"Boss, Mr. Stark is here!"
David's voice came from the communicator on the desk.
"Alright, I get it. Let him in."
Carl replied without any surprise on his face.
It had been a while since the last time the toxins were removed. The toxins in Tony's body had accumulated again, mostly because he kept wearing his battle suit and darting around all day.
This time Tony came here expressly to have the poison removed — a meeting that Carl already knew about and had scheduled yesterday.
"Dear Carl, how have you been lately? I heard from Pepper that you seem to be in some trouble?"
The office door opened and Tony walked in wearing sunglasses and a confidence that seemed effortless.
Carl smiled.
"It's a bit troublesome, but it's nothing I can't handle. There's a saying in China — 'the innocent will be innocent in the end.' There's nothing wrong with my products, and these rumors will be proven false soon enough.
By the way, I read in the newspaper that you were summoned to Washington to attend a hearing tomorrow?"
While the Hudson Group was being targeted by various forces in recent days, Tony was also under pressure from the US government. They demanded that Tony surrender the manufacturing technology for his Iron Man suit on the grounds that it was a dangerous weapon.
In reality, the attacks on the Hudson Group were related to this.
Hydra, through its hidden agent in the government — Congressman Stern — teamed up with the pharmaceutical companies to suppress the Hudson Group. But their main objective was not the pills — it was the suit.
Using the government's power, Hydra hoped to force Tony into handing over the technology.
If Nick Fury hadn't kept them busy with other problems, their methods might have gotten more aggressive.
"That whole group of clowns… I know them all too well. Tomorrow I'll show them that not even the President himself can take away what's mine."
Tony's face was full of confidence.
The industries under the Stark Group were vast and indispensable to many government projects. There were limits to how much pressure the government could apply.
As for legal strategies, Tony's team of lawyers were more than a match for their opposition.
"It seems you already have a plan. Do you mind if I come with you to broaden my horizons?"
Carl stood up and walked over to Tony, using his magic to cleanse the toxins from his body.
Tony's eyes glimmered.
"Of course! I'd love it!"
He'd gotten quite used to being put in his place by Carl, and now it was his chance to show off in return.
How could he miss the opportunity?
"I've always wanted to ask… who is this?"
Tony turned to look at Amelia, who remained silent in the corner.
He hadn't noticed her at first, but now his piercing gaze fell upon her — a delicate face hidden under ordinary clothes — a woman who seemed to carry herself differently from everyone else.
"Could it be… she's your wife?"
Tony seemed to have gotten something from the way Amelia glanced at Carl from time to time.
"Wife, wife, wife, wife!"
Amelia, who had stood quietly beside Tony with a faint smile, suddenly blushed when she heard this.
The harden eyes seemed to soften in an instant — the piercing, calculating stare of a warrior choosing where best to attack if the person in front of her were a threat.
But when Tony made that joke, something seemed to change.
The killing intent fell away, and her demeanor softened.
If the rest of the Hudson Group were to see this, they'd be stunned.
Because everyone knew Amelia preferred the feeling of her enemies' agony — to listen to their screams and destroy them without mercy, whether young or old, man or woman.
As long as someone stood against Carl, Amelia would show no compassion.
Of the 12 people whom Carl had taken in, 9 died in missions and battles.
The 3 who remained — Leo, David, and Amelia — were his most trusted soldiers.
Leo was in charge of security and intelligence; David was the secretary and intermediary;
but it was Amelia who eliminated anyone who crossed him.
"She's my sister. Amelia, you can go back and rest now. Go see Wanda when you have time. She was talking about you the last time we spoke."
Carl nodded to Amelia. She nodded quietly and turned to leave.
Tony looked after her in surprise.
"She's your… sister… but you two…?"
He meant their physical appearances were completely different — a yellow-skinned Chinese and a fair-skinned European — the two seemed unrelated by blood.
"Amelia is my adopted sister, but I treat her as a true sibling."
Carl glanced at Tony, whose expression was growing more mischievous, and made sure to clarify.
He treated Amelia as a subordinate, a family member — nothing more.
He'd taken in Amelia, Leo, and David when their pasts were dark and painful.
He provided training and missions to toughen them and make them useful.
But in their hearts, their loyalty to him went far beyond utility — in their view, Carl was the only light in their lives, the only person worth dying for.
The two made an appointment for the following day, Tony left, and Carl headed down into his laboratory.
The problems the Hudson Group was experiencing were small in his view — something that Xiao… or, now… Amelia and the rest were more than enough to handle.
What really mattered to him was the progress on the new drug. There was not much time left before the deadline of a month that he'd previously set.
"Dr. Stern, Dr. Banner, how's it going?"
"Based on the strong assimilative ability of Dr. Banner's genes, we have successfully produced a very special gene drug. After numerous experiments, it shows an extraordinary ability to destroy cancer cells."
Dr. Stern nodded excitedly.
Carl raised his hand to interrupt.
"So this means we have a complete cure for all cancers?"
"Yes. To put it simply, taking this new medication will assimilate all the cancerous cells into healthy ones and then expel them from the body. The patient will naturally be cured."
Dr. Stern nodded once again, his face filled with confidence.