NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Acquiring the Arc Reactor Technology
After receiving her orders, Ada Wong signaled for her team to proceed. Leading a squad of armed operatives, she swiftly advanced toward the gates of the prison.
A young man, dressed in the uniform of a prison staff member, was preparing to transfer Ivan Vanko, who was restrained with handcuffs and a hood over his head, to a van.
Suddenly, the muffled sound of silenced gunfire echoed nearby. Before the young man could react, he felt his strength rapidly fading. Looking down, he saw several bloody wounds blooming across his chest.
With a dull thud, his lifeless body crumpled to the ground.
Although Ivan Vanko's vision was obscured by the hood, his sharp ears easily picked up the sound of the silenced gunfire.
He was unsure of what was happening. Could it be that the people who were escorting him out of the prison were not on the same side as those firing the shots?
It seemed he was more coveted than he had anticipated. With his exceptional intellect, Ivan Vanko quickly deduced the likely cause of this sudden turn of events.
There was no denying the allure of the miniaturized Arc Reactor—a groundbreaking clean energy technology that was enough to drive anyone to madness.
As Ivan Vanko was still piecing together the situation, the driver of the van, attempting to check on the commotion, poked his head out.
Bang!
A single 5.56mm bullet struck the driver square in the head, sending him to meet his maker.
Ada Wong signaled for two of her operatives to secure the mission target. Without arousing the prison's suspicion, they successfully escorted Ivan Vanko onto an Osprey tiltrotor transport aircraft.
As the Osprey took off from Morocco, the chaos at Sidi Moussa Prison caused by the explosions remained unresolved, leaving the facility in turmoil.
Soon, news of the explosion at Sidi Moussa Prison made its way onto local television emergency broadcasts.
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Breaking News:
"CNN reports that at 6:11 PM local time, an explosion occurred at Sidi Moussa Prison in Rabat, the capital of Morocco.
The cause of the explosion remains unclear at this time. Notably, the suspect who attacked Iron Man, Tony Stark, three days ago was confirmed to have perished in this incident.
For further updates on the Sidi Moussa Prison explosion, stay tuned to CNN."
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Meanwhile, aboard his private jet in Morocco, Justin Hammer was awaiting good news about the prison break.
Instead, his subordinates informed him that the mission had failed. Enraged, he unleashed a tirade.
"F***! Who dared steal my target? Find out who did this—I'll make them pay!"
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The brief report on the Sidi Moussa Prison explosion quickly reached the desks of major organizations worldwide.
The Russian Foreign Ministry wasted no time issuing a protest, claiming that Western powers were behind a conspiracy to eliminate Ivan Vanko to prevent Russia's rise. They vowed to thoroughly investigate the culprits behind the explosion.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had also considered recruiting Ivan Vanko but hesitated, knowing such a move might antagonize Tony Stark. Before they could act, however, news of Vanko's death reached them.
This left Nick Fury, stationed at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion headquarters in New York, deeply skeptical.
As a seasoned and suspicious operative, Fury didn't believe for a second that Ivan Vanko was dead.
Official reports were never trustworthy in his eyes.
Unfortunately, his agents were occupied with other critical missions, leaving him without the resources to thoroughly investigate the explosion.
Reluctantly, he sent lower-ranking agents to look into it, hoping they might uncover something useful.
Fury didn't expect any significant results in the short term. However, his instincts as an experienced spy told him that if Ivan Vanko were alive, he would eventually surface.
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Unconcerned by the growing turmoil outside, the true mastermind behind the incident, Karl, dismissed any thoughts of being discovered.
Tracking Umbrella Corporation's involvement would be impossible. Let them investigate all they want.
After a three-hour flight covering over 4,000 kilometers, the Osprey transport aircraft landed smoothly at Umbrella's headquarters.
Ada Wong escorted the mission target, Ivan Vanko, off the aircraft.
Karl had no intention of meeting Ivan in person.
At the moment, Ivan's mind was consumed with thoughts of vengeance against Tony Stark, and his genius intellect posed a potential threat. Karl wasn't about to risk bringing him into the Hive Base.
In the Marvel Universe, super-geniuses were notorious for their unpredictability.
Who could guarantee that Ivan wouldn't find a way to hack into Karl's AI, the Red Queen?
Though the likelihood was slim, Karl's cautious nature wouldn't allow any room for error.
After commending Ada Wong for her excellent performance, Karl ordered Vanko to be knocked unconscious and taken to the memory extraction lab.
Collaborating with someone whose sole focus was revenge was akin to playing with fire.
Karl had no desire to end up like Justin Hammer—a pitiful clown exploited and discarded.
Karl's countermeasures, such as the Red Widow Controller, memory transfer technology, and neural chip implants, were all technological in nature.
He couldn't guarantee that a genius like Vanko wouldn't find ways to circumvent them.
Besides, Vanko's greatest value lay in his knowledge of the miniaturized Arc Reactor. Karl could extract that knowledge directly from his memory.
As for the Iron Man suits, while they were technologically impressive, solving the core energy issue meant Umbrella's scientists could easily replicate them.
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The unconscious Ivan Vanko's fate was thus sealed by Karl's pragmatic decision-making.
Three days later, the memory extraction lab delivered good news—they had successfully extracted all of Ivan Vanko's memories.
Although memory extraction didn't typically take this long, Karl had insisted on a meticulous process to avoid errors or loss of critical data.
Now, Karl had what he wanted most: the miniaturized Arc Reactor technology. With validation from the Red Queen AI, manufacturing had already begun in the precision engineering labs.
It wouldn't be long before Karl had access to a steady supply of cutting-edge Arc Reactors.
Additionally, Tony Stark, during his brief encounter with Vanko at Sidi Moussa Prison, had arrogantly pointed out the flaws in Vanko's reactor design.
As a result, Karl's version of the Arc Reactor was an optimized and significantly improved model.
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As for the New Element Reactor? Karl wasn't holding his breath.
Synthesizing new elements required atomic collision experiments, which were costly and time-consuming. Only someone as wealthy as Tony Stark could afford such extravagance.
In contrast, the palladium-based Arc Reactor technology Karl now possessed could be mass-produced using industrial methods, and in two different ways at that.