Chapter 5019

"Calm down, ladies and gentlemen." Greed spoke up. He looked at Pepper first and said, "I deeply regret your husband's current situation, but assuming he is stable and not in immediate danger of death, I suggest you don't rush to save him just yet, adding another variable to an already very complex situation."

Pepper understood Greed's implication. What he meant was, if Happy wasn't on the verge of kicking the bucket, then the matter of waking him up could be put on hold for now. If Happy woke up and learned of Iron Man's actions, he would absolutely turn into a supervillain on the spot; the two of them would have to brawl right there in York City, and then both get arrested.

Whether they deserved it for getting arrested after a public brawl was debatable, but Stark Industries' stock price would definitely take another nosedive. The White Can's move of cutting off the fuel from under the cauldron had already stabbed Stark Industries once; if this happened on top of that, they wouldn't even need to discuss Stark Industries' future anymore, because Stark Industries would have no future.

Pepper let out a long sigh; it was clear she had taken it in. This also proved that in her heart, whether it was Tony Stark or Happy Hogan, who dated whom or who married whom wasn't important; what she valued more had always been her own interests and career.

She needed Happy to warn and check Tony, which was why she had come to Greed wanting to save him. But if saving Happy would lead to a new crisis for Stark Industries, she would give up.

"Perhaps I was too impatient." Pepper said, "Happy's condition isn't good, but it can be maintained. I don't want to use overly aggressive methods either; I will consider more conservative treatment approaches."

Hearing Pepper say this, Iron Man was pleased. He had just wanted to mock her a couple of sentences, but then heard Greed say to him: "Pulling investment from the Revival Alliance was unwise. You know full well, too many people want a hand in managing the Revival Alliance — not just supervillains, but businessmen like you; who wouldn't want to get connected to a behemoth like that? You can still regret it now."

"Regret?" Iron Man was obviously impervious to reason. "If I can't make the Revival Alliance know who's boss, they won't give up on trying me. I don't want to stand in a courtroom!"

Greed let out a long sigh. The White Can's thinking was just like this: to ensure something stayed under his control, the only methods he employed were suppression and threats; there was no concept of cooperation, deals, or even collusion in his head.

So you could tell him ten thousand times that the Revival Alliance wasn't the enemy, that there were ten thousand ways to achieve it — neither letting him go to court nor letting the Revival Alliance suffer losses — and he still wouldn't listen.

The Agent looked at Greed. In the current situation, persuasion was useless; it seemed Greed could only leave him with no choice.

However, Greed didn't say anything else either; he just turned his head to look at the Agent again and said, "You take Ms. Potts back first."

The Agent couldn't be bothered to guess what Greed was up to and escorted Pepper out of the office. Once in the car, Pepper paused for a moment, then said, "Besides protecting me, what other task did Nick assign you?"

"No other task." The Agent told the truth. "The Director specifically instructed that if support is needed, contact Natasha."

Pepper's expression was clearly disbelief. But one couldn't blame her for thinking that; anyone discovering at this juncture that the Revival Alliance had assigned them a special agent bodyguard would feel it was surveillance more than protection.

Granted, Iron Man was quite dangerous, but the main problem right now was still Stark Industries. Pulling investment at this critical juncture — never mind whether the replacement investors had ulterior motives — just the unsmooth capital flow alone could cause problems with the reception event.

"He didn't have you persuade me to convince the shareholders?"

"If they needed to send someone to persuade you, it wouldn't have been me." The Agent still told the truth.

Then the Agent didn't say another word, and the atmosphere in the car fell quiet just like that. Pepper still had some doubts, but with the Agent not speaking, she also found herself unable to figure out the Revival Alliance's intentions.

For the Revival Alliance, the best method right now was to send someone to win her over, get her to stir up opposing voices within Stark Industries; that way they could help the Revival Alliance and protect herself too. Who knew, judging by this agent's demeanor, the Revival Alliance really didn't have that intention.

"Have they found a new investor?" Pepper reacted fast. "Aside from Stark Industries on our side, the remaining big companies are unreliable. Is it from another universe?"

The Agent remained silent. But Pepper continued along her own speculation: "There are plenty of people with ambitions for the Revival Alliance; many companies and forces are eyeing it. Tony's brain isn't working right, handing such a good thing to others on a silver platter. But to react this fast... Alexander Luthor?"

The Agent still didn't speak. Pepper muttered to herself: "Luthor once spent great effort trying to poach me, but I thought he was young and might not be reliable in handling affairs, so I didn't have much contact with him."

"You never thought of jumping ship?" The Agent finally spoke to ask.

"Of course I've thought about it," Pepper said. "Several major companies have been sparing no effort to poach me, but I also know that what they fancy isn't my personal ability; the key lies in my management experience at Stark Industries."

"They want me over not just to use my personal ability to work for them, but to bring Stark Industries' key technologies and connections over, thereby thoroughly ruining Stark Industries."

