Chapter 2670

Actually, Stark didn't look much younger, or rather, long-term staying up late to overdraw his body to do experiments made him look much older than his peers. Plus, Pepper wasn't here yet, he looked particularly unkempt, just like a second-generation ancestor addicted to wine and sex.

And what Strange didn't expect was that Stark at this period was even ten times or a hundred times more annoying than in the future. In the process of dealing with him, Strange had wanted to give this rotten person two punches hundreds of times to give up his plan.

But fortunately, magic wasn't learned in vain. At least meditation brought him a tougher temperament and a calm state of mind than others, allowing him to control his emotions well, at least barely suppressing the anger caused by Stark.

And soon Strange discovered that this sloppy appearance and annoying personality were more like Stark's screening mechanism. He didn't expose his brain, which was far beyond ordinary people, to others, but put a sharp shell on himself. Only truly smart people could see the gems hidden under these bad conditions.

Accompanied by several chance encounters and gradually deepening exchanges, this mature version of the Sorcerer Supreme in the future finally grasped Iron Man, who was shallow in practice, making the other party treat him as a confidant, and the two became friends.

Strange had inadvertently mentioned that he had taken psychology as an elective during college and pointed out that Stark might have anxiety disorder. Stark was noncommittal about this and didn't want to be treated at all. Strange didn't choose to force it.

But soon, a person who changed Stark's life appeared, and that was Pepper. Pepper at this period could be considered youthful and beautiful, capable and spicy.

After she took over Stark's private secretary work, she easily cleared up the stubborn illnesses left over in the past few years, reorganized various teams around Stark, including the medical team Strange was in.

Of course, Pepper certainly also spiced up Stark, and it was a comprehensive spicy from body to heart that made him howl. It just so happened that Obadiah at that time was also standing on Pepper's side, wanting to try hard to correct these bad habits of his nephew.

The internal pressure was too great, Stark really couldn't help complaining, but some of the rich second-generation fox friends around him had similar problems, and no one could give any good solutions. Finally, one night, Stark invited Strange out for a drink. When the two were slightly tipsy, Stark still couldn't help it.

"She, she is very beautiful." Stark swallowed his saliva and said: "Not saying how beautiful she is, but, but she has a beautiful temperament. I don't know how to say it, I appreciate her soul."

Strange sneered, Stark glared at him and said: "What do you mean by this? Can't I appreciate other people's souls?"

"Yes, you called that yacht full of beautiful models over last week, it must have been to appreciate their souls overnight." Strange held the wine glass against his mouth and said.

"That's different!" Stark raised his voice, stretched his neck like a turkey, and then muttered: "I don't know what's going on, but my liking for her is a bit different from others. It's not a physiological impulse, but... I urgently want to understand her, want to know what made her what she is today, want to know what things shaped her. Do you think this is a bit strange?"

"Not strange, ordinary people usually call this heart-beating."

"Are you saying I fell in love with her?" Stark seemed to have heard an absurd joke. He shook his head and said: "No, impossible, how could I fall in love with such a woman? She is like a nagging old mother, and always finds trouble for me, and complains to my uncle. How could I fall in love with her?"

"Yes, then you take her to the yacht..."

"Shut up!" Stark seemed to have received some great offense. He roared: "I never thought so! That is simply an insult to her. You can't say that about her, she is different from those models."

"Then you just fell in love with her."

Stark was a bit silent, pouring wine cup by cup. By the end, his speech was a bit unclear. He said: "But she doesn't seem to like me much, looking at me with very disgusted eyes, just like you at the beginning."

Stark stuck his head to the countertop, blinked and said: "You say how should I pursue her? I have never seriously pursued a person. What if she rejects me? What if I make her hate me? You say if I do as she says, will she like me a little?"

At an angle Stark couldn't see, Strange revealed a smile and said: "I can teach you a method, but whether it can succeed depends on your own performance."

Stark sat up with a 'swoosh', stared at Strange's side profile and asked: "What method?"

"Be a hostage, cultivate a kidnapper."

Stark was dead drunk. After returning to Stark Tower, he fell onto the sofa. After less than half an hour, he heard a scream. He turned over hazily, his stomach churning, finally held it back, braced himself to stand up and ran to the bathroom, vomiting messily.

"Oh my god, Tony? What's wrong with you?!" Pepper's voice appeared outside the bathroom door. Stark lay on the toilet gasping for breath. After vomiting, he felt a bit better. He said: "Nothing, just a bit, uh... a bit dizzy."

