Chapter 1033: The Shocking Commoner (Part 11)

Stark took a deep breath and looked at Bucky, asking, "You said there was a classified document safe box in the wreckage of the car. What was inside it?"

Bucky shook his head and said, "I don't know. When I saw that box, it was already charred fragments."

But Stark keenly sensed the problem. He said, "A safe box built by Stark Industries would be burned into fragments by a car explosion and fire? Even in 1991, it was absolutely impossible..."

Bucky recalled carefully and said, "No, it didn't look like a creation of Stark Industries, and it didn't even look much like American style?"

Stark was stunned for a moment and spat out a word: "... Soviet?"

After leaving Bucky, Stark had no time to think about philosophical questions. Now, a more realistic problem was placed before him: Howard's death might have had hidden circumstances.

Returning to Stark Tower, Stark began to constantly search through past records, but the production records for that period were not detailed, and there was no record of any safe box. Stark had no choice but to go find Obadiah, after all, Obadiah was the old friend who had walked all the way with Howard.

Obadiah had been dealing with commercial issues for Stark Industries, and he was not surprised at all that Stark had come to find him. Regarding the question Stark raised, Obadiah did not give a clear answer; he just said:

"Tony, at that time, you hadn't officially inherited the group, so you might not know that around 1990, Stark Industries encountered the largest sanctions in history."

"Before, I heard that the military wanted to force you to hand over technology, but have you ever thought that your father might have encountered the same thing?"

Obadiah tapped the table lightly, his tone somewhat emotional. He said, "At that time, the world pattern was already set. That behemoth on the other side of the ocean was already doomed. That was a carnival."

"But some people were not satisfied with just dividing up the corpse. Without an enemy, there was no sense of urgency. They wanted more, including Stark Industries."

"At that time, Stark Industries hadn't developed to the massive scale it has now; it was mainly focused on the arms business. Since the Cold War could no longer turn into a hot war, some people felt it was time for Stark Industries to make more contributions to the country."

"So, a run and sanctions began. At that time, news media and public opinion were all attacking Howard, saying he was a cold and cruel executioner who traded arms and manufactured wars."

"Indeed, they weren't wrong, but even if we were the hunting dogs, the dog owner shouldn't pretend they hadn't enjoyed the prey."

"Those idiots, upon learning that the Soviet threat was gone, finally felt they could start wars at will and sell arms, but they were no longer satisfied with the previous profit sharing. They wanted to control everything."

"At that time, many extremist factions believed that the opportunity to unify the world had arrived. They were more urgently in need of power, technology, and sufficiently powerful killing machines."

Obadiah sighed, stood up from the table, and looked out the window, saying, "I know you have always resented your father. In the last moments of his life, he wasn't clear-headed often and was always drunk, but you must know that at that time, the pressure he faced was greater than yours."

"He was a shrewd businessman who spent his whole life chasing fame and fortune, but in the last period of his life, the reason he was so painful was that he still felt he was a human being and had to have humanity."

"I'm sorry, Tony. For so many years, no one told you that at that time, we actually all had a premonition." Obadiah took a deep breath, touched the white hair at his temple, and said, "Perhaps you know that the technology for the first-generation Arc Reactor was jointly researched by your father and a Soviet."

"On the eve of the Soviet Union's collapse, Vanko committed suicide. At that time, he abandoned a peaceful and comfortable environment and resolutely returned to his motherland, but he couldn't change anything."

"And before he died, he handed over the results of his efforts to improve the Arc Reactor over so many years to your father, Howard Stark."

Stark's eyes widened. This was inconceivable to him, because in his impression, the Soviet Union and the United States should have been enemies. How could a Soviet hand over technology to an American?

"I know you want to ask why he didn't hand over this technology to his compatriots? Tony, if he really still believed in his compatriots and really still had someone he could rely on, he wouldn't have committed suicide in despair."

"Even in his last letter, compared to Americans, he hated his so-called compatriots even more."

Stark had some premonitions in his heart, so he asked, "So, that technology..."

"Unfortunately, at that time, their country was in turmoil. Vanko thought he had kept it very secret, but in fact, he had long been targeted. As soon as Howard got this technology, the CIA came to him, and the military also learned the news."

Obadiah turned back, came to Stark, and said to him, "You and your father are too much alike. If it were you, when facing such a situation, what would you do?"

Stark thought for a moment, a trace of anger flashed in his eyes, and then he said, "Better to be a broken jade than an intact tile. If they want to coerce me into handing over this technology, and I am unable to resist, then no one should get it."

"Your father chose the same."

Stark was stunned, and then, as if thinking of something, he retreated a few steps in a daze, hearing Obadiah say:

"Howard retreated again and again, giving up many technologies, including some results in the direction of human body modification and mechanization."

"But the CIA and the military wouldn't give up. Howard tolerated and retreated repeatedly, compromising, and reality constantly crushed his pride, making him only able to rely on alcohol to numb his pain."

"For the sake of his family, he thought he could endure it forever, until one day, he discovered that they had set their sights on you. It's not surprising; you were Howard's only weakness."

"Howard understood that they wouldn't give up because of his retreat. Those damn hyenas would only bite off every piece of his flesh, so he didn't intend to endure it anymore."

"However, Howard's talent was constrained by the era and the development of basic science. He didn't have an iron suit; he was just an ordinary person with almost no tough means to deal with battle-hardened agents."

