The titanium alloy door of the training room silently closed, and Steve's footsteps gradually faded away. Miss 2B's mechanical pupils constricted slightly, and she turned to look at Chen Tian, her artificial eyelashes casting tiny shadows in the morning light.
"Master," her voice held a hint of hesitation, "Is such psychological pressure... too cruel for Captain Rogers?"
Chen Tian didn't answer immediately. He walked to the smart glass, watching the morning mist gradually dissipate over the Pacific Ocean. Sunlight cast sharp shadows on his well-defined profile.
"Miss 2B, activate the highest-level shielding protocol," his voice was low, "All monitoring systems, including Jarvis, are to be cut off."
A stream of data flowed through Miss 2B's pupils. She raised her slender arm, and faint blue energy ripples emanated from her fingertips. The entire training room was instantly enveloped by an invisible force field; even the air seemed to solidify.
"Shielding complete," she confirmed softly, "This is now a completely sealed information black hole."
Chen Tian turned around, the pale blue light in his eyes gradually fading, replaced by a rare weariness. He walked to the sofa and sat down, his fingers unconsciously caressing the rim of the coffee cup.
"Do you think I really want to treat Steve like this?" His voice suddenly became very soft, "That stubborn Old Ice Pop..."
Miss 2B quietly walked to his side, her mechanical fingers gently resting on his shoulder. Her movements were gentle, and even the force was perfectly calculated.
"But this time is different." Chen Tian suddenly looked up, a hint of determination flashing in his eyes. "Do you know what the Winter Soldier did? He killed Tony's parents." His voice was as low as a muffled thunder, "And now, Tony is still in the dark."
Miss 2B's pupils contracted sharply, data streams flickering rapidly in her eyes: "Master, do you mean..."
"This operation has two objectives." Chen Tian leaned back on the sofa with his eyes closed. "Preventing the Mind Stone's spread is only one. More importantly... I must personally put an end to Bucky Barnes."
The air in the training room seemed to solidify. Miss 2B's mechanical core emitted a faint hum: "But what if Captain Rogers..."
"I should have done it in the Washington District!" Chen Tian suddenly slammed a fist on the armrest of the sofa, and the metal surface immediately dented. "If I hadn't been held back by Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight..." His voice was filled with regret. "After dealing with them, I had to go retrieve the Tesseract first. Just a few minutes, and that murderer escaped!"
Miss 2B's body trembled slightly, and she finally understood why her Master was so angry: "So my mercy at that time..."
Chen Tian waved his hand, pulling up a holographic image of the Arbitrator Tower. "Think about it, what would happen if Tony knew the truth? He's currently complacent, hasn't experienced the life-or-death test of flying a nuclear bomb into the Universe. Once he knows the truth about his parents' deaths..."
The projection switched to a virtual simulation: Tony's enraged break with Steve, an internal conflict erupting within the Arbitrators, global media reporting frantically...
"The entire World would mock the Arbitrators," Chen Tian's voice was icy cold, "Right after Steve had just praised us on a global news broadcast."
Miss 2B's mechanical fingers unconsciously tightened: "Then why not just tell Captain Rogers directly..."
"Because that Old Ice Pop will definitely choose to cover for his 'good brother,'" Chen Tian sneered, shaking his head, "Just like in the Washington District." He turned to look at the satellite image of Sokovia. "This time, I won't miss. Whether Bucky is awakened or not, he must die."
Miss 2B was silent for a long time, then suddenly looked up: "Master, if that's the case, why still let Captain Rogers participate in the Sokovia operation?"
A cold smile played on Chen Tian's lips: "Because if he knows the danger of the Mind Stone now, he'll be more invested in the future." He stood up, the energy circuits on his tactical suit glowing with a faint blue light. "Your mission is to distract Steve and eliminate HYDRA in Sokovia. As for me..." A hint of killing intent flashed in his eyes, "I will personally deal with Bucky."
Miss 2B's mechanical core suddenly accelerated its operation: "But what if... what if Captain Rogers sees you kill Bucky..."
"Then let him see," Chen Tian scoffed. "If it comes to that, I will withdraw from the Arbitrators. Steve will hate me to the bone, but..." His voice suddenly became meaningful, "He will be more dedicated to Tony. After all, he already knows that Bucky killed Tony's parents."
Chen Tian chuckled softly, "Steve thinks I don't know, but I know all the footage from his nano-suit."
Chen Tian's voice grew quieter, "Since Steve can bear so much for Bucky, why can't I, as Tony's friend, bear it for him?"
