Chapter 1865 - Locking onto the Target, and Borrowing for the Time Being

Everybody looked at each other in dismay.

Nobody else had noticed that when Ultron attacked with the Iron Legion robot.

Luke hadn’t gone to the party, and only confirmed later that Tony had created Ultron by using Loki’s scepter.

The other people at the party weren’t capable of doing something like this, so they naturally weren’t suspects.

It made sense that Luke wouldn’t know that Dr. Helen Cho had been involved in this incident.

When Dr. Banner mentioned her at the moment, Luke recalled who she was.

As a top geneticist and nanotech expert in South Korea, she was one of the talents in Luke’s database of candidates whom he wouldn’t mind taking in if there was a chance.

Thus, he remembered this beautiful doctor.

Looking at her research project and results, he confirmed that this beautiful doctor was working on a research project called Regeneration Cradle.

To put it simply, the Regeneration Cradle could be called a ‘biological 3D printer.’

A regular 3D printer could print metal parts and machinery based on a pre-set design, while the Regeneration Cradle could ‘print’ tissue and organs – and even a full human body.

More importantly, the ‘special metal’ had unique qualities – it was possible that Helen Cho might really be able to ‘print’ out some amazing thing.

Even if it was slightly weaker than Steve’s shield, it would still be a super weapon that was hard to destroy.

Tony also looked up Helen Cho’s profile. After flipping through it quickly for a moment, he paused. “Helen Cho’s lab is in Seoul, South Korea. There hasn’t been anything strange about the equipment or personnel recently. If Ultron wants to create a new body, he can only go there.”

Luke looked up Helen Cho’s itinerary on the multifaceted system and agreed with Tony’s speculation. “She went to the lab two hours ago. She might even now be helping Ultron to make a new body.”

Steve said, “Everyone has three minutes to get ready before we move out. Any problems with that?”

Nobody objected. Everybody got up silently.

Nick Fury also stood up. “Tony, lend me Hill for a bit.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Hasn’t she always worked for you?”

A moment later, the base floated to the surface, and the protective layer opened to reveal a landing pad.

A Quinjet rose into the air and headed east.

The protective layer quickly closed back over the base and sank down into the ocean once more.

Phil returned to the meeting room and sighed as he looked at the virtual screen that was still open. “I hope everything goes smoothly.”

The Avengers and Batman’s strongest trio had been deployed; he lacked the strength to join the battle this time.

Nevertheless, New SHIELD’s agents could be used as a backup force. Once a large number of people were needed to clean up or help maintain order, it would be their turn.

…

On the Quinjet, nobody said anything for several minutes.

Tony and Steve were at loggerheads. Hawkeye and Natasha weren’t chatty people, and they just examined and adjusted their equipment.

Dr. Banner was writing and sketching who knew what on a tablet.

Luke, however, didn’t think they could carry on like this.

It was 13,000 kilometers from Gibraltar to South Korea.

This Quinjet was an aircraft specially modified by Tony for the Avengers. It could cruise at 2.5 Mach, which was much faster than Luke’s standard 2.1 Mach.

That was why Luke’s gang had squeezed onto this plane.

However, it would still take more than four hours to reach South Korea.

It wasn’t that Luke had to talk to someone; it was just that nobody was talking at all, and everyone was acting like the plane was about to crash.

However, it would be even stranger for Batman to strike up a conversation. He decisively sent Selina a message.

It was time for Selina, Director of the PDD and Secretary-General of the Justice League, to step forward and make her existence known.

Selina couldn’t help but roll her eyes. This remote-controlled android didn’t have that function, and could only send a certain person a ‘fluttering’ of images.

Then, she coughed and said, “Hawkeye, Steve, Dr. Banner, for this operation, the Justice League has put together some gear for you. Since we have time now, how about I explain how to use it?”

Everybody in the plane paused to look at her, and then glanced at the tycoon with strange expressions.

Selina, however, seemed to know what they were thinking. “You’re only borrowing the gear for the time being. If you like it, you can buy it from the bigshot. Of course, we’ll cover damages sustained in battle.”

Everybody’s expressions immediately returned to normal.

That bigshot who sold everything was the classic businessman.

It was very normal for Batman and Black Cat, whom he was on good terms with, to do some marketing for him in passing.

The Avengers had bought a lot of equipment and life-saving items from the bigshot.

It wasn’t that Tony was stingy, but that the tycoon was a little biased in what he made.

He didn’t make anything that was mass-produced, trash, ugly or uninteresting.

Also, Tony really didn’t have the time. Making improvements to the armor alone – turning it into a battle nanosuit with functions like a mental probe and a personal energy shield – already kept him very busy. How could he have the time to play with low-end trash?

Besides, he got a lot of technology from Batman and the bigshot on the condition that he couldn’t steal business.

The bigshot’s meaning was very simple: I specialize in selling low- to mid-range products, while you’re not interested in making those to begin with, so we’ll just split the range beforehand.

Why did Natasha, Hawkeye and Steve buy equipment from the bigshot? Because it was cheap and convenient, of course.

The mass-produced goods were delivered to a designated location in 12 hours, while ordinary custom-made products usually took less than a week.

If they asked Tony for help, they would have to endure Tony’s poisonous tongue first, and then wait three to five weeks, or even three to five months.

They were all people who cared about dignity, and they weren’t the kind to idle around either.

They got fair deals with the bigshot and received the goods in a timely manner.

Credit was the currency which both parties used. They just needed to abide by the saying that “business was business”; it had nothing to do with personal favors.

Hm, Natasha being thousands of credit points in debt was similar to an ordinary person maxing out their credit card.

Would the person feel guilty toward the bank? Obviously not.

As the ‘bank,’ the bigshot wasn’t afraid of anyone reneging on their debts.

After a few years, everybody had naturally gotten used to it.

Tony noticed everybody’s expressions and didn’t say anything.

It was convenient to get stuff from the bigshot, but everything had to be paid for.

Also, if it wasn’t for his standing with Batman and the bigshot, would these teammates of his be able to enjoy priority treatment in purchases, or buy things on a tab?

Did the plane they were on right now cost nothing to modify? The Avengers flew around on it every day, yet didn’t spend a single credit point.

There were a lot of other things like this plane which the Avengers had for ‘public’ use.

Tony never said anything because he was too proud to.