Nick Fury left in disgrace, having arrived with the same lack of dignity. In truth, if he had simply knocked on the door and conducted himself with basic courtesy, Ben would not have been so ruthless in his response.
After all, the reason Ben had told Tony not to keep his identity secret was specifically to facilitate a potential deal with Nick Fury. But the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director had proven to be even greedier than Ben had anticipated—he wanted everything while offering nothing in return.
Ben understood that Nick's refusal regarding the Tesseract was reasonable. The artifact was indeed one of the greatest treasures in the universe, and Ben didn't necessarily need to possess it permanently. His initial request had been deliberately exorbitant—a standard negotiating tactic.
Business was about give and take, and there was nothing wrong with starting high and bargaining downward. If Nick couldn't provide the Cube, perhaps he could arrange for Ben to study it for a few days under supervision? When that was also refused, Ben had moved to his secondary objectives.
Ben had revealed his true intentions, directly requesting Nick's assistance in obtaining permits for experimental work in Antarctica. The Security Council's approval would be necessary to bypass the various international treaties governing research in the region.
But Nick had refused that request as well.
How can you do business if you won't consider any offers? Ben had thought. If you just want everything for free, what's the point of negotiating?
So Ben had promptly escorted Nick Fury out of the building.
Before leaving, Nick had been reluctant to give up entirely and had thrown Ben a business card. Ben had been about to toss it into the trash when his eyes caught sight of the destroyed sofa and he had a better idea.
"Eunice, call Nick Fury."
"Yes sir, calling Nick Fury for you."
Nick Fury, who had just left Primus not long ago, had turned on his vehicle's air conditioning system. The cool air blowing across his face helped him feel more relaxed after the confrontation.
"Did the deal go through?" Natasha asked from the passenger seat. Her single question reminded Nick of the torture he had endured just minutes earlier.
After his visit to Primus, Nick Fury felt like he had ventured to the gates of hell and nearly died there. The memory of that energy weapon's blue beam was still fresh in his mind.
He shook his head grimly. "That guy is even more ruthless than I am! I just wanted some free medicine and a little financial support, but he dared to ask for the Tesseract. He's completely insane!"
"So the negotiations fell through?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.
Nick Fury had confidently stated that he would personally handle the recruitment and secure Ben's cooperation. Now it seemed that confidence had been misplaced.
"Why rush? This is all part of the game!" Nick rolled his eyes at her. Instead of driving immediately, he mentally reviewed all of Ben's conditions.
The Tesseract was obviously non-negotiable. Even lending it for a few days would be impossible. If Ben wanted to conduct research, it would have to be under S.H.I.E.L.D. supervision with all data synchronized to their systems. That would essentially mean Ben working for S.H.I.E.L.D. rather than the other way around.
As for the Antarctica request, Nick could actually consider that option. The continent was valuable for scientific research but difficult to develop commercially. As long as Ben's experiments didn't involve radioactivity or environmental contamination, it wouldn't be a major issue.
The problem was that the United States didn't have unilateral authority over Antarctica. When the matter was reported to the Security Council, why should other countries pay for something that primarily benefited S.H.I.E.L.D.? It was unrealistic.
Of course, Nick could potentially convince them by trading away some other interests, but why bother?
In business negotiations, there was no need to rush. You pulled back and forth for a while, then pretended to leave. Whoever got impatient first would lose first.
Nick Fury was in no hurry. He was waiting for Ben to call him first.
"I'm just applying pressure," Nick explained to Natasha. "Wait and see—I guarantee he'll call me soon."
Just as he finished speaking, his phone rang!
Nick looked at the vibrating device in his hand and couldn't help but smile smugly.
"See, I told you!" Nick grinned, shaking his head and winking at Natasha. "It's faster than I thought. Young people are just impatient. Just wait and see how I handle him!"
Natasha was genuinely impressed. "Is it really that effective?"
"Of course, otherwise why would I be the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Nick said confidently.
While picking up the phone, Nick was already planning how to negotiate the price down. The same principle applied: don't rush, let the other party speak first.
The call connected and Nick pressed the speakerphone button.
"Well, I wonder if Mr. Parker has anything else to discuss? I'm driving."
A lazy voice came through the phone: "Nick Fury, you owe me compensation for the sofa. Italian imported Kalia leather, total price $135,000. I'll round it up to $140,000. Just deposit it into my account."
Nick Fury: ???
Natasha: "Is this what you meant by 'handling him'?"
Nick Fury's face darkened considerably.
After confirming that Nick Fury had left, Ben opened the door and released Dr. Connors from the sealed laboratory. The moment Eunice had been attacked, Connors had gone into hiding as a precautionary measure.
As for the surveillance camera that Natasha had left during her previous visit, there was no need to worry. Eunice had connected to it through the internet and modified all the recorded images.
"Are you sure he'll compensate for the sofa?" Connors was skeptical of Ben's reverse psychology operation. He was particularly upset about the sofa's destruction because he spent almost 24 hours a day at the company, and the expensive furniture had been specially purchased for his comfort.
