Chapter 5015: Advance to York Advance (Fifty-One)

"So that's how it is." Shiler said, "He turned his key position at Stark Industries into actual benefits. Now only he can save Stark Industries' stock price and get Stark Industries to reinvest in the Revival Alliance."

"Exactly." Eddie nodded, "And he also wants Pepper to bow to him. Although Pepper didn't say it on the phone, Stark absolutely threatened her to make her divorce him."

"This exactly proves Pepper's choice was correct." Shiler said, "Tony Stark may love her, but a villain's love is not just flowers, it also has thorns, and is always dangerous. Unfortunately, Pepper got one thing wrong. When you're targeted by a madman, turning and running isn't necessarily the best choice."

"Now it looks completely wrong." Eddie shook his head again, "Honestly, if they had married smoothly back then, I estimate they would have divorced even after the civil war, but they didn't get married, so now it's truly that what you can't get is the best."

"Stark may have some obsessive factors, but more likely it's because he needs Pepper deeply tied to him, which brings him great benefits. Even if not with him, she can't be with anyone else." Shiler guessed, "Once Pepper marries someone else, Stark Industries' benefits may leak out, which Stark absolutely doesn't want to see."

"Can't she just be fired then?" Eddie truly couldn't understand, "Not wanting to see his ex-girlfriend and her current husband—wouldn't firing her solve it? Why must he keep pursuing her?"

"Still, businessmen put profit first. Let's not even mention that Pepper has worked at Stark Industries for so many years, is very familiar with all businesses, and is very capable—firing her would leave no replacement. Stark's personal need for her is strong, not everyone can tolerate Tony Stark, and Tony Stark can tolerate few people. Over these years, only Pepper Potts has maintained a long-term relationship."

"Put that way, it really is troublesome." Eddie couldn't help but rub his temples, "By the way, at the Revival Alliance headquarters just now, the director mentioned Batman and Joker, saying that after merging with Gotham, there are more and more Batman and Joker."

"That statement is interesting." Shiler laughed, "The merging of two universes may indeed cause some similar effects, but I prefer to think this is the pain of fusion. Although it may hurt for a while, it certainly won't develop into a land full of Batman and Joker."

"In your view, how should this situation be resolved?" Eddie obviously still had a journalist's occupational habit, liking to ask others' opinions.

"Nick Fury isn't a pushover." Shiler said, "For him, this situation isn't hard to resolve, but it may very well bring new dangers."

"Nick... Nick!" Captain America took two quick steps, came to Nick Fury's front and blocked him, stepping back while following him forward, saying, "Accepting investment from the Luther Group is too dangerous, Alexander Luther isn't a pushover, he might be even more dangerous than Tony Stark!"

"Do we have any other choice?" Nick looked at Captain America and said, "Once we accept this blackmail, there will be endless troubles ahead, the Revival Alliance could be renamed the Stark Alliance."

"I know we must show a tough attitude, but letting the Luther Group invest is completely inviting wolves into the house!"

"We need another wolf right now." Nick shook off Captain America's arm, saying, "Besides, the conditions Alexander Luther proposed aren't that harsh."

"Precisely because of that, it shows Luther must have some other purpose."

"Then we also need to get past this hurdle first." Nick paused, looking into Captain America's eyes, "If we can be free from Stark Industries' threat, we will definitely send Tony Stark to court, which would also make Ms. Carter feel better."

Captain America was a bit stunned. He didn't block Nick anymore, but stood in place, after a while muttering to himself, "Perhaps she was right, if Tony had been judged back then, now we wouldn't..."

When Nick returned to his office, Batman was already waiting there. But obviously Nick Fury isn't James Gordon—he is much tougher than Gordon.

"I know you're here to advise me." Nick said, "No one knows better than you that Luther comes with ill intent. But for the entire Revival Alliance, this is the best choice."

"Perhaps I'm not here to blame you." Batman said, "Sorry, Wayne Group can't provide more support. But I do have some intelligence I can provide you."

Nick crossed his arms and looked at him. Batman said, "Wayne Group's poor management isn't entirely Bruce's problem. Stark Industries and Luther Group have some tacit understanding, they joined forces to suppress Wayne Group, which led to Wayne Group's current situation."

Nick fell into thought, saying, "Do you think Luther Group's offer to invest this time is a trap they created together with Stark Industries?"

"That depends on whether they can produce real money." Batman said, "I'm here to warn you: before seeing the real thing, don't give Luther any opportunity—he's always full of tricks."

"Don't worry." Nick said, "But this time he only asked for the position of Minister of Strategic Security, which indeed makes people uneasy. He asked for too little—there must be another motive."

Batman also understood, if it were normal times, asking for a minister's position would be normal, after all the Revival Alliance has few ministers, and they hold great power, mostly overseeing superheroes, so the minister position is valuable enough.

But now the Revival Alliance is like ants on a hot pan, facing Stark Industries' withdrawal, they urgently need someone to take over—this is exactly the perfect time for Lion's big mouth, so asking for just a minister's position now is actually abnormal.

"What exactly does Luther want to do?" Nick propped his chin with his hand, muttering to himself, not expecting Batman to answer. Then he suddenly broke free from his thoughts, looked up at Batman, and said, "I have a favor to ask you."

"What is it?"

"I'm worried Iron Man will be unfavorable to Pepper. Now we're short-staffed—can you..."

