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Chapter 222: The Past

"The Ark Reactor, that's Howard's work," Obadiah responded to the military's question, while Ivan shifted his gaze away from Stark and stared at Obadiah.

Obadiah noticed his gaze and said, "I know, there's a man here who claims to be a victim, believing that Howard stole his father's achievements."

Obadiah leaned back in his chair and his voice carried some nostalgia. "Anton Vanko, a scientist from the Soviet Union."

When he mentioned the name Soviet Union, the oldest General in the room looked at Obadiah. A young general seemed to want to interrupt Obadiah, but the General glanced at his subordinates and in the end, no one spoke, only Obadiah's voice echoed in the room.

"Anton was indeed a genius scientist, a very orthodox Soviet, gifted in industry and mechanics, especially in theoretical knowledge."

"He and Howard worked together seamlessly, Howard was also a genius, but he focused more on creativity, a quick-witted mind, while Anton leaned more towards technology, meticulous theory. They were very compatible partners."

Ivan seemed to want to say something to refute, but Obadiah's tone of reminiscing carried the special stamp of that era, showing the faded Iron Curtain era.

"At that time, an American and a Soviet working together on inventions sounded absurd, even if Anton said he had betrayed the Soviet Union, no one would believe it."

"If you investigate now, you can still see a lot of verbose investigation reports in the CIA's files, recording Anton and Howard's movements."

"Although 90% of them are fake reports I inserted, there is no doubt that Anton is worth their effort to monitor, because he really can create something that can change the world."

"Howard and Anton created the model for the Ark Reactor, yes, this was not Howard's invention alone, Anton was also the creator of the Ark Reactor."

The room fell silent, it seemed that neither Stark nor Ivan had any objections to this result. Whether the Ark Reactor was created solely by Howard was no longer important to Stark, while Ivan seemed to have anticipated it.

Obadiah leaned back in his chair and shifted his body, changing his posture before continuing, "Now, I am the only one who knows the truth about this story, but perhaps you can all guess."

"Howard and I knew Anton's true position, he was a staunch Bolshevik."

"And so, as time went on, their conflict erupted as his homeland became increasingly dire."

Obadiah's tone began to become more and more ethereal, as if the story from back then was constantly playing in front of his eyes.

"Give it up, Anton, it won't end well!"

"Why haven't you realized it yet? With just one technology or one person, you can't save your country." In the laboratory, Howard pressed his hand on Anton's shoulder, despite his smaller stature compared to Anton, his attitude was resolute.

"If you stay here, the two of us can earn more money, we will have no worries about food and clothing, and your son will also receive the best education. You don't need to go back to the icy wilderness."

"Anton, Obadiah has a way to make your fake identity real, as long as you-"

Anton slapped his hand away and said, "This is you, Howard. You don't understand what I'm really pursuing."

Howard took a deep breath, looking very helpless, and said, "I don't want to talk to you about beliefs. I'm just stating a fact, it's already too late now."

"Even if you bring this technology back, you may not receive Hero's praise. You should understand that better than me."

Anton turned around to look at Howard and said, "Then who caused this situation?!"

"Do you want to take your anger out on me?" Howard was also a little angry.

"I'm just trying to advise you kindly. Why don't you want to make a little compromise when you know the outcome will be bad?"

"You Americans call this compromise, yes." Anton's tone was full of sarcasm. He seemed unwilling to talk to Howard anymore and picked up the model to leave.

"You can't take it away!" Howard stopped Anton.

"This is the result of our joint research! Do you want to monopolize it?" Anton was completely angry, swearing in Russian. Howard was also very angry, and the two of them had a fierce argument in the laboratory.

In the end, Obadiah drew out his words and said, "Anton took some of the materials and went back to his hometown."

"I know, your father should have resented Howard before he died. He thought Howard was trying to take sole possession of the research and stopped him from taking the model back." Obadiah shook his head.

"But in fact, if he really wanted to bring the model to the Soviet Union, he wouldn't be able to leave New York and would be killed by the CIA."