"If there is no compensation, then the price of self-healing serum increases by 50%," Ben said with a sneer.
The stupidest thing Nick Fury had done today was failing to understand who actually held the bargaining chips. Ben wasn't in a hurry for either Antarctic research permits or access to the Tesseract, but Nick was far more eager to obtain funding and medical supplies than Ben was to join S.H.I.E.L.D.
Just as Nick himself had said, whoever got impatient first would lose first.
By the rules of negotiation, Ben had nothing to fear. If Nick Fury decided not to play by the rules, Ben had other options available—his alien transformations weren't exactly defenseless.
As for S.H.I.E.L.D., Ben planned to wait and see how events developed. But there was one thing he needed to address quickly.
Hammer Industries.
After several months of intensive work, Ivan Vanko had finally transformed the industrial waste created by Justin Hammer into functional unmanned armored warriors. Moreover, he had installed a self-destruct system in each robot's programming. Hundreds of armors were essentially walking bombs that could explode on command and level the entire Stark Expo!
This self-destructive attack reflected not only Ivan's own desperate resolve but also his mockery of Tony Stark. Ivan was already anticipating the playboy's expression when he finally defeated all the robots but discovered that he couldn't actually resolve the crisis.
Thinking of this, Ivan sneered, throwing his long gray hair behind him. He spat out the toothpick he had been chewing and glanced at the parrot in its cage.
"Just wait," he muttered in Russian. "I will make that thief pay."
But the parrot didn't respond.
Ivan's face grew even gloomier. Justin Hammer was a fool—when asked to find a bird, he had simply grabbed whatever was convenient to placate Ivan rather than getting a proper companion.
Damn fool! Justin Hammer had already been sentenced to death in Ivan's mind, but in reality, there were many people who deserved to die.
He didn't care how many Americans died in the process.
Just as Ivan was contemplating revenge, Justin Hammer approached, wearing a plaid suit and accompanied by several assistants. He had a disgusting smile on his face and looked at Ivan with barely concealed contempt.
"How's it going?" Hammer asked.
Ivan glanced at him and responded in Russian: "Almost finished."
This time, Justin Hammer was smart enough to bring an interpreter.
"That's good. The Expo is only a few days away, so you'd better not let me down," Hammer warned. "Remember, I can rescue you from prison, or I can arrange for you to die right now!"
Ivan smiled contemptuously and said nothing more.
Justin led the others into the factory, pointing at the completed robots and criticizing the machines as inadequate. Honestly, he still wanted a battle suit like Tony Stark's. With Tony as a role model, the military would be more likely to approve funding for similar technology.
On the other hand, who knew whether these robots were reliable? But there was no alternative.
The only people who currently mastered the core technology were Tony Stark and the Russian in front of him. Even if Justin was unwilling a hundred times over, he could only let Ivan do whatever he wanted.
He just hoped that the demonstration would impress the military at the exhibition. As long as he could secure orders, he didn't care about anything else.
Moreover, he hadn't actually placed all his hopes on these steel warriors.
Not long ago, the military had brought him an authentic Iron Man suit and asked him to modify it. Honestly speaking, there was no need to modify Tony's armor. It had sufficient equipment and powerful weaponry. Any changes would be superfluous.
But modifications were required anyway.
How could they present this technology without adding some paint or making cosmetic changes? It was obvious at a glance that the armor was produced by Stark Industries. How could the military save face with that?
So it had to be changed! And the changes had to be major! The original Stark's flashy red and gold coloring had been replaced with patriotic colors. The elegant repulsors had been removed and replaced with more conventional weapons systems.
Although the original design was more effective, it looked too advanced, so they had installed a Gatling gun instead.
At this moment, although the Iron Patriot still resembled its original armor, its body shape was much more bloated than the Iron Man suit. All kinds of flashy weapons had been attached to it. Whether they were powerful or not was another matter, but at least they looked impressive.
And this seemed to be very important to the military!
After all, there was only one Patriot, and not many people expected it to really change the outcome of a war and bring victory to America. What they hoped was that through Iron Patriot, the people of America would have more confidence in the strength of their army, and the whole world would believe that they had more than just one suit of armor!
Other countries might be skeptical, but no one dared to bet on it. If you won the bet, there was no benefit. If you lost the bet, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were lessons learned.
The Japanese, who were living relatively well at the time, hadn't believed that America had a second atomic bomb.
After a while, Justin Hammer left again. Ivan tightened a few more screws, then opened the program code on his computer and made some changes by typing on the keyboard.
He looked disdainfully at the armor that had been renamed Iron Patriot, sneered again, then walked over, turned on the armor, and began inputting commands.
After completing these subtle modifications, Ivan nodded with satisfaction, turned off the lights in the factory, and left.
For a moment, the entire Hammer Industries facility fell into darkness.
It was at this moment that a pale shadow penetrated the wall and floated inside.
The ghostly figure materialized into a recognizable form—Ben Parker in his Ghostfreak transformation. His body allowed him to phase through solid matter effortlessly, making him the perfect infiltrator for this kind of operation.