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The great Tony Stark was not one to be friendly so easily. Even when he first met Richard, with no obvious conflict between them, Richard had been irritated by Tony's sharp tongue. But one thing was undeniable: Tony was fiercely loyal to those who helped him.
Even though he still suspected that Benjamin had something to do with Richard's fate, which had in turn affected Clark, he had accepted Clark's help and rescue.
He would not be harsh to him in return. Of course, this was just a small moment that neither Tony nor Clark thought much about. Clark returned to Parker Industries to finish his workday, while Tony headed back to his villa.
"Sir, I have prepared the inspection equipment. You can begin as soon as you arrive in the lab," Jarvis's voice announced in the hall.
Tony, however, was in no mood to reply. He was furious, completely enraged. Now that his life was safe, he had only one thought: to obliterate everyone who had tried to harm him.
"Alright, let's get to it."
Tony placed the business card on the scanner and began to examine it from every angle. "From a material standpoint, it's just ordinary cardboard. There are no traces of invisible ink. If the information isn't hidden that way, could it be..." After a series of inspections, he found no clues, either in the material or the pattern. Still, Tony had an unshakeable feeling that the card held a secret.
"Could it be energy?"
Using ordinary cardboard to carry energy was a fantasy in conventional physics. No one would believe such a material could hold a special power source. But Tony was no ordinary person. As the head of Stark Industries, he had a deeper understanding of the world. Science couldn't explain everything. There were many things that lay beyond its reach.
"In that case..."
If his guess was correct, the previous tests must have failed to stimulate the energy in the card because the energy output was insufficient. To activate the information on the card, the power from the US electrical grid might not be enough. He would have to provide the power himself.
"Jarvis, do you remember the design for the Arc Reactor? You should have the materials here. Help me find them."
The Arc Reactor was a cold nuclear fusion reactor invented by his father and perfected by him. It wasn't used for commercial purposes, but all of Stark's factories relied on it for power and weapons research. If you needed the highest output of human-controlled energy, the Arc Reactor was the best option.
"I just never thought I'd be making one this small," Tony sighed, looking at the workbench in his home lab. But he wasn't worried. He was a genius, and this was easy for him.
And so it was. In just a few hours, with the help of Jarvis's robotic arms, he completed a miniature Arc Reactor and installed it in a custom-built energy transmitter.
"Alright, let's see the results."
Placing the business card in front of the emitter, Tony flipped the switch. As the Arc Reactor began to generate energy, the transmitter shot white beams onto the card. Just as Tony had predicted, the card began to change.
The entire business card started to glow red, generating an immense amount of energy that the cardboard material should not have been able to withstand. The energy made the entire underground lab unbearably hot.
"Uh... Jarvis, I think I should leave the lab. It might be safer. What do you think?"
"Sir, I suggest you leave immediately!" Jarvis, who had been monitoring the card, issued a warning.
Tony didn't hesitate. He ran out of the basement, but he was a moment too late. As he reached the top of the stairs, the business card exploded. A ball of blinding flame erupted, engulfing the entire laboratory. The miniature Arc Reactor and energy transmitter were obliterated in the blast.
The only good news was that Jarvis had warned him in time, and he had listened, so he was unharmed. But his mood had grown even worse.
This was the third time. He had been attacked and put in danger three times in one day.
When the automatic fire extinguishers in the basement put out the flames, Tony walked back down with a grim expression. He picked up the business card, which lay completely undamaged on the floor.
"It's just paper, but it survived that kind of energy release? No... this pattern..."
The name "The Mandarin" had vanished from the card, replaced by a unique emblem. The background was red, with ten circles surrounding a pair of crossed swords. This had to be the symbol of the organization that had attacked him.
"Jarvis..."
"Searching, sir."
Jarvis quickly found the results and displayed them on a holographic screen that had survived the blast.
"The Ten Rings? Well, once I know your name, you better be ready to be destroyed."
After finishing his workday, Clark returned home. May was helping Peter with his homework, and Benjamin seemed to have been waiting for him in the living room.
"Dad," Clark said, taking a seat in front of him. He knew his father wanted to talk.
"Did you find any clues?"
Clark shook his head. He could see every corner of the Earth, but he couldn't see into the past. He had identified many terrorist organizations, but he couldn't determine which one was responsible for the attack. Unless he were to constantly monitor the world with his super vision and hearing, similar incidents would keep happening.
But it was clear that even though he had been influenced by many things and had even absorbed Lex Luthor's knowledge and wisdom to become more pragmatic, Clark was still Superman at heart. He couldn't bring himself to do something like constantly monitoring the entire world, even though it would be easy for him to do so.