“Uh…”
Hearing Jones’s words, even the normally composed Coulson couldn’t help twitching at the corner of his mouth.
When he had spoken with Pepper earlier, she had already said the same thing once.
He hadn’t expected Jones to give him exactly the same response the second time around.
“We’re working on solving this little problem too!”
Coulson helplessly repeated the answer he had just given Pepper before his expression returned to normal.
“So, about what I just said?”
“I have no problem with it!”
Hearing Coulson’s words, Jones nodded lightly, his gaze settling directly on Coulson’s eyes.
“But…
you also know that I’m completely alone in America right now.
Are we really going to discuss this here?”
“My car is outside.
If you don’t mind…”
Hearing Jones’s words, Coulson immediately understood what he meant.
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as he spoke.
“Sure!”
Jones nodded lightly before turning his gaze toward Pepper.
“In that case, Miss Potts, I’ll step outside for a while.”
“Of course.
I’ll leave it to you for now!”
Although Pepper was also very interested in hearing how Tony had escaped, she didn’t show it at all.
With a warm smile on her face, she spoke directly.
“I’ll stay here and watch the press conference.
To be honest, I also want to know what Tony is planning to announce next.”
“Mm…”
Jones and Coulson nodded without saying anything more and walked directly toward the exit.
…
Inside Coulson’s car.
Jones dropped himself into the soft seat and gently raised his head to look at Coulson across from him.
“All right, now it’s just the two of us.
Ask whatever you want.”
Coulson nodded calmly, his expression extremely serious.
“Let’s start with how Tony escaped.
That’s still what I’m most interested in.”
Coulson’s attitude toward Jones had already changed compared to earlier, but Jones didn’t care in the slightest.
The U.S.
military already knew that he was a terrorist, so Jones didn’t believe S.H.I.E.L.D.
could possibly be unaware of it.
Pepper was Tony’s chief assistant.
Although she wasn’t yet the CEO of Stark Industries, she could still be considered an important figure.
Coulson could treat her politely, but there was no reason for him to show Jones the same attitude.
Still, Jones had to admit that Coulson was quite impressive.
Even after learning that Jones was a terrorist, he had merely become somewhat more serious.
That was somewhat unexpected.
Without any hesitation, Jones immediately spoke.
“The Iron Man armor!
A full-body exoskeleton, a weapon of war.
Machine guns and ordinary explosives can barely do anything to it, while it provides Tony with tremendous offensive power.
“Most importantly, it’s only about the size of an adult.
Some particularly large men are even bigger than the thing Tony built.”
Jones paused briefly before continuing.
“You can think of it as Tony wearing a tank on his body!
He built something like that in just three months, then used it to destroy the base and escape!”
Jones explained everything in considerable detail.
Although Coulson hadn’t seen the armor himself, Jones’s description was enough for him to form a basic idea of what Tony had created.
Jones and Tony weren’t exactly close, so there was no reason for him to keep this secret for Tony.
Besides…
from Tony’s perspective, this probably wasn’t much of a secret anyway.
“A full-body exoskeleton?”
Coulson narrowed his eyes, and a hint of excitement appeared on his face.
According to their analysis, there was absolutely no way Tony could have escaped from a terrorist base and destroyed it without some kind of extraordinary assistance.
Even having a terrorist helping him wouldn’t have been enough.
Therefore, S.H.I.E.L.D.
had originally assumed that some kind of superhuman power had been helping Tony.
There was even a possibility that Jones himself was that extraordinary power.
That was also why Coulson had come this time, to find out more.
But he hadn’t expected Tony to create something like an exoskeleton…
For S.H.I.E.L.D., this was far better than having some kind of superhuman power assisting Tony.
“But…
if that’s the case, then this guy shouldn’t have that kind of power, right?”
After muttering inwardly, Coulson asked directly, “Did Tony Stark build it entirely by himself?
That exoskeleton armor…”
“Yes!”
Jones nodded lightly.
“Agent Coulson, you don’t really think someone like me would possess that kind of knowledge, do you?”
Jones conveniently concealed Ethan’s existence.
After all, Ethan hadn’t made much of a contribution.
He had merely helped out with some basic tasks.
Saying that Tony had built the Iron Man armor by himself wasn’t really wrong.
“His value has dropped again.”
Hearing Jones’s answer, Coulson nodded lightly, but a hint of disappointment inevitably appeared in his eyes as he looked at Jones.
He had no superhuman abilities and hadn’t participated in the creation of the exoskeleton armor.
This guy had probably only helped Tony while he was imprisoned and during his escape.
They could observe him for a few more months.
If he didn’t display anything unusual or engage in any illegal behavior, he could basically be ignored.