Chapter 5025

This Luther, though younger and not as strong as most middle-aged Luthers from other universes, was still tall in stature, yet he was firmly pressed down by Pepper, who was shorter and thinner than him, unable to rise, only able to cover his eye sockets and scream in agony.

"Stay calm, ma'am, stay calm!" Shiler shouted, his gaze beginning to scan the room—where was Loki? Loki, where did you go? Teammate captured, laughing hysterically, right?

Loki, who had already raised his staff, was also surprised and doubtful; he hadn't actually considered abandoning Luther outright, still wanting to save his teammate, but Pepper's display made Loki feel something was off—this didn't seem like the strength a normal human should possess.

Fortunately, Shiler's shout helped Pepper regain some composure; she released her grip, allowing Luther to cover his eyes and roll on the floor, standing there, taking a few breaths. Just as she was about to say something, a booming sound echoed, and the entire room began to tremble.

"Oh my God, Iron Man! Iron Man!! What are you doing?! Stop it!!!" Carter on the helicopter roared downward in anger. And right in the center of her vision, the Iron Man in his armor was bombing Luther Tower.

The citizens of Advance York still fled as quickly as ever, but this time, Iron Man's commotion was too great—special missiles were piercing the ground at extreme speed.

The Revival Alliance's combat squad had also arrived at the scene, Captain America leading, his shield gradually enlarging in the reflection of the armor, yet dodged by the agile Iron Man, followed immediately by Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth and Superman's heat vision—but none struck Iron Man.

"What's he gone mad about again?" Spider-Man pressed his earpiece.

"Pepper was kidnapped, and it's very likely Luther did it." Carter gave a brief explanation, then said: "Hurry up and get him down, or else this whole street will be destroyed!"

Wonder Woman leapt into the air, flying directly toward Iron Man while shouting: "Stay calm, Tony, we'll get Pepper back, you like this……"

Another boom—Luther Tower's foundation was completely obliterated, the entire building swaying as it toppled in one direction. Superman rushed over to prop up the tower, but this left him unable to assist others in dealing with Iron Man.

Seeing persuasion fail, Wonder Woman sprinted toward Iron Man, who dodged, but she refused to yield, and the two began fighting in midair.

"We still need to rescue Pepper first." Captain America said. This was undoubtedly cutting straight to the heart of the matter, since Iron Man was clearly acting this way because Luther Group had kidnapped Pepper—if Pepper wasn't saved, merely blocking him would be useless.

At this moment, the situation had already drawn Thor's attention; he arrived underground faster than anyone else, and upon seeing Loki, he tightly shut his eyes.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." Thor said to Pepper: "Once this is over, I will certainly give you an explanation, but I must first take him away."

After speaking, he showed no courtesy, directly reaching out to grab Loki and hoist him onto his shoulder; Loki struggled and cursed loudly, but to no avail—Thor carried him off and vanished into the room.

Pepper smoothed her hair, giving a disgusted look at the blood on her person—of course, it wasn't her blood, it was all Luther's.

"Let's go up." Pepper said, I need to rush back to the company—if I'm late, it'll be too late, truly unfortunate……

Shiler also roughly understood why Pepper had suddenly gone mad—apparently, after being kidnapped, certain events had surpassed Pepper's control, possibly threatening her fundamental interests.

Just as Shiler was trying to find a way upstairs, suddenly, a more violent tremor came through; Shiler had to brace himself against the wall just to stand upright, and then the entire room lit up.

Shiler looked up, seeing that the entire Luther Tower had been moved. Evidently, now whoever is guarding Luther Tower, Iron Man will attack them—Superman can't just stand there like a living target holding up the tower; the best solution is to first move the tower away.

Superman flew off holding the tower, the foundation was bombed again, and the floor they were on had already been bombed—such a massive disturbance caused the ceiling to crash down in fragments.

Shiler rushed forward to protect Pepper, but someone was faster. Iron Man dove down at high speed, embraced Pepper, and pressed her beneath him—with a crash, the ceiling collapsed, burying both of them inside.

Shiler was fine—he had been standing in the corner, and this area wasn't severely collapsed. Luther, also in the corner, had also managed to save his life. When Captain America and the others jumped down, Shiler pointed to the center of the room.

Captain America drew a gentle breath—he wasn't worried about Iron Man's safety, but Pepper is an ordinary person, after all—this must have left her seriously injured, right?

The result: from beneath the wreckage came a voice full of vigor: "Anthony Stark! What the hell did you do?!"

"I saved you! How are you still……"

"I'm asking about Stark Group!! How are the stocks?! Are you planning to threaten me with suicide?!"

"I still want to ask you! Isn't it you manipulating the media, trying to smear my name, that caused Stark Group……"

"Are you brain-damaged? How could I possibly……"

"Ladies and gentlemen." Wonder Woman floated down, "Can we please leave this place first before arguing?"

