Morning, Stark Industries.
When Obadiah Stane stormed into the Arc Reactor building, the cigar in his mouth almost dropped out.
“Tony!” he roared, his voice echoing in the vast hall of the giant reactor.
“Guess how much our stock price has plummeted?!”
Tony Stark stood in front of the console with his back to him.
Dense streams of data scrolled across the monitor alongside JARVIS’s analytical report:
“Output power fluctuation rate at 0.03%, energy decay curve within expectations…”
“Forty points?”
Tony didn’t turn around, his fingers sliding across the panel to pull up another set of parameters.
Obadiah laughed out of sheer fury:
“Forty-five!
Forty-five points since the market opened!
Those old geezers on the board have lost their minds—they’re calling an emergency meeting to strip you of your CEO title!”
“Then let them hold it.” Tony finally turned around.
His complexion remained unnaturally pale, but his eyes were bright—so bright it made Obadiah feel uneasy.
“I won’t be attending anyway.”
“You…”
Obadiah took a deep breath, forcing down his rage:
“Tony, listen to me.
Closing the weapons division is fine, but not right now!
We need a transition period, we need to placate the military, we need—”
“We don’t.”
Tony interrupted him.
“I watched those videos from Afghanistan.
The missiles we built killed at least three hundred civilians.
Three hundred, Obie.
Three hundred families.”
His voice was calm—terrifyingly calm.
Obadiah grew anxious.
“That’s war!
Once weapons are sold, how they’re used is beyond our control!”
“Then stop selling them.” Tony walked to the console and pulled up a blueprint.
“We’ll build something else.”
Obadiah leaned in to look, then froze.
“This…
This is a commercial design for the Arc Reactor?”
“Clean energy, unlimited supply.”
Tony zoomed in on the schematic.
“A single reactor can power all of New York for three years.
Zero pollution, zero emissions.”
“Are you insane?!”
Obadiah slammed his palm onto the console:
“It’s been thirty years since your father built this thing, and there hasn’t been a single breakthrough!
It’s nothing more than a glorified toy—a gimmick to trick politicians into signing environmental agreements!”
Tony looked at him and suddenly smiled.
There was something in that smile that Obadiah couldn’t comprehend.
“I’m not my father.”
Tony said, his voice soft, but every word felt like a nail being hammered in.
“I will only ever be better than him.”
He pulled something out of his pocket.
Palm-sized, emitting a faint blue glow.
He tossed it casually.
Obadiah scrambled to catch it.
When he looked down, his eyes instantly widened.
“This…
This is…”
“A miniature Arc Reactor.”
Tony turned to leave.
“I made it in a cave out of missile parts.
Its energy density is eight times that of this relic, and it’s a thousandth of the size.”
Obadiah held the glowing object, his hands trembling.
“You…
You built this?”
“Old technology.” Tony paused at the doorway, turning his head sideways.
“I already have an even better design!”
He paused.
“Whether this thing is actually useful, you can hire someone to test.
Once you’ve verified it, then we can talk about what the company should do in the future.”
The door closed.
Obadiah stood alone before the massive reactor, cradling the ball of eerie blue light.
He stared down at it for a long time, the corners of his mouth gradually stretching wide.
First a silent grin, then turning into boisterous laughter.
“A genius…
A true genius…”
As the laughter slowly died down, his gaze darkened.
“But geniuses…
rarely live long lives.”
When Tony returned to his Malibu mansion, he thought he had walked into the wrong house.
In the living room, the sofa was sliced vertically into three sections.
The middle section was replaced with a TV screen playing a talk show, though the audio was coming from a fish tank.
The four legs of the coffee table had turned into metal brackets supporting a large fish tank.
Fish swam inside, but the water was solidified like jelly.
The weirdest thing was what was crawling on the floor.
The creature was half cat and half dog.
A cat’s head was attached to a dog’s body, and a dog’s head was attached to a cat’s body, both heads grooming each other.
Tony froze at the doorway.
“Tony!
You’re back!”
Pepper ran out of the kitchen holding a scalpel, its blade enveloped in a pink glow.
Seeing Tony’s expression, she offered an embarrassed smile.
