I Became Spider-Man's Cousin in Anime Crossover

Chapter 509 [3 Chapters Combined into 1] Layout

Riley stared at Tony's red and gold Mark III suit, a hint of envy flashing in his eyes.

Even now, with all sorts of strange and wonderful abilities, including Spider-Man's...

But transformation and mecha will always be a source of romance for men!

After all, whether it's strong or not is only a matter of one or two versions...

But being handsome lasts a lifetime!

Fortunately, given Riley's current relationship with Tony, he can easily get a matching suit to show off whenever he wants.

So this emotion was fleeting, and he quickly regained his composure. He then noticed the keyword Tony had mentioned earlier, raised an eyebrow, and asked curiously.

"The Eight-Point Light Wheel Protocol? I remember you only used it once, back in Times Square, New York, right? How long has it been, and you've already mastered how it works?"

"Hmph, of course, don't forget, I'm Tony Stark! The greatest genius of this century!"

Upon hearing this, Tony put his hands on his hips and hummed. Even through the mask, Riley could guess that Tony's lips were constantly curving upwards, a smug look that was harder to suppress than an AK.

"After I asked you about that energy focusing principle, I've been researching this thing ever since. I want to further improve its stability and practicality while ensuring that its power is not diminished... But I have to admit that even with ready-made calculation formulas for reference, it's much more difficult to actually implement than I imagined. I stayed up for several nights in a row trying to fit this thing into my portable suit, which made Ms. Pepper so angry that she almost put sleeping pills in my water."

"Wow, as expected of my little inventor, you're amazing."

After Tony finished speaking, Riley, who looked surprised, clapped along enthusiastically and praised him sincerely.

Ultimately, Riley only managed to raise his intelligence to fifteen points thanks to the system's help.

Tony, according to the system, is a true genius with an intelligence score of fifteen.

In other words, Riley's hard-earned achievement of "maximum intelligence" was merely Tony's starting point.

"How many times has it been used? Is it reliable? Can this new suit withstand the energy output load?"

Of course, as the designer of the "Eight-Point Light Wheel" protocol, Riley also understood that while this output scheme had powerful destructive capabilities, it would also be a double-edged sword, causing devastating damage to the suit at this stage.

So, seeing that Tony intended to use this move as his last resort, Riley, who had long accepted the "elder" persona, couldn't help but worry that Tony might encounter misfortune as a result, and asked him with concern.

"Uh...it's theoretically feasible, but I've been busy promoting clean energy lately and haven't had time to test it in practice yet."

Upon hearing this, Tony's almost triumphant smile quickly returned to normal. He scratched his head slightly embarrassedly and honestly admitted it.

"However, I had Jarvis simulate the operation ten times, and it succeeded twice. But the cost of failure was also high. The worst time, the entire suit couldn't withstand the high energy output and exploded on the spot. So I set up a safety measure for it—this attack module can only be activated if it is manually confirmed and the overall structure of the suit is stable."

Riley nodded, then walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked at the Hammer Pavilion across the street.

"Ten days, is that enough time for you to fine-tune this suit to its optimal condition?"

"Five days will be enough." Tony walked to his side, his suit automatically deactivating and transforming back into a briefcase, which Tony casually placed on the ground. "I'll have Jarvis arrange simulation training tonight. If there are any problems we can't solve, we still have you... But on your side, are the people from Section 13 and S.H.I.E.L.D. reliable?"

Riley pondered for a moment, then seemed to remember something, a smile appearing on his lips.

"Area 13 is fine, and due to some coincidences, I have a well-connected informant in Japan. After your press conference, the batch of incriminating evidence I found for you was provided by him. As for S.H.I.E.L.D..."

Riley paused, then raised his hand to his forehead, looking somewhat troubled.

"Agent Coulson is an old acquaintance, reliable and trustworthy. But that old fox Nick Fury, I have to be careful he doesn't use this opportunity to cause trouble."

Tony raised an eyebrow: "Nick Fury? Shouldn't he be on the same side as your District 13? Why is he causing trouble?"

"That's true, but you know his personality. He always feels that everything should be under his control, including 'Spider-Man.' Especially after our last conversation, when he wanted to represent S.H.I.E.L.D. to take over District 13, which I directly rejected. So for this collaboration, he'll definitely try to have a backup plan... like, taking the opportunity to extort you, getting a set of Iron Man suit from you to study or something."

Riley turned around and spread his hands.

