Tony froze.
He opened his mouth to object, only to find himself unable to say a word.
Luca was right.
Obadiah had betrayed them, and now he was dead.
In the entire world, there were only a handful of people Tony Stark truly cared about.
Aside from the younger brother in front of him, who was always trading barbs with him.
There was only Pepper, who worked tirelessly for the company.
Luca went without saying. He was his own flesh and blood.
And Pepper?
For all these years, Pepper had stayed by his side and helped him deal with all sorts of trouble. She understood him even better than he understood himself.
Tony was not a coldhearted man. On the contrary, deep down, he felt very insecure.
How could he not have sensed Pepper's feelings for him?
He cared deeply about Pepper. It would even be fair to say she was an indispensable part of his life.
If he didn't trust or care about her, how could he have handed complete control over Stark Industries' day-to-day management to an assistant?
Of course, there was also Happy, who was utterly loyal to them.
Whether it was Tony, Luca, or Pepper, all three had long regarded Happy as family.
If Pepper or Happy were kidnapped and killed by an enemy because they decided to become superheroes,
Tony would go mad!
But who was Tony?
He would never admit to anyone that he had a soft heart, much less readily admit to his weaknesses and worries.
So even though Luca had already swayed him, Tony still maintained a genius's stubborn front.
Tony forced himself to look away and snorted, answering defiantly.
"Then I'll invent even more powerful armor! I'll make Potts a custom protective suit that nobody can break through! My technology can absolutely keep her safe!"
However,
after hesitating for a few seconds,
Tony's tone suddenly softened, and he added quietly,
"Besides... even if we do get the injections, making the serum won't be that quick. It'll need a lot of safety testing too. Let's talk about it after we're done with everything keeping us busy."
With that, Tony immediately stood up and strode toward the armor behind him, as if trying to escape the subject.
"All right, that's enough about the serum. Now, let's take a look at a genius's masterpiece."
Luca was taken aback.
But when he saw Tony's slightly flustered retreating figure, he couldn't help laughing.
Nobody understood Tony better than he did.
Though Tony's words had still sounded defiant, he had actually compromised.
He had agreed to Luca's proposal!
"Damn Tony. He's as much of a tsundere as ever."
Still, it was enough that he had agreed.
In the past, they had never dared touch anything like an enhancement serum, largely because they were willing to honor the wishes of their father, Howard Stark.
After all, Howard had left behind a whole mess because of the Super Soldier Serum.
But things were different now.
Since they had come this far,
there was no need to resist a means of growing stronger.
As long as they could protect their family, who cared about side effects or problems left over from the past? All of it could stand aside!
Luca shook his head and thought no more about it.
He strode after Tony toward the display case.
Tony was now standing in front of his armor.
The armor had originally been the silver Mark II, but after Tony's hurried paint job, it had taken on an entirely new look.
He had used a striking fiery red, paired with a dazzling gold.
Under the lights, the red-and-gold armor shone with an unparalleled brilliance, looking thoroughly high-tech.
Tony stood before it, gazing at it with infatuation, as if he were looking at a lover.
"Look at those sleek lines, that perfect color scheme! Now that's a real work of art!"
"My armor is still the coolest! And I don't have to worry about anyone stealing it or snatching it away."
Tony pointed at the armor's various joints and spoke with complete confidence.
"I designed a biometric identification system and multiple trap-based countermeasures into it."
"If anyone but me gets inside, even Captain America, I can make the armor release lasers, high-voltage electricity, and lethal poison gas. The enemy will find out what real pain feels like."
At that point, Tony seemed to recall something.
He glanced sideways at Luca's black armor.
Then he deliberately drew out his words and mocked him sarcastically.
"Unlike a certain someone. He calls it armor, but it's really just a suit of armor stitched together."
"Other than offering a little protection, it doesn't even have an aiming assist system! There's practically no technology in it at all!!"
Faced with Tony's mockery,
Luca didn't care.
He walked up to his own armor and retorted with conviction.
"Tony, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about how strong I am?"
Luca pointed at his eyes, then clenched his fists.
"My eyes can fire lasers at temperatures of thousands of degrees, and my fists can hit with hundreds of tons of force! I can move faster than sound!"
"Tell me, with abilities like these, why would I care about those fancy assist systems?"
Luca slapped the armor hard, producing a tremendous bang.
"Besides, when it comes to defense alone, the armor might not even be as tough as my body!"
"What's the main purpose of armor? To look cool! Understand?!"
Luca made a contemptuous gesture at Tony.
"You bumpkin who only knows how to hammer sheet metal, you don't understand what a real superhero's aura is!"
Being called a bumpkin made Tony's mouth twitch with anger.
But he couldn't be bothered to keep arguing about such a pointless subject.
