r18novel Chapter 39 Tony Joins the Team
Chapter 39 Tony Joins the Team
A brief silence fell over the office.
Tony turned around and looked at Valon standing behind him, who still had a harmless smile on his face.
Tony took a half step back: "Vallon, you didn't tell me there would be such a big fuss when you called me earlier."
The Holy Lord waved his hand: "The situation has changed, Mr. Stark. With your personality, you should have foreseen this situation long ago."
Tony tapped his hand twice in his pocket, and Jarvis's voice came from beside him.
"Sir, all entrances are now sealed off, the windows are specially treated so that bullets cannot penetrate them, your portable armor is locked inside the vehicle, and Agent Coulson has already left the vehicle area."
Fury walked from behind his desk to Tony, staring at him with his one eye: "Tony, I'm asking you one last time. Hand over the new energy technology, and Stark Industries will remain S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most important partner. If you refuse..."
Tony interrupted him: "What if I refuse? Will you lock me up? Or give me a pep talk like you did with those board members?"
Fury's expression remained unchanged: "You know quite a lot."
Tony raised his chin: "I know more than you think. For example, I know about the thing you control Valon with, the contract enhanced by the Mind Stone."
Fury raised an eyebrow: "Oh?"
"It doesn't affect me."
Tony patted his chest: "Here, it's empty. I had a minor operation done after the shrapnel was removed."
Tony pointed to Fury's chest: "What's driving me now is the Arc Reactor, unlike your heart. You'll have to ask Jarvis for his permission before you can control me."
As if to verify Tony's words, the office lights suddenly flickered a few times.
When Fury saw that the other party disagreed with his proposal, he instinctively placed his hand on the pistol at his waist.
"What, you want to make a move now? If you get rid of me, you'll never get the technology you want." Tony's tone remained neither humble nor arrogant.
The Holy Lord raised his hand to stop Fury.
He looked at Tony with an innocent smile, but Tony suddenly felt a sense of foreboding upon seeing that smile.
"Mr. Stark."
The Holy Lord's smile remained unchanged, his tone relaxed, as if he were talking about a trivial matter: "You're right, the Mind Stone indeed cannot affect you, but no one else has the ability like you."
Tony's face was so dark it seemed to drip water, and he stared into Shendu's eyes without saying a word.
"Miss Pepper Potts, Mr. Happy Hogan, and your Colonel Rhodes, who serves in the U.S. Army, don't have your 'heartless' body."
Tony clenched his fists, his eyes bloodshot: "You dare, you dare touch them."
The Holy Lord asked softly, "Can you give me a reason why I dare not?"
The office door opened again, and thirty-two agents armed with guns rushed into the office, surrounding Tony.
Tony glanced around, his gaze finally settling on Fury: "You're just going to let him do it? Are you still the Fury I used to know?!"
Fury didn't answer; he just stood there, his eyes devoid of any emotion.
Tony took a deep breath, raised his hands in a gesture of surrender: "Fine, you win. You can have the skills."
"A wise choice," the Holy Lord commented from the side.
Tony paused. "But I have one condition: I need to see Pepper. I need to confirm her safety."
The Holy Lord glanced at Fury; he couldn't speak now, or he would steal Fury's thunder.
"Of course." Fury answered readily when Tony agreed, "You'll see her after the handover is complete."
Tony stared at Fury for a long time, making sure the other wasn't lying, then lowered his head and said, "That's settled then."
Saint Lord went forward and was sent by Fury to take Tony back.
"Tony, what do you think of Fury now?" Shendu stopped at a corner and asked.
Steve didn't answer immediately; he didn't know if the Holy Lord's question was a test from Fury.
"You don't really think Fury can control me, do you?" Shendu said calmly. "You've studied my blood, so you know I'm different from humans."
Tony remained silent, unable to deduce from his current research what kind of resistance he had to the Mind Stone.
"I have two hearts."
Shendu's words exploded in Tony's mind: if the other party really had two hearts, there was a real possibility that he could be uncontrollable by the Mind Stone.
Seeing that Tony didn't speak, the Holy Lord continued to deceive him, "My heart has essentially stopped now; I'm using my abilities to force it to beat."
Tony remained silent for a while, then tapped his fingers repeatedly in his pocket, giving Jarvis a command.
As Shendu watched Tony's constantly changing expression, he knew what the other was doing. He had concentrated the power of the Rat Talisman in two places within his body, mimicking the beating of a heart.
“You’re not lying,” Tony’s expression returned to calm. “Jarvis did detect two simulated heart locations, and the energy fluctuations were the same as when the Chitauri invaded.”
"So," Tony sighed, "you really weren't controlled by Fury."
"We can cooperate. Now that Fury has shown hostility towards me, I think you also don't have a good impression of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Shendu said calmly.
"Don't say that. Fury just said that Stark Industries is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most important partner." Tony didn't buy it. He knew all along that Shendu wasn't a good person.
"Mr. Stark, you don't really believe Fury, do you?" Shendu's tone was provocative. "You know very well that the nuclear bomb wasn't destroyed by a collision."
Tony's smile froze. He knew what the Holy Lord was talking about: the nuclear bomb in the Battle of New York.
"We all know what that nuclear bomb was intended for, but nobody brought it up again afterward," the Holy Lord continued to entice. "It was originally meant to bomb us, but it exploded when you flew over there. In other words..."
The Holy Lord didn't continue speaking; Tony was a smart man.
"That's just your guess, your subjective assumption."
Tony understood what Shendu was trying to say, and he wanted to end the conversation.
"Mr. Stark, what would you do if there were forces within Stark Industries that you couldn't control, forces that threatened your position, your safety, and everything you currently possess?"
The Holy Lord asked, "What advice will Jarvis offer you?"
Tony remained silent, but Jarvis had already given his answer when the Holy Lord asked the question: "Control this force, and if you can't control it, eliminate it."
Tony took a deep breath and swept his hair back over his head. "It's been a pleasure working with you."