American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

However, Bucky completely ignored her questions and launched a deadly attack on her.

In his panic, Carter could only barely defend himself with his sword and shield.

"Hehe, so he's an old acquaintance of yours, Captain Carter. But now he's not called Bucky anymore. He has another name, the Winter Soldier... By the way, he's a super soldier just like us!" Andrew said with a smirk when he saw Carter's disheveled appearance, while turning his gaze to Michael Carter and the other four who seemed a little lost.

Chapter 169 Gamma Rays

A DC-3 passenger plane slowly landed in Los Angeles.

Jarvis stood at the disembarkation point, holding a parasol, observing the passengers disembarking from the plane.

Soon, his gaze settled on a tall, dark-haired woman wearing sunglasses, and his expression immediately became somewhat distorted.

"Oh dear Mr. Jarvis, it seems you're not happy to see me?" Just as Jarvis was struggling with his thoughts, the other person walked up to him and teased him with a smile.

“No, I’m glad. Welcome to Los Angeles, Ida Palmer… oh no, I should call her Ms. Dottie Underwood. I never expected the CIA to send you here.” Jarvis greeted her awkwardly, but the sarcasm in his tone clearly did not match his words.

That's right, the person who got off the plane was none other than Dottie, the former Leviathan agent—but now she is a senior agent in the CIA Operations Department, directly under Ophelia's command.

This time, it represents Josh's visit to Los Angeles to meet with Howard.

“Oh, dear Mr. Jarvis, are you still holding a grudge about what happened in the past?” Dottie remained unperturbed by the sarcasm in Jarvis’s tone, still wearing a smile.

Jarvis disliked her for a reason, and the reason lies in the initial title: Ida Palmer.

More than a year ago, when Dottie was still a Leviathan agent, she used this identity to get close to Howard and extract a lot of intelligence from Howard and Jarvis. She also colluded with her Leviathan associates to steal Howard Stark's private vault, which triggered a series of Leviathan-related cases last year and also made Howard Stark a traitor.

However, it was only after she was recruited by the CIA and became a witness that Howard was exonerated.

Of course, Howard lost more than a dozen inventions and a small bottle of Captain America's blood in the process, which he could only swallow his tears... In the end, the whole thing was caused by Howard's inability to control his lower body.

Josie sent Dottie to contact Howard not only because it was inconvenient for him to show himself, but also because the two of them were quite familiar with each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"Hehe, no, Ms. Underwood, please come with me!" Jarvis gestured behind him, revealing the convertible luxury car.

“…Um, Mr. Jarvis, I know Howard came to Los Angeles because he took on a defense contract and is also planning to build a space launch center here. You’re probably here to help him manage the property…but…” Dottie looked at the car in the distance, a little confused on his face.

Yes, Howard's presence in Los Angeles is largely due to Josh.

Josie's companies have won several large military contracts, especially Boeing's fighter jet orders and space launch projects. Although this has not caused a large-scale commercial impact, it has aroused Howard's competitive spirit.

So recently he also joined forces with Trans World Airlines and Lockheed, which controlled a significant number of shares, as well as the newly established Air Force Department, to prepare to build a new space launch center in Santa Barbara County, north of Los Angeles, to enter the space industry and compete with Josie's Boeing Company. In 1947, the U.S. Army Air Forces Command officially separated from the U.S. Army Department and established the U.S. Air Force.

The newly established Air Force clearly did not want most of its orders to remain in the hands of Josh's Boeing.

Furthermore, the Air Force also intended to get involved in the aerospace industry—in the view of the newly established Air Force leadership, everything that flies in the sky should be under their jurisdiction.

However, the high command of the two long-established branches of the military, the Navy and the Army, simply did not listen to them.

Josie couldn't possibly abandon her long-standing good relationship with the Army and instead cooperate with the Air Force—the U.S. military's orders were too large to be spread across multiple suppliers at once; Josie, with its size, couldn't and wouldn't do that.

So the Air Force thought of Howard Stark, with whom they had a very good working relationship before Boeing's rise.

