"The Ark Reactor... yes, that was Howard's work," Obadiah responded to the military's question while Ivan shifted his gaze from Stark to glare at Obadiah.
Seeing his gaze, Obadiah said, "I know, there's a man here who claims to be a victim, thinking that Howard stole his father's achievents."
Leaning back in his chair, Obadiah's voice was tinged with nostalgia, "Anton Vanko, a scientist from the Soviet Union."
When the na 'Soviet Union' was spoken, the eldest general in the room looked at Obadiah. A younger general seed to want to stop Obadiah from continuing, but after a glance from the superior, no one said anything, leaving Obadiah's voice echoing in the room.
"Anton was truly a brilliant scientist. He was very Soviet in his beliefs, exceptionally gifted in industry and machinery, especially in terms of theoretical knowledge."
"His collaboration with Howard was seamless... I have to say, Howard was also a genius, but he was more focused on creativity, his mind agile, Anton leaned more towards technique, his theories ticulous, they used to be very in sync as partners."
Ivan seed to want to refute that, but Obadiah's reminiscent tone carried the unique imprint of that era, revealing the faded ti of the Iron Curtain.
"At that ti, an Arican and a Soviet working on an invention together sounded completely absurd, even if Anton claid that he had betrayed the Soviet Union, no one would believe it."
"If you look now, there should still be a bunch of verbose investigative reports in the Central Intelligence Agency's archives, docunting Anton and Howard's movents."
"Although 90% of that is a smokescreen I ignited, one thing is doubtless, Anton really was worth their surveilling so intensely, as he really could produce sothing that could change the world."
"Howard and Anton together created a model of the Ark Reactor, yes, it wasn't just Howard's invention, Anton was also a creator of the Ark Reactor."
The room fell silent, Stark and Ivan seemingly had no objections to this outco. Whether or not the Ark Reactor was solely Howard's invention, Stark didn't much care about, while Ivan seed to have expected this.
Leaning back in his chair, Obadiah shifted his posture and continued, "Now, I am the only one left who knows this story, but perhaps you all could have guessed it."
"Howard and I were well aware of Anton's true stance, he was a staunch Bolshevik."
"So, as ti went on and his holand's situation beca increasingly grim, their conflict broke out."
Obadiah's tone started to beco increasingly elusive, as if the story of the old days was playing before his eyes.
"Drop it, Anton, nothing good will co of it!"
"Why can't you see it? A single man or technology won't save your country." In the laboratory, Howard placed his hand on Anton's shoulder. Although he was much smaller in stature than Anton, he was stern in his stance.
"If you stay here, the two of us can make more money, we'll have no concerns for basic needs, your son will get the best education, there's no need for you to return to the icy snowfields."
"Anton, Obadiah has a way to cent your fake identity, as long as you..."
Anton brushed his hand off, saying, "This is you, Howard, you don't understand what I am truly pursuing..."
Howard took a deep breath, seeming desperately helpless, he said, "I don't want to talk about faith with you, I'm just stating a fact, it's too late now."
"Even if you take this technology back, you may not be applauded as a hero, you should understand that more than I do..."
Anton turned to look at Howard, saying, "Who caused this situation?!"
"Are you trying to vent this anger on ?" Howard was getting a bit angry and said, "I'm only advising you out of kindness, facing the foreseeably awful outco, why won't you just be a little flexible?"
"You Aricans call this versatility, right..." Anton's voice was filled with scorn. It seed as if he had had enough, as he picked up the model, about to leave.
"You can't take it!" Howard stopped Anton.
"This is the achievent of both our research! Do you intend to monopolize it?" Anton was thoroughly enraged. He cursed in Russian, sparking Howard's ire. In the lab, a fierce argunt broke out between the two.
"At last... Obadiah drew out his words, "Anton took part of the data and returned to his holand."
"I know, your father must have been very resentful of Howard before his death. He thought Howard was trying to monopolize the research outco by preventing him from taking the model back." Obadiah shook his head and said.
"But, in fact, if he really wanted to take the model to the Soviet Union, he wouldn't have been able to leave New York, he would have been killed by the Central Intelligence Agency."
