Night fell over New York City. Somewhere in Queens, Peter slipped into a house through the second floor.
He pulled off his mask and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Fuck! Bastard!"
Cursing nonstop, he quickly grabbed his phone and dialed Tony's number.
Ring, ring, ring.
The call soon connected. Before the other side could speak, Peter said, struggling to contain his anger, "Fuck, that guy isn't an ordinary person at all. Your intel was wrong."
"Are you trying to get me killed?"
On the other end, Tony swirled a glass of red wine in his hand. A smile curled his lips as he listened to Peter's furious voice.
"If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead."
"Besides, I never said he was an ordinary person."
"What the hell do you want?" Peter demanded angrily.
"I told you. Bring that guy to me alive. That's what I want."
"Impossible. He's incredibly strong. I'm no match for him."
Peter sounded dejected as he said this.
After his mutation, he had been pretty happy deep down, even if he never said so.
But ever since he met Tony, he felt that everything had changed. Every random nobody who showed up was stronger than him.
In short, everyone and their mother was showing off, while he was the only one getting beaten up.
Hearing the disappointment in his voice, Tony's smile deepened. "Want to get stronger? I can help you."
On the other end of the call, Peter immediately grew wary.
There was no such thing as a free lunch, especially when making a deal with Tony.
"What's the catch?" he asked cautiously.
"Simple. I'm planning to form a Dark Alliance, and I'm inviting you to join."
Tony took a sip of his red wine and spoke unhurriedly.
"But I'm a good guy!" Peter exclaimed dramatically.
"I never said you weren't. I'm just asking you to join the Dark Alliance. Think it over."
Peter fell into a long silence on the other end of the line.
The Dark Alliance didn't sound like anything good, but he thought back to how miserably he had fled after being beaten today.
Anger surged in his heart again. Finally, Peter gritted his teeth. "I'll join."
Tony instantly laughed. After all that planning, he had finally won this guy over.
"Congratulations. You've made a wise choice. Come see me tomorrow morning, and I'll give you what you want."
With that, Tony eagerly hung up and opened the system panel.
Name: Tony Stark Gender: Male Identity: Heir to the Shadow Kingdom Abilities: Horse Talisman, command of the Shadow Ninjas, command of the Shadow Blades Draws remaining: 1 Dark Alliance members: Spider-Man
A smile curled Tony's lips as he looked at the information on the system panel. At the same time, he willed something to happen.
Dark figures immediately rose from the floor and appeared before him, standing respectfully in place.
Unlike the Shadow Ninjas, the Shadow Blades had special steel claws for hands and feet, resembling Wolverine. Their abilities weren't as versatile as those of the Shadow Ninjas, but their combat prowess was greater.
They could be described as born solely for battle.
After examining the blade ninjas carefully, Tony nodded in satisfaction and sent them back to the Shadow Kingdom. Then he opened the draw panel.
It was that thrilling moment again. Although Tony had grown considerably more composed, he still felt a little nervous before the draw wheel.
Draw!
He gave a low shout in his mind, and the pointer on the wheel immediately began spinning rapidly.
Stop!
The pointer slowed. Tony watched it eagerly, silently praying for a powerful ability.
Soon, the pointer stopped.
A dragon-shaped symbol appeared on the wheel the next second. A dragon's roar rang out, and under Tony's gaze, a dragon silhouette leaped from the wheel and plunged straight into his body.
Hot! Unbelievably hot!
Tony felt the temperature inside his body instantly rise to an extreme. A dragon-shaped pattern appeared on his skin, radiating astonishing heat.
Several minutes later, the dragon pattern disappeared, and Tony returned to normal.
"Sir, are you all right?"
JARVIS's voice rang out.
"I'm fine. Don't worry."
Tony opened his eyes and answered with a smile.
Dragon Talisman. Ability: Dragon Blast. Capable of melting away anything in the world.
This information had suddenly appeared in Tony's mind after he obtained the Dragon Talisman's ability.
To test its actual power, Tony entered the underground laboratory. After glancing at Reed, who wore an impassioned expression, Tony took a piece of gold-titanium alloy from the materials storeroom.
It was one of the hardest metals in the Marvel Universe, generally used in aerospace applications and resistant to both high and low temperatures.
According to what he remembered from his previous life, this body's original owner had used gold-titanium alloy to build the Iron Man Armor.
Leaving the lab, Tony sat on the balcony and looked at the palm-sized piece of gold-titanium alloy. With a whoosh, a flame ignited in his palm.
The gold-titanium alloy in his hand immediately began to change, melting rapidly before his eyes. Within mere seconds, it had burned into a puddle of molten metal and was rapidly evaporating into gas.
Ten seconds later, the gold-titanium alloy in his hand had completely disappeared, leaving not even a trace behind.
"Gasp!"
Tony sucked in a sharp breath, his face filled with shock.
He had known the Dragon Talisman's ability was powerful, but he hadn't expected it to be this powerful. The gold-titanium alloy couldn't even last ten seconds before vaporizing.
That's just absurd! But I like it.
Filled with excitement, Tony didn't fully calm down and go to bed until the middle of the night.
Early the next morning, JARVIS woke Tony.
"Sir, there's a young man outside. He says he has an appointment with you."
Waking groggily, Tony glanced at the image JARVIS projected. Peter was waiting outside the door.
"Let him in."
"Yes, sir."
JARVIS acknowledged the order. The front door opened, and Peter cautiously entered the villa.
By the time he reached the living room, Tony was coming downstairs, yawning. He greeted him casually. "You're here."
"Yeah."
Peter nodded, looking a little uneasy.
Tony ignored him. Now that he had earned the reward, his interest in Peter had dwindled considerably. He went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of hot milk.
"Mr. Tony, you said you could help me get stronger."
After sitting there for quite a while without Tony saying anything, Peter had no choice but to speak up.
"Right. Give me a moment."
Tony paused, then quickly remembered that he had promised to do this.
After finishing his hot milk, Tony walked toward Peter, his stomach pleasantly warm. Under Peter's nervous gaze, he simply reached out and patted him on the shoulder.
"All right, done. Off you go. Finish the mission as soon as possible."
"What?"
Peter looked utterly confused. He felt he had been played.
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