Chapter 88: Mud and Rotten People (3)
"Hello, Mr. Stark. Your uncle often mentions you to me..."
Stark rolled his eyes and bluntly said, "He also often mentions you to me, General Robert. He says you're a half-brained fool..."
The faces of the military personnel across from him darkened.
Stark was in a bad mood now. He had just finished arguing with Venom, the symbiote that had a ravenous appetite for brains and liked to slam Stark's head against walls. His head was still throbbing from the bump he had just received. He was cursing the symbiote in his mind.
"Please, have a seat," General Robert gestured towards a chair.
"No need. What do you want from me? If you have something to say, say it quickly. If not, I need to go back to my experiments."
The military personnel seemed to be completely unaccustomed to Stark's direct style. Their previous negotiations involved half an hour of pleasantries, half an hour of small talk, half an hour of reminiscing and imagining the future, 20 minutes of bonding, and finally, 10 minutes of discussing the actual business.
Stark had no interest in playing their game. It's not that he couldn't learn to be more diplomatic, he just didn't see the point. He didn't want to waste any more time with these people. As Stark put it, every word he said to these people was a waste of humanity's time.
Finally, Stark sat down.
General Robert was still stubbornly following his own pace and began testing Stark repeatedly.Stark didn't want to deal with him at all. Venom in his head said, "You seem to hate him, can I eat his head?"
"No, eating the brain of a stupid person will lower my IQ."
"Really?"
"Of course."
"Can't you just beat him up?"
"I can't."
"Why not? What about your tough clothes?"
"You mean my steel combat suit?"
"I want to wear that suit too."
"Do you still need to wear clothes?"
"It looks interesting."
"No, that's not possible. You won't know how to operate it and you might break my combat suit."
"I can handle it, trust me."
At that moment, Stark heard General Robert say, "We are very interested in collaborating. I heard that your friend has also experienced the same difficulties recently, just like Odysseus. I sympathize with my old friend's situation. Fortunately, the military has developed a medicine that can stimulate the nerves comprehensively, awaken brain activity, and help patients who are unconscious to regain control of their body."
"After experimental verification, it has been shown to be very effective for patients who are comatose and unresponsive, allowing their brains to regain clarity and control of their body."
Stark raised an eyebrow and said, "So you guys are actually doing something productive."
A Lieutenant General walked in and saluted. Then, two researchers brought in a box and placed it on the table. After opening the lid, white mist spread out and a syringe was placed in the center of the box.
Tony Stark didn't have much knowledge about medicine and pharmaceuticals. He was just about to get closer to take a look at what the syringe looked like when the Venom suddenly became excited in his mind. He said, "This tastes good!! Kill him, take this thing! It's delicious! It's useful for you! And for me too!"
Tony Stark frowned and said, "Based on what principle did you come to this conclusion?"
"My genes told me!!"
"Are your genes really reliable?"
Tony Stark felt that the Venom was getting more and more excited, even a little disoriented. General Robert, seeing Tony Stark trembling all over, said, "I know, Tony's condition is not good now. We are willing to help you for the sake of your uncle..."
"We are even willing to provide you with this Medicine for free. The military is very interested in the nano armor you developed, of course, not the Mech armor. Our cooperation with Osborn Industries is going well, and the direction of bio-armor is also very promising..."
"But, nanotechnology can give us an advantage in information warfare and intelligence warfare. You know, we can't lose to others in these two battlefields. This is also for the safety of more soldiers' lives. If intelligence can be more accurate, there won't be so many sacrifices..."
Robert seemed very emotional as he said, "I know that Stark Industries is not like what those journalists report. I know that young Stark, just like his father, is actually a hero who cares about ordinary people..."
"From another perspective, cooperating with the military is also about safeguarding the lives of more soldiers, after all..."
Just as Robert was about to add fuel to the fire, he suddenly noticed that Tony Stark was trembling. He thought he had successfully broken through the genius's psychological defenses. He was about to push harder when he suddenly saw a strand of black slime climb up Tony Stark's neck.
Then in an instant, a huge black monster with sharp fangs appeared in his line of sight.
Venom swallowed General Robert's head in one bite, grabbed the box containing the Medicine, and broke through the window.
No one had expected such a sudden turn of events. One moment, Tony Stark was sitting there fine, and the next moment, a mass of slime covered his whole body, turning him into a nearly three-meter tall black monster.
This black monster has a bright red long tongue and sharp teeth all over its mouth. It directly bit off a general's head and stole the medicine. The others were in chaos, but soon several helicopters caught up with Venom's running figure.
Venom was leaping quickly on the rooftop, and even the machine gun fire from the helicopters couldn't hit him.
Until he reached an open space in the suburbs, Venom stopped and directly lifted a stone to smash one of the helicopters. The unlucky guy was hit by the propeller and fell down with a cigarette in his mouth.
The other helicopter also ran out of bullets and could only fly from afar, not daring to approach.
Shortly after, the armed forces arrived at the scene. The struggle between Venom and Stark for control of the body slowed down their escape, and Stark desperately suppressed Venom's excitement with his willpower.
