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"In that battle with the Captain during the Civil War, I accidentally got hit in the armor's reactor by Vision, causing the suit to lose power and fall from a high altitude. I was paralyzed from the waist down back then, so I got used to the armor's assistive movement functions. Wearing the armor doesn't mean anything else..."
Seeing Rhodes say this, most of the Avengers from the other Universe who had participated in that Civil War also stepped forward to speak up for him.
After all, they were partially responsible for Rhodes ending up in his current state!
It had to be said that this Fake Rhodey was very clever. Facing a difficult situation, he immediately thought of the best way to extricate himself: placing himself in the category of victims and letting others who felt guilty toward him step in to help...
Unfortunately, Tony, who already knew the whole truth, didn't buy his act. He sneered, "Heh, is that so? But didn't the me from the other Universe just say that you guys already have regeneration serum now? Did you not use it? Or is it that you can't afford it?"
Facing Tony's triple inquiry, even the other Avengers realized something was wrong...
That's right. Before Parker Industries' regeneration serum came out, there really was no way to completely repair Rhodes' shattered spine, so they could understand why he often wore his armor and was unwilling to take it off...
But now that the regeneration serum had been developed and was being sold in their Universe, why wasn't Rhodes using it?
One should know that after Ryan's Parker Industries launched the regeneration serum, it was frantically snatched up by people in their Universe who had physical disabilities like Rhodes!
And with Rhodes' status and network of connections, obtaining a top-grade vial of regeneration serum to restore his body would be incredibly simple!
So why didn't Rhodes have any intention of injecting himself with the regeneration serum?
There was only one possibility... he wasn't paralyzed!
Because he wasn't paralyzed, he naturally wouldn't think of using the regeneration serum on himself, so he subconsciously ignored it!
There weren't many true idiots among the Avengers. At this moment, having figured it out, all their expressions changed, and the way they looked at Rhodes became sharp!
Especially Nano Tony, who was Rhodes' close friend; his expression was extremely unsightly as he questioned him, "Who exactly are you?!"
Facing the questioning gazes of all the Avengers, especially the aggressive Nano Tony, Fake Rhodey subconsciously took two steps back and swallowed hard:
"I am me, Tony. The reason I haven't used the regeneration serum is simply because I've been too busy since half the people snapped away by Thanos returned, so I just forgot for a while..."
"If you don't believe me, you can perform a genetic test on me, or ask questions that only the two of us know the answers to. I can definitely prove that I am myself!"
Nano Tony looked deeply at Rhodes, who was trying his best to prove himself, but he didn't use the verification method Rhodes suggested. Instead, he said indifferently, "Hand over your phone..."
Hearing this, Rhodes clearly hadn't expected Nano Tony to ask for his phone. His body jolted, and his face was written with reluctance:
"Tony, I can't give you my phone. You know, besides being an Avenger, I'm also a representative of the Military. There are too many Military secrets in my phone. I can't give it to you!"
This seemingly reasonable explanation from Rhodes not only failed to convince Nano Tony but instead made him feel even more that this Rhodes was wrong. A flash of cold killing intent even flickered in his eyes!
One should know that in the past, Rhodes had even given him his Security Keys. How could he possibly be afraid of him checking his phone now!
There was definitely more than just Military secrets in this Rhodes' phone!
And if this Rhodes really was a fake, then it was highly likely that the real Rhodes had already met with disaster!
Thinking of this, Nano Tony had already placed his hand on the Nano-device on his chest, prepared to use force!
But at that moment, Tony stepped forward, standing beside Nano Tony, and said with a look of disdain, "Old man, why are you wasting words with him?"
"To tell you the truth, from the moment you entered this conference room, you've had no secrets from me. Jarvis, pull up all the secrets in his phone for me!"
[Received, Sir.]
After a familiar electronic voice sounded—one that Nano Tony missed dearly—a blue light from the ceiling shone down on Rhodes.
Fake Rhodey subconsciously tried to sidestep the blue light's scan, but the two Thors attending the meeting had already moved to his left and right at some point, and the two Dr. Banners stood in front and behind him.
The four of them had Fake Rhodey completely surrounded!
The Dr. Banner of this Universe grinned. "Rhodes, for your own sake, you'd better not move. Otherwise, if that irritable friend inside me comes out, I can't guarantee that the toy Tony made for you in your Universe can withstand his rage!"
In such a desperate situation, Rhodes had no way to escape and could only let the blue light continuously scan his body.
However, to Fake Rhodey's relief, after scanning for a while, Jarvis's voice spoke again:
[Sorry, Sir. The phone on him does not belong to Earth's technology. With my computing power, I am temporarily unable to breach this Firewall...]
Hearing this, the Avengers all furrowed their brows tightly. Although nothing was actually found, Jarvis's statement about it not being Earth Technology had already convinced them that this Rhodes was definitely suspicious!
After all, they, the Avengers, only used Earth Technology; it was impossible for the Military to be using Alien Technology!
So, where this Alien Technology came from was very intriguing...
And Jarvis's failure to breach the Firewall of Fake Rhodey's phone didn't make Tony feel embarrassed or awkward; instead, a triumphant smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
Having played around for so long, the bait was finally taken. It was time for me to show off big time!
Snap!
Tony snapped his fingers again, his triumphant smile almost reaching his ears. "Jarvis, since you can't do it, let's invite your new partner and let her try. How about it?"
[Understood, Sir. Calling... Ultron!]
In the next second, the blue projection in the conference room instantly turned into a deep red light, and a scarlet, slender phantom slowly appeared before everyone!
Flying black hair, a slender, semi-mechanical, semi-humanoid body, blood-red eyes... this was actually... a female version of Ultron!