"Of course, because of Sitwell's exposure, S.H.I.E.L.D. is currently busy cleaning up Hydra spies. So even if he wanted to cause trouble, he probably wouldn't be able to make any big splashes for the time being."

"That's true..."

Tony nodded thoughtfully.

"So, how do you plan to deal with this?"

"Don't respond, let him do whatever he wants."

Riley shrugged, a slight smile appearing on his face.

"Let him keep his backup plan if he wants, as long as it doesn't affect our plans."

"After all, as you just said, he and District 13 are 'friendly forces' in the same camp, so whatever he wants to do, he won't do anything stupid that would harm the interests of both sides or give the enemy an assist."

"Unless, like the previous 'Nick Fury,' he wants to confront 'Spider-Man's' wrath head-on."

……

Meanwhile, an underground base in the mountains and forests of an island nation.

Ivan Vanko stood in front of the workbench, staring at the constantly changing data on the holographic screen.

The overall structure of the armor has been completed, and all systems are functioning normally. All that remains is to refine the armor's performance step by step.

This armor, which he named "Whiplash," embodied twenty years of his hatred and dedication. From the day his father died, Ivan had been repeatedly sketching its appearance in his mind—it had to be thick enough, powerful enough, to be able to tear apart everything Tony Stark was so proud of.

"Mr. Vanke."

Just then, a short assistant with a small mustache walked in from outside. He handed Ivan Kovan a document, speaking broken Russian.

"The opening date for the expo has been set, and we just received some good news from Hammer Industries. Tony Stark has accepted our invitation and promised to attend the opening ceremony in person."

Upon hearing this, Ivan showed no joy. Instead, he continued adjusting his armor while asking in a cold voice.

"Where is his armor?"

"Based on the available intelligence, his armor requires the assistance of a robotic arm to be put on and cannot be done independently. Moreover, due to its weight, it is inconvenient to carry around. Therefore, unless he attends the event wearing the armor directly, he will not have the opportunity to put it on before returning to Stark Industries."

"So, during the time he went on stage and returned backstage, he wasn't wearing any protective gear?"

Ivan finally turned around, a cold glint flashing in his gray-blue eyes, causing his assistant to instinctively take a half-step back.

"Yes, this is information we just received from within Stark Industries."

Ivan was silent for a few seconds, then slowly nodded.

"very good."

He put his tools on the worktable and turned to walk towards the black armor.

His footsteps echoed through the workshop, each step heavy and resolute.

He walked up to the black armor and placed his hand on the cold metal surface. The dual reactors on his chest emitted a ghostly blue light, casting flickering shadows on his face.

"Father, can you see?" he whispered. "In ten days, I will be able to avenge you."

As he spoke, Ivan Kovan recalled the image of his father on his deathbed.

It was a cold winter night in Siberia.

Outside the window, the wind and snow howled, and inside the simple wooden house, there was only a dim oil lamp.

The emaciated old man lay on the dilapidated bed, covered with the only thin blanket.

His eyes were deep-set and his cheekbones prominent, but a resentful flame still burned in them.

With his last breath, Anton Vanke shoved the yellowed Ark reactor design blueprint into Ivan's hands. The edges of the blueprint were worn, and the creases were almost torn, but every formula and every line on it represented the culmination of his life's work.

"Howard...Stark..." the old man uttered with difficulty, his withered hand gripping Ivan's wrist tightly. "They...stole...everything that should have been ours..."

That night, Anton Vanko died in his son's arms.

Ivan remembers that the snowstorm outside stopped just as his father breathed his last.

The world was deathly silent, as if even nature itself was burying this forgotten genius.

That was hatred, resentment, and a humiliation that could never be forgiven in a lifetime.

From that day on, Ivan vowed to make the Stark family pay for their blood debts.

Ivan Vanko closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, only a chilling killing intent remained in his eyes.

Clearly, like his father, he blamed all his poverty and frustration on Tony.

They completely forgot that the reason they had fallen to such a state was because the father had broken the rules and leaked company secrets without authorization.

"Please tell Hammer Industries that I will be there on time for the expo in ten days."

Ivan withdrew his hand and turned to look at his assistant.

The assistant nodded, placed the document on the worktable, and then turned and left.

Ivan was the only one left in the workshop. He paced slowly around his armor, carefully examining every detail.

From the joint protection to the thrusters on the back, and the folding structure of the electric whips on the arms, he personally installed every screw and every cable of this suit of armor. No one knew every detail of this suit of armor better than him.

When he reached the front of the armor, he stopped and his gaze fell on the dual reactors on his chest.

