"Hey! I prepared some Italian desserts, want to try them?"
Justin Hammer, dressed in a suit, smiled.
In front of him stood a burly middle-aged man, body covered with tattoos, shoulder-length messy hair, and a toothpick between his teeth.
Ivan Vanko!
The same man who had attacked Stark on the racetrack and been arrested, only to break out of prison not long ago!
Villa laboratory.
After nearly a week of mad demolition, Stark finally calmed down for a while.
"Looks poor, huh."
Wearing a tank top, muscles bulging, Stark tossed aside the giant wrench used to adjust the prism refraction angle of the particle accelerator.
He had succeeded in creating an entirely new energy element!
"Sir, you've successfully created a new element and are ready to begin the testing phase."
Jarvis's calm voice sounded. "Please provide a name for this element."
Feeling the brilliance radiating from the new element, Stark's heart stirred.
After a moment's thought—
"Let's call it Palladium II."
It was to commemorate Saitama reminding him. Although the idea was old, without Saitama's reminder, Stark would still be clueless now.
But how did that guy even know? That was what puzzled Stark.
"Sir, Colonel Rhodey on the line."
Just then, a communication hologram popped up.
It was Colonel Rhodey.
"Hey, Stark, you look much better these days!"
"You too, buddy. What's up? Spit it out, I'm about to go racing."
With palladium finally replaced, Stark was in excellent spirits.
"Uh… well, last time…"
Colonel Rhodey carefully brought up the steel suit Saitama had promised him.
He'd thought to play it cool, maybe one day it'd show up as a surprise.
But nearly a month later—nothing.
Clearly, Saitama had forgotten.
"I see, Rhodey. Honestly, don't think I don't know you've been eyeing my suit. Don't worry, buddy, I've got just the thing for you! Jarvis, send it over."
He laughed.
This silver-colored suit, without surface treatment, had originally been designed with Rhodey's physique in mind.
After all, Stark didn't have many true friends—Rhodey counted as one.
On the other end, Rhodey tried to keep his voice steady, but any child could hear the joy bursting from him.
Unlike in the original story where he took the suit at a birthday party, here Stark gifted it to him directly.
Under Jarvis's control, the silver armor launched and locked onto Rhodey's coordinates.
And of course—
The self-defense protocols Saitama had mentioned were fully installed.
With his new energy source, Stark was in high spirits.
This guy had forcibly dragged Saitama out of his soap-opera-like life.
"Buddy, today we have to go racing! From New York to Washington! Forget TV and your Gauss sniper rifle—let's go!"
Blood boiling, Stark couldn't hold back his excitement.
Saitama, dead-fish eyes and yawning, looked at him.
This guy had one big problem.
Stay at home too long, and you become a total slacker!
Maybe it was time to move around a bit? Of course, his daily running and push-ups were never skipped—after all, Saitama was still a man of iron will.
"Knock, knock, knock~~~"
Just then—
A knock came at the door.
A beautiful figure leaned against the villa entrance.
Natasha, dressed in a tight skirt and white blouse accentuating her curves, her makeup flawless, enough to make most men's eyes shine.
But unfortunately—
The two men in front of her… one chewing gum with a bored expression, the other excited about racing, both completely overlooked her.
"Mr. Stark, Mr. Saitama, according to today's schedule—" Natasha said officially, flipping through the agenda.
"Damn the meeting. Tell him I'm out of town today."
Stark waved her off. Right now he only wanted to race Saitama, see who was faster.
After all—
Since their last meeting, how many suit generations had it been?
Mark III? Mark IV?
Either way, to catch up to Saitama, Stark had poured unbelievable effort into the armor.
"Tony Stark, Saitama, it really is hard to get a meeting with you two."
Just as they were about to leave the villa—
A deep, commanding voice came from the doorway.
In a leather coat and military boots, a stern-looking bald man with an eye patch stepped forward, extending his hand formally.
"Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I believe we need to talk."
"Well, looks like our race will have to wait. Say what you need to say—you've got three minutes."
Stark's face turned cold.
He hadn't expected to be tricked into this, so naturally his mood soured.
"Stark, the Mark armor is powerful, but palladium poisoning is unavoidable—"
"Palladium dioxide? Yeah, it works, but I don't need it anymore."
Before Fury could finish, Stark quietly pointed to the chest of his suit.
A triangular energy core—more stable and with higher energy density than palladium!
"A perfect substitute. A new element—Saitamium. Three times the density of palladium, zero poisoning issues. Didn't you know?"
Stark grinned smugly.
Nick Fury: "…"
Natasha: "…"
He had planned to leverage Stark's palladium poisoning, using it to recruit him into S.H.I.E.L.D.
That had been the original story, after all.
But now—
Damn it!
Something had gone wrong.
And even worse—
The real reason Fury had come was the man beside Stark, chewing gum and staring off like a salted fish.
Saitama.
Originally his strongest bargaining chip, now… he'd become untouchable.
Natasha and Fury both couldn't think of any way to sway Stark anymore.
So instead—
"Uh… didn't expect you'd already solved it. Congratulations. By the way, Saitama… Natasha mentioned you before. I wonder if you'd be interested…"
(End of Chapter)
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