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"query complete sir," the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke loud and clear in my otherwise blurry dream.
the a.i. continued speaking, "anton vanko was a soviet physicist who defected to the united states in 1963. however, he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. his son, ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling soviet-era weapons grade plutonium to pakistan, and served 15 years in kopeisk prison. no further records exist."
the scene cleared up, and i realized that i was in my dad's lab. my dad was sitting in one of his cars, listening to J.A.R.V.I.S. give his report on ivan vanko — the villain i named whiplash. uncle rhodey entered a minute after J.A.R.V.I.S. finished reporting his findings.
"tony," uncle rhodey began, "you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now. listen. i've been on the phone with the national guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the pch, knocking down your front door and taking these. they're gonna take your suits, tony, okay? they're sick of the games. you said nobody else would possess this technology for 20 years. well, guess what? somebody else had it yesterday. it's not theoretical anymore."
uncle rhodey peered into the car, "are you listening to me? are you okay?"
my dad barely nodded, "let's go." he went to get out of the car, but stumbled.
fortunately, uncle rhodey caught him, "hey, man. hey, hey! you all right?"
"yeah, i should get to my desk." uncle rhodey supported him as the two made their way to the desk, "see that cigar box?" my dad asked.
"yeah."
"it's palladium."
i watched curiously. palladium was what my dad's arc reactor was powered by. we held disks in stock to keep his arc reactor going.
my dad removed his arc reactor, and uncle rhodey looked at it, concern evident in his expression, "is that supposed to be smoking?"
"if you must know, it's neutron damage. it's from the reactor wall."
