Apocalypse's Mystery

Iron Man was completely baffled. This man seemed to be here for revenge, but he had never offended an enemy like this. Could it be a grudge from his father's generation?

Seeing the bone-deep wounds on Apocalypse's hands, Iron Man was deeply moved.

"Thank you, Tang. You saved me again."

"You're welcome. Even if I hadn't saved you this time, you would have found a way."

"Tang, don't be modest. I'll remember your help."

With a "ding" in his mind, Iron Man's trust increased by another 2 percent.

He thought Apocalypse was being modest, but Apocalypse had received no system prompt for saving someone, so he could be certain Iron Man had not been in any real danger this time.

He had merely intervened and inadvertently stolen Iron Man's credit.

Looking at his hands, he found the Electric Whip truly formidable. After only a few seconds of contact, his hands had nearly been severed.

Fortunately, the Hulk's blood was no joke. His wounds were slowly healing now.

They returned to the VIP seats.

Black Widow and Pepper Potts each rushed toward their man, checking on them in their own ways.

That left Happy as the single guy again. He looked left and right; neither side seemed appropriate for a hug at the moment, so he could only stand awkwardly nearby with the armor case.

Black Widow stroked the wounds on Apocalypse's hands and asked, "Do you want me to put some medicine on them?"

"No need. They should heal completely in a day or two."

Black Widow gently wiped away the charred skin around the wounds on Apocalypse's hands and softly asked, "Does it hurt?"

"It did hurt quite a bit, but the moment you touched it, it felt much better. Just keep holding my hand for the next couple of days, so it won't hurt again."

"Hmph... as if I'd believe that."

The two couples were lovey-dovey for quite a while, stuffing Happy full of affection. In the end, he could not take it anymore and kept coughing.

"I'd say that's enough. Tony, if we don't leave now, the European police will be here soon, and we'll have to waste time giving statements again."

Iron Man hated such trivial hassles most of all, so he hurriedly left first.

Back at their residence.

Apocalypse said to Black Widow, "I have something I'd like your help with. The man who attacked us just now is called Ivan Vanko. His father once conducted scientific research with Iron Man's father. I want to know where that man lives in Siberia."

"Alright." Black Widow nodded without asking why. "If I use S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence network, we should have news soon."

Black Widow sent a message to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Before long, S.H.I.E.L.D. sent back a message with an address for Black Widow.

After reading it, Apocalypse called Yinsen.

Yinsen had been brought to the United States by Apocalypse and had been working with Dr. Sterns for him. They were mainly researching the Recovery Potion, but progress had been slow.

Apocalypse did not have many people he could call on now. S.H.I.E.L.D. was useful, but they were not his people after all, so some matters were inconvenient.

"Yinsen, I sent you an address. Take a business trip and find a bird. Do whatever you can to bring it back safely."

What... what bird?

Yinsen was utterly confused. He checked the address—he was supposed to go to Siberia and bring a bird back to the United States? What kind of mission was that?

However, anything Apocalypse ordered had to be important. Yinsen did not ask further questions. He packed enough money and set off at once.

Apocalypse had sent Yinsen because he had survived in the chaotic Middle East and knew at least something about various complicated channels. With money to pave the way, there should not be much trouble.

Dr. Sterns, on the other hand, was a pure academic scholar and somewhat of a bookworm. If Apocalypse sent him out, it was hard to say whether he could even find the address.

That night.

Iron Man decided to go to the prison with Apocalypse to see Ivan.

He wanted to understand why Ivan had attacked him.

Someone with that kind of technology could make enough money to live in luxury for life just by selling it on the black market. Risking his life to attack him meant there had to be a blood feud.

But he had never made an enemy of Ivan, nor had he ever heard his father mention such an enemy.

When Iron Man arrived at the prison and asked around, he learned of the grudge between Ivan's father and his own father.

It turned out that Ivan's father had been a scientist sent by the Soviet Union to the United States for cooperative research.

At the time, the two world powers had not yet entered the Cold War and cooperated in many fields.

Ivan's father and Iron Man's father, Howard Stark, had jointly developed the Arc Reactor. However, limited by the era's technology, the Arc Reactor was enormously bulky and not very practical. Only a prototype remained at Stark Industries.

Later, the two polarized superpowers began turning against each other in their struggle for hegemony, and the Cold War began!

Ivan's father was arrested by the United States government on espionage charges and deported.

Ivan's father believed Howard had arranged it and harbored deep hatred from then on.

After returning home, the Soviet Union went through a series of upheavals, and much scientific research was forced to stop.

Ivan's father lost his job and income. He spent his later years in poverty, and a brilliant scientist of his generation eventually died in a shabby rented room.

