"Slap!"
Both Stark and Thor were stunned when the crisp slap sound rang out.
Stark, knew he was doomed, while Thor, who had just fought with Stark, was dumbfounded by a weak human female surprising him with a slap right after he was thinking that Stark was a worthy adversary.
After delivering the slap, Pepper turned and began to walk away. Stark hurriedly caught up to stop her, grabbing her arm he said: "Wait, Pepper, it's not what you think, there's really nothing between Loki and me, that child is not from us..."
Pepper shook off his arm, turned around, hugged her arm, and looked up at Stark. She took a deep breath, flicked her hair out of the way, and said, "How could I believe your lies?! How could I ever expect a playboy with such a notorious reputation to turn over a new leaf?!"
As she finished talking, she turned to leave again. Stark firmly grabbed her, the fluent explanation he had prepared no longer came out as smoothly. When he heard Pepper talk like this, he felt as if his heart was being squeezed in pain.
Stark took a moment to regain his composure, then rapidly walked in front of Pepper. He placed his arms on her shoulders and said, "Listen to me, I didn't betray you…"
As soon as Pepper raised her hand while Stern was talking, she said, "You don't need to use the word 'betray'. You never made me any promises, so there's no betrayal to talk about."
Pepper drew a deep breath. She knew Stark was a man sensitive about his feelings, but during lovers' fights, there was often a readiness to twist the knife, hurting oneself as well as the other person.
"Why don't you go tell those fashion models that sleeping with me was your betrayal of them, they will have the patience to listen to you."
Once she finished speaking, Pepper managed to pry Stark's hand away, then she stubbornly left the room.
Stark stood frozen in his place, his arms trembling. Pepper had indeed struck a deep blow, mistrust, unwillingness to commit, and past relationships. These were reasons even Stark himself knew he could never properly maintain a healthy relationship.
Thor wanted to say something to dissuade him, but he didn't feel it was his place. After all, no one really knew if anything ever happened between Stark and Loki. Even if Loki came to confront him, no one would know if the two were in cahoots to deceive people.
Truth be told, if a man and woman were frequently alone together in a room and people noticed they got along well, it was not surprising for Pepper to react so strongly. If Thor thought to change the gender roles a bit and insert himself in the scenario, he suspected that he would have picked up his hammer and confronted the other person directly.
Just as Pepper supported herself against the doorframe, trying to muster the courage to leave, another little shadow "whooshed" by her side, then turned to face her.
Helen raised her face, directly meeting Pepper's gaze. Even in her anger, Pepper wouldn't take it out on a child that small. She turned her head to one side, adjusting her balance, preparing to leave, but just then, she saw the little girl open her mouth, displaying her sharp fangs, only to yell at her:
"Mommy!!!!!"
Pepper's eyes were wide, even Stark was shocked. He sprang into action like a stone statue coming back to life, swiftly moving beside Pepper to stand in a line with her, both staring at Helen. Unexpectedly, Helen shifted her gaze towards Stark and yelled, "Daddy!!!!!"
"Don't play tricks on me!" Pepper turned her head and glared at Stark, loudly saying, "I am not her mother, you should tell her to go find..."
"Wah!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
A crying sound loud enough to shatter skyscrapers pierced through the windows of the Stark Building, resonating within the New York skyline.
How can one describe the volume and sharpness of this cry? Standing in the lab, Thor felt an irresistible gust sweep across his body. He stepped back a few paces, feeling his head buzz.
If a member of the Asgardian race, like Thor, could be so affected, it was much worse for Pepper and Stark. Both of them were clinging onto the doorframe, covering their ears. And this was only the first wave of the onslaught.
Immediately afterwards, Helen began to howl inconsolably. Her cries seemed enough to significantly decrease the structural integrity of the Stark building. Not caring about anything else, Stark and Pepper just desired the dreadful horn to stop blaring.
"Don't cry, don't cry, Helen!" Stark walked over, crouched down, and embraced Helen. But besides subjecting his own ears to even more torturous sounds, it had no effect.
At this moment, Pepper also walked over, pushed Stark aside, and said: "Your way of holding a child is completely wrong, you're hurting her!"
"I've never held a child before!" Stark said in a somewhat frantic tone.
Pepper turned her head and saw that Stark's mouth was already wide open, resorting to mouth-breathing and doing so at an evidently increased frequency. His right eye was squinting more than the left one, Pepper knew that Stark's anxiety disorder was not completely cured and he was prone to anxiety in the face of unforeseen situations.
Pepper pushed Stark away, stretched out her arms, picked up Helen, and began to gently rock her while patting her back. Stark exhaled a sigh of relief.
But then he saw, through the glass windows of the opposite lab, that Jarvis was rapidly typing at a computer. The screen in front of him slowly turned, revealing the words: "Explain, now!!"
"Well...Pepper, this whole thing started back on Shiller's birthday..."