"At that ti, the red giant beast was on the brink of death. No one would allow anyone to inject it with heart stimulant, in the final key stage, if Anton had the model, he wouldn't survive more than three days."
"Obadiah's words fell into silence, and he watched Ivan to say, "In fact, your father had already brought back plenty of data, enough for you to create an Ark Reactor from scratch. If you can do that, then they surely can, and even do it better."
"Unfortunately," he continued, "just as Howard predicted, it made no difference, it was already too late."
Ivan didn't hear any gloating from the victor in his tone, not even the hint of mockery. Obadiah's tone was far more complex than that, filled with nostalgia and regret. He finally said:
"On December 16th, 1991, Howard Stark died in a car accident. On December 26th, the Soviet Union announced its dissolution."
For a mont, Ivan was silent, then he unwittingly said: "On December 28th, 1991, Anton Vanko died."
The air in the room went silent; Tony Stark, Obadiah, and Ivan Vanko, all three, were silent. They didn't know how to express their feelings in words.
Just like everyone else who had witnessed the end of that era, the stories from the Iron Curtain period were both bizarre and ordinary. When you hear such a story, it seems absurd, but it evokes a profound feeling.
Except for Ivan Vanko, every other person present was a beneficiary of victory. But when this story was told in this room, hardly anyone could laugh at it.
"Maybe your father resented Howard because he held onto the illusion that had he gotten hold of the complete model, he could have made a difference."
"Or perhaps, by the ti of his death, he knew it was impossible, but he didn't want to tell you. He didn't want to tell you that he had found himself without comrades at the end."
Obadiah sighed again, looking at Ivan, "Your revenge is destined to fail, because you are not like your father."
The tone of Obadiah's recounting displeased the young generals listening in. They tried to interrupt him a few tis, but each ti the elderly leading general held them back.
"Let bygones be bygones, Obadiah." The old general said, "We all know that era is never coming back."
"So let's discuss practical matters."
Obadiah fiddled with the pen in his hand and said, "As you can see, the Ark Reactor wasn't solely the patent of Howard. Anton Vanko also contributed to its creation. And his son has already made a prototype. If he is willing to hand it over to you, Stark Industries will not object."
"If possible, we'd rather cooperate with Stark Industries."
The old general looked at Ivan's expression, feeling that trying to obtain technology from this Russian man in his current state was like a sheep asking to be slaughtered, waiting for Obadiah to blackmail them.
But Obadiah turned his gaze towards Justin, and Justin felt a chill down his spine.
Shiller drained his coffee, placing the empty cup on the table. Just then, Steve walked in. He took a cup of water from the dispenser, gulping it down. "Hamr Industries has been thrown under the bus by the military. Looks like things are about to calm down."
"What about that guy Ivan? Has he been deported?"
Steve shook his head. "It's hard to believe, but he has legal residency, he's not an illegal immigrant. He should have been handed over to the police, but Nick seems interested in his technical skills, so he's been kept here."
"Is he willing to work for Nick?"
"Of course not, but Nick is much more patient than Hamr. Ivan's probably holed up in a house sowhere on the outskirts of Manhattan. No one knows what he's up to."
"Isn't he seeking revenge against Stark?"
"But before seeking revenge, he needs to get his armor fixed," Rhodes finished the last of his coffee. "His armor and weapons are heavily damaged. Or rather, considering how much it was ravaged, the fact it's still functional speaks volus about the quality of Russian-made products."
"In any case, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are keeping an eye on him. He shouldn't be able to cause much trouble." Steve said as he pulled up a chair to sit.
Shiller turned another page of his newspaper and said, "So they're just going to ignore Stark's public image issues?"
Rhodes sighed, "In reality, this can't be entirely classified as a public attack, since they are just reiterating what Stark has done..."
"Even if Stark is a jerk, Pepper would at least try to make him look less of a jerk, right?"
"When the negotiations ended, Stark imdiately went looking for Pepper. I guess he's consulting with her about handling his public image."
When Rhodes had said that, the three shared a knowing laughter.
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