Stark strode briskly through the corridors of Stark Industries Building. When a familiar figure rushed out of her office, without a second thought, he dashed over and wrapped his arms around her.
"Oh my God, oh my God, Tony!" Pepper's voice wavered with sobs. She ran her hands through his hair and around his neck, then cradled his face in her hands, looking into his eyes, "I thought you were dead, I thought you'd never come back!"
Stark held Pepper tightly, nestling his head between her neck and shoulder. Feeling Stark's body shuddering, Pepper quickly gathered her strength and pulled herself out of his embrace. Wiping away her tears with the side of her finger, she took a deep breath, regaining her usual professional composure.
Pepper waved to the doctors behind her to help support Stark. One of Stark's hands remained draped over Pepper's shoulder, his eyes steadily gazed into hers and said, "When I wake up, I want you to be the first person I see, Pepper, please."
Stark collapsed.
Watching Stark's body being lifted onto a stretcher, Pepper clenched her fists tightly. Then, a tall shadow appeared behind Pepper.
"How's Tony?" Obadiah asked anxiously.
Several seconds later, Pepper finally tear her gaze away. A complex expression crossed her face, hidden from Obadiah, but she quickly regained control and said, "He's extremely weak and can barely stand. I need to count on you to handle the company's affairs for now, Mr. Obadiah."
With that, Pepper strode off towards the staircase. After she disappeared from sight, Obadiah's face took on a grim hue.
He walked back into his office, casting a displeased look at the black woman who no longer carried her former arrogance.
"Tony Stark has returned alive," Obadiah's tone was very low. "You had assured me he would certainly be dead!"
"Haven't you realized it yet? Another force has interfered. This is beyond our control." The black woman hit the table resentfully and took a deep sigh. She stood up and said to Obadiah, "Despite this failure, you have not lost anything. There's no living proof, he has no evidence."
Obadiah coldly stared at her, and the black woman turned to look out the window. "There's no turning back for you, Obadiah. We can only wait for the next opportunity ..."
Suddenly, an arm reached around her shoulders and tightened around her neck. Just before she blacked out, she heard Obadiah's deep voice at her ear.
"No, I can tell Tony it was you who forced me, I just betrayed his whereabouts under coercion."
When Stark finally regained consciousness, he heard a continuous dripping sound near his ear. Despite being clear-headed, he kept his eyes closed as there were too many things to consider.
He began retracing the timeline of events, back to when he was preparing for his trip to Afghanistan.
At that time, he first noticed certain abnormalities about Obadiah, such as his fewer appearances in the company and his frequent trips to other states, moving back and forth to other places in the Americas.
At that point, Stark was not too invested in business affairs. He thought that it was Obadiah working on expanding Stark Group's business scope. But reflecting on it now, Obadiah was mainly responsible for the weapons and arms dealing business with the biggest buyer being the military. Could he have started to privately sell arms to other countries since then?
Stark thought back to the first attack he encountered after reaching Afghanistan. Based on the piece of tattooed skin which Shiller had shown him, the first attack had come from The Ten Commandments.
What was the connection between Obadiah and The Ten Commandments? Were they in a partnership or was it merely an employer-employee relationship?
Then Erik rescued him. Erik was a part of the mercenary organization that was operating on assignemnts in the area, mercenaries did the dirty work for the army. But the mercenaries eventually tried to kill him, which meant that the army also preferred him to die in Afghanistan.
Suddenly, Stark realized something. Does Obadiah's sudden international whereabouts have anything to do with the army wanting him dead in Afghanistan?
Did Obadiah and the military have a falling out?
Perhaps that was the only explanation. Obadiah began building new business pathways and the army wanted Stark Group's best scientist, Tony Stark, dead in Afghanistan, thereby weakening Stark Group's influence.
So, was the essence of this a power tussle between Stark Group and the military?
Then, what was with Hydra?
Stark recalled that the second attack was carried out by Shiller and his men. The terrorists who kidnapped him didn't kill him and it could be inferred at Shiller's request. Then why did they provide him with the raw materials necessary to manufacture weaponry?
Stark remembered that Shiller told him he had received the final instructions from his teacher and superiors before the bombing and hence knew their plan. Then why didn't he know this before? Where was the discrepancy?
That robot, Stark realized, that huge robot he had built called Iron Wall 1.
It's likely that Hydra wanted to test whether he truly was the strongest scientist in the field of military products at Stark Group as the rumors said, to see if he really had the brilliant mind from the legends.