Stark rambled on without getting to the point, but luckily, Pepper was used to his sometimes incoherent way of speaking. She gathered the gist of his explanation and then frowned, leaning down to look at Helen.
She had been too angry earlier to notice the details, but looking now, Helen didn't quite seem like a human child. And upon reflection, it was clear that Stark's daughter could inherit just about anything, except the Ark Reactor in his chest.
At this point, Thor approached from behind, asking, "Just what kind of relationship do you have with my sister? If you two are indeed in a romantic relationship, then you should return to Asgard and get married. I won't allow any ambiguity in your relationship—it's not right!"
"There's nothing between us, who told you we were dating? She's not even my type!" Stark stomped his foot and wiped his nose with a finger, gritting his teeth before continuing, "Everyone knows my reputation is awful, but hasn't anyone noticed the type of women I usually date?"
Recalling Stark's relationships, Thor realized that his cover girls, actresses, and models typically had voluptuous figures and strong sexy auras—even the scrawny ones. Whereas Loki, especially since her transformation into a goddess, seemed younger and more maiden-like.
"Besides, I wouldn't dare get involved with her," Stark said, with a smirk. "Just imagine, if one day she asks if I have feelings for her, I'll be blinded by the powerful glow she emanates."
Thor exhaled, seeming somewhat relieved, and patted Stark's shoulder. "Alright, seems like I've blamed you unjustly, but be careful in the future. Stay away from Loki. Playboys like you should be jailed."
Pepper snorted in response, "If all playboys in the world should be jailed, then there wouldn't be any cells left for other criminals."
Surprisingly, upon hearing Pepper's words, Stark relaxed. He laughed and responded, "If I really had to be jailed, I'd probably serve the shortest sentence, wouldn't you agree, my judge?"
Pepper turned her head away, refusing to look Stark in the eye. She lulled Helen for a moment then handed her back to Stark, saying, "We're not married yet, we haven't even gotten engaged, so she can't call me 'mom'."
"Nevertheless, if you decide to adopt her, you would indeed become her father. Go ahead, a novice father should learn how to take care of his child."
After saying this, Pepper left. Stark continued chatting to Thor briefly with Helen in his arms, before Thor was called away to Asgard due to some pressing matters.
Upon returning to the lab, Helen leaped out from Stark's arms and pulled out a small earpiece from her ear, tossing it to Jarvis, who was standing nearby. Stark stared in surprise at the pair of them.
The tall robot butler bent over to offer his hand, which Helen promptly jumped onto. She then sat on his shoulder as Jarvis said to Stark, "Young miss is quite the quick learner. She's also picked the perfect moment."
"Additionally, sir, the lab equipment you use to synthesize the diamond blades broke. The faulty blade was cut with too many facets, making it exceptionally brilliant, so I mounted it on a ring. It's currently in the jewelry box behind you."
"A table at the most popular French restaurant in Midtown has become available, according to Miss Pepper's schedule. She's finished with work for the day and was preparing to go home and rest."
"She's currently headed to the underground garage...she's opening the door...she's getting into her car...she's turning the key... Oh, what a shame, her car has broken down. The navigation system isn't working either, she must be quite upset…"
"Wait! Hold on a second…" Stark suddenly became flustered. He spun around, then turned back, paused for a moment before snatching up the jewelry box from the table behind him, and rushed out the door. As he was getting into the elevator, he stumbled and nearly fell.
Helen tilted her head to the side, then turned to look at Jarvis, who had a symbol-shaped smile on his robot face.
Half an hour later, a bit of commotion stirred at a restaurant in the heart of Midtown. Soon enough, media vans had swarmed the place.
A figure in a golden and red battlesuit flew suddenly out of the restaurant window, carrying another figure, and swiftly ascended. They stopped at the top of another tall building, the face guard was lifted, and Stark, under the floating arc of light and dust in the New York morning, kissed her without hesitation. At that moment, the diamond on Pepper's ring finger gleamed brilliantly.
From the rooftop of another nearby building, Shiller and Loki watched the scene unfold. Loki said, "At the time, I was so upset I was about to go mad. If it wasn't for you stopping me, I would have…"
"But as you predicted, as long as I stayed invisible during the whole situation, our objectives would have been achieved." Loki turned to Shiller, "Sometimes, I really wonder what kind of background and experience it takes to create a strange person like you?"
Shiller lowered his head, toying with a model of the very first Ark Reactor in his hand. Loki followed his gaze and asked, "Did Stark give this to you?"
Shiller nodded, saying, "An original Ark Reactor model. Seems complex, doesn't it? But it's just a light bulb, after all."
As he said this, he lifted the model, positioning it against the sun. The light shone through it, illuminating it brilliantly.
Shiller moved his gaze from the model, looked up to Stark and Pepper kissing in the distance, and then smiled, saying, "Without energy, it can't glow, but it's still a light bulb…"
"And me, I'm quite good at unscrewing light bulbs."