“I was practicing my ability…
It got a bit out of control.”
Tony pointed at the cat-dog amalgam.
“Is this…
part of your practice too?”
“Isn’t it cute?”
Pepper picked up the creature, which emitted a mixed “meow-bark” sound.
“I call it ‘Catdog.’ It has both the elegance of a cat and the loyalty of a dog.”
Tony took a step back.
“Pepper,”
he took a deep breath,
“I formally declare: even if I remain a living corpse forever, I absolutely do not want to be…
reassembled by you.”
“I’m just out of practice!”
Flustered, Pepper put down Catdog and raised the scalpel.
“Look, I can precisely segregate cells now!”
Pink light surged from the scalpel tip, enveloping a potted pothos plant on the table.
The leaves began to separate in layers as if peeled back by an invisible hand, revealing the veins inside.
The veins glowed, turning translucent.
Tony’s face went pale.
“Lab.”
He turned around and bolted toward the basement.
“I need some peace and quiet…
As long as I’m far away from your operating table!”
“Tony!”
Pepper called out, but Tony had already disappeared down the staircase.
She sighed and picked up Catdog.
“Why doesn’t he like you?” She stroked both heads, looking perplexed.
“You’re so warm and cozy…”
Catdog rubbed against her hand simultaneously, producing a contented purr and whine.
Nine o’clock at night, Dragon Pavilion.
When Carl pushed open the door, she took care to smooth down her skirt.
A black fitted dress, black stockings, high heels, and a splash of perfume.
She had gone home specifically to change into them after work.
Although she claimed it was “only for investment intelligence,” her heart pounded so loudly she could hear it herself.
Then she saw the other person in the shop.
Bald, single eyepatch, black leather trench coat, sitting across from Shaun Vance.
His aura was overwhelming—so intense that Carl instantly held her breath.
“It seems I’m intruding on your private time, Mr.
Vance,” the one-eyed man spoke in a low voice.
Shaun leaned back against his chair, his expression unreadable.
“Hypocrite.
As if the Director of SHIELD didn’t know I had an appointment tonight.”
Nick Fury narrowed his eye slightly.
Shaun waved Carl over.
“Come sit.”
Carl walked over, and Shaun naturally wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her to sit beside him.
Carl’s body stiffened slightly, but she didn’t resist.
“This is Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD.”
Shaun introduced them casually.
“This is Carl, my…
investment advisor.”
Fury nodded.
“Pleasure.”
“Get straight to the point, Director,”
Shaun tapped his fingers on the table.
“What brings you here?
Don’t tell me you came to eat—we’re closed.”
Fury stared at him for a few seconds.
“After Tony Stark returned from Afghanistan, his physical condition has been abnormal.”
He spoke slowly,
“Our medical team can’t detect a heartbeat, yet he’s walking and talking.
Pepper Potts as well.
She’s recently been studying surgical anatomy in private, and…
she seems to have acquired some unconventional abilities.”
Shaun smiled.
“And?”
“So I want to know what you sold them.”
Fury leaned forward.
“What exactly are those two ‘Devil Fruits’?”
“Merchandise.”
Shaun said, “Clearly priced, bought voluntarily.
As for the effects…
customer privacy, no comment.”
“Mr.
Vance.”
Fury’s tone darkened.
“This isn’t a game.
If those fruits truly possess supernatural effects, they are a potential threat to national security.
I need to know everything.”
Shaun didn’t respond directly.
Instead, he turned to Carl.
“Scared?” he asked.
Carl froze for a moment, then shook her head.
“…A little.
But more…
curious.”
Shaun smiled and turned back to Fury.
“Director, I have a few questions for you as well.”
He paused, enunciating every word:
“Has Hydra’s infiltration rate in SHIELD reached thirty percent yet?
When will Project Insight officially launch?
And Project T.A.H.I.T.I….
do you really think that method of ‘resurrection’ comes without side effects?”
Fury’s eye abruptly narrowed.
The entire restaurant fell into a dead silence.
Carl didn’t understand those terms, but she clearly felt Fury’s aura shift.
Changing from oppressive to vigilant, with even a trace of…
shock.