In fact, Luke and Tony were well aware that they hadn’t been talking about Werner at all, but about Tony’s proposal to ‘supervise’ superhumans.
After being taught a lesson by the little witch last time, Tony had somehow come up with a proposal for supervision, which included a plan to record and manage all superhumans (and combatants with similar abilities).
The two of them rarely clashed, but they had argued several times over this proposal.
In the end, nobody was convinced. They each had their own reservations, and the proposal was postponed.
Of course, the tycoon still tried to sound out the attitudes of the Avengers and the Bat Squad.
Then… nothing.
There were still a few people in the Avengers who supported him, but the Bat Squad laughed when they heard the proposal, and even cut off communication.
The Bat Squad had to abide by very strict safety rules to begin with, which included not doing evil and not casually causing large-scale incidents which disrupted law and order.
Such strict rules conversely gave them a lot of leeway to move freely.
Superheroes usually didn’t have to tell anyone where they wanted to go or what they wanted to do, nor did they need to get anyone’s approval.
Even with an emergency assignment, it was up to each individual to decide if they wanted to take it on or not.
Ordinary small assignments… Hm, those who lacked credit points snatched them up very quickly. If anyone else wanted to take those, they had to rely on luck.
The Bat Squad got such good treatment, and nobody had to be supervised.
Now, Tony was saying that he wanted everyone to register and come under a ‘superpower supervisory agency’ – who the hell would be happy?
Everybody thought that the tycoon was under too much pressure after that matter with Ultron, and they couldn’t be bothered to put up with him.
Besides, no matter how close Tony and Luke were, they weren’t the same person.
The Avengers and the Bat Squad were two organizations that were very different.
Tony’s proposal had to do with a difference in ideals.
The other party’s mind couldn’t be changed with just a few words.
Luke didn’t want to waste time on this.
Even when it came to his own teammates, he only set the rules and inculcated this thinking in them once in a while to ensure that nobody crossed the line.
Once he had sorted things out, he would pay this stubborn mule of a tycoon some attention.
Should he hint to Pepper to have a baby sooner? Luke couldn’t help but ponder the idea of taking drastic measures.
Once Tony and Pepper had kids, at least half of his attention would be diverted. Coupled with his research interests, he probably wouldn’t have so much time to waste on harassing other people.
The tycoon who did research was a good comrade, but the tycoon who tried to play at being upright was a trouble magnet.
It was safest for Tony to continue being a tech geek.
…
It was the end of August. After taking away Afterlife’s ‘main force,’ Warner disappeared without a trace.
The world was peaceful and nothing major happened.
Luke and Skye, who was wearing a different appearance, sat on a yacht in the open ocean.
It was a good day to bask in the sun. It was a pity that Selina couldn’t come. After all, both her sisters were still in New York, and they would all want to come together.
It would be inconvenient if that was the case.
After setting sail, Skye, who had been silent all this time, finally said, “That, that day, I didn’t attack Big Dipper on purpose…”
Luke waved his hand. “Someone told me about your situation. You paid for the treatment with your own credit points. There’s no need to apologize.”
Skye was relieved. Only then did she realize that she had been sweating from nervousness. She took off her jacket to reveal a gray cotton tank top.
Luke glanced at her. Her skin was very fair and smooth.
After all, her mother had regenerative powers.
Skye, however, didn’t notice his gaze. Instead, she dropped her forehead in her hand and complained bitterly, “I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt that whatever Werner said was right. I was very happy to listen to his orders. Now that I think back on it, it’s disgusting.”
Luke hummed and took a sip of his black tea. “I know you better, so it’s been left to me to explain the situation to you in case you feel guilty and it affects your work in the future.”
Skye turned around and blinked, as if she was all ears.
Luke added milk and sugar to the black tea in front of her with a smile. “It’s a long story. We’ll take it slow.”
On a yacht in the sunny afternoon, Skye hugged her cup and listened attentively.
…
It wasn’t hard for Ophelia, the nanotoxin expert, to figure out why Skye had turned ‘traitor.’
Skye wasn’t a passer-by. She was one of Luke’s trump cards.
Because she needed to keep her ability under control to prevent any damage to herself, she underwent a lot of checkups.
When her arms had been fractured at the very beginning, her injuries had to be examined every day.
Later, when her ability was under control, the frequency of the checkups dropped, but she still had one twice a month.
In just one day, Ophelia found a new parasite in Skye’s body that hadn’t been present in Skye’s last bloodwork.
On the third day, Ophelia came up with a treatment plan — she would inject the latest nanotoxin which she had developed into Skye’s body to kill the parasites.
The range and effect of the latest nanotoxin could be controlled, so much so that it could destroy the parasites with minimal damage to Skye’s body.
Luke didn’t directly veto this plan. Instead, he told Ophelia to do a trial run on an extract of Skye’s blood first.
In the end… Ophelia was slapped in the face.
The nanotoxins easily killed the parasites in Skye’s blood, but these parasites possessed a strange attribute.
After the first batch of parasites was killed, the rest immediately gathered together, as if they had received a ‘call to arms.’
They regenerated rapidly, and their resistance to poison was boosted at the same time.
In less than 20 minutes, the number of parasites increased, and they occupied important parts of Skye’s brain and organs in Ultima’s simulation – it was very likely that Ophelia’s treatment plan would have killed not just the parasites, but also Skye at the same time.
Even if Luke used Light of Life at that time, he wouldn’t be able to save Skye’s life.
Ophelia was quite unhappy that her first plan was a failure.
On the fourth day, she came up with a more stable but more unpredictable treatment plan — use the symbiote Riot, which was locked up in Space 2, to combine with Skye.
With the symbiote’s devouring and regenerative abilities, it could definitely ensure Skye’s safety while turning all the parasites in her body into nutritious protein tonics.
Luke again performed a trial run. He mixed Skye’s blood into a nutrient solution and fed it to Riot.
Riot drank the blood without saying anything.
After this guy was brought in, it was studied and experimented on from every angle, to the point of almost being turned into a halfwit.
Luke couldn’t be bothered to analyze whether or not this guy was faking it. In any case, it would be a test subject in Space 2 for the rest of its life.
Even if it didn’t want to live anymore, it would still leave behind valuable experimental materials.
Luke would remember its selfless contribution as a ‘pioneer’ and ‘martyr’ in the research on symbiotes.
