Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 6068 - 5084: The Fighter’s Fate (30)

"I need to figure out what’s going on here first." Nick felt neither frustrated nor exhilarated, calm as a talking steel plate.

"We asked Pamela but can’t access the lab’s surveillance. Maybe we should ask Iron Man himself..."

"Don’t alert him just yet." Nick said, "Once he realizes we’re considering expelling him, he might do something irrational. Let’s keep it under wraps and get someone to extract the surveillance footage."

Natasha understood; the situation required technical means, and they happened to have ample technical resources, mainly relying on JARVIS from another cosmos.

For others, the Stark Group’s defenses were tight, but for electronic life, it was like entering an empty realm. Jarvis quickly extracted the lab’s surveillance footage, and everyone was at a loss for words.

The issue mainly stemmed from the information gap between the two universes; they were unaware of each other’s capabilities, leading to a nuclear collusion, resulting in an instant big bang.

Iron Man, even though he’d been to the Battleworld, hadn’t really encountered Poison Ivy, especially not Pamela’s version. He was ignorant of the potency of Pamela’s combat plants, and even if he’d heard or been hit a couple of times, he didn’t learn his lesson, creating something new and rushing to test it out.

Pamela, although she’d heard of Iron Man and interacted with them frequently, it was all about the classic Mechanical Engineering version of Iron Man. She wasn’t clear about White Can’s accomplishments in biology, especially unaware that this was an Evil Iron Man, thinking he was a responsible superhero, hence placing the experimental version of the Extremis Virus in his hands with confidence.

Although Brainiac was familiar with Pamela, as electronic life, he lacked biological understanding. Even though he’d heard of Iron Man’s formidable Extremis Virus, he had no tangible impression and couldn’t anticipate the power when combined with these two elements.

Thus, this triad inadvertently created a huge disaster, directly assaulting the Rebirth Alliance from within. After this battle, the Assassin’s Union’s mouths were twisted in laughter, accomplishing with these tulips what countless assassins couldn’t.

Though the entire situation appeared comical, it concealed a lethal logic, questioning whether criminals could only be criminals.

Nick knew very well that this Iron Man had his morality reversed, yet he wasn’t the Joker-like mad criminal. He wasn’t the kind to harm others without benefit to himself, even harming himself to harm others; he was a cold, profit-first pragmatist.

Someone who commits wrongdoings for profit can also do good deeds for profit. This Evil Iron Man didn’t cut off the Stark Group’s charity donations after arriving, because the previous Iron Man was a superhero, and the Stark Group’s donations far exceeded tax evasion or reputation building, they genuinely did good.

This Evil Iron Man also didn’t stop the donations, for he clearly understood that spending a little money could maintain his image, earning reputation, and legitimizing certain actions; it wasn’t a loss. On the contrary, discontinuing donations would surely attract blame; if any wrongdoing were discovered, he wouldn’t be able to clear his name and would be further accused.

It shows that White Can is not mindlessly doing evil; he assesses the situation and makes choices most beneficial to himself, not always acting as a criminal.

However, today’s accidental occurrence seemed to be pushing him further down the criminal path. His experimental mishap nearly wiped out the Rebirth Alliance’s main base; who would still tolerate him?

If he believes no superhero will tolerate him anymore, they would either capture him or kill him, then to protect himself, he could only become an enemy of the Rebirth Alliance, ultimately becoming an Evil Iron Man.

Even if the Rebirth Alliance said, "I won’t hold it against you," he wouldn’t necessarily believe it. If he wasn’t afraid of future retribution, he wouldn’t have pretended ignorance. Last time sparking the Civil War, this time blowing up their homeland; without facing the Court, White Can’s conscience wouldn’t be eased.

Therefore, this matter is very tricky; it’s not something Nick can casually dismiss. The crux is that even if he says don’t address it, there is sure to be opposition within the Rebirth Alliance, making it difficult for him.

"Director." Carter’s face was solemn, calling out the original title, "We really can’t keep letting Iron Man off the hook; I can’t see any reason not to arrest him."

Before Nick could respond, Carter continued, "I know he may not have done it on purpose, just an accidental experiment. But those Cannibal Flowers injured two of my colleagues; what did they do wrong?"

"I’ve always said these mad scientists are uncontrollable, dangerous for both ordinary people and agents. Not imposing controls on them is irresponsible for people’s safety."

"Even if we can’t completely govern them, at least we should show an attitude; why can they harm us repeatedly yet remain carefree, without paying any consequences?"

Carter’s eyes were red, her tone not high-pitched but clearly filled with disappointment. Facing her questioning, Nick was speechless.

This was why he couldn’t explain the matter concerning destiny. If he told Carter and agents like her that Iron Man was probably being manipulated by destiny, becoming a victim, it would only add fuel to the fire.