"I've managed here for half a lifetime; I know every business inside out. All the key technologies in Tony's hands, even if I don't understand the principles, I can get samples; some things only I know. Getting these resources into their hands is the real purpose of them poaching me."

"But if I left with these things, that would be a total betrayal of Stark Industries. The old Iron Man might not have done anything to me, but this current one would definitely find ways to take my life. And a person who has betrayed once will never be truly trusted; no matter how many resources, there comes a day they must be spat out clean, and that would be my death date."

Although the Agent said nothing, he also sighed inwardly. Pepper was pretty much backed into a dead end. The White Can had eyes bigger than his stomach, and outside wolves surrounded them; her destroying the symbiote armor was probably also preparing for a desperate fight to the death.

"Have you considered it might trigger a civil war?" The Agent asked.

"Civil war is inevitable sooner or later." Pepper's tone was very calm. "Even without the armor being destroyed, something else would have happened. The incompatibility between the two universes will explode eventually, just like World War I and World War II — merely a matter of time."

"Have you ever thought of finding the original Iron Man back?" The Agent asked further, because he felt this was also a way out — bring back that kind Iron Man, he would listen to Pepper's opinions and wouldn't rashly transform; perhaps this situation could be resolved.

"If I had insisted on doing this from the very first moment, it might have been useful." Pepper said. "But it's too late now."

"Actually I'm a bit curious," the Agent said. "Why didn't you immediately think of finding your original boyfriend back?"

"The current one is him too." Pepper lowered her eyelids. "Their personalities and living habits are the same; in my view it doesn't count as a replacement. But the reason I didn't immediately go find the original Iron Man was also because I lost to my own greed."

Clearly, Pepper had already done a deep post-mortem review. The Agent was still somewhat curiously asking: "Greed?"

"The original Iron Man was a good superhero, but not a good businessman. Or rather, his decision to be a superhero meant Stark Industries had to foot the bill for his personal dream."

"He diverted many resources from Stark Industries, which did affect the group's operations, but because the benefits he brought to the group were greater, he managed to maintain a transcendent position."

The Agent understood. Pepper actually wanted to have it both ways — she wanted Iron Man's brilliance, but didn't want Iron Man to overly affect Stark Industries' operations. She was probably thinking this evil, selfish version of Iron Man could skip being a superhero and focus on managing the group, being a proper capitalist.

Simply put, she wanted to merge the two Iron Men — have the White Can's flexible moral bottom line, and the original Iron Man's steadiness and brilliance. But clearly, Pepper lost the bet.

She hadn't expected that the old Iron Man put all his energy into the superhero career and delegated authority, so he never exposed the fact that he wasn't all that proficient in business management. On the contrary, Pepper got enough power to help him run Stark Industries well, thereby supporting his superhero career.

The current White Can, precisely because he stopped being a superhero, devoted himself entirely to Stark Industries' management — yet he truly lacked that kind of sharp business acumen, and still insisted on grasping power, ultimately resulting in a mutually destructive outcome with Pepper.

Worldly affairs are mostly like this: gain implies loss. The end result of pursuing perfection too much is destroying everything.

"Then what do you plan to do now?" The Agent asked. He couldn't figure out what hope Pepper had left. Now, either she goes back inside Stark Industries to lobby, helping and completely siding with the Revival Alliance, or she clutches Stark Industries' vital secrets and jumps ship to find a new backer.

But whichever it was, her half-lifetime of management at Stark Industries would likely be ruined in one fell swoop; going anywhere would be starting from scratch, and whether she could make a comeback was still unknown.

"To Wayne Enterprises." Pepper said to the driver.

The Agent offered no opinion on her decision. Pepper was an absolute professional in this regard; she knew exactly how to maximize her own interests. He, an agent, had better not meddle.

The car drove toward Wayne Enterprises. Pepper got out, looked left and right first, then walked through Wayne Enterprises' main gate.

"Sorry, I don't have an appointment." She spoke to the front desk receptionist. "But I think you can make a call to Mr. Thomas Wayne. Just say Pepper Potts wants to see him, right now."

Hearing Pepper's name, the front desk receptionist made the call without delay. Soon, an assistant came out of the elevator and brought both Pepper and the Agent to the internal elevator.

They headed toward the office. Pepper entered the office; the Agent originally wanted to wait outside. After all, the subsequent discussion might involve trade secrets; no one likes an agent present, and the Agent himself didn't like listening to that stuff. Leaving him outside, he could still go grab a coffee.

Unexpectedly, Pepper turned back and said: "Didn't you say you were to protect me?"

The Agent thought for a bit. Batman was a dangerous individual too; if he wasn't on site, it would indeed be suspected as dereliction of duty. He liked slacking off, but not this obviously. So he had no choice but to follow her in.

"Hello, Mr. Wayne." Pepper looked at Thomas Wayne sitting behind the desk with a stern expression.