"How is Tony doing?"
"Director, there's been a new development. Tony Stark canceled his birthday party and locked himself in the lab. His current situation is unknown."
"What? Could he have come up with a solution himself?"
Nick Fury looked surprised. Although Black Widow was gone, he had still sent another beautiful agent to infiltrate Stark Industries and become Tony's personal assistant.
Don't doubt it. S.H.I.E.L.D. had never lacked beautiful female agents.
According to Nick Fury's plan, he would wait until Tony Stark had nowhere left to turn, then appear like a savior and resolve the Palladium Poisoning crisis.
That way, even with Tony Stark's difficult personality, he would be grateful to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Even if Tony ultimately did not join S.H.I.E.L.D., he could still become an outside consultant or something similar. That would mean Nick Fury had won over a major asset, one with money-making superpowers.
However, all of that depended on Tony Stark being unable to solve his Palladium Poisoning on his own. Now, the situation was looking rather bad.
"Has Tony recently come into contact with anyone unusual?"
"Just one day ago, Wang Khan, the head of Umbrella Corporation, visited Stark's new chief executive officer. Immediately afterward, Pepper Potts stormed off to confront Tony Stark. She clearly discovered something. This entire matter is connected to Wang Khan."
"Wang Khan! Umbrella Corporation!!"
Nick Fury gritted his teeth. Although he still did not know what Tony had obtained from Wang Khan, anything capable of getting the self-destructive Tony back into the lab had definitely solved his problem. That was enormously detrimental to Fury's grand plan.
"Director, should we still meet with Tony Stark?"
"Meet my ass~~ Fine. Keep undercover at his side."
With a dark expression, Nick Fury hung up the phone. He then turned to look at a corner of the office, where a large box sat with the words "Property of Howard Stark" written on it.
"Why has everything been going so badly lately? Coulson, have you found Natasha yet?"
He summoned his most loyal subordinate. Coulson, whose receding hairline could still barely be maintained, shook his head.
"Director, there are still no clues about Natasha's whereabouts. Also, Barton's condition isn't very good. Should we..."
"Leave him alone for now. Besides, someone being kidnapped from inside S.H.I.E.L.D. was unusual to begin with. Letting Barton handle it is appropriate enough. Just keep an eye on him."
"Understood."
A calculated scheme aimed at Tony Stark had been ruined by Wang Khan. Meanwhile, with Red Queen's assistance, Wang Khan had completed construction of the Arc Reactor.
Pale white energy gradually formed inside the reactor, then grew stronger, creating a stable energy field.
"Guardian, the reactor's energy readings have stabilized. We succeeded!"
Wang Khan was extremely satisfied as he looked at the oversized Arc Reactor before him, which measured two meters in diameter.
"Red Queen, calculate its energy output. Can this reactor support a trip to the moon?"
"Absolutely, Guardian. However, its cost is still too high. According to my calculations, this single reactor costs one hundred million US dollars, and it would only be enough for one trip to the moon."
"So going to the moon once costs at least a hundred million, huh? No wonder NASA hasn't gone back in recent decades. Even with our technology, it costs a hundred million. Their costs would be at least ten times that, perhaps dozens of times higher. It really burns money."
There were many reasons why the United States had stopped going to the moon, along with plenty of conspiracy theories claiming that the United States had never landed there at all.
But Wang Khan knew that the United States in this Marvel world had definitely landed on the moon. They had even developed faster-than-light aircraft, though an accident later caused one to explode. See Captain Marvel for details.
Thinking of Captain Marvel immediately made Wang Khan think of the Space Stone, as well as the advanced version of the Arc Reactor: a new-generation Arc Reactor made using Space Stone Isotopes.
"There's no need to worry about that for now. In two years, Loki will put the Space Stone on top of Stark Tower anyway. It won't be too late to take it then."
"Oh, right, Red Queen. Use the satellites to monitor New Mexico lately. If you detect any celestial phenomenon with characteristics similar to an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, notify me immediately."
"Understood, Guardian."
Over the next few days, Wang Khan continued testing the Arc Reactor in Laboratory Zero while further modifying the Quinjet. He enlarged its cargo bay so it could carry greater weight.
Most importantly, he installed the tested Arc Reactor directly onto the Quinjet as its power source, completely abandoning the fuel engine.
"A small excavator, transport trucks, basically not a single mining tool can be missing. Oh, and bring your mainframe too, the backup one. The one you're using now is too large. There's simply no room for it."
"Guardian, the backup mainframe can only provide thirty percent of my functions."
"That's enough. We're going to the moon to mine, not to fight. Set off as soon as everything is ready. Once we synthesize Vibranium, the problem of your mainframe being too large can be solved."
Wakanda possessed the most advanced technology in the modern world, including artificial intelligence. In other words, Vibranium could also be used to make computer mainframes.
Once they had a Vibranium Mainframe, not only would Red Queen's capabilities improve further, but her size could also be greatly reduced. She could even become portable. At that point, they would truly be unstoppable.
Once everything was ready, Wang Khan set off without hesitation.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark, who had not contacted Nick Fury, found a skilled surgeon and injected the tested Metal Embrittlement Liquid near his heart. It softened the shrapnel inside his body, which was eventually metabolized and expelled by his bodily functions.
This meant Tony no longer had to wear an Arc Reactor on his chest every day.
As for the Iron Man suit, an externally mounted Arc Reactor could completely prevent palladium toxins from leaking, so there would no longer be any risk of poisoning from using the Iron Man suit.
After learning of this through his undercover agent, Nick Fury smashed his phone outright.
His plan to recruit Tony Stark had failed, leaving Nick Fury deeply displeased. Yet only a few days later, something even more displeasing happened.
Anton Vanko caused havoc at the Stark Expo, resulting in massive casualties and property damage.
But that was not what upset Nick Fury the most. What he least wanted to see was the military cooperating with Tony.
Through surveillance, he watched Iron Man and War Machine work together and successfully destroy all the Hammer Drones, along with the culprit, Anton Vanko.
As a result, Tony, whose relationship with the military had been somewhat tense, gained the military's support once again. That made it even less necessary for him to join S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Guardian, we have detected a celestial phenomenon associated with an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Just as you said, it is in New Mexico."
"Has it already arrived? Looks like time is a little tight. Return to Laboratory Zero at full speed, Red Queen. We need to work overtime."
With that, Wang Khan swept his gaze across the cargo bay. The mining tools that had previously filled it were all gone, replaced by several tons of rocks and soil.
There was still a day and a half until the trial promotion. Please recommend and save the story; everyone's support is the author's motivation to keep moving forward. Thank you.
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