"I'd very much like to protect this lady, but the problem is Stark Industries won't let me in." Batman asked, "Even if I send people, they'd be seen as corporate spies, and Pepper herself wouldn't agree."

Nick again showed a headache expression. The trouble lies in that Pepper's own affairs are also tied to Stark Industries—any action harmful to Stark Industries, she herself wouldn't agree. This lady's firm professional ethics, instead, became an obstacle to protecting Iron Man.

"Iron Man knows this." Batman said, "Pepper's interests align with Stark Industries, and Iron Man may not want to completely abandon Stark Industries either. So he won't push Pepper too hard—if he really let her leave, Wayne Group and Luther Group would both poach her, Iron Man wouldn't want to arm the enemy."

Nick thought Batman's words also made sense. He thought for a moment, picked up his phone, and called Natasha: "When will your assistant arrive?"

"Just arrived." Natasha said, "Change clothes and come over."

Not long after, Natasha and the agent entered one after another, both wearing shirts and tactical vests, with a Revival Alliance blue windbreaker on top.

"Hello, Agent Mr." Nick stood up, shook hands with the agent, and said, "The situation is urgent, I won't waste words."

He pulled out a photo from beside him, displayed it in front of the agent, then said, "24-hour protection for Ms. Pepper Potts, prevent anyone from harming her."

The agent took the photo, rubbed it a bit, then said, "'Harmful' meaning what?"

"Don't let anyone hurt her." Nick said carefully, "Any violent act is not allowed."

The agent seemed to understand something, nodded and said, "Okay, her safety is entrusted to me."

"Natasha and you communicate one-sidedly." Nick said, "If anything happens, report to her; if you need support, also contact her."

The agent nodded, then exited one after another with Natasha. The two walked to the tea room, Natasha started the coffee machine while saying, "This job isn't easy, you can see it—Nick didn't want to completely separate them, maybe he still hopes they can reconcile."

"You wouldn't find an easy job even if you looked for me." The agent took out a paper cup, "I have a feeling the coming week will be long."

Natasha took the paper cup, placed it under the coffee machine, started it, then said, "Otherwise, why don't you go research traditional Catholic weddings?"

"No thanks." The agent flatly refused, paused a moment, then asked, "If the wedding is to be held in a church, where should security personnel stand? In the pulpit?"

"I'm afraid the priest wouldn't agree." Natasha said, "Of course you could let the priest stand slightly to the side, but given the number of security personnel needed for this wedding, the priest might have to stand on the beach."

The agent chuckled, "Then let him stand there reciting the vows—maybe it'll be safer that way."

"I've considered letting him stand beneath the Jesus statue." Natasha held her coffee cup, "But I'm also afraid of putting another hole in Jesus' body, especially if he's standing right in the middle..."

Natasha said nothing, just lowered her gaze. The agent had already taken his coffee and left.

With a ding, the elevator stopped. When the door opened, the agent was looking down at his gun. As the door opened, he put his gun back in its holster, walked toward the office, and the moment he pushed the door open, he closed it again.

He stood at the door, took a deep breath, pushed the door open again, saw the figure sitting behind the desk, and couldn't help but ask, "Do you really think fate can explain everything? Greed?"

Greed behind the desk lifted his head from the medical records, glanced at the agent, then said, "This time I came first, you can't say I'm the one chasing you to cause trouble, can you?"

"If you came first, then my appearing here definitely isn't a coincidence." The agent still walked in, went to the desk, braced his hands on it, leaned forward, and said, "Again, you did this?"

"Which thing are you referring to?" Greed capped his pen, "Just as Pride has been teaching Batman all along, I've also been diligently providing psychological counseling services to every Iron Man across the universes, he charges a high price, you know."

The agent helplessly turned sideways, then turned back and said, "This time, what did you counsel? How to ruin his ex-girlfriend's marriage?"

"I swear I advised him." Greed said, "Except for his personal feelings, everything else can be related to me. But these two lunatics really aren't me..."

"ANTHONY STARK!!!" A roar came from outside the office, "You actually dare to use Stark Industries to threaten me!!!"

Greed widened his eyes, quickly came out from behind the desk, grabbed the agent and shoved him into the adjacent restroom, then locked the door from outside. The agent tried to push the door open, but immediately heard Iron Man's voice from outside.

"Don't talk as if this place is your home. I must remind you, Mrs. Hogan, this group's name is 'Stark'! I am the owner of Stark Industries, and also the only one who can control Stark Industries!"

"I never disputed that." Pepper stormed into the office in anger, slamming a stack of documents toward Iron Man behind her, "So I said, I quit, I'm done!"

"You think you can just walk away after betraying me with my friends? Dream on! If you dare to leave, I'll cut off Happy's medical funding immediately, and he'll face the brain injury he fears most right away—don't believe me? Try it!"

"Stark, you madman! Happy saved your life!!!" Pepper grabbed a pen holder from the desk and hurled it, "He became like this just to save you!!!"

The pen holder naturally missed Iron Man, but nearly hit Greedy, who was standing by the desk. He ducked, stepped forward, and said: "Stop arguing, stop arguing—how many times a day do we have to go through this..."

"So you married him just to repay me for helping him?!" Iron Man slammed the table hard, wearing his armor, and with one palm strike, the table shattered instantly, scattering medical records across the floor.

Greedy took a deep breath.