Iron Man paced around his office, visibly anxious, even breaking a sweat on his forehead. Suddenly, he stopped and looked towards the door, having heard faint footsteps.
"It's settled." Pepper walked in, "Pamela agreed to our…"
Before she could finish, Iron Man rushed over, and Pepper instinctively took a step back. But Iron Man stopped in front of her, clenched his fists, then turned around and walked away.
"Pamela agreed to our collaboration terms, she'll move into the lab this afternoon…"
Iron Man abruptly threw a pile of documents onto the desk, but they weren't anything important, just some routine files.
"The Rebirth Alliance will send people to protect him, but they won't interfere with the company's normal operations. As for the shareholders, I also…"
Iron Man collapsed into the chair, kicked at the side of the desk, then turned away with his arms crossed.
"I'll persuade the shareholders and open a new production line for the biological field…"
"Pepper Potts!" Iron Man finally couldn't hold it in, "Is business the only thing on your mind?!"
"Not really," Pepper replied, "I'm also a bit worried about Happy. Once we're done here, I need to go to the hospital to care for him, though fortunately, he's recovering well…"
"He's your ex-husband, and I'm your boyfriend now…"
"Yes, yes, yes." Pepper replied with obvious indifference, "So what's wrong with you?"
Iron Man had been waiting for her to ask that. He walked out from behind his desk and said, "Shiller told me that the original Iron Man would return, just suddenly come back at some point in the future and replace me…"
"Just like how you replaced him." Pepper hit the mark.
Iron Man's face turned somewhat pale, "But he cannot come back! Why should he return? This is all mine!"
"Whether he comes back or can replace you isn't decided by you." Pepper said calmly.
"And what about you? Do you want him to come back?" Iron Man was eager for an answer, "Actually, you don't want him to return either, right? Otherwise, why haven't you tried to get rid of me?"
"Whether I want him back or not doesn't matter." Pepper replied, "You can't decide this, and neither can I."
"How can it not matter!" Iron Man began pacing again, "If you stand by my side, I could better stop him. Maybe if he sees you with me, he won't want to ruin our happiness?"
"Perhaps," Pepper nodded, "but whether we are happy or not is not for us to decide either."
Iron Man was about to refute her, but didn't know how. Their relationship had come to this point, partly due to their own reasons, but mostly because of unforeseeable incidents. Especially the Happy mutation incident that led to their current coldness, which no one knows who caused.
"Do you love him?" Iron Man asked a question he even found a little stupid. If you truly love someone, how can you accept your beloved being replaced by another?
"Whether I love him or not is irrelevant," Pepper said, "just like whether I love you or not is irrelevant. Focus less on romantic affairs and pay more attention to the company's business."
With that, Pepper left. Iron Man stood there thinking. What Pepper said had its logic, that's the kind of person she is, the antithesis of a romance-centered mindset, devoid of affectional ties; otherwise, how could they end up together?
However, this did not solve Iron Man's anxiety, as the original Iron Man could return at any time and in any form. Once he returns, everyone would surely support him, and wouldn't Iron Man be completely overshadowed?
Thinking this, Iron Man began to doubt. If everyone in the Rebirth Alliance supported the rightful Iron Man, why had nothing happened to him?
Originally, it was an open replacement, and others had no objections. Despite all the troubles caused, the Rebirth Alliance still supported him, and to this day, nothing substantial had been done against him.
This leads to a paradox: If they really liked the original Iron Man, they would have found a way to push him out and bring the original one back. But if they didn't like the original Iron Man, apart from the legacy of Iron Man, what could explain their tolerance towards him?
Iron Man wasn't foolish, he had just lacked the space to think previously, and now without the influence of external forces, he noticed the discrepancies.
He had so easily replaced their former friend and ally, yet everyone acted as if nothing happened, possibly even accommodating him more while never mentioning the previous person. If this wasn't due to a collective illusion, then something must be going on internally.
Iron Man began contemplating one by one. Pepper's words could be explained by her intrinsic anti-romantic nature, content with any Iron Man who provided benefits. Nick Fury's motivations could be attributed to his pursuit of interests, as this Agent leader had little true emotion.
Aside from those two, the others closest to Iron Man were the members of The Avengers. Captain America had previously fought with Iron Man, perhaps holding a grudge. The Hulk was beyond hurt by the Illuminati. Natasha's relationship with Iron Man was purely physical, not particularly close. Though Doctor Strange got along well with Iron Man, he was injured and unable to seek revenge even if he wanted to.
