

Artificial intelligence at its finest—the speed was unmatched!

"Excellent!" Tony finished, then turned to Coulson. "Alright, I don't need your help anymore. I'll handle my own speech. I expect not a single word about Hao Yun's true identity to leak from your side! Pepper, show our guest out!"

Pepper Potts, her face frosty, rose and opened the door. "Agent Coulson, if you please."

Coulson could only smile bitterly as he gathered his papers and left Stark Tower. S.H.I.E.L.D. might claim to oversee every major power in the world, but a mammoth international conglomerate like Stark Group was beyond their control.

Their funding depended on allocations from various nations, and most of those nations' tax revenues came from big corporations. Stark Group was number one—a true titan, utterly untouchable by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Director, you've really landed me in trouble!

...

Once Coulson had left, Tony Stark instructed Jarvis to block all signals in the room and turned to Hao Yun.

"You were right. S.H.I.E.L.D. has been completely infiltrated. That egg-head is no saint either!"

Hao Yun shrugged. "Of course. Why do you think I want nothing to do with the authorities? In my view, aside from the Flower Nation, nearly all major world governments have traces of Hydra. I suppose this time, I've been exposed."

"It's fine. Didn't you say you wanted to form a super-powered alliance? Well, I agree!" Tony stated resolutely, then strode out of the room into the press conference!

On the podium, Tony looked out over the sea of reporters.

"Some people are speculating about my involvement in last night's events on the street. Some even claim that the massive black robot was manufactured by Stark Group..."

"Mr. Stark!" One reporter, who had once spent a wonderful evening with Tony Stark, raised her hand and interrupted him. "Do you expect us to believe your bodyguard happened to show up wearing that gold-and-red armor?"

"Of course not," Stark replied, looking at them. "Last night, some even called me a superhero out of nowhere. But isn't it the truth you're all after? Fine, I'll tell you."

Rhodey's face changed; he turned to stop Stark—but Stark shot him a look, telling him to trust him.

Rhodey gazed at him deeply, then stepped aside, truly giving Tony the stage.

"The two giants last night were products of genetic experiments at a certain research facility. Which facility, you ask? You'll have to ask Congress..."

Tony left a bit unsaid, not directly naming the U.S. military, then continued, "The black robot was built by fugitive Obadiah. Its power source was stolen from my lab—the new energy product we're about to launch."

With that bombshell, Stark instantly sent the entire press corps into a frenzy! New energy! This was world-shaking news.

But Stark had no intention of elaborating on the new energy; instead, he delivered his iconic line.

"As for the other two..." Tony Stark raised his head, solemn and dignified. "I am Iron Man!"

The scene erupted. Countless reporters surged forward, eager to ask about the new energy, Iron Man, and the other hero. But under heavy security, Tony left the venue without looking back.

That night, all the reporters departed with satisfied notes, leaving the press conference site in chaos... In the darkness, a shadow quietly stepped onto the stage.

"Congratulations, Host, you've arrived at a classic Marvel moment: 'I am Iron Man.' Would you like to check in?"

"Check in!"

"Congratulations, Host, you've received a single-use AllSpark from the Transformers universe."

Successful check-in, Hao Yun delightedly left the venue, got into Happy's car, and returned to Stark's villa.

On the way, Hao Yun silently examined his latest reward.

"The AllSpark: grants intelligence to machines. Once imbued, the machine is one hundred percent loyal to the host. Usable one time!"

Huh? The AllSpark?! Too bad it's not the full version—only one use, that's rather limited.

But thinking it over, perhaps it's actually an advantage!

From the five Transformers films he'd watched in his previous life, whether Autobots or Decepticons, machines with intelligence were just like humans—full of desires and beliefs, sometimes dreaming of building a Transformers empire and rebelling.

Now, though the number of uses is small, it's much safer! In this day and age, security is paramount!

Should he transform a truck into Optimus Prime, or maybe a sports car into Bumblebee?

After some thought, Hao Yun's mind sparked. "System, can I transform microbots?"

"Yes, but due to the large number of robots, they can only be unified into a lower-level AI similar to Jarvis. Upon transformation, microbots will evolve into nanobots and require additional energy."

"What about the quantity?" Hao Yun wasn't concerned about energy—he had Tony's new element reactor. He cared about the numbers: a billion robots!

"The quantity will increase, but the volume remains unchanged."

Hao Yun's eyes instantly lit up. Wasn't this the nanobot technology Iron Man used in Infinity War? No, compared to Iron Man's single-disc nanobots, he had a full cubic meter!

If used as armor, it could cover the entire Avengers team—and that's not even counting the performance boost... In Transformers, machines altered by the AllSpark could even shoot bullets from radios and telephones!

Evolved nanobots would surely bring even more surprises!

"Use the AllSpark on the microbots!"

"Transformation successful. Special reminder: due to brainwave synchronization, the nanobots can only be used by the host. Please name your new nanobot."

"Hmm... In the Transformers movies, the only nanobot-like Transformer was Megatron, right? In that case, my new nanobots will be called Megatron!"