American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

A trail of flame streaked across the night sky, finally crashing onto the helipad atop the Hebron Building. Under the lights, the gold and red Iron Man armor whirred, its front shifting from closed to open, revealing a man inside in a tailored suit with a displeased expression.

“Tonight was supposed to be my sweet night with Pepper. You know we both had the time, we both had the mood, how rare is that? You ruined this rare good day!” Tony Stark straightened his jacket, stepped out of the open Iron Man armor, and looked at Nick Fury approaching him, his tone unfriendly.

“I apologize, but I think you might be interested in something special.” Although Nick apologized, his expression and tone were filled with perfunctory politeness that everyone could see and hear. He seemed quite worried.

“That’s debatable. I’m only interested in Pepper tonight.” Tony said, somewhat dissatisfied, “If you need my help, couldn’t you go to my newly built Stark Tower? It’s close to home, convenient, and after I’ve taken care of your business, I can continue my long-planned date.”

“Stop complaining, Tony.” Nick looked helpless. Of course, he knew that Tony’s arrival meant he was interested in the mysterious substance he mentioned; his previous words were just a way to shift blame.

“Where’s Little Luke? Why isn’t he here to greet me?” Tony stopped, looked around, and found only Nick Fury and a few of his agents. He pursed his lips and asked.

“In the lab. Let’s go, I’ll tell you what I know on the way.” Nick shook his head, signaling Tony to follow. Tony waved his hand behind him, and the open Mark armor instantly closed again, becoming silent.

…

“So, these bones contain some kind of unique energy, and if this energy is properly guided, it can greatly increase a person’s lifespan and strength?” After getting the relevant information from Nick, and finishing reading Luke’s lab records, Tony looked at Luke strangely, “Why have you been playing with things related to life and strength lately?”

“Just a coincidence.” Luke shrugged. In fact, he had roughly guessed what this bone-like thing was. Although he had never actually seen it, judging from the instrument analysis, tests, and the information Nick provided, it was likely a dragon bone. Luke didn’t expect that the special energy detector he had specifically created to find mages would not find the mage he was looking for, but would instead find this thing first.

It has to be said that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents do have some luck.

“What do you want me to do? Let me make it clear, I don’t make weapons for anyone.” Tony immediately declared his position to Nick. Research is fine, but making weapons is out of the question! His weapons are only for himself now.

“We don’t need you to make weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D.” Nick shook his head. “I just need to know what this is as soon as possible. How stable is the energy inside? Under what circumstances will the energy inside be released and explode? And how much damage will the release cause, and how wide will the range be! You know, there might be a large piece buried underground right now.

If an accident happens, both Hebron and your newly built Stark Tower might be affected.”

“That is indeed a threat.” Tony shrugged, turning to Luke beside him, “Give me White Queen access, of course, it would be best if Jarvis could come in. But I don’t think you’ll agree.”

“Would you let White Queen into your lab?” Luke rolled his eyes. He believed that if he let Jarvis in, Tony would leave a backdoor. Although there might not be any malicious intent, it was still unpleasant. But he still gave Tony temporary high-level access to White Queen, allowing him to use its computing power and some of the lab’s instruments.

The three of them busied themselves in the lab. Luke and Tony exchanged a few words from time to time, while Nick Fury listened, feeling like an outsider. But he couldn’t easily leave; he had to keep an eye on the mysterious bone. Although he didn’t understand the technology, he knew how to read people, and he could tell that Luke was very interested in the bone.

He thought he understood Luke somewhat. This guy’s moral standards fluctuated, and his bottom line was sometimes there and sometimes not. It was hard to say whether he would find an excuse or create an accident to swallow the bone. This was S.H.I.E.L.D.’s property! With more underground, Nick didn’t mind sharing some with Luke, after all, if Luke researched something good, maybe he could get some unexpected benefits from it, like the longevity potion?

But the premise of sharing was resource exchange, not accepting Luke’s free ride.

After all, he also coveted a lot of Hebron’s technology, and Luke wouldn’t easily release these technologies until the profits from the current Hebron products were exhausted. He brought Tony Stark here just to add some bargaining chips to his side, so that he would have more choices and excuses to lower the price when he might exchange resources with Luke in the future.

But looking at the two people in the lab who seemed to be working together quite harmoniously, Nick felt like he had made a bad move.

But soon, Nick didn’t have the mind to think about these things. His communicator rang, and under the dissatisfied gazes of Luke and Tony, Nick’s expression changed several times in a short period of time. By the time he hung up the phone, his face was full of gloom, and he was radiating a strong anger.

“I need to leave temporarily to deal with something, I’ll be back soon.” Nick said to Luke and Tony, who were watching him, then turned and left with the agents guarding the door, taking the helicopter that had landed on the helipad on the top floor of the Hebron Building.

“Guess what happened to make the old agent leave in such a hurry?” Tony glanced at Luke.

“White Queen.” Luke ignored Tony and called out to White Queen.

The next second, a series of tragic images appeared before Luke and Tony.

It was a construction site in Manhattan, with bodies lying all over the ground. In the time-reversed footage, there were also some ghostly figures appearing and disappearing at the construction site.

“Looks like Fury’s in trouble.” Tony sighed, looking at the bodies.