Captain America and the others had already begun moving debris, but they hadn't expected Iron Man and Pepper to emerge like the Stone Monkey born from stone—directly leaping out from the rubble pile.

"Oh!" Wonder Lady jumped in fright—how could there be so much blood? Ma'am, are you alright?!

Iron Man turned his head at the sound, yet seemed to have just noticed, raising his voice in surprise, shouting: "Pepper!"

"Send her to the hospital, hurry!" Spider-Man called out.

"This isn't my blood." Pepper explained, "It's likely someone else who needs the hospital—you guys go dig over there, and over there too."

The direction Pepper indicated was exactly the two wall corners where Shiler and Luther were located. At this moment, Wonder Woman also noticed Shiler with blood on his neck, and Luther lying on the ground, life or death unknown.

"Call an ambulance!" Captain America let out a long sigh.

When Shiler lay on the ambulance bed, Natasha slipped past the medical staff and climbed in; after the door closed, Shiler looked at Natasha and said: "Pepper very likely used the Desperation Virus."

Natasha paused her action: "On the other ambulance, Luther's condition isn't good. Wasn't it you who injured him like that?"

"No." Shiler gently shook his head. Medical staff were resetting his arm, but he didn't mind, busy speaking with Natasha: "I did indeed initially attack and subdue him, but Loki rescued him. Luther saw the news of Stark Group's stock drop, provoked Pepper, and Pepper stabbed a pen into his eye."

"I saw the ligature marks on his neck—judging by the force, it looked quite professional, but the pen stuck in his eyeball seems overly emotional—I don't think it was you. So is Pepper now a superhuman?"

"Not an ordinary superhuman." Shiler said: "Her power is immense, her recovery ability extremely fast—when the ceiling collapsed, she wasn't uninjured, but had already healed before emerging."

"She firmly refuses to get on the ambulance." Natasha said: "Probably because she's afraid we'll detect something abnormal."

"Not necessarily." Shiler continued: "More likely, she's anxious to return to Stark Group to salvage the situation—things have slipped beyond their control."

Shiler's "they" refers to Iron Man and Pepper. In truth, although it appears these two stabbed Stark Group a few times due to internal conflict—one publicly revealing his mental illness, causing stock drops, the other even having Wayne Group poach talent—this actually doesn't amount to vital damage.

Let's not forget Stark Group itself is an industrial conglomerate with many high-quality assets and numerous patents, not so dependent on stock prices. Just Pepper contacting Wayne Group to poach talent—she portrayed Thomas Wayne as extremely serious, but in reality, it's not that at all.

Pepper has deep roots in Stark Group, understands mid-level employees better than anyone. Among them, a group are her confidants—give them a heads-up, and they definitely won't be poached. Another group are Stark Group's elders, older in age, lacking ambition, job-hopping meaningless. As for the rest, dissatisfied with current treatment or losing confidence due to stock drops—there actually aren't that many.

This will certainly cause some talent loss, but it doesn't amount to vital damage—most importantly, Pepper can use this to eliminate rivals. Normally, she only needs to apply internal pressure, while Thomas poaches externally—this group, forced to jump ship, actually strengthens Pepper's control over company staff.

Clearly, this is again a game between her and Iron Man—Iron Man wants to threaten Pepper by damaging Stark Group's interests, while Pepper seeks to bind mid-level employees into a united front to coerce Iron Man.

Under normal circumstances, this round between them involves mutual gains and losses—Stark Group will indeed suffer some harm, but given its deep foundation, in their view, a little turmoil can steer Stark Group along their planned path—and that's still worthwhile.

But alas, the merged universe isn't that simple—increased numbers mean more variables. Iron Man assumed nothing major would happen, so he used fake coordinates to go to Jotunheim to find Reed, paying no attention to Stark Group. Pepper also didn't expect Luther to be so reckless—charging straight in to kidnap her, leading to her being trapped.

When a major crisis arises, Stark Group's two soul figures are absent; recent events have left Stark Group already storm-tossed—this elbow strike hit right at the heart, and with no one performing CPR, it's practically on the verge of flatlining.

But Shiler had a doubt: if it were just continued stock decline plus poaching, it shouldn't have caused such a cliff-like drop—so he turned to Natasha and asked: "What exactly happened to Stark Group?"

Natasha showed a somewhat troubled expression, leaning against the ambulance door and sitting down: "You could be considered Nick's employee too, so telling you this isn't really leaking secrets."

"Nick did it, right?"

Natasha nodded. Nick couldn't possibly be sincerely cooperating with Luther—he only wanted to calculate Luther's money, and unfortunately, Luther walked straight into the gun's line of fire.

"He's very clever." Shiler evaluated.