When the bald black egghead brought Howard's relics to Tony, the guy was lying comfortably on top of a giant donut, wearing sunglasses and eating a donut.
Life was meant to be lived this recklessly.
Nick Fury tilted his head and shot Natasha a glare with his one remaining eye, as if saying, This is the guy you told me was dying?
"He looks pretty comfortable to me."
"I have no idea either."
Natasha was confused too. Just a few days ago, this guy had clearly been indulging himself, running around in his armor, blasting watermelons with repulsors, and drinking filtered waste like it was water...
Nick Fury's face darkened as he looked up at Tony and shouted, "Get down here!"
"What for?"
Tony did not look particularly pleased to see Nick Fury.
To him, this man was basically trouble in human form.
Just seeing him was annoying.
"What for?" Nick shouted back. "Did no one ever teach you that eating on someone else's shop sign is extremely rude?"
"Really?"
Tony raised an eyebrow at once and muttered something under his breath. A minute later, he looked at Nick Fury again with a provocative expression. "It's my shop now."
Nick Fury: ...
Honestly, it was just a small donut shop in some out-of-the-way area. Buying it probably would not even cost much. But Tony's behavior still made Nick Fury crack a little inside. Every year, he had to file reports and beg for funding.
If that money had all gone toward building his safe houses, how great would that have been!
But the angrier Nick got, the more he wanted to pull Tony into his own team.
For no other reason than money.
The Security Council had already been unhappy with his plan to reorganize a superpowered team. After the Dongwu incident in Manhattan, they had loosened up, but as for how much funding Nick would actually get, that was hard to say.
Without money, you could not move an inch!
He could not exactly pay out of pocket himself, could he?
And it was not just Tony Stark. Even the newly risen CEO of Plamos, Bant Parker, was under consideration.
If nothing else, if he could pull Bant into the team, would there ever be a shortage of self-healing serum again?
Nick Fury's entire approach was built around getting things for free. Zero-dollar shopping. You might even call it a racial talent.
Of course, the spending still had to go through the books!
If it did not go through the books, how was he supposed to fleece the old men upstairs for money?
At worst, he could split it fifty-fifty with Plamos afterward.
He thought his plan was perfect.
Help Stark out in his hour of need, and with Stark's pride and tsundere personality, the Avengers would never lack funding again.
As for Bant Parker?
What did a teenager want most, especially a teenager with money?
Wasn't it exactly like Tony, fantasizing about becoming a world-saving superhero?
Easy work.
When the time came, he would take Tony's armor and tell Bant Parker, Join us, provide me with free serum, and you'll get armor immediately. Then he would take the serum and tell Tony, Give me your armor tech, and I'll let you remove that thing from your chest right away.
Profit from both sides. Perfect!
It could only be said that Nick Fury had imagined it beautifully, but reality was not always going to go the way he wanted.
Just like now.
Tony still came down from the rooftop, took off his armor, whistled at Natasha, then walked into the shop with Nick Fury.
He wanted to see what kind of nonsense this black guy was about to come up with.
"Tony Stark, the palladium poisoning doesn't feel too good, does it?" Nick said, acting as if he already held all the cards, leisurely sipping his drink.
Tony, however, raised an eyebrow when he heard that.
Looks like Bant Parker had really been right. Anyone with even a little capability probably already knew he did not have long to live.
But that was a problem from before.
"So what?"
"We can help you!" Nick laid his cards on the table directly.
But that only made Tony unhappy.
What was that supposed to mean?
One after another, people were popping up saying they could help him. So you all discovered the new element, and I'm the only one who couldn't?
Was his genius reputation actually fake?
At that thought, Tony looked at Nick Fury with displeasure and said, "What, did you discover a new element too?"
"Too?"
Nick Fury instantly caught that word.
He did not believe anyone else in the world could have discovered a new element. He had assumed Tony himself had surpassed his father, Howard Stark.
If that were true, then his whole calculation had failed.
But Tony immediately shifted the topic and refused to talk about it any further.
He admitted that he had lost to Bant when it came to discovering the new element, but that did not mean he was willing to loudly broadcast his failure.
Tony did not want to say it, but Nick Fury could not avoid the subject.
Everything he had come here for today, every bit of leverage he thought he had, was tied to that new element. If Tony had really discovered it already, then everything was over.
So he pressed the question.
"You didn't really discover a new element, did you?"
Tony said nothing, but his expression turned unfriendly. Nick only grew more anxious. In his panic, he pulled out the old pressure tactic he used on his subordinates, the classic manipulation routine, and said at once:
"You think you're the first person to discover a new element?"
