Chapter Ninety-Three: Treating Tony Stark

Wang Jing ignored Tony Stark’s bluster, because he had plenty of ways to deal with him a little later.

Stopping before the medical pod, Wang Jing said, “Take off your clothes and lie down.”

“What is this?” Tony Stark asked, looking at the pod with curiosity.

“A medical pod. It can cure any illness. And don’t forget to take out the Arc Reactor in your chest,” Wang Jing said, pointing to the white glow in Stark’s breast.

“You’re sure this thing can really work?” Tony Stark asked skeptically.

“Of course. As long as your head is still attached, it can save you. Enough chatter—hurry up and get undressed.”

“Okay, okay.” Tony Stark nodded as he began stripping off his clothes.

When Wang Jing saw the wound in Stark’s chest, he asked curiously, “What does that thing feel like, sitting in there?”

“Nothing at all. It’s like it isn’t even there,” Tony Stark said while taking off his pants.

Seeing that Stark had stripped down to only his underpants, Wang Jing raised a brow. “That’s still not enough. The medical pod can’t work through clothing.”

“What the hell?” Tony Stark cried, embarrassed, glancing around at the soldiers nearby.

“Can you make them all leave?” he asked Wang Jing, looking at the soldiers.

“You’re a grown man. What are you so shy about? They won’t say a word, and even if they did, it wouldn’t reach your world.”

Hearing that, Tony Stark could only grit his teeth and take off the last scrap of cloth covering him.

He covered his private parts with both hands, feeling as though he might die on the spot. It seemed to him that the soldiers around him were all secretly peeking at him from behind their helmets.

“All right, lie down,” Wang Jing said with a slight tilt of his head.

Tony Stark climbed awkwardly into the medical pod. A beam swept over him, and the screen immediately filled with a long list of conditions.

“Buddy, you need to rein it in a little. Otherwise even this pod can’t save you,” Wang Jing warned.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong with my body?” Tony Stark asked.

“Hmm. Plenty. Six hundred and eighty separate conditions, including kidney deficiency and sexual dysfunction,” Wang Jing said with amusement.

“What the hell? Your machine must be broken. I once spent a month in deep discussion with the cover girls from twelve issues of Maxim, and your machine is telling me I have kidney deficiency and sexual dysfunction?” Tony Stark said indignantly.

“Calm down, Tony. Have you never wondered why you’ve slept with so many women and none of them ever caused you trouble?”

“Damn it, fine. Whatever. If your medical pod can cure me, then just get started,” Tony Stark muttered after a moment, forcing the subject aside.

“Give me the Arc Reactor. It can’t stay in there,” Wang Jing said, holding out his hand.

Tony Stark removed the Arc Reactor from his chest and handed it over. “You’d better be quick. Without the magnet holding things in place, the shrapnel in my body is going to kill me soon.”

“Relax. Even if you died right now, I could still bring you back,” Wang Jing said with a smile, patting Tony Stark on the shoulder.

Then he activated the medical pod. As the door slowly sealed shut, the pod released a cloud of anesthetic gas.

After inhaling it, Tony Stark fell into a deep coma.

More than ten minutes later, treatment was complete. The pod released a stimulant, and Tony Stark slowly regained consciousness. The moment he came to, he anxiously looked down at his chest.

Only when he saw smooth, unbroken skin did he sink back weakly, a look of relief and joy washing over his face after narrowly escaping death.

Wang Jing patted him on the shoulder and urged, “Get up and put your clothes back on. I’ve still got things to do.”

After Tony Stark had dressed, Wang Jing tossed the Arc Reactor back to him and said, “Here. It’s yours again. You’d better install a fake one in your chest, or the people hiding in the shadows will come after you. Though, to be fair, they’ve already come after Pepper.”

Tony Stark blinked. “Who? Who’s coming after me?”

“The secret organization your father founded. It’s been riddled with holes by Hydra,” Wang Jing said carelessly.

“Hydra? Wasn’t that wiped out in the Second World War? And what organization did my father found?”

“Hydra was never destroyed. On the contrary, during America’s Project Paperclip, they successfully infiltrated the scientific corps your father founded, which is now the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. But I prefer to call it S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Not only did Hydra infiltrate your father’s organization, they also used that power to place more of their people high up in the American government. Even the Security Council is full of their agents. The previous director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was one of them.”

“What the hell? Was that former director eating crap for brains? Letting a spy be his own boss?” Tony Stark cursed angrily.

Although Tony Stark had never had a very high opinion of his father, the thought of his father’s creation being manipulated by others ignited a fury he could not suppress.

“That’s the terrifying thing about Hydra. Cut off one head, and two more grow back.”

“Then cut off all the heads at once,” Tony Stark said viciously.

“That’s exactly what we’re doing now. We’ve already sent out a large number of agents to track down hidden Hydra members and gather evidence. We’re just waiting for the right moment to take them all down at once,” Wang Jing said.

“When that happens, I’m going to smash the old director’s dog head in with my own hands.”

“You’ll get your chance.”

“If the former director was Hydra, then is the current director Hydra too?” Tony Stark asked.

“No. Although he was promoted on the recommendation of the former director, he isn’t one of them. But because he was pushed into office by Hydra, he’s been kept in the dark all this time.”

“And he’s naturally suspicious. He only believes what he sees with his own eyes. Even if we show him evidence, he won’t fully trust it,” Wang Jing said with a frown.

“Then what do we do?”

“We already have a plan for that, but you can’t know it yet,” Wang Jing said, looking at Tony Stark.

“Why can’t you tell me? I’m the son of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s founder, for God’s sake. I should have the right to know,” Tony Stark said unhappily.

“We’re not telling you for the sake of the bigger picture. If you accidentally let it slip, everything we’ve done so far will have been for nothing.”

“Then why did you tell me what just happened? Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell people about that too?”

“Of course not. Even if you do, at most it’ll only make those hidden Hydra agents lie lower and act more cautiously. Telling you was only to make you trust us.”