Chapter 1128 - You're the One Who’s Nuts
Chapter 1128: You’re the One Who’s Nuts
Tony caught the USB. “What’s this?”
Luke said, “From the information I gathered, some people are experimenting on superhumans.”
Tony’s heart jumped.
Tony had known that this was inevitable, but he had subconsciously ignored it.
Most of the organizations involved in these sorts of experiments were established and were mostly involved in government research.
It was like there were mercenaries active in the Middle East and South America who did America’s dirty work.
If anything happened, it was the private company that took the fall, while nothing was said at all about the benefits that America reaped.
Stark Industries had been in the weapons business for decades; it could already be considered good of them that they had never dabbled in projects like these.
Luke couldn’t be bothered to guess what the tycoon was thinking. He simply continued, “I think they’ll cause trouble sooner or later. It’s Murphy’s Law; one day, they’ll create a supervillain who will be a danger to society. Be careful. These test subjects might not care about your CEO identity.”
Tony was stunned. “Don’t you want my help to deal with those people?”
Of course, Luke knew that the tycoon was referring to the people behind the experiments. He chuckled. “Do you know why I’ve never shown my face?”
Tony immediately understood. “So that you don’t have anything to worry about.”
Luke nodded. “You have Stark Industries behind you, but that also means you have to yield to certain rules. If you break those rules, Stark Industries will no longer be your shield.”
Tony was silent.
He was well aware of that, which was why he wouldn’t hesitate to kill a hundred terrorists if he had to.
Settling accounts with Obadiah and reducing the company’s weapons department had all been handled internally.
Lashing out in the Congress hearing had been normal for a businessman who was protecting his own interests.
But Iron Man wouldn’t dare directly blow up those weapons companies.
Tony’s willful and unrestrained behavior stopped at him alone.
That was the rule.
If he broke this rule, those under Stark Industries’ protection and his allies would become the ones to suppress him.
Stark Industries was both the strongest protection and strongest restraints, and Tony couldn’t escape it.
To the American market and the government, he had to be a firm rule-maker and protector.
Violating or destroying the rules meant destroying Stark Industries, which meant destroying himself.
Luke didn’t hit him again this time. He simply said, “Ordinary people have their own responsibilities, and so do superheroes. You can hunt down terrorists all over the world, but I can kill some crazy b*stards. There’s no difference when it comes to saving innocent lives.”
Tony was a little embarrassed.
Batman was very self-aware and didn’t care about status, but Tony did.
But now that it was laid out for him, the tycoon realized that he was acting a little like a villain.
Luke changed the topic. “Why do you still have the injury on your chest?”
Tony hesitated for a moment before he told the truth. “I checked with a top specialist. It would be a very risky procedure.”
Luke had a strange expression on his face. “Are you serious?”
Tony smiled bitterly. “The shrapnel is close to my heart. If anything goes wrong, my heart will…” He made an exploding gesture.
Although it was exaggerated, it very clearly meant death.
Thinking for a moment, Luke nodded. “I’ll make something for you. I’ll give it to you tomorrow night. It might be useful for your ailment.”
Tony was stunned. “You… know how to do that?”
Luke said, “Normal external injuries are fine, but as for your condition, I’m not so sure. Hm, if you start acting crazy later, you can come look for me.”
Tony: …Do I look like I’m nuts to you? You’re the one who likes to wear black and pretend to be a bat.
Too lazy to look at his expression, Luke continued, “Keep the thing I’ll be giving you a secret. The fewer people who know about it, the better.”
Tony asked, “What is it?”
Luke said, “A drug; a friend stole it from someone who has a lot of influence in the underworld.”
Tony opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say.
To be able to make Batman deem it influential, it definitely had to be a troublesome underworld force.
While Tony wasn’t afraid of the underground forces, he wouldn’t provoke them.
More importantly, this was stolen! Batman’s friend probably wasn’t a good person either.
As for himself? He and Batman were just rival competitors, so he was a good person. It was that simple. That was what the tycoon told himself.
With that, Luke raised his head and looked at the night sky. “I’m leaving. Don’t follow me.”
Tony snorted reflexively. “Who wants to follow you?”
Without looking back, Luke activated his optical camouflage and melted into the night. He said, “Okay, you can lead the paparazzi away. You’re good at that.”
Tony looked at Manhattan in the northeast as several helicopters approached. He couldn’t help but curse. “F*ck! They’re really quick.”
His entire encounter with Batman had taken roughly twenty minutes, and the paparazzi had already come rushing over.
But compared with Batman, who basically didn’t interact with paparazzi, Tony was confident he could deal with these guys.
After giving the order to Jarvis, his BGM rang out, and the suit soared into the sky and flew back to Manhattan.
As long as you can’t catch up to me, it’s not a problem. A certain tycoon was just this blunt.
…
Putting aside Tony, who had left the helicopters so far behind they couldn’t even eat his dust, Luke quietly went home, took off his armor, and entered the lab.
Naturally, that fight earlier had been deliberate.
Tony had also tacitly agreed to Luke’s victory, so the list of the tycoon’s abilities in the system lit up again.
Luke, who was too absorbed in his research, only sensed after a moment that the tycoon’s abilities had swiftly improved recently.
It wasn’t like before he was kidnapped, when he was lazy and had no purpose. Now, the tycoon’s energy was focused on two things: the suit, and energy.
The reason he was treating energy as a separate entity was because Stark Industries was preparing to undertake new energy projects.
Compared with the reactor that was the size of a kid’s fist in the metal suit, the large arc reactor which Tony had just designed had a lot of power.
A dozen of them would be able to power one third of New York.
This reactor was a large-scale counterpart of the reactor in the metal suit.
In reality, it took up little albeit highly controlled space, and had a low risk factor, which was why they could be stored in the basement in Stark Tower.
Pepper had already spread the word among the company’s board of directors.
After some verification, Luke confirmed that Stark Industries’ stock price was going to skyrocket again.
In any case, Jenny’s team had already entered the battlefield, and was just waiting to make a killing again.
Secondly, whether it was Tony’s main suit, Mark 4, or the portable Mark 5, they were very attractive to Luke.
With Mark 5, in particular, Luke could compare it with his own portable armor and make an even more advanced product.