Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

The United States is too dangerous. I need to double, no, triple the number of bodyguards at home.

“Let me introduce you,” Tony said. “This guy’s name is Nick Fury, and he’s the head of a government department with a very long name.”

“It’s the ‘Homeland Strategic Defense, Attack and Logistics Agency’,” Fury said, “but now we have a short name for it: ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’”

Lu Mingfei rubbed his chin: "To be honest, in my impression, those departments with names that are hard to pronounce and remember, and whose names make it difficult to understand what they are responsible for, are usually used to pay the relatives of high-ranking leaders without working."

Fury took a deep breath and told himself to stay calm.

Although his suit offers good protection, there's still some exposed skin. If he were to be hit by both laxatives and tranquilizer darts at the same time, the scene would be...

It’s chilling to think about.

"Natasha, come here for a second." Fury decided to ignore Lu Mingfei's words and turned to call out to the outside.

A red-haired beauty in a tight-fitting bodysuit walked into the lab, and Tony's expression changed slightly—wasn't this his new assistant, Natalie?

“Let me introduce you, this is Natasha Romanoff,” Nick Fury said, “one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best agents.”

Natasha walked up to Lu Mingfei and Tony and stood there. Her tight-fitting clothes accentuated her beautiful figure, with long legs, a slender waist, and exquisite curves. Her wine-red wavy hair was draped down, and her collarbone was partially exposed.

"Wow!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed.

Natasha had received countless exclamations of admiration for her beauty, but this time was different. She was able to win over Lu Mingfei, who had previously shown no mercy to women, and Natasha actually felt a sense of satisfaction, as if she had finally gotten her revenge.

"Hello, Mr. Lu," Natasha said with a light laugh, revealing her mature, charming, and alluring feminine allure to Lu Mingfei.

"Your eye injury has healed!" Lu Mingfei said, genuinely happy for Natasha.

Natasha subconsciously touched her left eye, where she had been beaten a few days ago, and fell silent.

Chapter 50: Turning the Tables

In Tony's laboratory.

An eerily quiet silence fell over the room.

Fury, Natasha, Lu Mingfei, and Tony remained silent.

Logically speaking, Natasha should have the highest emotional intelligence among the four, but as the saying goes, "a doctor cannot heal himself."

So in the end, Fury took the initiative to speak and break the awkward silence: "Natasha has been enhanced by the Super Soldier Serum. Although the enhancement is not as exaggerated as Captain America's, she still has a strong recovery ability."

Upon hearing this, Lu Mingfei abruptly took two steps back from Natasha, as if she were not a beautiful woman, but a Cthulhu creature disguised as a beautiful woman.

Natasha stared silently at Lu Mingfei.

But you really can't blame Lu Mingfei for this. The last super soldier enhanced user he personally encountered was a terrifying creature that fought the Hulk in the middle of the city and could smash tanks like toys.

He was now terrified that the alluring Natasha in front of him would suddenly roar and tear her clothes apart...

Then its size suddenly increased, and it grew into a ferocious giant with a blue face and fangs, standing three meters tall.

Lu Mingfei stepped back, but Tony stepped forward, looking at Natasha with an unfriendly expression: "You're fired."

“That’s not up to you,” Natasha smiled.

"Since when can't I even decide for myself who I can hire as an assistant?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "Is American employment law just a piece of paper?"

“You can fire me anytime you want, as long as you pay the appropriate severance pay,” Natalie said with a confident chuckle. “But your life will probably be counting down from now on due to palladium poisoning.”

"Oh?" Tony's eyes darted around, but he didn't immediately reveal that he had already resolved the palladium poisoning issue. Instead, he asked, "From what you're saying, you have a way to save me?"

Natasha gave Fury an inquiring look, and Fury nodded.

Then Natasha pulled out a syringe from somewhere, strode forward, and plunged it into Tony's neck.

Lu Mingfei, who was standing nearby, reacted quickly and grabbed Natasha's wrist: "What are you trying to do?"

Tony took two steps back, looking at the syringe in Natasha's hand: "What's this?"

“Lithium dioxide, while it can’t cure the problem, can temporarily relieve your palladium poisoning symptoms,” Fury said. “Want an injection?”

“No, no, no,” Tony shook his head repeatedly. “Don’t even think about it. Your syringe doesn’t look like it’s been sterilized.”

"What?" Fury was taken aback. "So you'd rather endure the continuous corrosive effects of palladium on your body than get an injection?"

Lu Mingfei and Tony exchanged a glance, then burst into laughter at the same time.

Amidst Lu Mingfei and Tony's loud laughter, Fury suddenly had a very bad premonition.

Lu Mingfei and Tony didn't stop laughing until Fury was completely exasperated.

"Tony, should we tell him?" Lu Mingfei asked.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it,” Tony said.

This isn't a technology; it's just a small solution.

……

A few minutes later.

After listening to Lu Mingfei and Tony's account, Fury was dumbfounded.

His first reaction was similar to Tony's when he first heard Lu Mingfei's plan—"How could this be possible?!"

Natasha, who was standing to the side, was holding the palladium poisoning inhibitor that S.H.I.E.L.D. had spent countless funds developing, and suddenly felt very dazed.

Oh, Fury is also a bit silly.

"So, is there anything else you want to talk about?" Tony plopped down in a chair. "If not, let's talk about what you said when you came over."

