Bang—!!
Gurgle...
Iron Man's suit kept malfunctioning, and after barely managing to take down two helicopters, Stark was blasted—along with the entire villa—into the ocean by Savin's missile barrage.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle...
[System Error]
Mark 42 failed again.
"Ha... Ha...!!"
Water submerged half of his helmet, and Stark could only tilt his head up, gasping for air.
To make matters worse—his anxiety attack kicked in at this moment.
The increasingly dark blue sea reminded Stark of the space wormhole scene from the Battle of New York... making his heart race uncontrollably...
J.A.R.V.I.S.: [Sir, please take a deep breath.]
"Uh... right... deep breath..."
Tony used the simple meditation techniques he learned back in Kamar-Taj, combined with deep breathing, to barely calm himself.
Just then, the flight function came online.
Seizing the moment before the water submerged his helmet completely, Tony fuzzily instructed Jarvis to initiate escape flight path...
A few seconds later.
Boom———!!!
Mark 42 shot out of the water and soared into the clouds, rapidly flying along the designated route...
New York Time, 5:26 PM.
Night was falling.
Ghost Spider Club, affiliated research institute.
Click—
Ye Li pushed open the door to the clone lab to inspect the scientists' latest results.
Inside the glowing green liquid of the tanks floated rows of identical bodies.
This cloning tech came from the Inheritor Clan's cloning factory data that Ye Li had copied.
In the comic storyline.
In the comic storyline, the Inheritor members resurrected through this tech. But now... their soul crystals had either been crushed or converted by Ye Li into summons, so this risk shouldn't be a concern.
Moreover, just to be safe.
For extra safety, all clone bodies were mindless husks, implanted with Chitauri-engineered chips to enable remote control—basically bio-weapons.
Why build this tech?
Uh... just for fun.
This is a management sim, after all. Expanding business operations is part of the game.
He figured these test clones could start as security guards for Silver Sable Security Co., and that would instantly boost performance stats.
Once the tech matured, Ye Li even planned to make some clone cannon fodder modeled after Nick Fury—
Let an army of bald-eyes charge into battle for him.
Yeah...
That'd be a blast...
Bzzt—
A call came in.
Ye Li glanced at the name and, unsurprised, picked up.
[Hello, Tony. Let me guess—you finally remembered our trip to Hawkins Town to study the space rift?]
Tony (irritated): [Forget your damn Hawkins Town. I'm in serious trouble—this damned auto-navigation dumped me... I don't even know where!]
[It's snowing like crazy... Jarvis didn't send me to Siberia, did he!?]
Jarvis (calmly): [Sir, technically... we are five kilometers outside Rose Hill, Tennessee.]
Tony sighed.
[Ha... better than Siberia, I guess... but not by much...]
Ye Li (mocking): [Sounds like you're about to die. Should I pass along a final message to Pepper?]
Tony: [This is not the time to joke, Li!]
Ye Li: [Hey, I did warn you. Did you know the newspapers reporting your death are selling like hotcakes?]
Tony: [Yeah, yeah... I brought this on myself. But seriously, Li—I need help this time.]
[I don't know anyone around here, and I've got dangerous people stalking me. I can't risk contacting just anyone...]
Ye Li: [So... you think I'm not just anyone?]
Tony: [As much as it pains me to say it, you're the most reliable guy I know...]
Ye Li (suspicious): [Really?]
Tony: [...Okay, okay. The most reliable is Black Spider. You're a close second. If you could get in touch with him, I'd be forever grateful...]
Ye Li: He leaned back in his chair, glancing at the green glow on his ring.
[Tsk~ Almost 6 o'clock already.]
[I'm booked for a dental cleaning with Louise right now…]
[Then dinner with Kate at 7...]
[And I still have to head back to the manor tonight to comfort my sweet girlfriends…]
[Sorry, Tony—my schedule's packed.]
Tony: "..."
'Are you the king of time management or what...?'
Tony (groveling): [Oh, dearest Li~ Can't you spare just a bit of your happy time with your harem, to save your best buddy in the whole world?]
Ye Li: [Gross. Fine, I'll throw you a bone...]
Ye Li glanced at the clones in the incubation tanks—
—It seemed like a perfect opportunity to test these clone soldiers, as they were transitional samples meant to be destroyed anyway...
[Black Spider is impossible to reach...]
Ye Li: [Let me recommend you Silver Sable Security's newest service, 'Fearless Mercenary Corps.' How about it, Tony? As an old friend, I can vouch for them—bulk orders get discounts, and we offer a tenfold compensation for any fakes~]
Tony: ".....?" 'What the hell?'
J.A.R.V.I.S. reminded: [Sir, armor energy is below 5%, system shutting down soon...]
[Hey hey hey!... J.A.R.V.I.S... wait!]
Tony hurriedly said: [Li, I'll take that whatever "Fearless Mercenary Corps"! Money is not an issue, just get them to help! I've sent you my location, hurry up!...]
Beep———
Disconnected tone.
It seemed that Tony's Iron Man suit had shut down.
Knock, knock.
Ye Li tapped his fingers on the table—
The Singaporean head of the research institute quickly rushed over eagerly, awaiting orders: "Boss, what are your instructions?"
"Are the equipment from Silver Sable Security all ready?"
"Rest assured, everything is prepared."
"Good. Arm the clone soldiers—I want to test your research."
"Ah! Y-Yes, of course!"
Since the benefactor wanted to inspect the results, the head of the research institute became nervous and quickly went to issue orders to his subordinates.