"At that time, the red monster was already dying, and no one would allow anyone to give it another shot of adrenaline. In the critical stage, if Anton got the model, he would undoubtedly die within three days."

Obadiah's voice came to a conclusion, and he looked at Ivan and said, "Actually, the materials your father brought back were already enough. You could start from scratch and make the Arc Reactor, and they could definitely do it too, even better."

"But unfortunately, as Howard predicted, it didn't have any effect. It was already too late."

Ivan didn't hear any superiority from his tone, nor did he hear any sarcasm. Obadiah's tone was complicated, with nostalgia and regret. Finally, he said, "On December 16, 1991, Howard Stark died in a car accident. On December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union announced its dissolution."

Ivan was silent for a moment and involuntarily said, "On December 28, 1991, Anton Vanko died."

The air in the room quieted down, and Tony Stark, Obadiah, and Ivan Vanko were all silent. They didn't know how to express their feelings in words.

Like all those who witnessed the end of that era, the stories that happened during the Iron Curtain era were both bizarre and ordinary. When people heard such a story, they all felt ridiculous but also couldn't help but be moved.

Except for Ivan Vanko, everyone present was a beneficiary of victory. But when this story fell into the room, few people could laugh.

"Your father would resent Howard, perhaps because he still had illusions that if he had the complete model, he could save everything."

"But maybe, before he died, he already knew it was impossible, but he didn't want to tell you, didn't want to tell you that he found himself without comrades until the end."

Obadiah sighed again, looking at Ivan, "Your revenge is destined to fail because you and your father are different."

Obadiah's tone of recounting the whole thing made the young generals who were listening very unhappy. They wanted to interrupt him several times, but they were all stopped by the old General in charge.

"All these grievances are over, Obadiah," the old General said. "We all know that era will not come back."

"Let go of these past things and let's talk about practical issues."

Obadiah stroked the pen in his hand and said, "As you can see, the Arc Reactor is not Howard's patent alone. Anton Vanko also has this achievement, and his son has made the finished product. If he is willing to hand over the finished product to you, Stark Industries will not stop him."

"If possible, we still want to cooperate with Stark Industries."

The old General glanced at Ivan's expression and felt that instead of trying to get technology from this state of the Russian old man, it was better to be slaughtered and wait for Obadiah to blackmail them.

But Obadiah looked at Justin, and Justin felt a chill behind his back.

Schiller finished the last sip of coffee and put the empty cup on the table. At this time, Steve walked in, took a glass of water from the nearby water dispenser, drank a few sips, and said, "Hammer Industries was indeed thrown out to take the blame by the military. It seems that the situation is about to calm down."

"Where did Ivan go? Shouldn't he have been deported back to his country?"

Steve shook his head and said, "You may not believe it, but he has a legal right to reside and is not an illegal immigrant. He should have been handed over to the police, but Nick seems to have taken a liking to his technical abilities and kept him."

"Is he willing to work for Nick?"

"Of course he wouldn't want to, but Nick has more patience than Hammer. Ivan should have found a house on the edge of Manhattan now, and no one knows what he's up to."

"Isn't he going to seek revenge on Stark?"

"But before seeking revenge, he should at least fix his armor first." Rhodes finished his last sip of coffee and said, "His armor and weapons are badly damaged, or rather, being able to move after enduring such attacks is already a natural talent of Russian-made products."

"Anyway, with SHIELD agents watching him, he shouldn't cause too much trouble." Steve pulled a chair over and sat down.

Schiller flipped through another page of the newspaper and said, "So are we just going to ignore Stark's public image problem?"

Rhodes sighed and said, "Actually, this can't really be considered a public attack, because they're just bringing up what Stark has done before."

"Even if Stark really is a rotten person, Pepper should try to make it less obvious, right?"

"After the negotiations ended, Stark went to find Pepper first. I guess he went to discuss the direction of public opinion with her, right?"

After Rhodes finished speaking, the three of them smiled knowingly.