Pulling My Brother Along

The press conference ended hastily.

A group of reporters and various individuals, injured by the Green Goblin and then completely healed by Stark's security team with a single injection, spontaneously took to the streets to tell the world about the miraculous rebirth potion through their personal experiences. However, it wasn't long before ambulances, personally called by Yuri, forcibly took them away for nutritional replenishment.

Although the finished rebirth potion contained a high-energy nutrient solution, the energy required to regenerate a leg or even half a body was far more than that. He didn't want these people, whose senses were temporarily blinded by adrenaline, to collapse on the street not long after walking, making it seem like there were severe side effects after injecting the rebirth potion.

After bidding farewell to the Ambrosius couple, who claimed they had to go home and prepare, Yuri encountered Sheriff George in the exclusive elevator on the second floor. George was Gwen's father and had once encountered Dr. Lizard when he attempted to activate the Canary Device atop the Osborn Building.

In fact, this diligent sheriff had been quite troubled lately. Hell's Kitchen, which was already chaotic, had recently seen frequent large-scale deaths. Although they were all gang members who deserved to die, he always felt an awkward sense of having to clean up after others. He couldn't catch anyone, and killing them was out of the question. Apart from cleaning up bodies every morning, there was nothing he could do.

"Perhaps... Spider-Man could try?"

On the night of the Canary Device incident, he had seen Spider-Man's true face – Peter Parker. Later, the two found time to have a serious talk and finally reached certain agreements that would never see the light of day. Simply put, Peter would selectively obey George's orders, and in exchange, the NYPD would no longer trouble him.

Judging by recent events, the cooperation had yielded good results.

George was startled when he saw Yuri, but he quickly realized that this must be Tony's friend or lawyer. His professional demeanor made him want to interrogate him, but after meeting those bright golden eyes, this thought inexplicably subsided.

"Ding dong!"

"Welcome, esteemed Mr. Ambrosius and Sheriff George."

As the elevator door opened, they heard Jarvis's polite greeting. Yuri, accustomed to it, smiled and nodded at the camera. George, on the other hand, looked like he was about to draw his weapon. After all, a voice that was everywhere yet nowhere to be found was indeed beyond the imagination of people in this era.

Following the guidance, they entered the reception room. Three people were already seated on the plush sofas: Tony, who "returned victorious and teased Spider-Man, hence the smile on his face"; a certain military man "fiddling with a syringe of rebirth potion and occasionally glancing at the Mark armor standing beside him"; and "Motherfucker Nick Fury, whose eye was covered by a black eye patch almost the same color as his skin, constantly scrutinizing Yuri as he approached."

As Yuri walked closer, he noticed Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, sprawled on the floor, veins bulging on his face, with only his eyes able to move.

"Please, have a seat, Mr. Ambrosius."

Nick Fury, taking the lead, invited Yuri to sit in Tony's Stark Tower. He clasped his hands in front of his chest and, with one eye scrutinizing Yuri, said, "According to the intelligence we've gathered, Mr. Yuri has never received formal biological education. I'm very curious why you developed the rebirth potion. Is it related to your eyes turning bright gold after your summer internship in Iraq?"

"Hey!"

The smile on Tony's face vanished instantly. He straightened up from the sofa, exuding a rare aura of authority. "You one-eyed man, this is my territory, and Yuri is my friend. You have no right to interrogate him here!"

Yuri chose the largest sofa and sat down. As he walked past the Green Goblin, he even crouched down to sense the man's soul state. The Green Goblin, like the Hulk, was a deformed product of the sub-personality suppressing the main personality. After a brief assessment, Yuri felt he could defeat the Hulk effortlessly. Similar to how Gu Yi had slapped the Hulk's soul out, Yuri could help the main personality, Banner, suppress the sub-personality, Hulk. The Hulk's strength was limited to his physique; in the realm of the soul, he was truly weak.

"Alright."

The military man spoke, "The purpose of our gathering here today is to discuss two issues: first, the rebirth potion, and second, Tony's armor."

"I don't think there's anything to discuss," Tony said, crossing his legs with a nonchalant expression. "The rebirth potion is clearly priced and available for purchase worldwide. If the military wants to purchase in bulk, we can offer a discount. As for the armor, I don't have any armor. As you all know, I was severely injured in a terrorist den in Afghanistan. What's standing over there is just my mechanical prosthetic limb, convenient for mobility and accelerating recovery. Armor? I said I would never manufacture weapons again."

"Facts do not change because of your sophistry," Nick Fury's single eye swept between Tony and the armor. "Believe me, Tony, this is technology you cannot control. If we can't reach an agreement here, you might face the entire Congress."

"Truth does not yield to your threats either," Tony glanced at Yuri, who was watching impassively from the sidelines, and decided to pull his friend into the fray. He cleared his throat and said, "In fact, even if I gave you the armor, you wouldn't be able to afford it. Firstly, the cost. The Mark armor uses many proprietary alloy formulas. The cost per gram might be tens of millions of dollars. Then there are the various operating systems, maintenance, and most importantly, the super-high computing artificial intelligence, Jarvis, that controls the entire suit. Without him, the entire armor is just an iron can that can withstand damage. And I will absolutely not give you Jarvis."

Tony rambled on, listing a host of things. The various technical jargon made Fury, the military man, and the sheriff frown, while Yuri didn't listen at all. It was all just a bluff anyway; if Tony repeated it, he might even forget what he had just said.

"In conclusion," Tony took a sip of wine to soothe his slightly dry throat. "The annual cost of maintaining a set of mechanical prosthetic limbs is around 200 billion US dollars upwards. How about it, gentlemen, are you still interested in getting a set?"

This directly excluded Sheriff George.

Seeing Fury and the military man fall silent, Tony gave Yuri a mischievous smile and continued, "But..."

Seeing all four looking at him, he cleared his throat ostentatiously. "When I was a hostage in that terrorist den, I designed a relatively simple mechanical prosthetic limb to escape. Due to the hasty escape at the time, the design blueprints ended up in the hands of Mr. Ambrosius here. I must admit, Yuri is truly a great genius. After receiving the blueprints, he managed to create a new power supply method without a micro-reactor, using his unfinished mechanical knowledge and his great spirit of exploring mysterious fields."

"You might have seen it in the surveillance footage from the Canary Night, yes, that mechanical prosthetic limb that far surpasses mine in all aspects of performance, that majestic, imposing, and mysterious pile of scrap metal – the steam armor!"

Under everyone's gaze, Yuri stiffly swallowed the wine in his mouth, mentally cursing Tony's ancestors. Although throwing the steam armor out as a scapegoat had been agreed upon long ago, he could have at least given him a heads-up!

Putting down his wine glass, he looked at the ripples spreading in the glass and said, "What Tony said is basically correct."

"The steam armor is priced at $99.99 million per set. Would you like to try a set?"