Stark speculated that after seeing part of the construction process of the giant robot, Shiller reported it to his teachers and superiors, and only then did he receive the complete plan.
After all, only if Stark has a plan of enough value would it be necessary to carry it out. If Stark was really an idiot, Shiller likely would have received a death warrant instead.
Fast forwarding a bit, Shiller brought him to the abandoned base and told him that he had sent the address of this base to his private secretary, Pepper.
Stark knew that at the beginning of his disappearance, Pepper must have mobilized all her power to find him, and would certainly have posted some contact information in the media. Shiller probably contacted Pepper through that.
So when did Pepper get this address? And what did she do after getting it?
Stark slowly opened his eyes, he saw Pepper, casually dressed, coming in. Upon seeing that Stark was awake, the fiery Little Pepper quickly rushed in and chased all the medical staff away.
"Tony, I'm glad you're okay. The doctor says the wound on your back is healing well. It's just that you are exhausted and you need rest due to an anxiety attack. I've taken some time off to be with you."
"Thank you so much, Pepper." Stark sighed lightly, Pepper adjusted his bedhead, Stark looked at her and asked, "I don't want to dampen the mood, but there are too many questions about this matter, so we'll talk about reminiscing and worrying later."
"I understand, don't worry, I drove my own car here, and we have our people outside, you won't be in danger. Ask anything you want."
No matter how many times, Stark still wanted to praise Pepper for being his private secretary. It was a waste of her talent. Little Pepper's courage and decisiveness could make her a stalwart force of Stark Group.
Stark looked at Pepper and said, "Before I was rescued, did anyone from Afghanistan contact you?"
Pepper was taken aback. From her expression, Stark knew he must have hit the mark. Pepper quickly pulled out her phone from her coat pocket, pressed a few times then handed it to Stark.
"This is the contact email address I published in the media. Most of the information I got was useless, but the day before you were rescued, a stranger's email sent me a real-shot photo. The scenery was the mountains of Afghanistan."
Stark browsed through Pepper's email, immediately noticing the email with the attached photo, going into it, the content was very brief, there was a GPS satellite coordinate.
At that time, Pepper went to the door and received a laptop from someone outside, after taking a peek outside the door, she handed the laptop to Stark and said, "Things are urgent, this is all I managed to grab."
Stark looked at her. He understood that Pepper was saying that she had sensed something wrong within Stark Group. Therefore, she had hurried over to accompany him, which was the best choice.
If Stark had died, who would take over Stark Group would not be clear, naturally, they would have to stay inside the group and choose the best successor for the group.
But Stark did not die. Without a doubt, this group belongs to him. The entire capitalist class could not accept anyone usurping the proper lineage of the family. Even if the heir was useless, they would have to ensure that he is the apparent highest leader of a certain group. Only by diligently maintaining such a rule could they ensure that as stakeholders, their family could continue indefinitely.
So now it doesn't matter what happened inside Stark Group, everyone knew that Stark was alive, and he would return to Stark Group sooner or later. Not to mention that he is also the most important scientist. Without him, the research department would halt. No matter what, the board of directors must ensure that he can return.
Stark opened the computer, began to check the specific location information of the GPS satellite coordinates, and then indeed found familiar mountains on the satellite snapshots, especially that very conspicuous precipice, where Pierce's helicopter had parked at the time.
This was definitely not a random location, the terrain nearby was quite steep, mountain bikes couldn't make it, and even locals would have to work to find the entrance to the abandoned base buried in wild plants, unless there was air power and exact coordinates, only if both were available, a perfect rescue could be executed.
In Shiller's view, perhaps only Stark Group could do this, so he was willing to give the coordinates to Pepper.
But Pepper didn't come. Alexander Pierce came instead. That leaves only one question. Stark looked at Pepper and asked, "After you received these coordinates, what did you do?"
"I deleted them." Pepper's voice didn't waver, "What you're looking at now is the mirror site of the secret email. The original url has been completely cancelled by me, and all snapshots have been destroyed."
Pepper stared straight at Stark and said, "I knew that if you were still alive, what I should do was not to save you, but to prevent anyone else from finding you."
Pepper held out a hand and placed it on Stark's back, lowering her voice and said, "If you were alive by then, it would mean you wanted to survive. And one day, you could leave there with your own strength."
Stark pulled his hand out of Pepper's and placed it back on hers, lowering his eyes and said, "Thank you, Pepper. But I can't say I saved myself, not this time at least."