The two sides hit it off immediately.

The location where they planned to build the space center was the only other space center in the original timeline besides the Truman Space Center, which was taken away by Josie—Vandenburg Air Force Base.

Such a large project could not possibly be kept secret from the CIA... Of course, they didn't intend to hide it either.

So it's normal that Dottie knew what Howard was doing.

But that wasn't what surprised her.

“Yes, I know what you’re going to say, it’s because of that flamingo, right?” Jarvis said, a hint of helplessness flashing across his face.

“Yes, a flamingo…” Dottie looked speechlessly at the huge transparent display case on the back seat of the luxury car, and inside the display case was a pink flamingo.

Well, alive.

“I’m sorry to say you’re not the only guest Mr. Howard wants to entertain… Come meet the newest member of the Stark Mansion Zoo, his name is Bernard…” Jarvis introduced with a look of utter despair.

“Perhaps this is a common quirk among wealthy people like them…” Dottie said with a smirk.

"Them?" Jarvis raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

“Yes, my current boss, Mr. Josh Kahn, keeps a white lion and a silverback gorilla in his yard…” Dottie said helplessly.

Well, that's actually quite normal. Dottie wouldn't tell Jarvis that Josie keeps some dinosaurs on one of her estates...

In fact, not to mention dinosaurs, just the sight of lions and silverback gorillas was enough to make Jarvis tremble with fear.

What kind of person would keep lions and gorillas in their own backyard?

Compared to that, my boss keeping a flamingo seems so peaceful.

“Lions and gorillas? Oh, Mr. Kahn has even more refined tastes than I thought. Jarvis, make a note of this for me. I want to go to Africa next time I take a vacation. Hmm, since Kahn keeps lions, white lions at that, I can’t keep them. But I could get a few cheetahs or leopards, and some zebras… Rhinos and elephants are out of the question. Hornbills and ostriches, oh right, those would be nice!” Howard muttered to himself half an hour later.

Jarvis, standing to the side, was nearly fainting. Why did he have such a peaceful thought about his boss earlier?

“Ahem, Mr. Stark, shouldn’t we talk about business first?” Dottie glanced at Jarvis with some sympathy, interrupting Howard’s self-absorbed chatter.

“Ah, that’s right, Zero Matter… Dottie, I think we shouldn’t be so formal. Just call me Howard!” Compared to Jarvis, Howard, who was always tolerant of women, obviously didn’t hold a grudge against Dottie as much. He was even happy to see her.

As for the reason... well, those who know, know.

“Okay, Howard!” Dottie understood Howard’s little scheme and didn’t expose it.

“Great… What does the CIA want to know about zero matter?” Howard gave a thumbs up and then asked.

“It’s very simple: how to resist the harmful effects of zero matter, or rather, how to eliminate it,” Dottie said.

Upon hearing Dottie's words, Howard's expression immediately turned serious. "What happened?"

When Josie was in the CIA, she only said that she needed to ask him about some research on zero matter, so Howard didn't refuse, but he didn't take it too seriously either.

But now that Dottie is asking how to deal with the harmful effects of zero matter, the situation is probably not so simple.

“Since that’s the case, then I won’t hide it anymore. You should know about the Social Sports Club, right, Howard?” Seeing that Howard seemed to have guessed something, Dottie spoke frankly.

“Of course, of course I know!” Howard shrugged, his expression somewhat unnatural.

Social Sports Club is the public face of the Nine Councils. It is open and aims to attract elites from various fields in the United States. This attraction is not intended to recruit these people into Hydra, but rather to facilitate exchanges of interests.

The true Hydra is limited to a nine-member council.

However, the club only admits elite white men as members, and the conditions are very strict.

Howard clearly met all the requirements, so he was invited to join the club. Hugh Jones, who became friends with Howard at that time, was naturally aware of the club.

However, it was clear that the economic and social club, which was mainly for older men, did not suit Howard's taste, and he left after joining for a while.

