Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Wanda and Pietro stayed behind. The fact that Wanda could call Constantine "teacher" meant they could be considered members of the Dragon Academy. This kind of screening had no effect on them.

Seeing this, Constantine asked, "Aren't you going back to Earth for a visit?"

Pietro was eager to try, but Wanda shook her head and refused: "No, we don't really want to go anywhere, and besides, Pietro hasn't finished his training for today."

Wanda's words plunged Pietro into the Frosty Hell. He had originally planned to take the opportunity to return to the glamorous world of Earth and escape a few days of training, but who would have thought that his dear sister would remember him?

Pietro, head bowed, reluctantly stretched out his foot and drew lines on the ground, writing "I want to go back to Earth." But Wanda added two more strokes, turning it into "I don't want to go back to Earth."

Constantine patted the two little ones on the head and handed them a key.

"This is the key to my firm. There's money in the desk drawer. I'll give you two days off; a few more days won't make a difference in training."

Pietro jumped up as soon as he took the key, while Wanda became somewhat reluctant.

Pietro immediately rushed to his office after the portal reopened, and pressed himself against the window to look at the scenery outside.

Constantine pushed the reluctant Wanda and took her there.

Constantine finally breathed a sigh of relief after closing the portal.

Constantine donned his pyromancy once more, and Geralt appeared out of nowhere, clad in leather armor and wielding a gleaming silver sword.

The two looked at each other and nodded.

"Let's go and see if we can catch that unexpected Tindaros Hound this time."

Chapter 170: Stark's Kindness

Here, the trainees were led one by one into the interrogation room, where they were met with a lengthy investigation.

Ash, meanwhile, was in his office, looking at the pile of documents that had reached the ceiling and starting to get a headache.

Stark was also in Ashe's office, but he was now leaning back on the sofa, watching Ashe write furiously, and taking out the wine he had tricked into getting from Onion Knight, leisurely began to sip it.

With each sip, Stark let out a satisfied sigh, a sound that made the veins on Ash's forehead bulge even more.

Ash threw down his pen and said with a headache, "Stark, can't you go somewhere else?"

"Where to? There are reporters everywhere outside; the current media climate isn't suitable for me to appear. Besides, I'm a special consultant to the Control Bureau that you hired. What's wrong with me being here?"

Ash gritted her teeth, forcing out the words, "Can't you even handle your company's affairs!"

He took another sip, sighed, and said boastfully, "That's what happens when I have Pepper! She's the CEO of Stark Industries now!"

Rubbing his temples, Ash abandoned his plan to beat up Stark and instead focused on dealing with the pile of documents in front of him.

It would have been better if they hadn't dealt with it. Looking at these documents, Ash was truly shocked by the military's former power.

The current control bureau still holds the previous military power, which gives it the authority to act first and report later.

It can be said that the Control Bureau can forcibly take over anything related to the supernatural, including some false alarms filed by some people.

Furthermore, Ash can find any equipment that the military possesses in the Bureau of Control on its weapons list, including the goats used to improve the herd.

The only sound in the office now is the rustling of Ash's pen as he writes furiously.

Suddenly Ash asked, "Haven't you found him yet?"

"No, he has completely disappeared."

Stark put down his wine glass and started operating his phone, projecting the image into the air.

“I hacked into all the traffic cameras, and even all the connected private cameras, but I couldn’t find Stan.”

Since that night, Obadiah Stan probably knew that Stark was not dead. After leaving Stark's residence, he only stayed at his own home for a short while before disappearing from everyone's sight.

Even though Stark used every means at his disposal, he still couldn't find him.

Ash, still processing documents, said without looking up, "I've contacted two private investigation organizations that can help; they'll also assist in investigating Stan's whereabouts."

"Ah."

After Stark responded, the room fell into complete silence.

Ash, pen in hand, could no longer bear the paperwork and threw it down, saying, "I'm going to check their review process!"

After saying that, Ashe ran off. Stark couldn't stand being alone, so he followed Ashe out.

Standing in front of the interrogation room, Ash looked at Anderson, who was standing guard at the door, and wondered why the sounds coming from inside the interrogation room sounded a little off.

"Who is conducting the interrogation inside?"

"Captain Caster."

Anderson's lips twitched involuntarily at the mention of that name. Even though his rank was higher than Frank's, his methods were still not as brutal as Frank's. Frank couldn't stand it inside and had to come out to be a goalkeeper.

"You just came out like that? Aren't you afraid Fleck will ruin people? Go stop him!"

As Ash prepared to push the door open and go in, he knew that Frank's methods were terrifying even to hear about, and these former SHIELD students simply couldn't withstand them.

Just as Ash opened the door, Fleck came out, wiping his hands.

Fleck said to Anderson without any politeness, "This one's fine, call the next one."

Ash stopped Anderson, who was following orders, and said to Frank, "Stop, Frank. These people are dangerous. If we leave them with any disabilities, it won't be good for S.H.I.E.L.D...."

