2 chapters will be uploaded on daily basis i.e. 14 Chapters will be uploaded every week apart from the bonus chapters.
1 Bonus Chapter will be uploaded for every 50 Power Stones or 1000 Collections.
[email protected]/Heroicverse
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It's so weird.
Wanda didn't say anything, just watched quietly.
Her gaze slowly moved from Henry and Tony to the robotic arms working in the laboratory, the flashing holographic screens, and the three people in discussion.
She could feel something here that she had never felt in the Hydra base.
Not an order, not fear, not coldness used as a weapon.
She watched Henry excitedly arguing with Tony about the pros and cons of a certain algorithm.
It is the atmosphere of freedom, enthusiasm, and teamwork.
It turns out that this is what he is like, apart from his cynical and sharp-tongued appearance.
In Wanda's heart, some kind of ice is quietly melting.
"Okay, okay, donut time is over!" Tony patted the crumbs on his hands, his tone noticeably lighter.
"Let's get back to the point. We have two guests and a toy. I need a solution."
He looked at Henry, obviously waiting for him to speak.
"Don't look at me, you are the CEO." Henry picked up another donut.
"Of course, you make the final decision on management-level decisions like this. I'm just responsible for the front-line combat."
"Ordinary employee?" Tony raised his eyebrows.
"What ordinary employee can punch an alien robot into a metal ball a nd then throw the whole mess on the boss?"
"Look, you're admitting that I'm your employee, aren't you?" Henry grinned.
"Then you should listen to your boss."
Tony was so angry at his twisted logic that he laughed.
"Well, Mr. My Ordinary Man," he cleared his throat.
"Then I'll deal with our guest first. Jarvis, project the live feed of John. Garrett onto the main screen."
The next second, the main screen of the laboratory showed an image of Garrett being held in a room with perfect surveillance.
He had changed into prison clothes and was pacing the room anxiously.
"This guy is a fish of medium size." Henry teased while looking at the screen.
"He is the head of the Centipede project, a veteran agent of S.H.I.Ε. L.D., and Pierce's direct subordinate. He must have a lot of good things in his brain."
"That's right." Tony nodded.
"I haven't had Jarvis use sonic analysis on his brain yet. I'm going to let him meet his creation."
As soon as he finished speaking, the picture on the screen split into two.
On the other side, Michael Peterson lay in the medical bay, his body covered in various monitoring devices, still in a coma.
"Jarvis," Tony ordered.
"Play Peterson's real-time physiological data, including his heartbeat, breathing, and the activity of the unstable energy source within his body, to Mr. Garrett in a 24-hour loop. Remember, turn the volume up to maximum. I want to see how long this creator's psychological defenses can hold up when faced day and night with the tragedy he created."
Banner couldn't help but shudder when he heard this.
Too cruel.
This is simply mental torture.
Tony Stark is an absolute genius when it comes to torturing people.
"As for Peterson." Tony's tone softened, and he looked at Banner.
"Bruce, he's in your hands. Utilize Stark Industries' best medical resources and find a way to stabilize the virus in his body. We need to know what it is before we can find a cure for him."
He paused and added.
"Jarvis, go check the whereabouts of his son. Find him and ensure his safety, hire the best psychiatrist for him, and then set up special trust in the name of the Stark Charitable Foundation to cover all his future living and education expenses."
Tony gave this order without any hesitation.
Wanda and Pietro continued to observe silently. They looked at each other and saw shock in each other's eyes.
Is this the arms dealer they once hated so much?
Would he go to such lengths for a victim he had never met and his son?
They increasingly felt that joining the team was the right thing to do.
Banner immediately got to work. He called up Peterson's detailed psychological data with a frown on his face.
"This is so weird," he muttered to himself as he watched the ever-changing cell structure diagram on the holographic screen.
"Tony, look. The agent in his system does give him super strength and regenerative abilities, but it doesn't work by simply strengthening cells. It's like it's hacking into the body's bioelectric system, rewriting the body's instructions for repair and energy output. But the program is so poorly written that it makes the system unstable and could collapse from overheating at any time."
Tony came over and looked at the chaotic yet faintly regular picture on the screen, and touched his chin.
"Sounds like a virus? A virus that can program the human body?"
"That's right, it's a bioprogrammable virus!" Banner shouted excitedly.
"But this concept is so advanced. How did those Nazi remnants of Hydra, who only use outdated tactics, come up with such a brilliant idea?"
"They don't have the brains."
A leisurely voice came, and Henry put down the instrument in his hand.
He looked at the data model on the screen, and a glimmer of understanding flashed in his eyes.
"This concept of hacking into the human body sounds familiar." He tur ned to look at Tony with a playful smile on his face.
