Boom! Almost everyone in the audience stood up.
Among the reporters, only the picky female reporter was still sitting with her arms crossed. Her long legs were crossed, but her eyes were filled with shock.
Just now, she had only wanted to give some heartless guy a hard time. She wasn’t prepared at all for this earth-shattering news.
Phil smiled bitterly at the back of the venue and said to Pepper, who had a helpless expression on her face, “I’ll get going first. It’s going to be busy again for a bit. Goodbye, Miss Pepper.”
Pepper quickly got up. “Agent Coulson, thank you for everything you’ve done for us.”
That night, Coulson had stalled Obadiah, despite the danger, which could be considered saving her, and Pepper was very grateful.
Phil smiled again. “No need. That’s my job. You can contact me if you need anything in the future.”
Pepper thought for a moment. “It’s called Strategic Homeland…”
“Just call us SHIELD.” Phil smiled and left.
…
On the other side, Robert was pouring milk in front of the TV. When he heard the earth-shattering declaration, his hand shook, and a large amount of milk spilled out.
It wasn’t that he was excited, but that he had been secretly despising this rich tycoon just now.
Phrases like “bad guy” and “weak chicken” and “I can beat up fifty of this guy” had popped up in his head, but this person turned out to be… Iron Man.
Iron Man was the second superhero to step onto the stage, and Robert had watched the video of Tony saving someone earlier on. He knew that unless he set a trap, he basically had no way to deal with an enemy as powerful as this.
In a head-on confrontation, Iron Man could beat up fifty of him.
Luke didn’t mock Robert. He simply handed him a towel.
Of course, if he knew that a certain sheriff was comparing fifty Roberts with Iron Man, he would definitely mock him.
Obadiah’s Iron Monger was equipped with guided missiles, and Tony’s Iron Man Armor naturally could do the same.
How could a soldier with a flesh and blood body compete with a rich man like Tony, who played with high tech?
As the saying went, the rich relied on technology; the cheat was that most technological products could be mass-produced and constantly replenished.
The poor, on the other hand, relied on mutations and their own bodies to survive.
Tony only needed to move his mouth and he could launch a small missile; Jarvis could even lock onto the target.
Most mutants would find it hard to achieve similar results by relying on their own physical capabilities.
This was the superhero version of “the rich move their mouths, the poor break their legs.”
After Robert wiped his hands and the table, Luke said with a smile, “So? Don’t you think it’s a little safer to become a shareholder of superhero Iron Man’s company?”
Robert smiled. “Superheroes absolutely aren’t as useful as Stark Industries. If it wasn’t for Stark Industries, this tycoon might not even dare admit that he’s Iron Man. Don’t get involved with him in the future. There’s no benefit and you might run into bad things.”
Luke nodded humbly.
He naturally thought the same, which was why he rarely interacted with Tony as a detective.
Batman, however, didn’t have such concerns! Whoever wanted to target Batman could look for him. In any case, this identity would be put to rest in a few months.
…
In Los Angeles, Tony had returned to the Malibu villa to hide.
Pepper would take care of things outside; there was no need for him to mess things up.
Pepper even asked him half-jokingly, “You did it on purpose, didn’t you? So you can hide and study this thing you brought back?”
As she spoke, she looked at Iron Monger in the basement.
Tony laughed; there really was no need to answer that question.
He simply released his authority and had Pepper use the funds in his secret accounts to secretly buy back Stark Industries shares.
This time, he was going to become the real owner of Stark Industries. He couldn’t let that stupid board of directors sweep him out like garbage again.
The shareholders on Obadiah’s side would also be kicked out of the company.
In any case, Stark Industries’ shares were still falling. He didn’t believe that these people could tolerate it.
But that was Pepper’s job.
What Tony was most interested in was Iron Monger in front of him, or more precisely, the damage on its body.
Looking at the perspective drawing of Iron Monger which Jarvis projected on the virtual screen, Tony mumbled, “Each time, he cut into the ports of the outer joints, or cut off certain control wires. These were very targeted attacks which basically destroyed Iron Monger’s mobility.”
Jarvis said, “Yes, sir. Comparing this with the video we filmed at the time, we can confirm that Batman knows quite a bit about the structure of Iron Monger.”
Tony felt his scalp go numb. “This guy only saw Mark 1 once, and he already researched countermeasures? He’s the first person to know my real identity. Is he… monitoring me?”
Although he wasn’t sure if that was the case, he immediately instructed, “Jarvis, formulate a new security plan for the villa.”
Hesitating for a moment, he continued, “Have all the security guards in the villa take leave and wait to be checked.”
He couldn’t trust the security guards now.
A few nights ago, Obadiah had almost killed him, but the security guards hadn’t noticed anything unusual.
Then, Batman arrived in time to save him, but the security guards had still been unaware.
Even if he didn’t find anyone suspicious after a thorough investigation, they still needed to be retrained.
Tony didn’t continue with this line of thought; this matter would still take time. It was still better now to continue studying Batman.
“What about the residue on the damage to Iron Monger?” he asked.
Jarvis said, “It’s a chromium alloy, but it’s nothing special. It’s very widespread on the market.”
Tony frowned. “From the dagger?”
Jarvis said, “Uncertain; it could just be the plating.”
Tony sighed. “Fine, this guy wouldn’t be so careless as to let me track him down through the raw materials.”
He played the video of Batman attacking Iron Monger again. After watching it for a moment, he mumbled, “My previous estimation of this guy’s combat ability was completely wrong. If Mark 2 didn’t have high-speed flight and long-range attacks, it would be hard to beat him.”
Jarvis said, “Yes, sir. Batman has only ever used darts, so it’s uncertain if he has a way to break through Mark 2’s defense.”
Tony shook his head. “To be able to find Iron Monger’s weaknesses so easily, his skill level isn’t low either. If he uses that knife to attack some of Mark 2’s joints, he might succeed. It seems that I need to speed up the development of the subsequent models.”
Saying that, he looked at the pager on his wrist.
After hesitating for a long while, he finally didn’t activate it, but he didn’t take it off either.
He could just wear it like this; in any case, the style was alright.
That was what he thought, but he still couldn’t help but complain: This color is too ugly. How about… giving it a gold and red coat?