I Became a Knockoff Arms Dealer in the Marvel World

"I wish I could get my hands on some cheaper Iron Man suits than the system's."

Carl suddenly paused, realizing that Tony's current opponent, Whiplash, was the one with the Iron Man suit manufacturing technology.

If he could intercept things early, and snatch Ivan Vanko away from that clown, Justin Hammer, wouldn't he have access to a cheap and effective Iron Man suit?

The most important part was that doing so would not only grant him the technology to make Iron Man suits, but also save system points, which made Carl—being the miser he was—feel it was a highly cost-effective move.

"I wonder if Ivan Vanko has already been snatched from the prison?"

Thinking of this, Carl quickly instructed the Red Queen to investigate whether there had been any recent explosions at the Moroccan prison.

A holographic projection of the Red Queen, a little girl in a red dress, appeared before Carl.

[Accessing satellite network to check news from Morocco in the last two weeks.]

[Information collection in progress.]

[Keywords: Ivan Vanko]

[Information collected: Three days ago, Ivan Vanko was arrested for attacking Tony Stark. He was temporarily detained at the Sidi Moussa prison outside Rabat, the capital of Morocco.]

[The Russian Foreign Ministry is preparing to extradite him back to Russia. There are no further reports on incidents at Sidi Moussa prison at this stage.]

Seeing that Ivan Vanko hadn't been snatched yet, Carl immediately gave the order.

"Notify the Black Umbrella Armed Division to send out an elite team of twenty. Have Security Supervisor Ada Wang lead the team and bring Ivan Vanko back from the prison immediately!"

The Red Queen's voice promptly responded.

[Urgent mission command has been issued.]

[Security Supervisor Ada Wang will depart in ten minutes.]

[Estimated arrival in Morocco: Three hours and seventeen minutes.]

After issuing the command, Carl had no choice but to wait patiently for Ada Wang to complete the mission.

Three hours still felt too long to him, but Sokovia was just too far from North Africa.

Over 4,000 kilometers of distance.

Even the fastest tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft from the Umbrella Corporation would take some time.

It seemed like it was time to follow SHIELD's example and set up multiple secret bases around the world to ensure the fastest response to emergencies.

"It's time to extend our reach globally. It's not ideal to always be confined to this small European country of Sokovia," Carl thought to himself.

So, he issued another command to the Red Queen.

"Send people to survey the following locations: Africa, East Asia, North America, South America, Australia, Antarctica, and the Arctic. Survey these places for suitable sites to build secret bases.

The deadline for the survey is ten days.

Once the preliminary base locations are confirmed, send the Umbrella construction team to build underground secret bases designed to withstand a magnitude 10 earthquake."

The Red Queen's voice responded once again.

[Command issued. Engineering Department has received the directive.]

[Initial estimated cost for the seven new bases: 30 billion USD.]

[Estimated construction time: 4 months and 23 days.]

Upon hearing that the entire project would cost 30 billion USD, Carl hesitated for a moment. The Umbrella Corporation only had around 10 billion USD left in its account, with not much liquid cash available.

But expanding Umbrella's influence would require spending that money sooner or later—there was no way to avoid it.

With a construction period of over four months, Carl figured that as long as he didn't withdraw the Umbrella funds, the arms profits over those months would likely be enough to fund this large-scale project.

The 10 billion USD in the account should be sufficient as the initial investment for the project.

"Seven new bases for 30 billion, and that's using the Umbrella Engineering Department's construction team. Loyal, hardworking clones, and I don't even need to pay them wages, just some nutrients to keep them from starving. That way, I get plenty of cheap labor.

Without the help of the clones, building this many bases at once would likely cost a huge fortune."

Carl couldn't help but feel a little grateful. The clone technology had really saved him a lot of money.

The Red Queen's voice sounded again.

[Local time: 5:14 PM. Security Supervisor Ada Wang is about to arrive in Morocco.]

Over three hours had passed without Carl noticing, and the Black Umbrella armed team was nearly at the mission site.

"Show me the real-time satellite images, and also bring up Ada Wang's tactical helmet camera feed."

Carl wanted to monitor the entire mission process in real-time.

[Command received.]

Two new holographic projections appeared. One was a real-time image captured by a satellite from outer space, and the other was a live feed from Ada Wang's tactical helmet camera attached to her special operations suit.

It felt like Carl was right there on the frontline as he watched the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft slowly land outside Rabat, Morocco.

Ada Wang, dressed in a sleek black combat suit, stepped out first from the transport aircraft.

In the dim light of dusk, the armed team moved quickly and quietly, attracting no attention.

In just ten minutes, they had infiltrated the northern side of the Sidi Moussa prison, just under three hundred meters from the prison's outer wall.

The Red Queen pulled up real-time satellite imagery so that the armed team could understand the perimeter defense of Sidi Moussa Prison.

At the same time, the Red Queen hacked into the prison's electronic systems and, using surveillance footage and other data, quickly formulated a high-success-rate combat plan.

[Complete combat plan provided.]

[Retreat routes planned.]

[Confirm to execute Operation 1? Success rate: 99.9%.]

Just as Carl was about to issue the order to start the operation, the Red Queen, monitoring the prison's surveillance footage, suddenly noticed an unusual development.

A prison worker delivering meals appeared in the corridor where Ivan Vanko was being held.

Carl immediately recognized this was an employee bribed by Justin Hammer.

It seemed like he had just stumbled upon Justin Hammer's fake-death prison break operation.

Carl quickly stopped the armed team.

"These people are also after Ivan Vanko. Wait until they make their move and shift their target. You only act once they've moved Ivan Vanko out."

The order came through Ada Wang's earpiece.

Without hesitation, Ada Wang signaled her team to stop their advance.

Using the prison's hacked surveillance, Carl and Ada Wang watched like spectators as the bribed prison staff caused a staged explosion, allowing the supposedly dead Ivan Vanko to escape the prison.

"Thanks for getting Ivan Vanko out. Now, it's time for you to act."

Seeing the opportunity, Carl decisively gave the order to begin the operation.