The morning light streamed through the smart glass, casting long shadows of the two figures. At the intersection of light and shadow, Chen Tian's profile appeared exceptionally stern: "Get ready to depart. This time, we'll put an end to all of this before anyone else finds out."
Miss 2B's mechanical pupils trembled slightly, data streams flickering silently in her eyes. Her slender fingers unconsciously tightened on her skirt, and the servo motors beneath her artificial skin emitted an almost inaudible hum.
"Master..." Her voice was lower than usual, with a faint electronic crackle, "If only I had been more decisive then..."
Chen Tian suddenly turned and pulled Miss 2B into his embrace. The girl's silver hair brushed his chin, carrying the scent of jasmine.
"Silly girl," Chen Tian chuckled, rubbing the top of her head, his fingertips brushing her earlobe. "Did you forget? The freedom I taught you is the power to make any choice you want. Besides, who do you think your Master is? This little trouble..."
Miss 2B suddenly reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist, her face buried in Chen Tian's chest, her voice muffled: "But you have to bear not only Captain Rogers's hatred but also the potential loss of your position in the Arbitrators..."
"Hey! Am I interrupting something?"
The automatic door of the training room slid open, and Tony, dressed in a silk bathrobe, stumbled in, holding a steaming cup of coffee.
He deliberately covered his eyes in an exaggerated manner, yet his fingers were spread wide: "My God, should I set an alarm for Jarvis? Something like, 'Don't enter the training room before 7 AM, you might see something you shouldn't'?"
Miss 2B instantly let go as if shocked, quickly retreating behind Chen Tian. Her cooling fan hummed faintly, and her artificial skin flushed a light pink.
"Shut up, Stark," Chen Tian grabbed a throw pillow from the sofa and tossed it. "Jarvis sent the video of you hugging the toilet and throwing up to the group chat last night."
Tony deftly dodged the pillow, not spilling a drop of coffee: "That was an artistic performance! I was recreating a classic scene from 'The Hangover'!"
He leaned closer to Miss 2B, winking mischievously: "Seriously, sweetie, if you want to switch Masters, I have a full set of mechanical maintenance equipment in my lab..."
Chen Tian lunged forward, grabbing Tony by the neck and messing up his hair: "Don't even think about it! Miss 2B belongs only to me!"
"Ow! My hair is worth a million bucks!" Tony struggled, shouting, the coffee cup tilting dangerously. "Miss 2B! Control your abusive Master!"
Miss 2B stood still, watching the two men wrestling, a faint smile unconsciously curving her lips. Her cooling system finally returned to normal, and the data flow in her pupils became steady and orderly.
"Master," she reminded softly, "The jet is ready and can take off in three to five minutes."
Chen Tian released Tony, casually straightening his disheveled collar. Tony suddenly noticed the jet's preheating program displayed on the tactical panel, raising an eyebrow: "Wait, where are you going?"
"Out for a bit," Chen Tian snatched Tony's coffee and took a sip. "There's a place that might help me increase my power..."
Tony's eyes widened exaggeratedly: "What? Now?" He started counting on his fingers, "Tomorrow there's a Wall Street Journal exclusive interview, the day after is the UN Global Defense Plan meeting, and the day after that..."
"So," Chen Tian smiled, patting Tony's shoulder, "I'll leave all that to you, the Grand Commander of the Arbitrators."
Tony threw his hands up dramatically: "Hey! You can't just dump this mess on me! Last time I dealt with those politicians alone, Jarvis said my swearing vocabulary increased by 37%!"
Miss 2B quietly added: "To be precise, 38.6%, Mr. Stark."
Tony rolled his eyes: "See? Even the mechanical chick is starting to mock me." He suddenly leaned closer to Chen Tian, lowering his voice, "Seriously, are you going to do something dangerous again? Last time you said 'just going to take a look,' and almost wiped out New Mexico."
Chen Tian smiled without answering, placing the empty coffee cup back in Tony's hand.
"Master," Miss 2B gently reminded, "The jet has completed preheating and is ready for departure at any time."
Tony watched the two of them in their unspoken understanding, sighing dramatically: "Alright, alright, just remember to come back soon. I ordered from that Turkish kebab place in the Washington District..." He meaningfully glanced at Miss 2B, "Then, I'll bring Pepper, and you bring Miss 2B."
"Hey, Tony! Don't you know the Turkish kebabs you recommend are all terrible?"
Tony shrugged, "I just wanted to try it."
Chen Tian pouted, "Then you and Pepper can try it yourselves." With that, he turned and left the training room.
As the door closed, Tony's voice came through, "Chen Tian! I bought that kebab shop! I guarantee it's not bad!"