"You drank too much wine." Pepper smelled the smell of alcohol in the air, frowned, and just as she wanted to say something, she saw Stark's pale face.

"God, are you really okay?" Pepper was clearly a bit frightened. She said: "I'm going to call the doctor."

"No, don't go." Stark rinsed his mouth, washed his face, supported the washbasin with both hands and pondered, then said: "Just mixed a few kinds of wine, a bit uncomfortable, I'm fine."

"You don't look like you're fine." Pepper said: "Come over quickly, I'll put a hangover patch on you."

Stark lay on the sofa, Strange's words still echoing in his mind. He saw Pepper busy above his head and decided to try.

"I thought you would be very angry." Stark lowered his eyelids, his hands placed flat on his chest twisted together, and said: "Okay, I shouldn't have gone out to drink so late, especially when you have already said it many times, but I went to see an old friend, and we chatted a lot about Howard."

Pepper's movements paused immediately, her expression softened a lot, and it was no longer the formulaic persuasion in work, but said: "If you are always sad about things from so long ago, then there are too many things worth being sad about in this world, but you can't always be sad, Tony, you have to let go one day."

"It doesn't count as sad, probably just nostalgia." Tony said: "When he was still here, I always felt I couldn't meet his expectations, so he always hid from me and refused to come home, and came back drunk."

"At that time I didn't know what was good about wine, but now I seem to understand a little. When you want to escape something, alcohol can numb your brain, let you indulge in illusory happiness. What do you think he was escaping? Pepper?"

"It definitely wasn't the responsibility of raising you." Pepper sat on the chair beside the sofa, tilted her head and looked at Tony and said: "He didn't dare to face you, but it doesn't necessarily mean he was escaping his feelings for you. He had no reason to do so. Perhaps he was more like... didn't want to give you hope."

"Why didn't he want to give me hope?"

"I don't know, Tony, I don't know. No one in this world doesn't want to be a good father, no one doesn't want to be a great hero in their child's eyes, even at the most critical moment, they don't want to appear unbearable in front of their child. If he did that, he must have had his reasons."

Stark turned his head back, blinked and said: "Thank you, Pepper, I think these words are more useful than alcohol."

He performed very childishly, but Pepper laughed out. She said: "Really? Probably comparable to a bottle of whiskey?"

"At least a bottle of whiskey, but I think it can probably have two bottles. I only drank a bottle and a half anyway." Stark pursed his lips at her and said.

"Then your drinking capacity is too poor, I could drink two bottles." Pepper said, soon she lowered her eyelids and said: "The following words are not reminded to you as your private assistant, but as me personally, Tony. I can see that you are not as decadent and degenerate as you appear. You have been contributing to the group."

"You express yourself like that just because you feel no one can protect you, so you don't dare to reveal your true self. But once some bad habits are formed, they will be like the sails of a sailboat, pushing you in other directions inadvertently, which will make your wisdom you are proud of fall into the mud."

"Just from my personal perspective, I also don't hope you become like this, so if you have a way, a glimmer of possibility to change it, try your best to do it, okay?"

"Do you think I will be a good father?" Stark looked at Pepper. At this time, there were not so many wrinkles around these eyes, and everything looked with gentle and lingering water light, like a sea with sparkling waves.

"You will, Tony." Pepper comforted him and said: "You will definitely be a great hero in your child's mind."

Strange stood in a small alley, completely integrated into the darkness, his figure slender like a lonely ghost.

A figure walked past the front of the alley quickly. Just the moment he brushed past the front of the alley, Strange raised his hand, black energy surged out, turned into a long tentacle, and dragged the person into the alley.

The other party kicked his legs in extreme terror, but was eventually swallowed up by the black energy, leaving not a single trace. Until finally Strange opened his hand, a small piece of paper appeared in his palm, on which was written the genetic order and a slogan—"Hail Hydra!"

In the following two days, sneaky figures kept wandering around Strange's car. Finally, one day, Strange saw that familiar red hair in a bar.

Natasha was as beautiful as ever, like a beautiful snake spitting out its tongue, twisting her waist and sticking to Strange on the dance floor. Strange followed the trend, hugged her and finished dancing, seeing the thin sweat on Natasha's neck reflecting the gorgeous lights of the dance floor.

"Staring at a lady like this is not very polite." Natasha's English couldn't hear a trace of accent. Strange supported his chin with his hand, leaned sideways on the bar and stared at Natasha, thin lips slowly spitting out a sentence.

"'Hail Hydra'?"