"What's wrong, Tony?"
After Artoria left, Pepper finally arrived. Seeing Tony sitting there drinking, Pepper put down her jacket and asked the somewhat tipsy Tony worriedly.
"I might not be a good brother!"
Facing the woman he loved, Tony dropped his guard and spoke with a look of dejection. He truly felt that his sister had grown up, but he wasn't happy at all. The thought that his cute sister, who used to cling to him ('Yingyingying'), was drifting further away, and that 'vermin' wanted to take his sister away, filled his heart with rage.
"Tony, you..."
"Pepper, what's been happening at the company these past couple of days?"
Unlike the original Tony, who had no close relatives, the original Tony trusted Obadiah deeply. But now, with Artoria present, Tony still somewhat trusted Obadiah besides Artoria and Pepper. However, that guy kept trying to introduce his son to Artoria to 'get acquainted.' Forget whether Artoria would agree, Tony wouldn't even let that happen. He didn't outright refuse out of respect for Obadiah's years of service, but he would absolutely not let his sister interact with a shut-in.
"Although your closure of the weapons division caused significant stock volatility, it's still within a controllable range."
"However, it seems two factions have been frantically acquiring our stock."
She hesitated for a moment. Although she didn't know why Tony was suddenly concerned about company matters, Pepper was very happy that the prodigal son was finally paying attention to serious business. Happily, she told Tony everything she knew. Listening to Pepper, Tony frowned. He hadn't expected things to turn out this way. It looked like someone was maliciously targeting Stark Industries.
"Don't worry, Pepper, I will solve these problems, but right now, I really need you to do something for me."
"..."
He glanced at the Arc Reactor on his chest, smiled, held Pepper's shoulders, and spoke confidently.
"Jarvis, start creating a model for me! It needs heavy firepower and flexibility."
After seeing Pepper off, Tony finally sobered up. He began working on the armor he had created in the cave. Unfortunately, Yinsen didn't want to use it in a big city. He took the gift Tony gave him and went back to his hometown to live in seclusion.
"Maya, how is the experiment progressing?"
Returning to the laboratory, Artoria began urging Maya about the progress of the experiment. She urgently needed this item to treat Tony's body. The Arc Reactor inside his body was a hidden danger, especially if it ran out of energy during a fight. Tony would die in less than twenty minutes due to the Shrapnel entering his heart. This was quite troublesome. If the 'Perfect Version' of Extremis was used, this situation wouldn't occur. The high temperature generated during recovery would directly dissolve the Shrapnel, and Tony would be completely fine.
"Although the animal experiments have been relatively successful, there is a major problem: the animals spontaneously self-destruct at random times. This has been my persistent issue."
Maya looked at the simulated image on the computer: a small mouse whose claw had been severed quickly grew a new one, but soon after, the mouse exploded. Therefore, the experiment had hit a bottleneck. Once this issue was resolved, it would become the most perfect physical regeneration serum, essentially creating an immortal being.
"Copy the data for me. I think I should let Saturday operate and study it thoroughly."
Although she really wanted Tony to perfect this thing himself, Artoria felt a bit too embarrassed to ask, especially after the strong words she had just spoken—wouldn't that be backtracking? Anyway, Tony wouldn't die anytime soon, 'probably'!
"Who sent this to me?"
While Artoria was busy, a mysterious package appeared inside Tony's Villa. This startled him, considering he had an assistant like Jarvis, and nobody should be able to enter without his authorization. But reality slapped him in the face.
"Sir, I have no record of this item, nor any record of personnel entering or exiting."
Jarvis's reply made Tony even more confused.
"Scan it. What's inside?"
"Apologies, Sir, I cannot scan the contents."
This reply made Tony feel that something was wrong, but it only made him more curious. He called the AI Dum-E, who held a knife, and just as he was about to open the box, the box opened itself.
"I...?"
Tony instantly prepared for an explosion, but the blue light emanating from inside stopped him in his tracks.
"An Arc Reactor?"
The familiar design, but a different glow. This left Tony completely dumbfounded. What was going on?
But five kilometers outside his seaside Villa, a Cyborg revealed a loving smile. Did you feel your father's care, Tony?
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