Why Else Would I Be Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Final.

Nick Fury slunk away, just as slunk away as he came.

In fact, if he had knocked on the door honestly and politely, Ben wouldn't have been so ruthless.

Ultimately, the reason he told Tony not to keep his identity a secret was that he was planning to make a deal with Nick Fury.

But this guy was even more greedy; he didn't want to give anything, yet he wanted everything.

Ben understood that the Cosmic Cube was unwilling to give it up, after all, it was indeed a cosmic treasure, and Ben wasn't insisting on having it.

Asking for the Cosmic Cube right off the bat is definitely asking for an exorbitant price.

But business is business, it's a give-and-take, haggling is fine. If you can't give me the Tesseract's Cube, can't I at least take a look at it and study it for a few days?

Even that won't work?

Okay, no problem, then let's skip the Tesseract.

Ben revealed his true intentions, stating directly that he wanted to conduct experiments in Antarctica and asked Fury to persuade the Security Council to process the necessary paperwork.

It didn't work again.

If you can't do anything right, how can you do business? Trying to get something for nothing is a bit much, isn't it?

So Ben simply kicked the Egghead Fury out.

Before leaving, Nick Fury, still a little unwilling to give up, tossed him a business card.

Just as Ben was about to throw the business card into the trash can, Mu's gaze fell upon the dilapidated sofa in front of him, and he quickly shouted, "Eunice, dial Egghead Fury's number!"

"Yes, sir, we are connecting you to Nick Fury."

In the car.

Nick Fury, who had just left Primus, turned on the air conditioning. The cool air blowing in his face made him feel much better.

"The deal is done?"

Natasha sat in the passenger seat, and a single sentence brought back the torment she had endured just minutes earlier.

After his trip to Primus, Nick Fury felt like he had been to the gates of hell and almost died there.

He shook his head and said, "That kid is even more ruthless than me! All I wanted were some free potions and a tiny bit of funding, and he dared to ask for the Cosmic Cube! He's insane!"

"So, the talks broke down?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow.

Nick Fury previously boasted that he would personally take care of it, but it seems he can't do that now!

Even if I gave you a chance, you wouldn't be able to use it!

"What's the rush? This is a strategic game!"

Nick rolled his eyes at her. He didn't start driving immediately, but instead mentally went through each of Ben's conditions one by one.

The Cosmic Cube is out of the question; even if you gave it to him for a few days, it wouldn't be possible.

Even if Ben wanted to conduct research, it would have to be under the surveillance of S.H.I.E.L.D.., and all research data would have to be synchronized.

This is essentially making Ben work for S.H.I.E.L.D..

As for the other condition, Nick Fury could actually accept it.

Antarctica, that desolate place, although it has high scientific research value, is currently very difficult to develop. As long as the Ben conducts those radioactive or polluting experiments, it's not a big deal.

The problem is, Antarctica isn't something America control all by herself.

If this is reported to the Security Council, why should other countries pay for S.H.I.E.L.D..'s interests?

That's unrealistic.

Of course, Nick Fury might be able to persuade them by giving up some of the profits he already had, but why bother?

When it comes to business, you can't rush things.

After a back-and-forth tug-of-war, they pretend to leave; in short, whoever gets agitated first loses.

Nick Fury isn't in a hurry.

He waited for Ben to call him first.

"I'm just setting the conditions. Just wait and see; I reckon it won't be long before he calls."

I had just finished speaking when the phone rang!

Nick Fury looked at his vibrating phone and couldn't help but smirk.

"See? I told you so!" Nick grinned smugly, shaking his head and winking at Natasha.

"Even faster than I expected, young people are so impatient. Let's see how I handle him!"

Natasha was shocked.

"Is it really that amazing?"

"Of course, otherwise how would I be the director of S.H.I.E.L.D..?" Nick said.

As Nick picked up his phone, he was already considering how to negotiate a lower price, but as he always said, no rush, let the other party speak first.

The call connected, Nick put it on speakerphone.

"What, is there anything else, Parker? I'm driving."

A lazy voice came from the phone:

"Egghead Fury, pay me back for the sofa. It's a Cagliari imported from Italy, originally priced at 135,000. Let's round it down to 140,000. Just transfer it directly to my account."

Nick Fury:???

Natasha: "Is this what you call 'manipulation'?"

Nick Fury's face darkened further.

Primus.

After confirming that Nick Fury had left, Ben opened the door and let Connors out of the locked laboratory.

Connors had already hidden himself the moment Eunice was attacked.

There's no need to worry about the camera Natasha left here; Eunice had already connected to it via the internet and modified all the footage.

Are you sure he'll pay for the sofa?

Connors expressed skepticism about Ben's reverse zeroing tactic.

He was most heartbroken when the sofa was destroyed.