That is the core of this armor, and also its greatest weakness.

Just as Riley and Jarvis speculated, Ivan Vanko was unable to build a complete Arc Reactor due to a lack of core technology. While the blueprints left to him by his father were detailed, they lacked the most crucial part—the core technology that Howard Stark had independently developed years earlier. Without that technology, the reactor he built only had 60% of the original's power.

So in order to get the big guy moving and have a sufficient energy supply, he had to settle for second best and use quantity to make up for the lack of technology.

Connecting two reactors in parallel could achieve an output power 1.8 times that of a standard arc reactor. This scheme is theoretically feasible, but at the cost of a significant increase in the size and weight of the armor.

However, this resulted in further compression of the armor's internal space. To ensure that Ivan Vanko could wear the armor and personally exact revenge on Tony, he had to further adjust the layout of the two reactors.

As a result, the connection lines between the two reactors are protected by only one layer of armored casing.

If Tony Stark manages to escape and don his Iron Man suit, he will definitely notice this weakness and prioritize attacking it.

With this in mind, Ivan Vanko pondered for a moment, then turned and walked back to his workbench to begin writing a new piece of code.

Since Stark would target this place...

Then I'll prepare a surprise for him.

But what Ivan Vanko didn't know was...

Just as he was plotting revenge against Tony, his assistant, who had already left the base, slowly parked the car on a deserted mountain road shortly after driving away.

Then, he took out his phone and skillfully dialed a number.

"What's wrong? Any new developments?"

But the voice on the other end of the phone wasn't Justin Hammer, whom Ivan Vanko had his assistant contact, but Riley, who looked like a middle-aged man.

The assistant, however, showed no surprise whatsoever. Instead, he responded with utmost respect and deference.

"Yes, Mr. Spider-Man, that Russian completely trusted the intelligence you provided and decided to attack Mr. Tony Stark on the opening day of the Expo, wearing the armor he personally crafted."

"What stage is the development of his armor at?"

"The overall structural design is complete. But he seems to have made special designs to counter Mr. Tony's attack patterns. But I'm sorry, I couldn't figure out exactly what they were, because he never allows anyone to be present when he's debugging them."

"Understood." Riley's voice remained calm. "Be as careful as possible during the operation, and avoid arousing suspicion. If necessary, prioritize your own safety."

"Please rest assured, I will." The assistant paused, his tone becoming even more respectful. "Also, Lord Kiriya asked me to give you his regards on his behalf."

Yes, that's right. This seemingly unremarkable assistant is actually Kagaya Ubuyashiki's man.

Although the Demon Slayer Corps, a powerful force not recognized by the official government of Japan, was disbanded after Muzan Kibutsuji's death.

But following Riley's final instructions, everyone avoided living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and witnessed firsthand the various crimes committed by the islanders, as well as the two mushroom clouds that rose into the sky.

Having inherited his father's intelligence, Kiri immediately realized that Riley either possessed the ability to foresee the future, or... was a time traveler from the future!

It was at that moment that Kirito finally realized why Riley's gaze always held a hint of hatred.

Therefore, in order to repay Riley's kindness and to atone for the sins committed by the islanders.

Kiriya not only used his connections in Ubuyashiki to secretly reorganize the Demon Slayer Corps, sending them to various battlefields to provide covert assistance to resistance forces facing invasion, but also took numerous photographs. Furthermore, when Riley was sweeping away drug dealers worldwide and spreading the "Spider-Man" legend globally, Kiriya decisively sought to contact Riley. These photographs have become irrefutable evidence exposing the island nation's crimes.

As time has passed and the Demon Slayer Corps has continued to grow and expand, it has now established a vast intelligence network throughout the entire island of Japan. Leveraging its abundance of talent, it has quietly infiltrated various sectors of the island nation's economy.

Everything that Huili had painstakingly built could be used unconditionally by Riley whenever he needed it.

Because, in Kiriya's view...

Everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps owes Riley a life.

……

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon.

……

General Ross pushed open the conference room door, and was immediately met with choking smoke and the sound of a heated argument.

The long table was filled with people in military uniforms—heads of the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps—almost all of them were present.

Among them, only one figure stood out conspicuously.

Colonel Rhodes, Tony's best friend.

Logically speaking, given his military rank, he shouldn't have been qualified to attend a meeting of this level.

So much so that even General Ross couldn't help but glance at Rhodes a couple more times after spotting him.

Even Rhodes himself seemed like a student who had been specially called to the teacher's office, his whole body visibly huddled up, timid and afraid to express any opinion.