"Let me tell you something. You're full of yourself, you think you're a genius, but the truth is, someone discovered the existence of that new element a long time ago!"
Those two lines were basically tap-dancing on Tony's landmines.
To begin with, losing to Bant had already left him in a sour mood. Sure, he had also been reborn because of it, and he felt lighter than ever before.
But now?
Nick Fury had just grabbed a fistful of salt and rubbed it straight into the wound.
"Enough!"
Tony slammed both hands down on the table, hard enough to make Nick Fury suddenly remember that the person in front of him was not some resentful subordinate, but an actual gold mine.
"I don't need you people reminding me of my failures!"
The moment those words came out, Nick Fury was stunned again.
What did that mean?
Did this brat already know about Howard?
Nick Fury instinctively sensed that something about this was strange. His one eye rolled in its socket, then he asked tentatively,
"How much do you know about Howard?"
"Who?"
Tony almost thought he had heard wrong.
"Howard Stark. Your father," Nick clarified.
"What about him?"
In an instant, the atmosphere between the two changed again. Tony's face turned complicated, annoyed and confused, but no longer as angry.
As for Nick Fury, he only grew more puzzled.
Then the two of them spoke at the same time.
"So the person you were talking about who discovered the new element wasn't Howard?"
"So you're saying my dad discovered a new element too?"
At that moment, both of their expressions changed, and the same phrase burst from both their mouths in unison.
"Motherfucker."
For Nick Fury, this meant that some unknown force had gotten to Tony Stark before he had, and they had even discovered the new element. That was clearly a potential threat.
More importantly, his funding...
Was gone!
And for Tony Stark, this was yet another blow.
The thing he hated most in life was being inferior to someone else.
The only thing he hated even more was being inferior to his own father.
And now what?
It was not enough that Bant had discovered the new element. That old man had been dead for decades and still managed to teach him a lesson.
It was infuriating!
So infuriating that Tony refused to accept it.
His eyes widened, and he thrust out a hand toward Nick Fury. "Where's the proof?"
"What?"
"The proof that Howard discovered the new element. Give it to me!" Tony said forcefully.
Nick Fury: ...
He had proof my ass.
Back then, because of the era and technological limitations, Howard had never found the true form of the new element. He had only proposed the idea and waited for later generations to discover it.
But S.H.I.E.L.D. had withheld Howard's relics, which was why Tony had known nothing about any of this.
Now Nick could only grit his teeth and say, "It doesn't exactly count as truly discovering it, but he did propose the concept of a new element..."
"Really?"
Tony's expression eased a bit. "That's all? I thought he was supposed to be amazing."
"I hope you understand one thing. Howard was limited by the era," Nick said.
He was not just speaking well of Howard. He was also subtly emphasizing the connection between Howard and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Now that the new element card was gone, the only thing left was to strengthen the bond between Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. through that relationship.
"Really?"
Tony sounded utterly unconcerned. "Was he also limited by his age?"
As far as Tony was concerned, a loss was a loss. At worst, you won the next round. Making excuses after the fact was useless.
Howard might have been limited by his era, but wasn't Bant Parker also limited by his age?
The guy was only sixteen and had already invented the self-healing serum and discovered a new element. That level of brilliance was enough to earn Tony's acknowledgment.
Of course, Tony absolutely would not admit Bant was smarter than him.
This was just one victory and one defeat.
It was only that before, he had been losing alone.
Now there were two Starks losing together.
No matter what, having someone share the loss made Tony feel a little more relieved. He relaxed and leaned back in his chair.
"If there's nothing else, you can go now."
He was already trying to throw them out.
But Nick Fury still had one last question.
"I really want to know. Who exactly solved this problem and revealed the true face of this mysterious element?"
Originally, Nick Fury had not expected to get an answer.
But after hearing the question, Tony gave him a strange look.
He thought back to a few days ago.
After he had finally decided to use the Keke Element, he had contacted Bant.
At the time, Bant had said, In a few days, someone will definitely come ask you who gave you the new element.
"You don't need to hide it for me. Just tell him directly."
Bant's voice seemed to still echo in Tony's ears.
At this moment, only one thought flashed through Tony's mind.
Bant Parker, was this in your calculations too?
Since the man himself had already said there was no need to keep it secret, Tony had no reason to complicate things.
"Bant Parker."
"Who?"
"Bant Parker, the CEO of Plamos. Don't tell me S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't investigated him," Tony said, rolling his eyes.
Did he not know what kind of people S.H.I.E.L.D. were?
Back then, just to get his information, they had even shoved Natasha into his company.
A real shame, though. By then the CEO of Stark Industries was already Pepper Potts, so he never did get a taste of this Black Widow's flavor.
/-\
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