Unexpected Iron Man 1 (First Guaranteed Update, Please Subscribe!!!)

So, as for what exactly had come to an end…

Uh…

He was probably saying that the woman had reached her limit, rather than that the relationship between the two of them had come to an end.

That was what Lake thought.

As for whether that was really the case, they would have to wait and see. Maybe they would find out.

Very soon.

Long Beach.

Lake parked the vehicle outside the manor and pressed the intercom. The psychic medium thing was quite marvelous. Only a family member of the person involved could personally go looking for one, and then the medium could use that as a medium to search for relatives who had already died and were currently in Hell.

The closest psychic medium to New York was in Phoenix City.

Lake was too lazy to leave the city, so he planned to come find Tony Stark and ask him to go to Phoenix City when he had time to confirm it with that psychic medium.

Only…

After hearing the intercom go unanswered, Lake raised an eyebrow.

Was nobody home?

That made no sense.

When Lake had prepared to come over, he had even called Pepper to confirm that she was home.

Bang.

Lake got out of the car and walked to the manor entrance. As he looked through the well-maintained courtyard toward the manor’s main building in the distance, he called Pepper again.

The call went to voicemail.

Lake looked at the surveillance camera in the upper-right corner of the manor entrance. "Jarvis."

There was no response again.

Lake raised an eyebrow.

"Red Queen!"

"Coming."

"See what Jarvis is doing."

"…Huh? This guy’s system is offline?"

"…"

Hearing Red Queen’s words, Lake raised an eyebrow. He had Red Queen restart Jarvis, then looked around. After confirming that no one was nearby, he leaped straight up with a whoosh. By the time he landed, he had already appeared inside the manor.

Then…

Lake entered the manor’s main building.

At a glance…

There was no one inside, but there were no signs of a forced entry either.

Lake entered the basement and saw Pepper Potts lying in a pool of blood at first glance.

Good grief.

What kind of mess had happened this time?

Had the plot of Iron Man 1 really started without warning just like that?

Lake hurried to Pepper Potts’s side. After seeing the gunshot wound in her abdomen and checking that she was still breathing, he glanced at the phone that had been smashed to pieces nearby. Then he picked Pepper up and carried her to the sofa not far away.

The next second.

Lake flipped his right hand, and a bottle of red potion appeared in it.

In any case, he had drawn the red potions by the dozen in this lottery. He would not even feel bad about using one, let alone twelve.

He opened her mouth.

Then he poured it straight in.

After choking twice, Pepper Potts began gulping down the red potion. As it entered her body, her life gradually returned.

With a ding.

The bullet wound in her abdomen rapidly healed as well. Once the wound had closed, a bullet was forced out.

Ten seconds later.

"Cough, cough!"

Pepper Potts opened her eyes and began coughing again. When she opened them, she saw Lake in front of her. "Tony?"

Lake smiled. "Sorry, he isn’t here."

Well, Tony had low emotional intelligence, while Pepper was face-blind. How could a handsome male god like him possibly be mistaken for that fellow Tony?

After hearing Lake’s words, Pepper instantly came to her senses. She sat up from the sofa and looked around the basement, where only the two of them were present. Then, as if she had thought of something, she looked at Lake. "Lake, Stane kidnapped Tony."

Stane?

Obadiah Stane?

Was the will of the universe really this lazy? Was it not planning to change the villain?

That was what Lake thought as he prepared to ask Pepper. Then, with a ding, Red Queen had also finished restarting Jarvis and brought him back online.

"Mr. Edwin."

Seeing that Jarvis was online, Lake glanced at Pepper, who was clearly still in the first stage of post-traumatic confusion, and said directly to the newly activated Jarvis, "What happened?"

Jarvis said, "Mr. Stan shut down my system."

"I know that. What else?"

"Mr. Stark discovered that Mr. Stan had secretly sold weapons to overseas terrorist forces over the years and had copied the complete clone resurrection plan from the database. Mr. Stark questioned Mr. Stan about it. This morning, after Mr. Stan entered the manor, he shut down my system."

"…"

Pepper seemed to remember something. "Tony once gave Obadiah Stane security control authority over Jarvis."

Lake curled his lips.

If Obadiah Stane had not possessed complete control authority, how could something like this have happened?

And he had even called him?

It seemed Tony’s injuries had not completely healed yet. He looked fine on the outside, but his brain clearly had not fully recovered. Wasn’t this just openly telling Obadiah that he had better begin the final stage of his operation?

Lake took out his phone.

"Commander!"

"Obadiah Stane has kidnapped Tony Stark. Issue an all-territories alert."

"…Yes!"

As Lake listened to the footsteps of the people hurrying toward the Homeland Operations Center, he looked at Pepper, who was sitting on the sofa with one hand over her forehead and had begun entering the second stage of post-traumatic recovery—the reflection stage. "Hey, we should go."