It sounded like he desperately wanted to shield Iron Man, not even trying to find a reasonable excuse, just pushing it onto destiny; such explanations wouldn’t persuade anyone, only deepen their disappointment.

Standing aside, Natasha realized more profoundly the malevolence of destiny. Destiny would orchestrate a series of coincidences to divide people, some acting as villains, some as protagonists, while others as innocent spectators and victims, forever in conflict, unable to understand each other.

Natasha suddenly felt a flash of inspiration, something skimming through her mind, but it quickly became blurry. She realized that this idea might have touched on something, but she couldn’t properly perceive it yet, thus she couldn’t observe it.

How should she break the deadlock? Natasha pondered, adjudicating Iron Man would set him on a predetermined fate, while letting Iron Man go would surely lead the Rebirth Alliance down a tragic path.

"Stall her," Brainiac’s voice suddenly echoed in Nick’s earphones, "I’m attempting to rectify my mistakes."

Nick pressed his earphones, acknowledging Brainiac’s presence, though he temporarily had no time to argue with him. What was this electronic life trying to do now?

Brainiac explained at lightning speed what he was doing: "Neither capture nor pacification are good solutions; this experimental accident must be more than just an accident to reverse the situation at its root."

Nick furrowed his brows, puzzled but silent. Brainiac continued: "The Mutants and the Assassin’s Union have made a deal, and the Assassin’s Union is planning a disruption targeting the wedding, I’m trying to influence the Assassin’s Union through the Mutants, diverting them to the warehouse storing the wedding props."

Nick seemed to understand his intention, sighed, and said, "I’ll try my best to pacify the agents, you have to be quicker."

"What did you say?!" Iron Man, flying in midair, incredulously asked Brainiac, "Poison the warehouse?"

"Ha, you evil artificial intelligence, finally showing your true colors, huh?!" Iron Man said, somewhat smugly, "You came here to sabotage the wedding, all previous disguises were for this moment, right?"

"I won’t go." Iron Man shook his head, "I’m not that stupid, destroying the warehouse now would have the Rebirth Alliance hunting me to the ends of the earth. Lately, I need to behave to have a chance to infiltrate them again."

"I’m not here to ask for your opinion," Brainiac stated, "Grab your Extremis Virus, we’re leaving."

With that, the mecha flew off with a whoosh. Iron Man roared in the armor, "What are you doing?! Let me go!!"

Without the mecha, he might be in grave danger, inside the mecha, he was this electronic life’s plaything. Imprisoned within the iron shell, there was nothing he could do, he had to follow whatever Brainiac commanded.

If it were the classic Iron Man, he might have had some way, but the White Can controlled his Symbiote Armor, usually through mind control, he wasn’t adept at manually controlling the mechanical armor, leaving him at Brainiac’s mercy.

Brainiac took him to the warehouse, directly controlled his arm, took out the experimental version of the Extremis Virus, then poured it over the flowers in the warehouse.

Iron Man gasped, "What are you doing?! This will ruin these..."

Before he could finish, he heard some commotion outside the warehouse. After spilling everything, Brainiac flew him out the back door, then hid atop a building, watching below, seeing a horde of pitch-black ninjas surrounding the warehouse.

The warehouse had guards, but Brainiac bypassed them with Iron Man. However, the ninjas didn’t plan on bypassing them; they intended to kill everyone.

Hal wasn’t foolish; he knew the warehouse was crucial, thus sent skilled fighters who clashed with the ninjas for a while.

Elsewhere, the Rebirth Alliance also received news of the warehouse attack. Despite the agents’ significant dissatisfaction with Iron Man’s experimental accident, nobility is the epitaph of the honorable; they still didn’t want to let the wedding be destroyed, so they took up weapons and went.

When a mass of agents arrived at the scene, the warehouse security personnel had been forced back inside the warehouse. The pitch-black surrounding ninjas all had scarlet eyes, swirling black energy shurikens flying. The alluring woman standing at the center was Talya, Ra’s al Ghul’s own daughter.

The Assassin’s Union posed a grand formation, leaving the agents unsure because firearms rarely harm ninjas adept at escape techniques, necessitating close combat, with inevitable casualties.

The agents formed an array, slowly advancing. The assassins darted forward, and a great battle was on the verge of eruption.

But just then, a strange noise suddenly emanated from within the warehouse, something rustling, then the entire warehouse began shaking.

With a "bang," the door fell, and countless giant, fanged flowers shot out, snapping at people. Lavender acted as long whips, lisianthus as heavy hammers, dahlias even swallowed ninjas whole. The Assassin’s Union’s formation crumbled instantly, and the once-mighty Talya was directly rammed against a wall by a French rose.

The agents holding pistols were momentarily confused, glanced at each other, starting to wonder whether they had ever bullied any plants before.