Spider Man… Iron Man reflected, the case of the original Spider Man was harder to explain. During the Civil War, he was on the same side as Iron Man; they might not have been very close, but they weren't mortal enemies either. Furthermore, being a person of justice, Spider Man might struggle to accept the identity replacement incident. Why didn't he care either? Insufficient Spider Power to intervene could be an excuse, yet he later became a Magician, didn't he?
Iron Man couldn't figure it out, deeply wanting Shiller to come help him analyze, but he wasn't blind; he had noticed Shiller's impatience with him. Calling him over again would at least earn him a scolding.
Iron Man sat in the chair, starting to reason it out. Using elimination, he ruled out possibilities until only one absurd possibility remained: The former Iron Man must have done something to offend everyone, prompting them to select him as the new Iron Man.
This possibility is simply absurd, even if Iron Man himself were to evaluate it, he would think that he's being a bit too arrogant in reaching this conclusion. How could these superheroes not like their superhero friends and prefer him instead?
Although emotionally he liked this conclusion, rationally it didn't make much sense.
If there's no reason for it to happen out of thin air, then there must be some reason. Besides the fact that he's just too likable, the only other reason could be that the previous Iron Man was too annoying.
What could he have done to make these people think he is acceptable, even worth rescuing?
Iron Man stood up abruptly; he needed to figure out a way to investigate. But he quickly sat down again, as his experiences and the experiences of the Iron Man in this cosmos are clearly the same, so what's there to investigate?
But soon he stood up again. If they were indeed the same, it wouldn't make sense; there must be something different. If there was a difference, it likely wasn't something from long ago, just around the time of the identity swap.
So what happened before and after?
The only major event Iron Man could think of was when he triggered a massive bomb that reset the entire universe, then the original Prime Universe was cut out and merged with the new universe.
Which makes even less sense, as if he blew up the entire universe, shouldn't others hate him and not the original one?
Iron Man was confused again; he knew pondering like this wouldn't work. Either he investigates or asks someone about it. But the most knowledgeable person about these events was Greed, and he couldn't approach Greed. Helpless, he could only look for things related to the previous Iron Man.
These things were all packed away by him, and he had briefly looked over them before. They were mostly technical documents or battle armor design blueprints, nothing new. Fortunately, as a scientist, he was reluctant to burn manuscripts recklessly, so he kept them.
Iron Man moved the box down and took it to his office, starting to sift through the piles of materials. This time he looked more closely, basically examining each sheet.
Since there wasn't any new technology, he could tell at a glance what it was about. He went through most of the box this way and became somewhat numb to it. Until a note with extremely sloppy handwriting caught his eye.
This writing was so ugly it startled Iron Man. Could a human even write this? His writing, while not overly beautiful, was at least neat. Additionally, he had a slight OCD; even his jottings were written to spec and weren't just a mishmash.
Iron Man immediately concluded that it couldn't be his own writing, so he pulled out the paper to thoroughly examine who mixed such a mess into his manuscripts.
Upon taking a closer look, he realized it might actually be his writing. Although the handwriting was sloppy, the pen habits and format were his usual ones. His manuscripts wouldn't leak out, so essentially only he could write such a thing.
Iron Man looked again at the previous manuscripts; each was neatly written, with no issues. Why was this one written like this? Too much to drink?
Iron Man sighed and resignedly sat down to carefully look at this ghost talisman. Even if he wrote it, recognizing it was laborious, and his eyes hurt.
But as he continued to read, he couldn't be bothered by much else, because on this sketch paper resembling a drunken scrawl, an astonishing secret was recorded.
"Dingling, dingling..."
Nick picked up the phone and said, "Rebirth Alliance..."
Before he could finish speaking, Iron Man's voice came from the other end: "Where did Iron Man go?"
"What?" Nick asked incredulously.
"Iron Man... the original Iron Man from your universe, where did he go?!!"
By the time he got to the second half of the sentence, Iron Man was already roaring. What responded to him was only silence.
"I already told you," Nick's voice abruptly echoed, "think carefully about what I said."
After the phone was hung up, Iron Man's hands were trembling. He slumped against the wall and almost didn't have the strength to stand up. The sheet of note paper was clutched tightly in his hand, nearly crushed. Through the creases, amidst the sloppy handwriting, the word "Fate" could faintly be seen.
The words spoken by Nick flashed through Iron Man's mind.
"No one can defy fate..."
"Prove you're just protecting this world in a different way..."
"Everything will be destroyed, then return..."
"Utilize it..."
Iron Man muttered to himself: "Utilize it..."
He propped himself up on the floor with his arms, staggering as he stood and ran to the desk, grabbing his phone. Due to lack of strength, he almost fell and had to lie on the desk.
"Pepper... Pepper! Stop managing the patents, waive all the patent fees related to the Extremis Virus, give it to them... give it to whoever wants it!!!"