Chapter 139: Captain America Is Not Dead?

“Spare me. I only wanted to test whether the name Iron Man was truly as formidable as people said. I never intended to kill you.”

The nearness of death filled Ivan Vanko with fear, and he began to beg for mercy.

If Tony Stark killed him in New York, then even after his death, Tony Stark would surely bear some measure of condemnation.

It might not be enough to ruin Tony Stark’s reputation, but it could still bring him a great deal of trouble.

Yet Tony Stark had taken him away from New York, where ordinary people could not see him.

If anyone later asked questions, given Tony Stark’s relationship with the military, completely covering up his death would be effortless.

He was not afraid of dying. He regretted only that he could not drag Tony Stark down with him.

“Too late.”

Hearing Ivan Vanko’s words, Tony replied coldly.

The thrusters of Tony’s iron armor suddenly erupted with flames. With a burst of acceleration, a sonic boom tore through the sky.

Without the protection of iron armor, Ivan Vanko’s body was caught in the terrifying vortex created by the sonic boom and churned into a mass of sludge.

Tony then swept across the remains with a repulsor blast, reducing everything to ashes. Only after dealing with all of this did he fly back toward New York.

It was merely a minor interlude, and Tony soon returned home.

※※※※※※

Harvey watched as Ivan Vanko was killed outright by Tony.

He knew that the later plan—to use Ivan Vanko’s intellect to create an army equipped with armor resembling Iron Man’s, rival Stark Industries, and target Tony—could no longer be carried out.

According to the original timeline, Thor had been due to arrive just after Tony dealt with this trouble.

Although the plan had now been disrupted, Ivan Vanko’s appearance also meant that Thor and Captain America would be arriving soon.

Harvey withdrew his downward gaze, deep in thought.

Previously, even if Ivan Vanko had nearly killed Tony, Tony would at most have sent him to prison.

But now that Tony had realized his opponent truly meant to kill him, he had shown no mercy whatsoever.

After joining the Void, Tony’s manner of doing things had clearly changed. He had become somewhat less merciful and far more decisive.

Still, so long as Tony did not lose his reason or violate the commandments of the Void Cult, Harvey would not interfere with any changes in his conduct.

Harvey then turned his attention to the game before him.

Although the Marvel world differed in many ways from the world of his previous life, games had not changed very much.

It was 2011, and several new games had been released, giving Harvey considerably more ways to pass the time.

※※※※※※

Many people in the United States failed to notice that Tony had killed someone, but S.H.I.E.L.D. had monitored some of what happened.

Inside S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Nick Fury watched the footage over and over again. Seeing Tony act without the slightest hesitation, he felt a faint sense of wariness arise within him.

Originally, Tony was the son of Howard Stark, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s founders.

Once Tony understood the organization and his relationship with it, their ties should have become fairly close.

As long as neither side went too far, Tony would never have attacked S.H.I.E.L.D.

But after coming into contact with Harvey, Tony’s personality had undergone certain changes.

Tony had agreed to join S.H.I.E.L.D., but he had also signed an agreement.

Unless the enemy was a superpowered individual, or the situation involved an urgent and extraordinary incident related to extraterrestrials, they could not take the initiative to ask Tony for assistance.

Nor could they enter Tony’s estate without permission.

If Tony discovered them doing so, he would have the right to decide whether or not to withdraw from the Avengers.

In other words, S.H.I.E.L.D. was not the party in control. That power rested with Tony.

Now that Tony, the one holding the initiative, had become even more decisive in his actions, S.H.I.E.L.D. had to reconsider how it would deal with him in the future.

Just then, an encrypted message arrived on Nick Fury’s phone.

When Nick Fury read it, his eyes narrowed. His confidence immediately increased by a considerable degree. At last, he had a reliable combat asset he could use.

※※※※※※

After returning home, Tony encountered Pepper.

“Tony, where have you been?”

“Why do I smell blood?”

When Pepper saw Tony come back, she moved her nose slightly and asked with some confusion.

“A lunatic suddenly tried to kill me, so I dealt with it.”

Tony made no attempt to conceal the matter.

“You’re keeping such a low profile these days. How could you still manage to make enemies?”

Hearing that a lunatic had attacked him, Pepper asked doubtfully.

“JARVIS, explain it to Pepper.”

Tony thought for a moment, then gave the instruction directly.

“Of course, sir.”

“Miss Potts, the lunatic who attacked Mr. Stark was the son of Ivan Vanko, whose father was once an enemy of Mr. Stark’s father…”

JARVIS knew that Tony did not want Pepper to mistake him for someone who casually slaughtered innocent people.

Thus, JARVIS immediately displayed a large amount of information, along with video footage of Ivan Vanko launching the first attack, and explained the entire chain of events in detail.

“I see. Then go wash the armor quickly. I don’t much care for the smell of blood.”

After hearing the explanation, Pepper understood and spoke.

“I don’t care for it either, which is why I’ve already had JARVIS Two clean it.”

Tony had also removed the iron armor by then. Dressed in casual house clothes, he came up from the underground laboratory and spoke.

After joining the Void, all five of Tony’s senses had become sharper. Even the faintest trace of blood was detectable to him.

And the smell of blood directly clinging to his own body was naturally even stronger.

Tony was not obsessively fastidious, but he did have a certain degree of cleanliness. He could hardly tolerate blood on his armor.

While Tony and Pepper were talking, JARVIS suddenly spoke.

“Mr. Stark, there is a situation at S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“They appear to have discovered Captain America.”

Any messages transmitted within S.H.I.E.L.D., whether through surveillance systems or mobile phones, were continuously monitored by JARVIS.

The information concerning S.H.I.E.L.D.’s discovery of Captain America had been sent to only a small number of people, but its security classification was not particularly high. JARVIS had therefore intercepted it with ease.

“Captain America?”

“Isn’t that guy’s human-shaped statue still sitting in a museum?”

Hearing the name Captain America, Tony froze for a moment before speaking.

“To be precise, S.H.I.E.L.D. has discovered Captain America frozen in ice and is currently transporting him back to New York.”

“Under normal circumstances, an ordinary person would certainly die after being frozen in ice. However, Captain America is a superhuman who was injected with the Super-Soldier Serum. He did not die.”

“You mean some old relic who supposedly died decades ago in history is still alive?”

Hearing JARVIS’s explanation, Tony spoke thoughtfully.

“Yes.”

JARVIS gave him an affirmative reply.

“That old relic still hasn’t died? The world truly is full of wonders.”

Tony was somewhat astonished that someone from his father’s era had not died, but had instead survived the passage of time by being frozen and lived into the modern age.