However, his reasons for leaving were not only because he disliked the atmosphere, but also because of the nature of the company – which made him enemies with many members, including Hugh Jones – most of the members were older wealthy men who often liked to keep young girls as lovers.

Compared to these frail old men, the young and handsome Howard would obviously be able to easily win the hearts of these wealthy men's kept women.

Under such circumstances, it would be strange if they didn't make enemies.

“Yesterday, our CIA received a request for assistance from Mr. Hugh Jones. The reason is that one of the club's members, Calvin Chadwick, the president of Aetheran, like your Stark Industries, also accepted a research contract from the Army regarding zero matter, and recently made a breakthrough. However, instead of submitting the research results, Calvin Chadwick used zero matter as a weapon yesterday morning to massacre several club members, attempting to seize control of the club by force and threaten the members into becoming his vassals… Howard, I think you should understand what the consequences would be if Calvin succeeded, given the status of those club members!” Dottie recounted the events of yesterday morning in detail, making slight adjustments to the details, such as mentioning that Josie was also a club member, and placing the person in need of assistance on Hugh Jones.

This completely avoids Josie owing Howard a favor, turning the matter into a simple CIA invitation for Howard to help with the case.

When Dottie mentioned Hugh Jones, Howard's expression became even more unnatural. Although he liked to cheat, he still had some sense of shame.

Fortunately, now is not the time to dwell on his dirty deeds.

“I see. Calvin can actually manipulate zero matter and use it as a weapon? That’s really bad news. But you’ve come at the right time. I do have a way to deal with zero matter: gamma rays!” Howard nodded and said.

“Gamma rays?” Upon hearing this term, Dottie was slightly taken aback; she had never heard of this type of ray before.

“That’s right, gamma rays! The generation of gamma rays will burst out with strong high-energy photon pulses, and these photon pulses can eliminate zero matter!” Howard explained.

“I see. Do you have equipment to manufacture gamma rays?” Dottie asked.

“Yes, but that one isn’t powerful enough. I need to build a bigger one, but that will take some time!” Howard said.

"How much is 'a little time'?" Dottie asked, frowning.

“If things go quickly, it can be done within 12 hours. But I have one condition!” Howard said. Just as his son could build a small particle accelerator by hand in a single day, it wouldn’t take too long to hastily put together a gamma radiation device.

"What conditions?" Dottie asked, puzzled.

“I have to operate this thing myself!” Howard said.

"You mean once it's built, it'll work with us?" Dottie frowned.

“Of course, otherwise who knows what you would do with my things!” Howard shrugged.

"...If you insist, then of course there's no problem!" Dottie agreed without much hesitation.

"Okay, let's not delay. I'll go to the lab now. Jarvis, come with me. There are some things I need you to prepare." Howard said and headed towards his lab. Although he was a playboy, Howard, like his future son Tony, would instantly transform into a research fanatic when he encountered a problem that interested him.

“I’m coming right now, sir, Ms. Underwood, please make yourself at home!” Jarvis apologized to Dottie and then hurriedly followed.

“Yes, sir, I’ll keep an eye on him!” Dottie smiled as he watched Howard and Jarvis leave, then touched his earring and said.

However, her conversation with Howard had been eavesdropped on by Ophelia on the other side, and her earring was a small listening device.

Ophelia then immediately reported the situation to Josie.

After learning that the best way to deal with zero matter was through gamma rays, Josie immediately opened the trading device and contacted Yuri. Although Josie did not doubt Howard's research capabilities, putting all his eggs in one basket was not in his nature.

“Gamma rays? That’s easy! It can be done in four hours at most!” After listening to Josie’s request, Yuri immediately gave a timeframe, which was two-thirds shorter than the time Howard needed.

Of course, this does not prove that Yuri is necessarily smarter than Howard, after all, the difference in the technological foundation between the two worlds is obvious.

In the Marvel universe, research on gamma rays is limited to a very small number of cutting-edge scientists, such as Howard—which is actually quite good. In the world before Josie's time travel, the existence of gamma rays was not discovered until almost the 1970s.