On the highway leading to Stark's mansion, a revitalized Tony Stark faced Pepper Potts' interrogation...
The secretary's flushed face made it clear she was furious at her employer for hiding his palladium poisoning.
"So you were planning to wait until you were hospitalized and declared dead before telling the truth?" Pepper turned away, her eyes slightly red, refusing to acknowledge the flustered Iron Man.
Tony, usually so adept at handling won, found himself at a loss for once. In his panic, he deflected the bla, "I wanted to tell you, but Sean insisted we shouldn't burden won with such news, they supposedly can't handle the shock."
Stark put on an innocent expression, secretly proud of his quick thinking. After all, he'd helped Sean when S.H.I.E.L.D. took him in... taking the fall now was no big deal.
Pepper, half-convinced, reluctantly forgave the seemingly sincere Tony while feeling a surge of relief.
Since graduating and joining Stark Industries, becoming this man's personal assistant, she has grown accustod to this life... managing everything for her careless, playboy boss, serving as secretary, housekeeper, and nanny all in one, arranging his affairs and cleaning up after his one-night stands.
It had beco a habit ford over ti. If anything ever happened to Tony, she wouldn't even know how to start a new life.
While Pepper was lost in thought, Tony stole a glance at her from the driver's seat.
Her conservative beige dress only accentuated her dignified, unapproachable aura. The infamous playboy, known for chasing beauty, harbored complex feelings for the woman who'd stayed by his side all this ti.
Having been betrayed by those he trusted, Tony now understood how precious it was to have soone reliable beside him.
So he resolved to seize this opportunity and cherish this hard-won relationship. As for Sean's threat, he knew Pepper wasn't the type to easily open her heart. With the advantage of proximity, how could the ever-victorious playboy Stark lose to so young upstart?
"How are things with S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Pepper asked softly after composing herself.
She knew so governnt-affiliated organization had recently been in contact, apparently inviting Tony to join so team.
"Unimaginative concept. No independent action, just following their orders... what kind of superhero is that?" Tony complained, disliking Nick Fury's thods intensely.
"Maybe you should lay low. The governnt's stance on superheroes is still ambiguous." the perceptive Pepper pinpointed the issue.
While the public saw superheroes as applauded champions of justice, negative voices persisted, accusing them of trampling legal principles, damaging property, and fostering rebellious ideologies that defied governnt control.
Superheroes weren't omnipotent. World order still relied on national governnts. While they could rescue countless lives and uphold justice, they also represented instability. Causally speaking, they were both beacons of hope and sources of chaos.
Currently, the governnt maintained an ambiguous stance due to public opinion. But should superheroes ever lose the people's trust, their conflict with authorities would erupt in full force.
Tony scoffed. He refused to accept that Iron Man should bow to governnt control. Heroes were ant to be free... why cage themselves?
Pepper shook her head. She knew her sotis-childish boss hadn't truly listened. Just as she sighed in resignation, a black figure suddenly materialized ahead on the sparsely trafficked overpass, blending seamlessly into the night.
"Brake!" she urgently warned Tony, hoping to avoid a grueso accident.
Before the car could slow, the shadowy figure raised a black grenade launcher. Surprisingly, no muzzle flash followed, only a disc-shaped explosive that latched onto the chassis like a spinning frisbee.
With a thunderous boom, the two-ton red convertible flipped skyward before crashing down, scraping violently across the asphalt in a shower of sparks, leaving deep scars on the road surface.
The attacker was a man in black armor, his face masked, with a tallic arm. Sidestepping the tumbling vehicle, he discarded the launcher and wrenched open the twisted door.
The luxury car's bulletproof and crash-resistant fra tore like paper under his strength.
"Warning! Step away from the vehicle!"
Black-clad bodyguards swiftly surrounded the assailant with overlapping fields of fire.
The slightest provocation would unleash a hailstorm of bullets.
These were elite soldiers turned professional security after retirent. Many such military service companies now protected VIPs... most famously Blackwater, which boasted the world's strongest private army, one highly sought after globally.
The dangerous figure turned, his eyes cold and vacant, as if devoid of independent thought, moving purely on instinct.
A dozen bodyguards had him surrounded, all heavily ard... They were Tony Stark's professional security team.
Then, as if receiving so command, the man raised his tal arm defensively, his body coiling like a leopard before springing forward.
The guards opened fire, their muzzle flashes rging into a continuous blaze. Most bullets deflected off the whirling tal limb; the few that penetrated his armor did negligible damage.
In seconds, he breached the cordon. With superhuman physique and that tal arm, he slaughtered the highly trained professionals with terrifying efficiency.
Firearms crumpled in his grip. His unbelievable strength, lethal precision, and machine-like coldness left the battle-hardened bodyguards helpless.
With the guards eliminated, the man approached the overturned car. Thanks to their sacrifice, Tony and Pepper had escaped the wreckage. Without his high-tech armor, Iron Man was just flesh and blood, a single bullet could end him.
Through his earpiece, the assassin received his final order:
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Read ahead on my P@treon...
[email protected]/MayaMatengele01
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