Arthur walked out of the desert filled with frustration. On the way he cursed and regretted his action several times, the main thing that he regretted was coming here to save Tony, that little shit.
But it was pointless… He had no foresight, having only seen a few movies.
Who would have thought that the seemingly loyal Tony Stark would also play dirty tricks one day?
When he reached the city, he found a place to make a phone call. Arthur then took his time to get revenge on the person who sold him the car before heading to the airport.
The streets of New York hadn't changed much, and neither had Pepper.
Of course, there were small changes. At least she wasn't as scared as she had been when she first met Arthur.
"Tony has already called. He'll be back tomorrow after a short rest. Thank you," Pepper began.
"Actually, he could have made it back alive without me," Arthur said with a smile. "You should have more faith in him."
He added silently: 'He's a sneaky one after all!'
"Regardless, thank you for your help," Pepper said, bowing slightly.
Arthur's expression remained unchanged as he silently watched Pepper.
Pepper's face remained calm as well. After a moment of silence, she sighed and said, "Do you have any questions?"
Arthur smiled slightly before speaking. "No, you're mistaken. It's not about what I want to ask, but rather what you… need to tell me?"
"If there's anything to say… there's not much," Pepper replied, handing Arthur a note from her pocket. "Someone wanted me to give this to you."
"Is it about world peace again?" Arthur's face twitched slightly.
"Of course not," Pepper smiled. "Anyway, thank you for your help this time. I will honor our agreement – no one else will know about this except you and me."
"Don't be so sure about that…" Arthur sighed. "There are some people you just can't hide from; it comes down to who's more honest."
With that he waved his hand and walked past Pepper to the street and got into a taxi.
Pepper watched the taxi drive away slowly, her stern expression breaking as she exhaled nervously. "Do you think he'll believe it?"
"No, he won't," Came a woman's voice from the back seat of a black car. "I never intended to deceive him but my present situation leaves me no choice but to do this.
You know, the world has given me a big surprise that makes all my life's perseverance worthwhile… If possible, I really don't want to bother him, but I still have no choice."
Pepper turned to the car. The window was halfway down, and the woman inside smiled softly. "In any case, thank you for your effort. Once the last matter is settled, our contact will be cut off."
In the taxi, Arthur's gaze was calm. He didn't look at the note in his hand, just stared out of the window for a while before exhaling.
Someone had been watching him.
Though there was no killing intent, that gaze made him extremely uneasy.
After a long moment of silence, Arthur didn't open the note but put it into his shirt pocket.
With his arms crossed and leaning against the backrest of the car, Arthur stared up at the roof, lost in thought, unsure of what exactly was going through his mind at that moment.
When the car finally stopped, Arthur snapped back to reality.
He paid the fare, got out of the car, and opened the door to his small dojo. There was always something about the dojo that made Arthur feel like it could be put to good use.
The house had been empty for two months, and dust had collected everywhere.
With no luggage to deal with, Arthur went straight to the kitchen, grabbed some cleaning supplies, and started cleaning up the whole place.
"Hmm, what's this?" He wondered aloud as he found a pull ring in a corner on the first floor, possibly leading to a basement.
A flood of images filled Arthur's mind, many of which he quickly dismissed as too inappropriate to describe.
He pulled the ring, revealing a simple cellar below.
"Why not just install a door instead of digging a hole?" Arthur muttered to himself before he jumped down and took a quick look around.
The room wasn't too small, but it was mostly empty.
"Well, this treasure hunt ended sooner than I expected. I can… hmm?" Arthur's mouth curled into a smile as he looked around the cellar. "I should have quite a bit of money by now, right?"
Scratching his head, Arthur cleaned the basement and gathered some tools.
After putting his things away, Arthur called Lily. After the call ended, he dove into the basement and began an ambitious renovation plan.
He had called Lily to ask about the use of the basement.
She told him it hadn't been used for a long time, so Arthur shared his ambition to take over the space.
Lily readily agreed, especially since Arthur offered to pay the rent!
According to Arthur's vision, this basement had great potential.
He planned to use the genetic knowledge he had learned from Dr. Erskine, a vial of Super Soldier Serum he still had, and even… a formidable fighter!
All these resources and people would be wasted if they didn't have a place to go.
Arthur wanted to turn the basement into a small laboratory for some secret research!
To do this, he needed some equipment.
Two months ago, Arthur wouldn't have known where to start. He had almost no connections and only knew Lily, who was an artist.
But now… he called Pepper.
After the call, Arthur felt relieved.
She had agreed so quickly that Arthur almost felt she would do anything for him.
Shaking his head, he was about to get back to work when there was a knock at the door.
"I just got home!" Arthur wondered. When Lily was around, there weren't that many visitors. Who could it be now?
When he opened the door, he found a man standing there who looked rather down and out.
The man looked at Arthur, then at the address in his hand, and nodded slightly. "Hello, are you the instructor?"
Arthur's face turned green instantly after hearing those words!
Seriously, could you be any more direct?
And where did my disguise go wrong?
How could someone come straight to me with such a familiar-looking note?
"Who are you?" Arthur asked, his face still green.
"Hello… I'm Robert Bruce Banner," The man replied, looking a bit shy, embarrassed, and fearful. "I'm here looking for help."
Arthur, after picking his jaw up off the floor, swallowed hard and blurted out, "I didn't take your pants off!!"