"And at that time, social pressure had forced him and Stark Industries into a corner with nowhere to retreat."

"But he didn't intend to give up. Howard knew that the CIA could get detailed information on his whereabouts, so he deliberately moved with that information, and at the same time, brought along a self-destruct device installed on the car engine."

"Howard was the last person to possess this technology. If he died, no one would get the Arc Reactor technology."

Stark's eye sockets turned red. He seemed to have seen Howard's hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, his eyes revealing madness. That was a man who had been forced into a dead end, a father with nowhere to retreat.

Obadiah stepped forward, patted Tony on the shoulder, and said, "Don't blame him for abandoning you. At that time, he had no other way to go."

"Even if he had handed over that part of the data, the military would still have been eyeing his genius brain, hoping Howard could produce inhuman killing machines for them..."

"Although your father was a businessman who started by selling arms and didn't have any noble integrity, at least he wanted to give you a broader future, rather than repeating his mistakes and spending his whole life atoning for the sins of his origin."

Stark closed his eyes in pain. Obadiah also showed a bitter smile and said, "Your father installed a black box on that car. The images before his death were all transmitted back. Actually, I knew who did it long ago, but I didn't tell you. Do you know why?"

Stark looked at him with tears in his eyes. Obadiah also looked into his eyes and said in a low tone, "Guess, who did the technology for the mechanical arm used on Sergeant Bucky Barnes come from?"

Stark closed his eyes in despair and pain. He now understood what Bucky meant by the look of surprise Howard had before he died.

Perhaps Howard was indeed surprised by the identity of the person who killed him. After all, Bucky was previously a soldier fighting for the country, but now he had become a Hydra killer.

But what surprised him even more was that Bucky's mechanical arm likely used some technology from Stark Industries.

But this was also very normal. In that era, Stark Industries represented the pinnacle of mechanical engineering technology. Howard was the founder of modern mechanical engineering. Who else could this technology, which looked very advanced in that era, come from if not him?

Stark thought that perhaps it was precisely because Howard recognized the technology on that arm and discovered Sergeant Barnes's abnormal mental state, associating it with the reason he became a killer, that he resolutely pressed the button, wanting to end this series of endless tragedies.

Stark was almost unable to stand steady. He supported the table with one hand and knelt halfway against the side of the table. Obadiah stood opposite him and said, "Your father was just a businessman, not a great man, but he was still your father."

"He might not have been a good person, nor could he be considered a good father, but at least, at the last moment of his life, he made a stupid decision that went against the greedy nature of a businessman, retaining a trace of noble kindness, so that when you miss those good times, you don't have to hide or feel guilty, and can have something to rely on."

After a moment of silence, Stark suddenly stood up, controlled the iron armor, rushed out of the glass curtain wall of the building, and came to the sky above New York.

A silent roar erupted from his chest. The citizens of New York only saw a bright shooting star sliding across the skyline, and when he stopped, Spider-Man swung to the roof of the building.

Spider-Man rarely didn't use that lighthearted tone to greet him, but said quite seriously, "Mr. Stark, there are some things I want to talk to you about..."

Stark stood silently on the edge of the building. Spider-Man sensed that his emotions were not right, but the words were on the tip of his tongue and had to be spoken. He could only bite the bullet and say, "I just came back from the hospital. Gwen's father, Police Chief George of the New York Police Department, was injured and hospitalized."

Spider-Man stepped forward, stood side by side with Iron Man, and looked at the sunset on the distant skyline. He sighed and said, "But he wasn't injured by a criminal, but by the shuttle's defense system..."

Spider-Man lowered his head and said, "Yesterday, the day I said my web-shooter was stuck by the new suit's security system, the case I didn't catch up to was exactly the one Chief George went to handle."

"A bus driver who was about to be laid off rushed onto the shuttle with explosives. Because my suit had a problem and the web-shooter wouldn't fire, I couldn't stop him in time, so Chief George rushed onto the shuttle alone, wanting to subdue him."

"But Chief George was too busy with work. When he changed his uniform, he left his shuttle transit card in his previous clothes. He didn't have a transit card on him, but the criminal did."

"I know that the shuttle's security defense system is very perfect. If someone doesn't swipe their card, it will give three warnings. After three warnings, it won't attack directly. As long as the person who didn't swipe the card stands still or moves slowly, the defense system won't be activated, it will just keep reminding them."

"And only those who didn't swipe their card, were moving at high speed, and were carrying dangerous items while making aggressive moves might trigger the defense system. This is indeed very reasonable, because this is to prevent those lunatics who want to rush the card."

"But Chief George was eager to catch the criminal and rushed in directly. The result was that although the criminal was also knocked down by the defense system, Chief George was also hit."

"Although the bullets used by the defense system on the shuttle are all stun bullets, which will only stun people and not make them bleed, Chief George had been injured before and had some heart problems. The electric shock stimulated his heart, causing him to still be hospitalized for treatment."

Spider-Man said in a somewhat low tone, "Although Chief George is not in life-threatening danger, Gwen is still very worried and cried very hard."

Iron Man turned his head to look at him and said, "What do you want to say? You think this is my problem, right? So, you would rather wear the old suit than the new one?"

"No, Mr. Stark, my new suit was sent for inspection..."

"Then why didn't you let me make you another one?"

"I... Mr. Stark, calm down..." ===== CHAPTER 1034 =====