Because Connors spends almost 24 hours a day at the company, that expensive sofa was specially prepared for him.

"Not going to compensate? He'll behave himself if the Self-Healing Serum's price increases by fifty percent." Ben sneered.

Nick Fury's biggest mistake today was not figuring out who had the chips.

He wasn't in a hurry for either the Antarctica Anti-Metal or the Tesseract, but Nick's desire for funding and the drugs was even stronger than his.

Just as he himself said, whoever gets anxious first loses.

Ben was fearless when he followed the rules.

If Nick Fury doesn't intend to play by the rules, then the Four Arms's fists are certainly not to be underestimated.

S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to wait and see how things developed with Ben.

However, there was one thing he needed to do quickly.

Hammer Industries.

After several months of effort, Ivan finally transformed the industrial waste created by Justin Hammer into useful unmanned armored warriors.

Moreover, he installed a self-destruct system in the program of every robot. Hundreds of these robots are essentially suicide bombers; they can go up and explode, and even level the Stark Expo site!

This self-destructive attack was not only a manifestation of Ivan's resolute will, but also a mockery of Tony Stark.

After the playboy finally defeats all the robots, only to find he can't truly resolve the crisis, I wonder what kind of expression he'll have on his face.

Thinking of this, Ivan let out a sneer, his long gray hair whipping behind him. He spat out the toothpick and began to tease the parrot.

Then he said in Russian, "Just you wait, I'll make that thief pay."

But the parrot did not respond.

Seeing this, Ivan's expression darkened further.

Justin Hammer was a fool; when asked to find a bird, he dared to avoid the trouble and just grab any old one to fool himself.

Damn it!

In his mind, Justin Hammer was already dead, but in reality, Ivan had many more people who deserved to die.

He doesn't care how many United States die.

Just then, Justin Hammer, wearing a plaid suit, walked over with a few people.

He wore an annoying smile, and his gaze toward Ivan was full of contempt, yet feigned indifference.

"How's it going?"

Ivan glanced at him and said in Russian, "Almost there."

This time, the smarter Justin Hammer brought a translator with him.

"That's good. The expo is only a few days away, so you better not mess me up," Hammer warned. "Remember, I can get you out of prison, or I can kill you right now!"

Ivan gave a dismissive smile and said nothing more.

Justin led the others into the factory, pointing at the completed robots and belittling them as worthless.

To be honest, he still preferred Tony Stark's suit; with Tony as a role model, the military would be more willing to buy it.

On the contrary, who knows if these robots are reliable or not?

But there's nothing we can do.

Currently, the only ones who possess core technologies are Tony Stark and this Russian guy in front of him. Even if he has a hundred or a thousand reasons not to, he can only let the other party do whatever he wants.

Hopefully, this thing will catch the military's eye at the exhibition.

Hammer himself.

He didn't care about anything else as long as he could get the orders.

Moreover, he didn't actually place all his hopes on these Iron Warriors.

Not long ago, the military brought him an authentic Iron Suit and asked him to modify it.

To be honest, there's really no need to modify Tony's armor. It's well-equipped and has enough firepower. Any changes would be superfluous.

But we can't leave it as is.

Without adding some paint or dyeing, how can you take this thing out in public?

The fact that the armor was clearly made by Stark Industries at a glance—where does that leave the military's reputation?

Therefore, it must be changed!

And it needs to be drastically revised!

Stark's original flashy colors have been changed! And all the lightweight weapons have been removed!

It's powerful, but it doesn't look intimidating at all; let's just switch to Gatling.

At this moment, although the Iron Patriot's original armor shape was still visible, it was much larger and bulkier than the Iron Suit.

Various flashy but impractical weapons were crammed onto it; whether they were actually powerful or not is another matter, but at least they looked quite impressive.

And this seems to be very important to the military!

After all, there was only one Patriot missile, and not many people expected it to actually change the course of a war and bring victory to America.

Their hope is that, through the Iron Patriot, the people of America will have greater confidence in the strength of their military, and that the world will believe that they have, but not only one, armored vehicle!

Other countries might have doubts, but no one dares to gamble.

If you win the gamble, there's no benefit; if you lose, Hiroshima and Nagasaki serve as cautionary tales.

At the time, the Japanese soldiers, who were living a pretty good life, didn't believe they had a second atomic bomb.

After a while, Justin Hammer left again, and Ivan tightened a few more screws, then opened the program code on the computer and made some modifications by typing on the keyboard.

He glanced disdainfully at the armor, which had been renamed the Iron Patriot, let out a sneer, then walked over, turned on the armor, and began inputting commands.

After doing these small things, Ivan nodded in satisfaction, turned off the factory lights, and left.

For a time, the entire Hammer Industries was plunged into darkness.

Just then, a pale shadow pierced through the wall and drifted in.

Ghostfreak.