But soon, General Ross's attention shifted away from Rhodes.

Because the Minister of Defense, sitting in the main seat, had a face so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water.

"Gentlemen, we initially thought Tony Stark was just acting on a whim and would back down in a few days... but look at him now! He has absolutely no intention of restarting the weapons department!" The Secretary of Defense tapped the table, his tone revealing undisguised exhaustion and helplessness. "Can anyone tell me what Tony Stark is thinking?"

There was a moment of silence in the meeting room, then it erupted into even more intense noise.

"What he thinks isn't important; what's important is what he's doing! Stark Industries is completely withdrawing from the arms market. What will happen to our F-35 project? Who will provide the fire control system for the new fighter jet? Are we going to rely on Hammer Industries' shoddy imitations? That's practically playing with our pilots' lives! Do you know how much it costs to train a pilot?!"

The Air Force lieutenant general slammed his fist on the table, gritting his teeth as he recounted Tony's "crimes."

"At least you have alternatives, but we are the ones who are truly being strangled."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the army major general coldly took over the conversation.

"Individual combat systems, night vision goggles, communication equipment... Stark Industries used to provide all of these. Now they're just withdrawing like that. What are we soldiers doing, fighting for a better tomorrow on the front lines?"

"He talks about clean energy and benefiting humanity..." the vice admiral scoffed. "I think he's just a playboy who's gotten tired of weapons and wants something new. Has he even considered national security? I think he should be arrested and forced to continue producing weapons!"

"Yes! That's right! It should have been done a long time ago!"

"But I've heard that Tony Stark has recently been getting quite close to Section 13 and has even joined them. If we touch him, won't that provoke Spider-Man's retaliation?"

"What are you afraid of! No matter how powerful Spider-Man is, he's still one of us! We're all thinking about the future of this country! Do you think he'd disobey orders and turn against us?!"

One person spoke, another spoke, and the meeting room quickly became noisy.

General Ross remained silent, sitting quietly in the corner, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest. His gaze swept over the agitated faces. When he heard someone believe that Spider-Man couldn't possibly turn against them, his lips twitched involuntarily. He suddenly understood Commissioner Black's feelings and recalled another incident that had occurred not long ago.

……

He received a phone call three days earlier.

"General Ross, how have you been?"

He recognized the voice—Railley Parker, the young man who called himself "Spider-Man".

It was this man who facilitated his reconciliation with Bruce Banner. The "Hulk," who had been relentlessly pursued by the military, is now a cooperative advisor to S.H.I.E.L.D., and can occasionally sit down with Ross for a cup of coffee.

It was precisely because of this person's existence that General Ross considered abandoning the military for politics, thereby officially supporting Spider-Man and ensuring that Riley would not suddenly defect.

"Mr. Parker, it's you. May I ask what brings you here?" Because of this, after confirming the other party's identity, General Ross, who was usually cursing, softened his tone noticeably and replied, word by word.

"It's nothing, just a small favor I'd like to ask you for. I've learned through some information channels that recently, someone might be trying to cause trouble for Tony and sow discord between him and the military, so I'd like to ask you to help Tony out."

Fortunately, Riley's voice sounded calm, without any anger or resentment. This reassured General Ross that no one in the military had dared to provoke him, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

After a brief moment of thought, to avoid making overly definitive statements and ruining things, General Ross responded succinctly with a hint of helplessness.

"Mr. Parker, you should know that I am a soldier. If this is an order from the military high command, even I..."

“I understand,” Riley interrupted him. “So I’m not asking you to disobey orders and directly confront your colleagues. I just want you to let Tony know if you sense anything is wrong. Tony will handle the rest. I won’t make things difficult for you.”

Ross thought about it for a long time, and finally nodded.

"Okay, I'll try my best."

"Thank you, General Ross."

……

Now, Ross sat in this smoke-filled conference room, listening to the generals' denunciations of Tony Stark.

General Ross was once again amazed by Riley's shrewdness and realized that this meeting was the "trouble" Riley had mentioned.

"That's enough!"

As the defense minister shouted, he banged on the table again, this time with significantly more force.

"Will arguing solve anything? The problem now is that Stark Industries' exit from the arms market is a done deal, and with that damn Spider-Man protecting them, there's nothing we can do about it."

"But the suit of armor that Stark himself possesses... we must find a way to get our hands on it! We absolutely cannot let this dangerous technology become his sole domain!"

"That's a potential threat, and it's irresponsible towards the safety of the world!"