Chen Tian gave Tony the middle finger with his back to him, then left with Miss 2B.
"Was that kebab really that bad?" Tony unconsciously picked up his coffee cup. "Shit! That guy drank all my coffee!"
On the fighter jet platform, the biting morning wind carried the scent of jet fuel.
As Chen Tian stepped onto the gangway, his tactical boots made a crisp sound on the metal steps.
Through the cockpit's bulletproof glass, he could see a fully armed Steve, head down, adjusting the vibranium shield's restraints.
"Take over the control system," Chen Tian's lips barely moved, his voice so soft that only Miss 2B's audio receiver could pick it up, "Block Jarvis completely."
Miss 2B nodded imperceptibly, a blue glow of data flow flashing through her silver hair. As she stepped onto the gangway, her skirt billowed, revealing the weapons strapped to her thighs.
Inside the cockpit, Steve looked up, his clear blue eyes still holding complex emotions: "I thought you weren't coming." His voice was deeper than usual, his knuckles unconsciously tapping a World War II marching rhythm on the shield's edge.
"How could that be?" Chen Tian naturally sat in the co-pilot's seat, his fingers inputting a string of encrypted code on the control panel, "This is your first time on a secret Arbitrators mission with me."
Miss 2B quietly slid into the pilot's seat, her slender fingers stretching over the joystick. The moment her fingertips touched the control interface, the entire cockpit's lights suddenly turned a deep blue, and the holographic projector cast a dense array of encrypted runes.
"Quantum encrypted channel established," her mechanical pupils contracted into thin lines, "All communications will be routed through a seventh-generation firewall, with an estimated blocking efficiency of 99.97%."
Steve frowned, looking at the suddenly color-changed operation interface: "This is...?"
"A newly developed Ghost Protocol," Chen Tian fastened his seatbelt without changing his expression, "The HYDRA Base in Sokovia might be monitoring our communication frequency."
In front of the thirty-meter-high training room's floor-to-ceiling window, Tony's bathrobe flapped in the air conditioning. He held a freshly poured coffee, giving the closing Quinjet a middle finger, the anti-glare glass reflecting the smile on his lips.
Chen Tian saw the gesture through the porthole and returned the same gesture with a smile. As his hand dropped, the fighter jet's engines roared, and the vector nozzles spewed out a pale blue plasma stream.
"Miss 2B, play 'Black Ice'," Chen Tian suddenly said, "Let's help our Old Ice Pop relax a bit."
As the mechanical synthetic electronic prelude began, Chen Tian muttered in a voice only Miss 2B could hear: "Damn it, Tony's rubbed off on me... Before I transmigrated, I only listened to Ado and Reol..."
Miss 2B's lips curved upward imperceptibly, "Mr. Stark, haven't you also been influenced by Master, and started playing games?"
"Hold on tight, Old Ice Pop," Chen Tian gripped the armrest amidst the violent shaking, "Miss 2B's piloting style is much more exciting than Jarvis's."
No sooner had he spoken than the Quinjet shot skyward at an almost vertical angle. Steve's shield clanged against the cabin wall, and he had to grab the emergency handle above his head to avoid being thrown from his seat.
Miss 2B's silver hair flew in the high-gravity environment, like a waterfall woven from liquid metal. Projections of the tactical map flowed in her pupils, and a 3D model of Sokovia was rapidly being constructed on her irises.
"Estimated arrival at target airspace in 47 minutes," her voice was calm, a Stark contrast to the fighter jet's violent ascent, "Suggest Captain Rogers begin equipping the high-altitude parachuting module now."
Steve gritted his teeth and pulled his seatbelt as tight as it would go: "Do you usually... take off... like this?" Each word was broken into fragments by the violent turbulence.
Chen Tian smiled, revealing his canines: "Only when I'm in a good mood." He turned to look out the porthole, the clouds receding like a tide, and the arc of the deep blue horizon beginning to appear, "Get ready for a thirty-thousand-foot party, Captain."
Miss 2B said with a smile in the communication, "Master, you're starting to sound more and more like Mr. Stark..."
Below them, the glass curtain wall of the Arbitrator Tower reflected the morning sun, like a melting gold brick. Tony's figure was no longer visible, but Chen Tian knew that the always-stubborn arms dealer must still be standing at the window until the fighter jet's contrail completely dissipated into the sky.
Miss 2B suddenly tilted her head, a strand of silver hair falling onto Chen Tian's shoulder: "Master, detecting abnormal fluctuations in Captain Steve's vital signs."