Lu Mingfei, who was standing to the side, recalled that the bald man with a full beard and a head that looked like a moldy, hairy egg had interrupted his conversation with Tony about why the attacker Ivan Vanko had a microreactor when he first came in, saying, "Or there is another possibility, he originally had the original blueprints for the microreactor."

Thinking about it now, this contradicts what Tony said at the beginning.

Tony said that the microreactor was an improvement on the super-large reactor in his own company headquarters, and that he never actually made the blueprints into any physical form.

How could Ivan Vanke possibly have blueprints?

But when Lu Mingfei turned his head, he saw Tony staring at Fury's one eye with a serious expression: "Did Ivan Vanko's father, Anton Vanko, ever have any connection with Stark Industries?"

Jarvis found fairly detailed information about Ivan Vanko, but only scattered fragments about Anton Vanko, clearly indicating that Anton Vanko's information had been destroyed.

“I do have something to tell you about Anton Vanko,” Fury pointed to Tony’s chest, “but first, let’s start with that arc reactor in your chest.”

Tony pointed to the dismantled Arc Reactor on another table: "That's what you're talking about."

Fury glared at him irritably: "That's not important! In short, your reactor was built based on unfinished technology. Your father, Howard, originally had a more perfect plan to create a better energy source, but he was limited by the technology of the time and could not put that plan into practice. So your company's giant reactor is an unfinished product he made under the constraints of the technology at that time."

"Can I understand this as a youth version or a mini version?" Lu Mingfei raised his hand and asked.

“That’s a strange statement, but it’s true,” Fury said. “And when your father was trying to carry out this plan, he had an important collaborator, Anton Vanko. At the time, his relationship with your father was like two sides of the same coin.”

"Does it mean they are inseparable?" Lu Mingfei asked.

“I mean they were completely opposite,” Fury said. “When developing new technologies, Howard and Anton Vanko disagreed on how to use the technology and started fighting over it. Eventually, Howard expelled Anton Vanko from the United States. By then, the Soviet Union had collapsed, and Anton Vanko went to Russia, where he lived a life of debauchery.”

"Wait a minute, wasn't he the kind of person who could work on reactors with Tony's father? Why wasn't he given a prominent role after returning to Russia?" Lu Mingfei asked, puzzled.

“He only brought back an unfinished set of blueprints, which was not usable,” Fury said. “But it is clear that his son improved the technology based on the blueprints and data left by his father.”

“It’s not perfect yet,” Tony shook his head. “His reactor is rotating too slowly.”

Fury shook his head, not wanting to argue with Tony on this point, and said, "In short, whether it's your current Arc Reactor or the reactor that Ivan Vanko built, they are both made based on incomplete technology and lack the most important part."

“What?” Tony asked.

"You want to know?" Fury smiled confidently. "He said that only you have the resources and wisdom to break free from the shackles of technology and complete his original plan. And coincidentally, I happen to have some of the things he left behind here."

Tony paused for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "Is the missing part a new element?"

Fury's confident smile froze.

"Looks like I was right." Tony nodded.

"How did you know?" Fury's bald head was covered in black question marks.

“If you have some basic science knowledge, especially about engineering and materials science, it’s not that hard to deduce this,” Tony said.

"What knowledge do I need to deduce this thing?" Nick Fury cursed inwardly.

Lu Mingfei stood aside, pondering for a long time, but he also couldn't figure out how Tony had pushed it out.

He glanced at Natasha, who hadn't said a word, and noticed that she seemed to be lost in thought, as if she had given up trying to think.

After hesitating for a moment, Lu Mingfei gave up thinking and randomly found an open space where Jarvis could project his image, and started playing Tetris.

“But even if you figure it out, how are you going to create this completely new element?” Fury composed himself—it didn’t matter, Howard’s remaining data was all here, he would always find a way to control Tony.

Actually, he had approached Tony, who had recently become Iron Man, six months ago and invited him to join his side, but Tony refused without hesitation.

But now, as long as Tony gives in, getting him to truly join the Avengers he's formed, or to become an advisor or supporter of the Avengers, is a piece of cake.

Moreover, once Tony is won over, there will be more opportunities to interact with and observe the mysterious teenager beside him.

Fury felt his plans were about to go well.

"Why would I create a new element?" Tony suddenly countered. "What I have now works just fine."

Fury fell silent.

Right, Tony is no longer suffering from palladium poisoning, so the non-toxic new element is not a lifesaver for him.

Thinking of this, Fury couldn't help but glance at Lu Mingfei, cursing inwardly, "Damn it."

If this guy hadn't suddenly come up with such a wicked solution for Tony Stark, the legacy left by Howard would now be his biggest bargaining chip to control Tony.

“But according to what Howard said before, the new element will have several times more energy than this unfinished product.” Fury tried to tempt Tony from a different angle.

“Hmm…” Tony thought for two seconds, “But my current reactor is installed in the suit, and the energy is more than enough.”

“The new element reactor will have a higher output power!” Fury said.

“I can install multiple reactors on the suit, with each reactor responsible for the function of a major module,” Tony’s mind opened up after being enlightened by Lu Mingfei. “This way, the output power can be increased several times.”

Fury remained silent for a long time.

He finally managed to say, "Don't you want to know what your father originally envisioned as the new element?"

"Can't I just do it myself?" Tony said nonchalantly. "What he can figure out, I can do too. It'll just take a little more time."

Fury: ...