By the seaside, at Tony's house.
Pepper was sitting alone on the first floor, watching various financial reports on TV. Nearly every financial expert was urging people to sell their Stark Industries stock.
Stark Industries was considered completely finished!
Although Pepper didn't fully understand Tony's reasons, she trusted him unconditionally. At that moment, Tony's voice came through a tablet in front of her.
"Hey, Potts, how big are your hands?"
"What? Tony?"
Pepper was confused by the sudden and seemingly random question.
"I mean, are your hands small enough..."
"OK, never mind. Can you come downstairs? I need your help."
"Alright, I'm on my way..."
Pepper quickly made her way to Tony's underground lab. When she arrived, she found Tony lying on an operating table, while Yinsen stood nearby, wearing gloves and holding a glowing blue object, looking perplexed.
As soon as Tony saw her, he said, "Let me see your hands..."
Pepper held out her hands, and after a glance, Tony and Yinsen nodded to each other.
"It looks like you're the only one who can replace this thing for me," Tony said, pointing to his chest, where the arc reactor had already been removed but was still connected to his body by a wire.
"This is the thing that saved your life?" Pepper asked in surprise.
Yinsen quipped from the side, "If you don't hurry, he really might lose that life."
Tony shot him a look. "Hey, it sounds like you actually want me to die."
Pepper interrupted, "What do I need to do?"
Yinsen handed her the new arc reactor. "When he fell from the sky, the wire inside got stuck. My hands are too big to reach in. You need to take out the electromagnetic coil from inside."
"You want me to stick my hand inside Tony's body and pull something out?" Pepper said in disbelief.
But after Tony and Yinsen both nodded reassuringly, she pushed through the discomfort—both visual and psychological—and successfully replaced Tony's arc reactor.
Holding the old reactor in her hand, Pepper was about to return it to Tony, but he waved her off. "I like many things, but sentimentality isn't one of them. Go ahead and get rid of it for me."
Pepper looked down at the old reactor in her hand. "Anything else, Mr. Stark?"
"No, Miss Potts."
As she left, reactor in hand, Pepper's mind was filled with thoughts.
After she went upstairs, Yinsen, who had been silent, asked, "Is she your secretary?"
"Yes..." Tony paused in thought for a moment before adding, "Not exactly..."
"It's obvious that your relationship with her is... different," Yinsen remarked with a smile.
"Enough with the idle chatter, we have work to do. You've been living here, eating my food—don't think you can just freeload. I'll kick you out if you don't help."
Tony shut down Yinsen's attempt to gossip further and led him to his workstation.
Sitting down, Tony called out, "J.A.R.V.I.S., are you there?"
"Always at your service, sir."
"This is your AI butler?" Yinsen asked.
"Exactly. J.A.R.V.I.S., this is Yinsen. I wouldn't be here without him."
"Hello, Yinsen."
"Hello, J.A.R.V.I.S.!"
Once again, Yinsen was stunned by Tony's genius. Such a powerful AI—few people in the world could create something like it.
"Alright, introductions are over. Let's get to work."
"I'm starting a new project, and for now, let's call it: Mark."
"This will be a private project, not uploaded to Stark Industries."
"No problem, sir."
After acknowledging the command, J.A.R.V.I.S. added, "Sir, I believe you should see this..."
The next moment, J.A.R.V.I.S. projected the recorded image of the Emperor Armor.
Upon seeing it, Yinsen reacted like everyone else who had seen it: "My God, what is that thing?"
Tony, looking at the recorded footage, shook his head. "I don't know. But we managed to escape that hellhole because I was inspired by it."
The clip was short, and the image remained mostly still. When the Emperor Armor disappeared from view, Tony knew that once again, they had lost track of it.
"No matter. Soon, I'll be able to do the same."
"J.A.R.V.I.S., project my latest work..."
Instantly, a holographic image of Mark I appeared on a nearby workstation.
"Yinsen, I told you when we escaped the desert that I'd give you one of these."
"Now, let's get started."
"Mark II..."
...
At Alan's home.
Alan, who was meditating and cultivating his psychic powers, suddenly felt a shift in his mind. He heard the sound of a door opening. Instantly, he opened his eyes and looked towards the room.
Standing at the doorway was Gwen, dressed in her newly made Spider-Woman suit. The curves of her body, wrapped in the suit, appeared even more defined and athletic.
"How's my craftsmanship, Mr. Alan?" Gwen asked proudly.
This was, by far, her most satisfying creation. As she walked out in the suit earlier, she had vowed that if Alan didn't appreciate it, she'd give him a good beating. Yes, she'd definitely beat him! Beat him until he said it looked great.
"It's flawless, Miss Stacy..." Alan responded.
Gwen smiled at his compliment and then said, "The suit is done. It's time to go make the spider fluid."
"Come over here. Let me show you something," Alan said as he stood up and led Gwen over to the computer.
On the screen was an armguard-shaped device, which Alan had modeled based on his memory. With the help of the Red Queen AI, it had been improved into its current form.
"What's this? My new equipment?" Gwen asked, unable to figure out what it was at first glance.
"I've named it the Web Shooter. You just need to load the spider fluid into this compartment. Then, by pressing the sensor in your palm with a hand gesture, you can shoot out the web."
As Alan explained, Gwen's expression became more and more animated. Finally, unable to contain her excitement, she wrapped her arms around Alan's neck and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Alan, you're a genius. I was just wondering how to shoot the webs, and you've already prepared everything for me!"
Alan chuckled. "I've already sent the model to the best manufacturing company. I'm sure we'll have it by tomorrow."
"So now, let's go make the spider fluid..."
...