The Whip's Attack

Hearing Adam's words, Tony wanted to retort.

But after thinking for a long time, he didn't know how to argue back. This made him begin to reflect—had he really been wrong?

But soon, he abandoned that thought.

"What about Obadiah? He colluded with terrorist forces in the Middle East for his selfish desires and tried to kill me. Wasn't that enough for him?"

"Good question, Tony."

Adam put down his glass of red wine and turned to look at Pepper.

"Miss Pepper, what about you? Why did you give up those high-paying jobs worth millions to stay by Tony's side?"

Pepper was momentarily stunned when she heard herself being addressed.

But she quickly replied without hesitation, "Of course, because I love him."

Adam nodded and looked at Tony.

"Yes, because of love—this is about feelings.

Obadiah treated Stark Industries as if it were his own child, while you were either in bed with Victoria's Secret models or on your way to bed with them.

You completely left the management of Stark Industries to Obadiah and Pepper, and at most, you developed a few weapons.

If you were Obadiah, would you be willing to let someone as irresponsible as you control the company you consider your child?"

Hearing this, Tony's face immediately darkened. "Stark Industries is mine. I was just young and reckless back then."

"Oh? Now you're mature, you have the Iron Man suit, and you have power. But has the problem been solved?"

"This has nothing to do with your talk of technology and resources."

"It never did. I'm talking about using technology to satisfy human desires, not to manage emotions.

Your conflict is about beliefs and feelings. What does that have to do with what I'm saying?"

"Uh, fine."

For a moment, the room fell into silence.

Adam returned to his desk, waiting for Tony to speak.

After a while, Tony sat down expressionlessly in the chair in front of Adam, "Alright, what's your condition for not helping Obadiah?"

Adam looked up at him.

"The latest arc reactor technology."

"Impossible."

"I need its unlimited energy to create unlimited resources."

Tony was silent.

After a long pause, he stood up.

"I'll go back and think about it."

Watching Tony leave the office with Pepper, Adam smiled slightly, "When you figure it out, feel free to come find me."

Although he already had Ivan's arc reactor technology, Adam found the power output to be somewhat limited, far inferior to Tony's original arc reactor.

......

As soon as they left Umbrella Tower, Pepper couldn't help but ask, "Do you really plan to hand it over?"

Pepper knew Tony too well. When she saw he didn't reject the idea immediately, she knew he was considering it.

Tony didn't answer. It wasn't until they got into the car that he finally spoke, "Who's to say what my latest arc reactor really is?"

Hearing this, Pepper's eyes lit up slightly.

"You've gotten sneaky. No, more flexible."

Tony shook his head, "After going through so much, how could I not change?"

Half an hour later.

Tony was driving on the outskirts of New York, approaching his villa, when suddenly a strange figure appeared in the road.

The figure was wearing an exoskeleton armor, not fully covering their body, and holding two whips in hand.

At that moment, the whips sparked with blue electric light and lashed out.

With a ripping sound, Tony's car was sliced in half like tofu.

Fortunately, both Tony and Pepper were wearing seatbelts. Although it was dangerous, neither of them was seriously injured—just a few minor wounds.

After a moment, Tony climbed out of the wreckage and rushed to pull Pepper out as well. Only then did he have time to look at the attacker.

"Vanko? What's the meaning of this? Did Adam change his mind?"

"I've already resigned from Umbrella. I'm now the chief engineer at Stark Industries."

After saying this, Ivan lashed out with another whip.

Tony reacted quickly, grabbing the terrified Pepper and dodging to the side.

"Stark, it's time to settle our grudge.

Your father was a thief, stealing my father's research and framing him for stealing classified documents."

"Hmph, your father was the thief and a traitor!"

"Die!!"

Enraged, Ivan lashed out again.

Because of the distance, Tony once again grabbed Pepper and narrowly dodged.

Seeing Tony struggling to protect her, Pepper quickly pushed herself free, "Don't worry about me. I'm not his target."

She ran to the side and immediately called Happy on the phone.

Due to the rushed construction, Ivan's exoskeleton didn't account for power assistance or speed, so after a few minutes of fighting, he began to tire.

A few minutes later, a car pulled up, and Happy stepped out holding a briefcase.

"Mr. Stark, your suit!"

Tony took the briefcase, opened it, and quickly suited up in his red-and-white Iron Man armor.

He fired a repulsor blast that sent Ivan flying.

"Your armor is decent, but it's underpowered. Most of its strength must be in those whips."

Ivan climbed to his feet, glaring at Tony with fierce resentment. Without saying a word, he charged again.

But now that Tony was in his suit, Ivan was completely outmatched. Before long, he was knocked to the ground.

Tony didn't finish him off, though. He simply called the police to come and take Ivan away.

It wasn't until evening that Tony finally returned home.

Pepper was still at the police station handling paperwork, so as soon as Tony got home, he went straight to his lab and drank a large glass of orange juice.

Then he removed his shirt, looking at the black veins spreading across his chest, and for a moment, despair crept into his thoughts.

But he still had at least two years left, so he quickly pulled himself together and resumed his research into alternative elements.

The next day at noon.

Tony returned to Umbrella.

This time, he brought the first-generation arc reactor, and Adam agreed not to interfere in his and Obadiah's affairs.

The condition was that Tony couldn't let the company fall apart or let the stock price drop below 300 million per share.

Tony, of course, had no reason to refuse such terms.

After Tony left, Adam began reviewing the reactor's data.

Though he wasn't a mechanical genius like Tony, he understood enough to see that Tony's reactor was far superior to Ivan's.

As expected, Tony truly was one of the smartest people in the Marvel universe.

It was a pity he was constrained by the technology of his world. Otherwise, his achievements would have been far greater.

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