Chapter 815: Don’t Thank Me Too Soon, and a Purely Business Relations.h.i.+p
Tony’s eyes widened and his body tensed up.
In two seconds at most, he would “complete” this critical “400 hundred-meter, no support, high alt.i.tude fall.”
Suddenly, there was a push and pull force behind him. Falling in an arc, Mark 0 suddenly slowed down as it dipped even closer to the sand.
Tony was stunned for a moment before he quickly understood.
The flying Angel of Judgment was propelling him from behind. Only by dipping even lower would he have more time to offset the enormous inertia caused by Mark 0’s descent.
Luke had no choice.
The tyc.o.o.n’s last explosive burst had been too fierce. In just a few seconds, he sent himself 400 meters into the air. Then, the engine cut out and Tony started to free fall.
With his jets, Luke could only dash over from the side to save Mark 0 in order to save the tyc.o.o.n’s life.
However, the White Wolf Armor’s jet system was far inferior to Tony’s Iron Man Armor.
This was because the tyc.o.o.n’s armor had a palladium reactor, and the White Wolf Armor didn’t.
Of course, Luke knew how to make a first-generation arc reactor, but he hadn’t obtained any palladium yet.
These were nuclear materials.
The biggest problem with this thing wasn’t that it was scarce, but that the production and sale of palladium was strictly controlled by all governments.
Every transaction was bound to be recorded down, and there weren’t many agencies or organizations who could use it.
It wasn’t a problem for Tony to use a bit of palladium. For example, when Stark made certain missiles, a very small amount of palladium was used: about 0.15 grams in each missile.
But if Luke wanted to buy it from someone else, he would easily draw attention.
Only the FBI and the CIA knew how many big fish they had caught with this sensitive material as bait.
If Luke dared buy it off the black market, he would definitely become a target, since those who would buy this thing basically wouldn’t use it for anything good.
Most weapons dealers, even the worst ones, wouldn’t sell it casually.
Luke, who didn’t have an arc reactor, could thus only use this jet system which was far less efficient than the Iron Man armor.
In fact, the most difficult problem with high-speed flight was the energy supply.
As long as there was enough energy for propulsion, and enough quant.i.ty to subst.i.tute for quality, a few dozen third-rate suits on a battlefield would be no less practical than Tony’s Mark 1; they would also only be a fraction of the cost.
Luke wasn’t arrogant and wouldn’t look down on Tony’s extravagance; he wanted his own armor to be as strong one day.
With Luke’s help, Tony continued forward several dozen meters more in Mark 0 before he hit the sand.
Fortunately, the impact wasn’t too great, and Mark 0 got its legs stuck in the sand.
Luke, who had let go at the last minute, flew over ten meters with the momentum before he returned.
Pulling Tony out, he asked, “How do you feel? You won’t die, right?”
Tony finally heaved a sigh of relief and coughed. “No, cough cough, no problem.”
Luke picked him up and ran some distance before he found a pile of rocks to hide Tony in. “Wait here for a moment. I’ll clean up those guys.”
Tony was stunned. “Wait, we should find reinforcements first.”
There were a lot of people down there, and they had almost killed him just now. He didn’t think it was a good idea for the Angel of Judgment to go back.
Luke chuckled. “I’m not you.” With that, he jogged over the ridge and disappeared from Tony’s sight.
Tony smacked his lips, finding the man’s words a little not to his liking.
But he had just been saved, and he had no right to be angry.
He struggled to move so that his upper torso was in the shadow of the rocks, and he felt slightly better.
The sun was too bright here, and after being exposed to it for too long, he felt like a steak on a metal plate.
Of course, he was even more helpless to fix the fact that his crotch was hot.
The rock could only cover his upper torso, so he could only let his crotch suffer.
Hot baths for a week when I get back! As Tony made this decision, he heard gunshots from the other side of the mountain.
But it was different from what he had expected.
In the beginning, the gunfire was intense, but after two minutes, it dropped off significantly, and then stopped altogether in less than five minutes.
Ten minutes later, Luke appeared over the ridge again and glided over to Tony. After examining him for a moment, he asked, “Isn’t the metal skin warm?”
Tony looked conflicted. “I can’t take it off without help.”
Luke nodded. “That’s true. After all, you built it with your own hands in an emergency. Let’s go. I’ll take you back to look for tools.”
Picking Tony up again, Luke activated the jets and slowly flew back to the valley.
Looking at the scenery around him, Tony couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong with your jet engine?”
Luke immediately understood. “Too slow? From the day it was designed, it wasn’t meant to bear the load of two people, much less this big lump of iron on you.”
Tony had nothing to say.
When this person flew solo, he was quite fast. As a one-man flight system focused on agility, it was top-notch.
Naturally, it was Mark 0 who slowed it down.
Without specialized gold t.i.tanium alloy to guarantee sufficient protection, Tony could only make up for the lack of ma.s.s with weight, so Mark 0 was over three times heavier than Mark 2.
But without this thick sh.e.l.l, he wouldn’t have been able to withstand the heavy machine gun fire just now.
After crossing the ridge and sliding down, they finally sped up.
Tony couldn’t help but ask, “Who are you? Why did you save me?”
Luke said, “Haven’t you seen me on TV? They all call me the Angel of Judgment.”
Tony wasn’t used to this pace of conversation. Had he ever acted like a fanboy earlier?
Luke said, “Fine, I was just kidding. You can call me White Wolf. Tony Stark is qualified to know my codename.”
Tony asked, “Do you know me, Mr. White Wolf?”
Luke chuckled. “Stark Industries. Few people in the world don’t know it.”
After a brief silence, Tony said, “Thank you.”
Luke said, “Don’t thank me too soon. I think it’s best if we maintain a purely business relations.h.i.+p.”
Tony: “What?”
People who were friends with Tony often had to pick up after his rotten behavior, girlfriends included.
Luke didn’t think it was a good choice to be his friend.
Besides, this was the first time that White Wolf and Tony had met, so he should act like he wasn’t familiar with the tyc.o.o.n.