Green Goblin

Yuri found Tony backstage while he was having his makeup touched up. The moment Tony noticed him, he wanted the makeup artist to stop this somewhat embarrassing process, but under Pepper Potts's death glare, he obediently sat back down. His playful little mustache twitched a few times as Tony looked at Yuri in the mirror and said, "When you grow a few years older, you'll also have to use makeup to make yourself look younger, just like me."

"Sorry."

After greeting Pepper beside him, Yuri smiled harmlessly at Tony. "As long as I want to, I can maintain the appearance you see now until the day I die of old age."

"Oh!"

Tony shrugged, trying to make the expression reflected in the mirror look less jealous. "That's really terrible..."

"That's absolutely wonderful!"

Pepper, who had been supervising Tony's makeup to make sure he sat still, immediately lit up at those words. Her eyes full of anticipation, she stared at Yuri's golden pupils. No woman could resist the temptation of eternal youth. She asked incoherently, "Is that true? I mean, Mr. Yuri, have you developed that kind of medicine? When will it go into production?"

Yuri smiled at Tony, whose face was full of jealousy, then patted his chest and assured Pepper, "If I ever truly develop such a product, you will definitely be among the first to hear about it."

Pepper wanted to speak with Yuri a little longer, but Tony, finally freed from the makeup artist's clutches, pulled her aside. The former playboy immediately spoke with the air of a complete scumbag: "You will always be my CEO, Pepper, whether or not you gradually grow old with time."

Yuri gentlemanly gave them some privacy, but Pepper ultimately pushed Tony away slightly when he lowered his head. She smiled awkwardly at Yuri, who had been watching and learning with great interest, then straightened her clothes and hair before running out like a thief.

"What are you still standing here for?"

Tony glared at Yuri in dissatisfaction. Mainly because Kate and the other four were not around, Tony felt like he was back in control on his home turf. "You should've quietly left just now instead of standing there watching like some country bumpkin who'd never seen anything before."

"Heh heh."

Yuri stepped closer to Tony and lightly tapped his chest with a slender finger. A gentle wisp of Life Energy flashed in an instant. "My dear Tony, I came to find you because I want to help you take the development of the Micro-Reactor a step further."

When Yuri's finger left Tony's chest, strands of black, tainted blood seeped from his pores and gathered in the air into a fist-sized sphere of blood.

Tony touched his chest and let out a long, relieved breath. He gave Yuri a grateful look, then said proudly, "I don't think you're qualified to lecture me in this field."

Holding the blood sphere, Yuri effortlessly extracted the palladium from it. There was very little in total; without a microscope, it would have been impossible to detect.

"In fact, I'm only the messenger. The one guiding you is your father, Howard Stark."

Tony's face immediately darkened. "Yuri, joking about my parents isn't funny."

Yuri casually tossed the blood sphere into the trash can, then patted Tony on the shoulder. "You know I took those instruments from the underground laboratory. I found some interesting things there, and through some rather unscientific methods, I obtained certain information your father left behind."

"Seventy years ago, the Allied Powers were defeated, leaving behind a great deal of advanced black technology. Much of it was absorbed by the Entente Powers, and Howard was the lead researcher on many of those projects."

"The original reactor atop Stark Tower, the unfinished anti-gravity car... all of them originated from an infinitely mysterious energy source—the Cosmic Cube."

"Wait! Wait!"

Tony cut Yuri off. "You're saying all my father's research came from the defeated Allied Powers?"

"That isn't important."

Yuri waved a hand and continued, "I learned that your father discovered a new element. It can completely replace the palladium you're currently using—harmless, non-polluting, and capable of increasing the reactor's energy output by several orders of magnitude."

Tony sat comfortably in his chair and looked at Yuri. "Go on, keep making things up. Palladium is irreplaceable in the reactor. Besides, even if such an element really existed, why wouldn't my father have told me directly?"

Yuri raised his hand to check the time. There were only a little over ten minutes before the press conference officially began. He pointed at his watch and decided to keep it brief. "Your father's research was under government surveillance, and you know exactly what those people in the United States are like. If they got hold of such an element, they wouldn't think about world peace. They would think about ruling the world."

"If he let you know, that would be the same as letting everyone know."

"Fine."

Tony shrugged, temporarily accepting the reason his father had not told him, but another question immediately arose. "If the new element was discovered, wasn't it created and preserved somewhere?"

"No."

Yuri shook his head and pointed to his own head. "I have to admit, the Starks are all brilliant. You built a Micro-Reactor in a cave, while your father deduced a new element with limitless potential from nothing while under layers of surveillance."

"I accept your praise."

Tony smugly bent at the waist like a British gentleman, then stared into Yuri's eyes. "I don't believe someone with your personality would give me this information for free."

"That's true."

Yuri laid his cards on the table and frankly stated his demands. "I want to participate in the entire manufacturing process of the new-element reactor, as well as the development of the Mark armor."

Tony frowned and sized Yuri up and down, trying to determine his true intentions. "You... shouldn't need armor to enhance your combat ability, right?"

"I won't even build any armor other than the Steam Armor... I only need the technological level contained within them to enhance certain abilities of mine."

Yuri checked the time again. "There are five minutes until the press conference officially begins, Tony. The information is hidden among Howard's belongings that you took from S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm sure you've watched that videotape. The new element is on the desk behind your father."

"Ladies and gentlemen."

Jarvis's impassioned voice rang through the hall. "Energy and medicine are the two fields with limitless potential in the new world, while Stark Industries and Rebirth Pharmaceutical Company are the undisputed leaders of this new era."

"Today is a historic day, the day a new era begins. Let us welcome today's protagonist—To..."

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Several sudden pumpkin-shaped bombs tore apart the streets outside the building. The shockwaves carried shattered glass into the crowd, causing panic among nearly everyone.

"Today has only one protagonist!"

A chilling, maniacal laugh came from the sky as a figure in green armor, standing atop a flying glider, swooped down. "And that is me—the Green Goblin!"