“Disabled? What do you take me for? They don’t have a single scratch on them. I just had a nice talk with them.”

Ash, who simply didn't believe it, asked, "You didn't use water torture, did you?"

Frank Castle, frowning, solemnly stated, "I guarantee that I did not use any torture methods against them."

"Just talking?"

"Just talking!"

Ash was relieved to receive Frank's assurance.

However, Frank hesitated and said uncertainly, "Without using special means, I'm not confident about two of them."

If neither of them was confident, then it was naturally Natasha and Clint. Natasha was a seasoned agent, while Clint was personally recruited by Fury.

Both of these people have special characteristics, and ordinary methods will not work.

However, Ash said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, Irina will interrogate them tomorrow."

Frank raised an eyebrow, his expression saying, 'I don't believe it.'

"Irina wants to become the Fire Keeper. Although she doesn't have the ability to look straight into the abyss, she can easily distinguish between lies."

Frank still didn't understand this supernatural power, but since Ash had told him, he believed her. Based on their past combat encounters, Frank trusted that Ash wouldn't lie about this.

"By the way, Frank, I have a new idea. Shall we give it a try?"

To avoid leaving an indelible impression of fear on the other trainees, Ash pushed Caster out of the interrogation room to the training ground to test his new ideas.

In the training field, Caster changed into a bomb suit, picked up a light machine gun, and became a rogue soldier belonging to the Control Bureau.

Stark, who was watching the spectacle, scoffed, "This is your new idea? Isn't this ridiculous?"

Ash pointed to the Rogue Warriors' equipment and said, "Strong protection, continuous firepower, and 150 rounds of ammunition. I don't believe anyone can stop us!"

“A slow-moving target can be killed by the heat from RPGs, tungsten-core armor-piercing rounds, depleted uranium rounds, or even Molotov cocktails.”

Stark bluntly pointed out the problems, which made Ash somewhat disheartened.

Ever since witnessing the overwhelming power of the rogue warrior, Ash has been determined to replicate that rogue fighting style.

However, the previous battles were asymmetrical, with the weaker side always getting bullied.

However, the enemy that the controllable situation is about to face may not be the weaker party, making this configuration rather useless.

After being thoroughly criticized, Ash had no choice but to help Frank remove his heavy equipment and prepare to abandon the idea.

However, Stark's next words rekindled Ash's hope.

"However, exoskeletons can be used to modularize these armors, and even jetpacks can be used to make combatants jump."

In terms of weapon design, Stark has never disappointed, providing solutions in just a few words.

"Are you planning to use your energy design?"

Ash subtly pointed out Stark's arc reactor, only to be met with a glare from Stark.

"This kind of thing only needs to use solid-state batteries. The power supply of solid-state batteries is enough to power the alloy frame of the exoskeleton. Attaching those modular armors is just a matter of adding more batteries."

"What about the jetpack you mentioned?"

"Do you really have absolutely no understanding of technology to become a pastor? The earliest jetpacks were developed and designed by the military around 1960. They used hydrogen peroxide as a power source and could provide stable power. There were even performances of people flying over the White House at that time!"

This equipment, by replacing hydrogen peroxide with a more potent compound that causes a brief burst of power, provides just a few seconds of thrust, enough to propel this hundreds-of-kilograms rogue soldier onto a rooftop.

As Stark explained, he manipulated the design on a virtual screen on his watch and showed the finished product to Ash.

A fully armed rogue soldier, relying on his tough armor, swiftly maneuvers between bunkers, constantly using a device on his back to leap to higher ground, his light machine gun continuously firing at the enemy. Some rogue soldiers, even those designed specifically for this purpose, have mounting brackets for heavy weapons, loading grenades and man-portable missiles in turn.

Seeing this, Frank next to him became envious.

However, Ashe reached out and covered Stark's watch, obscuring the virtual image.

“Stark, you shut down the weapons manufacturing division, do you remember?”

Ash stared into Stark's eyes, his tone full of warning.

As soon as this equipment is made public, Stark will inevitably be put in a difficult position, as its weapons division, which was just closed, is secretly providing this equipment.

Such two-faced behavior will not help Stark Industries' stock price in the slightest, and will cause unspeakable damage to Stark's personal reputation.

Stark didn't care and sent the preliminary design drawings directly to Ash.

“Stark needs to deal with several weapons production lines, and I can sell them to you at a low price.”

Ash shook his head and said, "Even so, I can't handle it. Stark's weapons production volume is just too large."

“Then find a few friends to share this cake. I’d rather give it to you and the people you trust than to those hyenas.”

"Tony, let me think about it."

Ash neither refused nor agreed.

Ash used to have all her money in the Sinful City, either precious metals or donations from Kingpin. She always carefully maintained this arrangement.

If Ash accepts Stark's offer this time, he will inevitably deepen his connection with this world once again. This means that Ash, who originally intended to play around and leave, will now have to take responsibility for it.

Back in his office, Ash buried himself in the pile of documents, trying to keep himself busy so he wouldn't think about what had just happened.