Finally, Venom regained some clarity and returned to Stark's body. Stark turned back to an ordinary person, but what he faced was the armed forces surrounding him.
Seeing Stark turn back to a normal person, their commander did not take it lightly, and several soldiers wearing special armor walked up.
Stark saw that they were wearing Mech armor, but this Mech armor was the technology he had provided to the military before, and it looked somewhat old-fashioned and outdated.
Stark directly took out a cigarette, and a brand new and beautiful armor was armed on his body. He made a mocking gesture and said, "Why don't you give these old-fashioned things stolen from me back to your grandpa? They're still better than crutches, right?"
About a dozen soldiers wearing Mech armor walked up, and the leader looked around and reached out his arm, saying, "Combat suit!"
Then Stark saw a layer of viscous film spread out from the bottom of the Mech armor, covering the surface in an instant, then closing the gaps in the Mech armor, turning the entire Mech armor into a complete and integrated green biological combat suit.
Stark was instantly furious.
"How dare you insult my achievements with Osborn's stupid method!"
Stark had never felt so angry before, even when the military used public opinion to blacken him and come out to play the good guy. In the end, what Stark was most proud of were the various inventions and creations made by his genius brain. And now, these military people actually took his Mech armor and gave it to Osborn Industries for modification!
They even put a bunch of sticky glue on it, turning his Mech armor into an incredibly ugly biological combat suit!!
Stark was really about to explode with anger.
He took a deep breath and asked in his mind, "Can you really operate the Mech armor?"
"Definitely much better than them," came the response.
"Alright then..."
Stark extended his arm covered in metal armor and said, "Combat suit!"
In an instant, black slime covered his entire body.
Unlike the sticky and soft gelatinous appearance, the black slime was like a strong net, directly enveloping every part of the combat suit.
However, the nano combat suit was not covered by the slime, but rather it was systematically disassembled by the slime, transforming into a new shape and covering the surface of the black monster.
Originally, Venom was already nearly three meters tall, but now he had completely transformed into a steel monster over four meters tall.
It was a monster covered in shiny black Mech armor. Venom seemed to have inherited Stark's aesthetics, as his body was no longer pitted and uneven with sticky tissue, but rather covered in streamlined black armor.
His head was no longer a large mouth full of sharp fangs, but had become a helmet with two pairs of spikes on each side and a diamond-shaped metal visor in the middle, with the lower half of his face covered by a mask.
It must be said that this Mech armor looked incredibly cool. It was roughly the same size as Venom, but taller, with spikes made of black slime wrapped around the metal on his shoulders, legs, and wrists. The mask on his head was somewhat reminiscent of a gas mask and had a terrifying beauty, exuding a wild charm that was somewhere between metal and punk.
What's more, the symbiote that was controlling this Mech armor was in sync with Stark's mind, which meant that Stark no longer needed to operate it and could control the Mech armor as easily as his own arm.
Stark shook his arm and felt an amazing sensation. He could even feel the texture of every external component exposed to the air, which was an incredibly satisfying feeling for a Mech armor fanatic.
He was the combat suit, and the combat suit was him.
"Alright." Stark said, "I'll show you what a real Bio-Mech Armor can do!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped in place with a "bang" and landed beside the group of Bio-Mech Armor soldiers, landing a punch directly on the head of one of them.
The Bio-Mech Armor soldier flew out directly, and Stark shook his fist in surprise.
He was not used to fighting with his own fists, in the past he had always relied on J.A.R.V.I.S.'s intelligent algorithms for combat. But now, he actually had the feeling of personally using his fists to beat up enemies, and he had to admit, it felt really good.
The giant black Mech Armor turned around, and another hook punch was thrown. Compared to the massive Bio-Mech Armor monster that stood over four meters tall, the Bio-Mech Armor soldier that was only a little over two meters tall was like a little chick, easily knocked away.
Originally, these Bio-Mech Armors were created to counter Stark's Steel Combat Suit, but not to deal with a Bio-Mech Armor monster over four meters tall.
The Biological slime used to restrict Stark's movements, the Echo Field used to track the flight trajectory of the Steel Combat Suit, and the Biological gel joints used to improve agility, which were originally equipped on the Mech Armor, were now useless. The Venom Combat Suit was not affected by them at all. Mucus spray? Easily torn apart. Echo Field? Completely ineffective. Flexible gel joints? Shattered with a single punch.
The combat style of the Venom Combat Suit was completely different from Stark's. The fighting style of this symbiote was, in plain terms, like swinging a mace. But his incredibly strong physical abilities and super-speed healing ability allowed him to have the upper hand in this chaotic battle.
In a short time, the group of Bio-Mech Armor soldiers were all knocked down by Stark.
However, soon after, military heavy weapons entered the scene. The Venom Combat Suit jumped directly onto a nearby high-rise building and continued to run madly.
When he had shaken off all the pursuers, the Venom Combat Suit instantly retracted back into Stark's body, and the nano armor returned to Stark's body as well. He lowered his head and looked at his intact arms and the still pristine Mech Armor metal on them, and said:
"Not bad, thanks for your help, mud."
"You're welcome, loser."
[ShaneFreak: Stark & Venom look good together somehow...]