After transforming the helmet into its fully covered standard form, Russell walked to the window and opened it.
Looking at various data displayed on the helmet's internal screen, he hesitated for no longer and directly activated the armor's flight system.
For his first time wearing the armor, he couldn't just abstain from experiencing real flight.
If Tony dared to take a test flight in the still-incomplete Mark II, then Russell, wearing the Endosymbiotic Battle Armor, certainly needn't worry about safety.
Blue-white flames jetted out from his feet as Russell, in the armor, shot out of the agency like a bullet.
Flying!
A dream humanity had harbored since ancient times.
Though various aircraft existed in the world, the sensation of flying in armor was entirely different from flying in an aircraft.
With himself soaring through the skies wearing the Endosymbiotic Battle Armor, Russell finally understood why Tony, when he flew in the Mark II for the first time, was as joyful as a child.
Speed of 700 miles per hour, the mood was free and easy!
Fantastic!
Russell's current mood wasn't any worse than that of Tony's first flight in the Mark II.
Though flying in broad daylight over New York City while wearing armor was a bit flashy.
But now, Russell paid no heed to that.
Let it be flashy!
Even if he got photographed or caught the attention of some organizations, it didn't matter.
Not to mention he had Diana's long, straight, and exquisitely shaped thighs to rely on. Even if not for Diana, S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA would have to seriously consider whether it was worth dealing with him.
Tony was already manufacturing armor; compared to him, Tony seemed a bit more vulnerable.
Although Russell didn't know what ultimately happened to Obadiah.
Because of him, Obadiah had avoided the fate of dying in the massive Arc Reactor.
Thinking of this, he turned on his computer and searched for information about Obadiah.
A plane crash?
Uh...
Looking at the obituary on the Stark Industries website, Russell didn't know what to say for a moment.
According to the description in the obituary, Obadiah had been on vacation when the small plane he was in had an accident, and he perished in the sea with no remains.
Russell didn't doubt that Obadiah was gone.
But he wasn't too convinced by the plane crash explanation.
Could it be so coincidental?
Obadiah definitely wasn't killed by Tony; given Tony's personality, the worst he'd do is hand Obadiah over to the law.
If it wasn't Tony's doing, then Obadiah's death had a lot of questions.
Out of his killer instinct and experience, Russell felt Obadiah's death was more like silencing.
Then the question arose again!
If Obadiah was really silenced, then who was behind it?
For some reason, the name HYDRA popped into Russell's mind.
Marvel's troublemakers weren't named for nothing!
In the Marvel universe, if you couldn't find the mastermind behind a conspiracy, without a doubt, it was almost always HYDRA.
While HYDRA's combat abilities weren't very strong, their knack for causing trouble definitely ranked them at the top.
Russell didn't waste time pondering whether Obadiah was silenced by HYDRA.
After glancing at the time, he decisively shut down the computer, picked up the envelope from the drawer, and left the agency without looking back.
While the banks were still open, he planned to cash the bank draft.
Bank drafts weren't reported lost or named, and anyone who got hold of them could cash them as soon as they were presented.
He didn't want any unexpected issues arising from a mishap.
After handling the bank draft, he drove his Porsche back to his apartment, eagerly awaiting tonight's activities.
Before heading to Afghanistan, he had ordered several pieces of very seductive lingerie from Quotations Magazine.
American express delivery was no match.
Finally, this morning, the delivery had arrived at his apartment.
Getting a delivery today was already quite good.
In the United States, online shopping was like having an online relationship—you called out a thousand times and saw no "real person."
There was an interesting internet meme about how slow American express delivery was.
A normal tortoise's speed was 270 meters per hour; to crawl from the postal center to the San Francisco Airport cargo hub took 87 hours. Yet the same distance took the American Postal Service 179 hours!
Not only were the deliveries slow, but the service attitude was bewildering!
Violently delivering packages, for example.
Even more miraculously, the delivery personnel seemed to appear and disappear mysteriously.
Either the knocking on the door was so faint that you couldn't hear it at all, and then they'd vanish with your package.
Or the doorbell or knock sounded, the delivery was left at the door, and the delivery person vanished.
If he didn't have a keen sense of hearing, catching that barely audible knocking, and if he didn't appear at the door at a speed far exceeding the norm, he probably would've had to wait another week to receive the delivery.
Imagining the enticing sight of Diana wearing that lingerie, he figured he might consider subscribing to Quotations Magazine long term.
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