"Hey, Tony, remember that New Year's Eve in Bern, Switzerland, in 1999?"
Tony was stunned for a moment, obviously not following Henry's train of thought.
"1999? I've been to so many parties, who can remember clearly? But if it's the one with the Swedish twin models, I do have some recollection of it."
"Stop it, you paint-headed fellow," Henry interrupted rudely.
"I mean the penthouse at the party. The guy who looked a little lame and wore a cheap suit, and wanted to work with you on a project called AlM. There was also a very beautiful botanist who spent the evening with you."
Tony's brow furrowed, clearly trying to search his mind for the memory.
"Oh, I remember now." He curled his lips.
"That freak named Killian, and that beautiful woman named Hansen. I think I abandoned him and left him on the rooftop in the cold wind all night. What's wrong? Why did you mention them?"
"Oh, you didn't just abandon him." The smile on Henry's face became more playful.
"Did you also casually help Maya correct an equation on the back of her business card?"
Tony's expression froze instantly.
His eyes widened, and it was obvious that he had remembered.
"I..."
"Yes, you did," Henry answered for him.
"Congratulations, Tony. Those few characters you scribbled just solved her dilemma, and it was also the most critical loophole. Later, they cooperated, and they called this virus Extremis. In other words, you, Tony Stark, are the key man for the stabilization of the Extremis virus."
Henry pointed to Peterson's biological model on the screen.
"Now, Hydra has taken your work and made a horrific modification to create this half-finished product. How do you feel? Do you feel a sense of pride as a parent?"
"Fuck!" Tony's face turned dark in an instant, as black as the bottom of a pot.
This is not just a slap in the face; this is like someone holding your hand and slapping you hard twice!
An equation I casually wrote down actually became the theoretical basis for Hydra to create monsters?!
For Tony, this is a great humiliation!
"Aldridge Killian!" Tony gritted his teeth and pronounced the name, with a dangerous light flashing in his eyes.
"A loser who was rejected by me actually uses these things in a place like this?!"
"Jarvis!" He took a deep breath and gave a quick order.
"Check AIM! Aldridge Killian! I want all the data on their company since day one! Hack into their servers and find all the research data on Extremis. I want to see what they've done."
The atmosphere in the laboratory became tense, and everyone watched Jarvis's data scroll rapidly on the screen.
However, a few minutes later, Jarvis's always omnipotent voice brought bad news.
"Sir, I have penetrated AIM's external network and commercial database. However, their core scientific research server is physically isolated a nd has multiple encryption settings. It is not connected to any public network. From the outside, I cannot access these files."
"Fuck!" Tony cursed again.
"A closed system! Those guys are quite cautious. We can't just fly to their company headquarters to steal the hard drive, right?" Tony thought that was too ungraceful, but he glanced at Henry secretly.
He thought that his younger brother might do this.
"Who said we were going to rob it?"
Henry leisurely ate the last bite of his donut and clapped his hands.
He walked over to Tony and looked at the Access Denied warning on the screen with a relaxed smile.
"Technical problems don't necessarily need to be solved with more complex technology."
He pointed to his eyes.
"Sometimes, using some simple and crude physical methods can be more effective."
Tony and Banner were stunned for a moment, not understanding what he meant.
"What's the meaning?"
"That's what I mean." Henry shrugged.
"They can hide their servers under concrete and protect them with the strongest firewalls in the world. But that won't stop me from seeing them. I can just fly over there and look through the wall and read everything on their servers and write it down."
The laboratory suddenly became quiet.
Everyone except Tony was confused.
Is this how X-ray vision is used?!
Doesn't this make sense?!
"Are you sure?"
The corner of Tony's mouth twitched. He felt that his genius brain had once again suffered a dimensionality reduction attack from his younger brother.
"Of course." Henry grinned.
"Their headquarters are in Florida, right? I'm a little tired of the California sunshine, so I'm going to go for a change."
He stretched, turned around, and walked out of the laboratory.
"Hey! Are you going out to play alone again?!" Tony shouted behind him.
"It's called market research, Tony." Henry waved his hand without looking back.
"You should first study how to melt the iron ball at home. When I come back with the instructions, we can officially start work." His figure quickly disappeared from everyone's sight.
Tony looked in the direction he had left, fuming with laughter.
This bastard is always like this, taking care of all the cool things by himself!
He turned around helplessly and curled his lips at Banner, who also looked helpless.
"Well, it seems like he has snatched the field team's work away from him again."
"Those of us in the logistics team should just play with our iron balls."
He looked at the piece of Uru metal on the laboratory table, and the enthusiasm in his eyes was rekindled.
He was not worried at all that Henry would be in danger. Instead of worrying about that, he might as well study how to understand this metal.