The night over Long Island, New York, was quiet and deep, the faint sound of ocean waves drifting in from afar.
Her high heels clicking against the floor, a thoroughly exhausted Pepper Potts pushed open the front door of her villa.
Standing in the pitch black, she fumbled along the wall for the light switch.
Days of back-to-back meetings and intense negotiations with the military, coupled with endless cross-country travel, had drained every ounce of her energy.
And that didn’t even account for the mental toll of a certain infuriating man who had been missing for over two months, occupying her every waking thought.
Click.
The moment the living room lights flickered on, Pepper’s pupils shrank to pinpricks.
There was a man sitting on her living room sofa.
He wore a dark red leather duster, its hem hanging like settling flames.
His long, crimson hair was tied back in a high ponytail, catching the light with a metallic sheen.
His face was sharp and stony, and his fiery red eyes—glowing like burning embers—watched her in absolute silence.
Pepper’s heart skipped a terrifying beat, but years of surviving high-stakes corporate battlefields allowed her to instantly suppress her panic.
She didn’t scream, nor did she scramble backward.
Instead, she tilted her chin up slightly, her voice cool and razor-sharp.
“Who are you, and why are you in my house?”
Diluc raised an eyebrow, seemingly a bit surprised by her composure.
He stood up, his coat swaying gently with his movements without making a single sound.
Stopping a polite distance away, he gave a curt introduction.
“Diluc Ragnvindr.
An intelligence broker.”
Pepper’s eyes rapidly scanned his outfit before landing on the massive claymore leaning against the sofa.
Faint, dark red veins pulsed across the blade like coagulated fire.
‘This incredibly flashy getup…’ she thought incredulously.
‘No matter how you look at it, he doesn’t seem like a spy or an information broker.
A cosplayer, maybe!’
But her mind was spinning rapidly.
Anyone who could completely bypass the exterior cameras, slip past the police patrols, and breach a security system personally designed by Tony Stark without making a sound was absolutely not an ordinary person!
Diluc filled the silence.
“I saw the bounty notice Stark Industries published in the news.
That is why I am here.”
Pepper’s large eyes instantly lit up, her exhaustion vanishing into thin air.
She stepped forward, not even bothering to put down her briefcase, her words rushing out.
“You know where Tony is?
Where is he?
Is he alive?”
She couldn’t suppress the frantic urgency in her voice, her fingers unconsciously tightening their death grip on her bag’s handle.
“Apologies.
I do not know Mr.
Stark’s exact location.”
Her hope popped like a deflated balloon, and Pepper’s shoulders slumped.
“But I do know someone who is intimately aware of his whereabouts.”
A spark of joy reignited on her face, but she quickly masked it.
Her instincts as a ruthless corporate negotiator took the wheel, her tone turning strictly business.
“And what is your asking price, Mr.
Diluc?”
In her head, she was already frantically crunching the numbers on the liquid funds she could pull immediately, even debating if she needed to call an emergency board meeting to increase the bounty.
Diluc held up a single finger.
Pepper let out a quiet sigh of relief.
She immediately reached into her briefcase and pulled out a strangely shaped silver key.
The entire piece was a sleek gunmetal gray, with intricate electronic components embedded in the bow that gleamed coldly under the lights.
“This is a key to a private vault at IBV Bank.
It holds approximately three million dollars in cash.
If you tell me who knows Tony’s location, it’s yours.
If this lead successfully brings Tony home, I will pay the remaining seven million in full.”
She set the key on the coffee table and pushed it toward him.
Diluc silently lowered his finger, forcing down the words ‘One million’ that had been right on the tip of his tongue.
He didn’t pick up the key immediately.
Instead, he met Pepper’s gaze and stated calmly, “You don’t seem to suspect this is a scam.”
Pepper gave the room a weary, sweeping glance.
“This neighborhood has elite security.
The system in this house was personally designed by Tony; an unauthorized mosquito couldn’t fly in without setting off alarms.
Yet you bypassed the entire perimeter without triggering a single sensor.
That alone proves that your claim to be an intelligence broker is backed by real skill.”
She paused for a moment before adding drily, “As for it being a scam…
losing three million dollars isn’t exactly the end of the world for me.”
Diluc remained silent for a beat.
When he spoke, his voice was as dark and quiet as a deep pool.
“There is an extremist terrorist organization operating in the mountains of Afghanistan known as the Ten Rings.
They haven’t been around for long, but they have expanded at a terrifying rate.
According to my sources, their weapons, funding, and intelligence networks are inextricably linked to Stark Industries.
Put simply, their rapid growth would have been impossible without heavy financial support from your company.”
“That’s impossible!” Pepper blurted out, her fingers digging fiercely into the armrest.
“Tony has always been staunchly anti-terrorism!
And I manage his affairs—he couldn’t possibly bypass me to pull something of that scale off.”
“I never said it was Tony Stark.
Please calm down, Ms.
Potts.”
“Then who is it?”
“Obadiah Stane.”
This time, before Pepper could even deny it, Diluc pressed on.
“He wants Stark Industries all to himself, but he refused to take the risk personally, which is why he never made a direct move against Tony Stark.
But when Stark went to Afghanistan to demonstrate the new Jericho missile to the military, Stane saw his chance.
He leaked Stark’s itinerary to the Ten Rings and ordered them to eliminate him.”
Diluc took a slow step forward, the hem of his coat brushing against the cold marble.
“However, the leader of the Ten Rings recognized Tony Stark’s value.
Instead of killing him, they took him prisoner.
They are currently forcing him to build a Jericho missile for them in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan.”
Pepper’s breathing turned ragged as his words sank in.
A chilling montage of Obadiah’s recent, highly abnormal behavior flashed through her mind—his frequent, secretive meetings with high-ranking military officials, his relentless pushing to delay the board’s search efforts for Tony…
Seeing the wheels turning behind her eyes, Diluc crossed his arms and offered one final piece of advice.
“As their secret financial backer, Obadiah Stane should know exactly where the Ten Rings’ main base is located.
Even if he doesn’t know the exact coordinates, he definitely has a direct line of communication with them.
In short, watch Stane’s every move, and you will find what you are looking for.
I hope you find this answer satisfactory, Ms.
Potts?”
Her expression grew incredibly heavy.
“I need to see concrete evidence, Mr.
Diluc, not just a conclusion built on thin air.”
“I am not a detective, nor am I a cop.
I do not deal in the burden of proof.
I am an intelligence broker.
All I can offer you is the truth.”
Pepper stared intently into Diluc’s eyes, practically trying to dig into those burning crimson irises to find a single trace of deception.
But after a long, tense standoff, she finally relented.
Picking up the key, she tossed it to Diluc.
“I truly hope you aren’t lying to me, Mr.
Diluc.”
“Have the remaining seven million ready, Ms.
Potts.”