Henry looked at the new element quietly suspended in the core of the reactor, and his smile gradually faded, replaced by complex emotion.
"I have to say, this thing is simply something that spans eras," he said softly.
"I can't imagine how Dad conceptualized this thing out of thin air in that era, with only vacuum tubes and punch cards."
Tony also stared blankly at the small miracle that contained infinite energy, his own brain seeming to crash.
He had always thought he had surpassed his father, but this tiny element was like a silent slap, squarely hitting his damned pride.
Henry looked at the reactor, his heart equally full of emotion.
He couldn't fathom how much of a genius Howard Stark was to conceive such a pre-emptive theory in a technically sparse era.
Watching the movie is one thing; truly understanding these things makes you realize how much of a genius they really are.
He didn't even have the appropriate equipment to verify it, only being able to hide this grand concept in a seemingly ordinary city model, waiting for his son to discover it.
Perhaps Howard was the truly unique genius.
And he and his equally narcissistic brother were just incidental beneficiaries standing on the giant's shoulders, inheriting his legacy.
Of course, this analogy is not entirely accurate, as Tony's talent should not be overlooked, but at this moment, Howard deserved such praise.
"It's acceptable," Tony's arrogant complaint broke the silence of the lab.
"Although the design concept is a bit outdated, and the structure is a bit simple, it barely passes. Of course, it's still far inferior to mine. If I had designed it, I wouldn't have hidden it so well."
He said, taking a deep breath, then raised an eyebrow and enthusiastically commanded.
"Alright! Now that the new element is made!"
"J.A.R.V.I.S.! Immediately contact the world's best surgical team for me! The best! I want to have the surgery as soon as possible! Get all this junk metal that's been sitting in my chest for so long removed!"
"Yes, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. immediately responded.
"Currently screening the top one hundred cardiothoracic surgeons globally, conducting background checks and scheduling appointments..."
"No need, J.A.R.V.I.S."
Just then, Henry's lazy voice cut in.
He walked up to Tony, looked at him with an expression that said You're an idiot, and then unceremoniously mocked him: "I said, Tony, did they modify your brain in that experimental chamber until all that was left was muscle? Did you forget something important?"
"Forget what?" Tony looked confused; he clearly hadn't followed Henry's train of thought.
"I remember everything perfectly. Like how you just lost the competition."
"I'm not talking about that!" Henry felt his blood pressure rising again. He pointed at himself with an expression that implied are you blind.
"With me here, why do you need some damned surgeon?! Are you insulting me? Or do you think that bunch of old guys who only know how to hold a scalpel and can't even control their shaky hands are more reliable than me?"
"Why?" Tony retorted; he had no idea what Henry was getting at.
"When did you get a medical license? How come I don't know? Did they happen to train you in surgery while Hydra was kidnapping you?"
Henry didn't answer directly. He had already started pulling up Tony's detailed body scan on the control panel.
"Because I am the best surgeon," he said without turning his head while operating the controls.
"And my surgery doesn't require anesthesia or a scalpel. Remember that unscientific-sounding bio-force field I told you about last time? You didn't forget that quickly, did you?"
"Did you forget how Banner and that soldier were express-mailed all the way back from New York by me? Did you think I really carried them flying for thousands of miles with my hands? I don't have those strange proclivities."
Tony was stunned.
He certainly remembered.
When Henry had explained it to him, he thought the guy was joking and was even excitedly suggesting he wanted to study the force field.
Later, he finally understood why Henry possessed such tremendous power yet was always able to keep destruction to a minimum.
But he was still hesitant.
"Do we really have to do it this way?" he looked at Henry, uncertainty in his eyes.
"Perhaps, I think we should be safer. You know, surgery is a very tiring and exhausting thing. As your older brother, I don't want you to work too hard."
Henry stopped what he was doing. He turned around, saw Tony's awkward expression, and couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh? Is that so?" he teased with a smile.
"I just think you're afraid that I, an unlicensed doctor, might accidentally slip and crush the lightbulb in your chest. Don't worry, I know my limits."
He walked up to Tony, patted his shoulder, and reassured him: "Come on, don't be a kid. Just sleep for a while, and I promise you'll wake up with everything sorted out. Besides, you're Captain America's butt now; your recovery ability is as strong as a cockroach's, you won't die."
With that, he half-coaxed, half-pushed Tony onto a medical platform that had been prepared nearby.
"Hey! Wait!" Tony saw Henry's hand slowly rising and tried to make a final plea.
"I just think we should take a shower first, change clothes, have a meal, and then..."
"Don't worry," Henry interrupted him, a smile on his face.
"Captain America won't die from such a minor injury."
Then, before Tony could utter his next snide remark, Henry's finger gently touched his forehead.
Tony only felt a darkness before his eyes, and then he knew nothing more.
"What a garrulous fellow," Henry looked at the instantly unconscious Tony and shook his head.
He turned around and said to the air, "J.A.R.V.I.S., are the surgical tools ready?"
"Please look behind you, sir."
Henry looked back and saw that a flexible robotic arm had silently deployed a sterile platform.
On it were only a few simple medical instruments: forceps, hemostats, sutures, and an Arc Reactor already equipped with the new element.
The sutures and these things wouldn't be used much; they were mainly for backup.
Henry didn't need complex surgical equipment because he himself was the most precise instrument in the world.
His bio-force field could directly penetrate Tony's skin and muscle in a small range, like an invisible pair of hands, precisely encapsulating the shrapnel embedded around his heart and removing them without causing any damage.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., perform a deep scan of Tony's body again," Henry said while slowly suspending his hands above Tony's chest.
"I need to know the exact location of every blood vessel and every nerve in his body."