"Looking at you like this, your trip wasn't very pleasant, was it, big brother?"
She originally thought Tony would come back triumphantly to brag about sending another bastard to prison. Unexpectedly, after Tony returned, he saw no guests and didn't show off by roasting the reporters. Instead, he quietly returned to his Villa. A curious Artoria hurried over to see him, only to find Tony clutching a black eye. It looked like he had been beaten quite badly, but why did it make her want to laugh so much?
"Alright, Artoria, stop laughing at your brother."
Looking wordlessly at Artoria, who was laughing so hard she was about to lose her breath, Tony held an ice pack to his eye socket. Even now, he couldn't open that eye; it was too swollen. That bastard didn't play by the rules and just knocked him to the ground. Even after the Arc Reactor was crushed, he still got punched by that guy rushing up.
"To even dare provoke a Russian old man, he's truly something. This punch wasn't that heavy."
Thinking this to herself, Artoria didn't say it out loud. The messy affairs of the past were far too convoluted. Artoria didn't understand what it was like back then and didn't dare jump to conclusions. This matter concerned the old man's reputation and couldn't be discussed.
"What happened to that guy?"
"He was sent to prison, of course. With my legal team's prosecution, sentencing him to a few hundred years won't be a problem."
"Oh, please! Right now, he's probably enjoying a delicious steak, drinking red wine, and having a pleasant 'transaction' with some 'gay' guy!"
Hearing Tony's words, Artoria couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. This guy completely failed to notice that his Arc Reactor was no longer exclusive. Everyone was watching, and once a second one appeared—especially if they had the capability—then Ivan would come out again to oppose Tony.
"Brother, this shouldn't be the first-generation Arc Reactor anymore, right?"
Seeing Tony's lack of concern and anxiety, Artoria carefully observed the Arc Reactor on his chest. It was clearly different from the one she saw last time. She hadn't paid close attention during the court hearing, but looking at it properly now, it was clearly an upgraded version.
"Yes, Artoria. I'm perfectly fine now, you don't need to worry about me anymore."
Hearing Artoria's words, Tony remembered that he had forgotten to tell his sister about 'discovering' the new energy source. His sister must have been very worried about his condition during this time. He really was a bad brother for not telling her immediately. It was a sin to let her worry for so long.
"Forget it, as long as you're okay. But having that thing in your body is always a problem. I've brought you a recovery agent we recently researched that has no side effects. If you want to take it out, I suggest you have a Doctor help you remove the shrapnel before using it."
Taking out a second-generation Extremis, Artoria handed it to Tony. Although she could heal Tony without surgery, she still wanted him to make the decision himself. After all, with the setting of Extremis repairing the body, the life-saving Arc Reactor became redundant. It was time for him to understand the mutual meaning between the existence of the suit and the name Iron Man.
"Think it over carefully."
After handing the potion to Tony, Artoria left, leaving Tony to think for himself. But Artoria knew that Iron Man would definitely not just disappear like that.
"Maya, what progress is there now?"
Setting aside Tony's troublesome matters, Artoria continued to throw herself into research. The experimental progress was decent. The research on Pym Particles had entered a phase and couldn't be rushed. Moreover, Hope hadn't given Artoria a good look lately, making Artoria lament that 'the ship of friendship sinks easily.' Best friends are really unreliable; Dr. Helen Cho is better. Recently, she's been so tired she's fallen asleep without realizing it. Her sleeping posture is like a kitten's, though—so cute. Carrying her to bed and seeing her face turn bright red the next day was really fun.
"Progress is going quite smoothly, Artoria. I didn't even expect it to actually succeed myself, although there's only this one finished product; all the others failed."
Maya brought a container holding a black-and-white spider for Artoria to see. She hadn't expected success on the first try. Although only this one spider was successfully bred, it still counted as progress. Especially when she used this spider to fuse with Gwen's blood sample, the success rate was actually one hundred percent. It was truly hard to believe; she almost thought Gwen was a giant spider turned human. She had never seen such a situation, where even the genetic fragments of both parents had many inconsistencies.
"A black and white spider."
Artoria looked at the spider flailing its legs in the container. It looked quite lively. It seemed Gwen becoming Spider-Woman might be destiny. Anyway, everything was now complete.
"Make it into a potion, do one last match with Gwen, then tell Gwen she can start the injection."
"Understood!"
After Maya left, Artoria, sitting in the office, disappeared with a 'pop!' into a cloud of smoke. In the empty underground Base, Artoria's original body opened its eyes.
"Let's make this situation even more chaotic!"
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