Pepper came back to herself and looked at Lake.

By the time Lake led Pepper out of the manor’s main building, the unique silver Porsche Cayenne in all of New York had already driven itself to the entrance under Red Queen’s control.

They got in.

As Lake drove away from the manor, he glanced at Pepper in the passenger seat. "Did Obadiah say where he was taking Tony?"

At this point, Tony Stark had not invented the Iron Man armor yet.

So…

What was Obadiah Stane after?

Pepper shook her head. She generally did not go to the basement. After all, that was a paradise for engineers, not for her. At the time, Pepper had been handling some matters in the living room. When Lake called, she had planned to have Jarvis tell Tony.

But Jarvis had not responded at all.

Only then had Pepper gotten up and prepared to go to the basement to tell Tony. By then, Obadiah Stane was already there. Who could have expected that the moment she entered the basement, she would be kidnapped by Obadiah Stane in the blink of an eye?

And then…

There was no then.

As Pepper recalled the last thing she knew, she suddenly thought of something and looked at Lake. "By the way, Obadiah kidnapped me because he wanted the key data for the clone resurrection."

Lake raised an eyebrow. "Clone resurrection again?"

Pepper nodded, her thoughts racing. "Yes, clone resurrection. After Tony woke up, the first thing he did was have Jarvis delete all the information related to clone resurrection."

Lake asked, "Does Obadiah also want to resurrect someone?"

Pepper nodded. "His wife and child died in that accident during the 2001 September 11 attacks."

Lake raised an eyebrow. "That doesn’t add up. Obadiah isn’t married."

At least, not publicly.

When Obadiah faced reporters, his favorite line was, "I don’t have a son, but I do have a godson. And from the very beginning, my godson has given me endless satisfaction and comfort."

Obviously.

Obadiah had lied. But thinking about it, it was easy to guess why. A tycoon this wealthy might not want to bind himself with marriage, but when it came to offspring, how hard could it be to have as many as he wanted?

Illegitimate children were standard practice among federal tycoons.

Lake held him in deep contempt for it. If someone dared to do something, he should dare to take responsibility. Lake despised people with no sense of responsibility.

What Pepper said afterward proved that point.

Lake asked, "So Obadiah Stane wants to resurrect his wife and child?"

Pepper nodded noncommittally.

Lake could not help sighing. This miserable little planet would sooner or later be completely blown apart by these people.

Just then.

The Department of Homeland Security received news.

"Commander."

"Speak."

"The New Jersey air traffic control department just sent word. About half an hour ago, a private plane belonging to Stark Industries flew out of the country."

"Out of the country?"

"Yes."

Tiffany gathered the information at the Homeland Operations Center and said, "We just got in touch with the air traffic control department there. After the plane left the country, they ended the call. When they tried to contact it again just now, the radio had gone silent."

"…"

Lake fell silent when he heard that.

Most people fled after taking the money. Obadiah Stane had fled after taking a person.

Impressive.

Where was he going?

The old place, Afghanistan?

Lake recalled that Jarvis had just said Tony Stark had discovered that Obadiah Stane had secretly been conducting arms deals with an overseas organization all these years.

If nothing had changed, then he was probably trading with an organization under the Ten Rings, right?

What had that bald man been called again?

And after all that going around in circles, had things somehow returned to the original plot of Iron Man 1?

Damn it.

It was 2006, not 2008. What the hell was going on? Why had the curtain been raised so early?

Lake could not help getting a headache.

Pepper, sitting in the passenger seat, seemed to have thought of something. She looked at Lake. "Lake, we absolutely can’t let the outside world know about this. Otherwise, Stark Industries will be in danger."

Stark Industries was publicly listed and had the highest market value in the world. If outsiders learned that Obadiah Stane, the executive director of Stark Industries, had kidnapped Tony Stark, good grief, the company’s market value would probably be cut in half immediately.

In the original plot, Tony Stark’s disappearance alone had caused Stark Industries’ market value to plummet. This kind of infighting would probably be even more vicious.

Lake looked at Pepper. "Why didn’t you say so earlier?"

The all-territories alert had already been issued. It was only a matter of time before the media learned about this. Lake knew nothing about finance. Otherwise, he would not have struggled so badly, barely drawing anything in the lottery. He had originally wanted to buy some stocks once, but the money had not lasted long before he had to withdraw it.

Pepper opened and closed her mouth, feeling that a storm was about to break. Stark Industries was probably going to be thrown into complete chaos this time.

Just then.

Lake thought for a moment, then looked at Pepper. "This can’t be kept secret, but I happen to know one or two disguise experts. Having them come over and play stand-ins should be no problem."

Pepper: "…"