He knew that when it came to shamelessness, he really was no match for his younger brother.
So Tony looked away.
With a peculiar expression, he looked toward another display case in the corner of the lab.
There stood a huge, all-black suit of armor with an exaggerated design!
Tony walked up to the armor and shook his head.
"Seriously, Luca. I still don't understand."
"Why did you make this strange thing?"
Though he was complaining, Tony's eyes still shone with excitement at the manufacturing process.
He patted the enormous mechanical leg and teased with a smile.
"But honestly, if those old fossils in the military knew we'd built a brand-new suit of heavy armor from scratch in less than three hours, they'd probably be so jealous they couldn't sleep."
Tony studied the armor again, clicking his tongue in amazement.
"Before this, I never imagined building a suit of armor could be so fast. It was as easy as putting together building blocks!"
He looked at Luca, his eyes full of admiration.
"This is insane. How are your eyes even made? You just seem to fire them casually, and the metal softens right up!"
"All I have to do is shape it while it's hot, then casually add a drive system."
Tony rubbed his chin and made a proposal with a perfectly serious expression.
"Listen, Luca. Didn't we say we were going to set up a division to manufacture civilian smart robots? Why don't you become the chief welder on the shop floor? At your work rate, you alone could do the work of a five-hundred-person factory!"
Luca was rendered speechless. His face darkened as he cursed.
"To hell with being your chief welder! Do you think I'm a machine on an assembly line?!"
"Damn it! It's because I'm so powerful that we could work faster, all right?! You actually want to trick young master Stark into doing underpaid labor for you? Your true colors are showing!"
Tony grinned gleefully and kept teasing him.
Luca couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Tony's teasing.
He too walked up to the armor and surveyed it with satisfaction.
The armor stood nearly three meters tall and had a massive build.
But its design was completely different from the sleek, streamlined aesthetic of Tony's armor!
Luca had specifically requested it before they built it.
The armor was black and gray overall, with a sinister, evil appearance.
Sharp barbs covered its shoulders and arms, and a large LED light on its chest glowed an eerie green.
On top of that, two demonlike horns extended backward from the top of its helmet!
No matter who it was, anyone who took one look at the armor
would have the same first thought: archvillain! Super archvillain!
Tony looked at it for a while, then shook his head in disgust.
"This armor is too bulky, and too tall. Its maneuverability is absolutely terrible."
"I really don't know what use there is in building something like this. Are you planning to hide inside it like a coward when the enemy attacks?"
Faced with Tony's questions, Luca sighed.
He turned to Tony and looked at him as if he were an idiot.
"Bro, sometimes I really don't know how Stark Industries became the world's number one company with the IQ of a single-celled organism like you. Did all your competitors just make you look good?"
Luca pointed at the armor, looking utterly disappointed in him.
"Use your brain. What did we say before? We're going to build superhero personas! We're going to make people all over the world grateful to us!"
"But if there's no supervillain who looks scary enough to come out and cause trouble, who's going to show how great we are?"
"Without a villain, how are we supposed to be heroes?! Are we really going to help old ladies across the street?!"
Luca stepped forward and patted the armor, the smile on his face growing unrestrained.
"After we go out in a bit,
"all we need to do is have JARVIS remotely control the armor from the background, fly it to Los Angeles, and pretend to wreak havoc and scare the citizens!
"When those citizens are screaming in terror and despair,
"we'll descend from the sky like saviors! Then we'll make short work of the archvillain and smash it into a pile of scrap metal!"
Luca grew more excited as he spoke, gesturing with both hands.
"Finally, we'll show our handsome faces amid the ruins, wave enthusiastically at the citizens we've saved, and give interviews to the media."
"See?! Wouldn't that give us perfect superhero personas?!"
Luca spread his hands, looking supremely confident.
"All we need is for the public to know that we're the ones who resolved the disaster in their hour of need!"
"As for how the disaster started... does that matter? It doesn't matter at all!"
At that point, Luca gave Tony a disdainful glance and shook his head.
"I always thought you were a smart man, Tony. I didn't expect your thinking to be so old-fashioned."
With that, he sighed, looking utterly disappointed in him.
Tony: ???
He was a little dumbfounded.
He, Tony Stark, an acknowledged peerless genius, had just been disparaged to his face by his own brother for having a low IQ?!
And... what kind of unhinged thinking was this from Luca?!
Build a villain themselves to attack the city, then show up and defeat it themselves?!
I resolved the disaster for you, so don't ask how it started?!
C-c-can we really fucking do that?!
That's way too shameless!!
Tony stared wide-eyed at the smiling Luca.
He suddenly realized that he was still too innocent!!
Although he had recently begun to grow accustomed to Luca's way of thinking, using any means necessary to set people up,
Tony still felt he couldn't keep up with him at all.