Before he died, he saw news about Iron Man.

Ivan's father told his son, "That was our research result. The Starks are all thieves and robbers. They stole my achievement and the glory that should have belonged to us."

Both families were extremely familiar with the Arc Reactor. Inspired by Iron Man, Ivan successfully broke through his knowledge gap and created a miniaturized Arc Reactor.

But he did not have Iron Man's resources and could not build Iron Man armor. He could only buy parts on the black market, assemble an exoskeletal Electric Whip suit, and come for revenge.

After hearing everything, Iron Man said, "My father was not a thief. It was their joint research."

Ivan flew into a rage. "Lies! Your father testified and falsely accused my father of being a spy because he wanted to monopolize the Arc Reactor's results."

The two argued fiercely, each defending his father's reputation.

Unfortunately, these old matters had no evidence left behind. Neither could prove anything.

They ultimately parted on bad terms.

As they were leaving, Ivan said, "Palladium poisoning must feel awful, right? Hahahahaha..."

Iron Man paused. Ivan had struck a sore spot.

Now, he consumed the Recovery Potions Apocalypse gave him every day. Such miraculous medicine could save a life with every bottle, yet on him it could only offset the previous day's poison dosage. He felt deeply guilty about it.

Apocalypse said calmly, "Palladium poisoning is not incurable. You simply haven't seen enough."

"Oh?" Ivan said disdainfully. "Unless you can invent a non-radioactive New Element, there is no second path. Every element in the world capable of nuclear reactions is radioactive. Wanting nuclear energy without radiation is like wanting a spear and shield to coexist."

"But such an element does exist. Your thinking is simply too limited to imagine it."

"Impossible!" Iron Man and Ivan shouted in unison.

They were both geniuses. According to current particle physics theory, such a contradictory yet perfect element simply could not exist.

Apocalypse said calmly, "Nothing is impossible."

As he spoke, he stepped toward Ivan, hooked his hands like claws, and plunged them fiercely into Ivan's chest.

"Ah..." Ivan screamed in pain. "You... you're going to kill me?"

Apocalypse did not answer. With a pull of his hand, he ripped out a bright red, beating heart.

Ivan could not believe he was going to die like this?!

I haven't taken my revenge yet. I still have so much talent and ability left to use. I can't accept this!

Without his heart pumping blood, Ivan's eyes gradually lost focus, and his limbs dangled weakly.

Apocalypse took a bottle of Recovery Potion from his storage space, forced open Ivan's mouth, and poured it directly in.

The moment it entered his mouth, waves of green light spread across Ivan's body, especially dazzling around his injured heart.

Nourished by the green light, the heart grew back at a visible speed, even matching the surrounding color perfectly.

Ivan touched his chest in disbelief. If Apocalypse were not still holding a heart in his hand, he would have thought it was an illusion.

"Smack!"

Apocalypse tossed the heart in front of Ivan. It was still beating.

"Ivan, calling you a frog at the bottom of a well would not be an exaggeration. The world you see is far too small."

No matter how shocked Ivan was, Apocalypse turned around and left with a cool, imposing figure.

Iron Man, still completely confused, left with him. He knew about the Recovery Potion, but Apocalypse had sworn that the New Element existed. No matter how he looked at him, Apocalypse did not seem like a genius scientist smarter than himself.

"Tang, does the New Element really exist? Where is it?"

"It doesn't exist yet. Once you research it, won't it exist?"

"Uh... don't joke around, Tang. Such a perfect element would even violate existing particle physics theory."

"You'll know soon enough."

Seeing Apocalypse acting mysterious again, Iron Man said helplessly, "Fine, fine. You have too many mysteries surrounding you already. One more doesn't make a difference."

Ever since meeting Apocalypse, he had found countless mysteries surrounding him. Whenever he tried to get to the bottom of things, he never received an answer. It was unbearably frustrating, yet there was nothing he could do.

Iron Man quickly thought of another question.

Why had Apocalypse shown off the Recovery Potion in front of Ivan?

With Iron Man's intelligence, he soon figured out Apocalypse's intention after thinking it over carefully. "You want to recruit him?"

If Apocalypse had not intended to recruit him, there would have been no need to reveal such a thing in front of a prisoner, much less act mysterious and leave without explaining.

"That's right. He's a genius. He'll be useful in the future."

"Aren't you afraid he'll keep using advanced technology to do evil?"

"The evil he causes is insignificant compared to the crisis to come."

Iron Man asked again, "Then why not recruit him directly? I can speak to some acquaintances in Europe and have him transferred to the United States."

"The time isn't right yet."