"Relax, old soldier," Chen Tian pulled an oxygen mask from under his seat and tossed it to Steve, "This is just the beginning." His gaze passed through the trembling cabin wall, directed towards the gradually appearing outline of the European continent in the distance, "When we reach Sokovia, the real show will begin."
As the fighter jet pierced the stratosphere, tiny ice crystals condensed on the portholes. These shimmering particles sparkled in the sunlight, like diamond dust scattered on blue velvet—beautiful, yet fleeting.
The drumbeats of Black Ice intertwined with the roar of the engines, composing an alternative background music for this dangerous journey.
— — — —
Tony stood in front of the Arbitrator Tower's floor-to-ceiling window, the hem of his bathrobe gently swaying in the indoor circulating air. He watched the Quinjet gradually disappear into the clouds, his coffee cup already empty.
"Jarvis," Tony's voice suddenly became serious, "Track the fighter jet's real-time location."
"I'm sorry, Sir," Jarvis's voice carried a hint of electronic apology, "Mr. Chen seems to have activated some new type of shielding system; all signals from the fighter jet have disappeared."
Tony's brow furrowed even deeper, "When did this start?"
"According to data records, the shielding system was activated 37 seconds before the fighter jet took off," Jarvis paused, "Interestingly, this encryption method is highly similar to the technology previously used in the training room."
Tony spun around abruptly, "Training room? When was this?"
"Within 6 minutes and 12 seconds before you entered the training room, the training room also entered a complete shielding state," Jarvis's tone was uncharacteristically confused, "I couldn't even confirm how many people were inside at the time."
Tony's fingers unconsciously tapped the rim of the coffee cup, making a crisp sound. Sunlight streamed through the glass onto his face, but it couldn't dispel the gloom in his eyes.
Tony's fingers slid quickly across the control console, his voice tinged with suppressed anxiety: "Jarvis, pull up the surveillance records from before the training room was shielded."
"Sir, this is very strange..." Jarvis's electronic voice uncharacteristically wavered, "All relevant records have been tampered with, and data integrity verification failed. I cannot restore the original footage."
Tony's fingers froze in mid-air, the liquid in the coffee cup slightly swaying. "Tampered with?" he repeated softly, his brow tightly furrowed, "Even your system can be bypassed?"
"More precisely, someone used a higher-level encryption method than my security protocols," Jarvis's voice carried a hint of confusion, "This technical style... is very much like Miss 2B's work."
Tony slammed the coffee cup onto the control console, the metal and glass colliding with a crisp sound. He turned to look out the window; the fighter jet had long disappeared into the sky, leaving only a few wisps of contrail scattered by the morning wind.
"Sir, Miss Potts is calling," Jarvis suddenly reminded, "She's reminding you that the media conference will start at eight o'clock."
Tony irritably ran a hand through his hair: "Tell her I'll be right there..."
"Tony?" Pepper's voice came through the communicator, with a hint of helplessness, "The Arbitrators' media conference starts at eight; you haven't forgotten again, have you?"
Tony's fingers swiped across the holographic projection, his brow tightly furrowed: "Of course I remember, dear. It's just..." He paused, "Chen Tian and Miss 2B took off in the fighter jet, and even Jarvis can't track their signal."
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the communicator.
"Tony," Pepper's voice suddenly softened, "Do you trust Chen Tian?"
Tony replied almost without thinking: "Of course."
"Then why worry?" Pepper chuckled softly, "Since you trust him, you should believe he has his reasons for doing this."
Tony was stunned for a moment, then a signature cynical smile played on his lips: "You're right, sweetheart. I'm leaving now; I promise to be in front of the flashing lights on time."
"That's the Tony Stark I know," Pepper's voice was filled with laughter, "Remember to wear a tie; there's a BBC exclusive interview today."
"Yes, Ma'am CEO," Tony exaggeratedly saluted, even though Pepper couldn't see him, "Love you."
After hanging up the call, Tony's expression relaxed slightly. He walked towards the elevator, his bathrobe gently swaying behind him.
"Jarvis," he said as the elevator doors closed, "Continue searching for Chen Tian's signal. Notify me immediately if you find any clues."
"Global scan initiated, Sir," Jarvis responded, "Do you need me to prepare the armor?"
Tony shook his head: "No need." He paused, then added, "But... still, calibrate all armors, just in case."
Sunlight streamed through the laboratory glass, and Tony stood in front of the workbench, looking at the light reflected by the Mark-Eclipse armor. He reached out and lightly touched the arc reactor on his chest, muttering to himself:
"Chen Tian, you bastard, you'd better know what you're doing."
But this time, his tone held less anxiety and more trust.
------------------------
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(End of Chapter)