Chapter 13: Casual Chat
Arthur climbed the stairs of the emergency stairwell at a leisurely pace all the way to the top floor of Stark Tower.
When he pushed open that heavy, high-tech glass door, the scene before him made him involuntarily raise an eyebrow.
This was a luxurious penthouse on the most expensive piece of real estate in Manhattan, which should have been a place filled with fine wine, leather sofas, and an air of extravagance.
But what about now?
The entire room looked practically like a repair shop that had just been ransacked by bandits.
Scattered haphazardly all over the floor were various metal shells, intricate cables, and tools exuding the smell of engine oil.
On those originally expensive solid wood floors, red-hot metal had scorched several pitch-black burn marks.
Arthur lowered his head, like a combat engineer clearing mines in a minefield, carefully lifting his feet and stepping across, trying to find a gap to place his foot amidst the mess on the ground, and after a lot of effort, he barely managed to squeeze into the central area of the laboratory.
"Yo, looks like the cleaner here went on strike today."
Arthur put his hands in his pockets, sizing up the strong researcher-fanatic style around him, his tone carrying a bit of banter.
Not far away by the workbench, Tony Stark used the back of his hand, stained with black engine oil, to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Hearing the commotion, he turned his head, kicked away an abandoned metal drive shaft on the ground with one foot, and forcefully cleared a small area for Arthur amidst the debris-covered floor.
"Jarvis, go bring a stool for our guest."
Tony gave the instruction without even raising his head.
Soon, under the workbench, a robotic arm that looked like a big iron-shelled clamp with wheels rolled over smoothly, pushing a reasonably clean swivel chair, and stopped respectfully beside Arthur.
Tony picked up the soldering iron on the table again, began gesturing at a semi-finished metal part in front of him, with an unlit cigar clenched in his mouth, speaking vaguely yet with a bit of smugness:
"Isn't this the great super benefactor who just showed great divine power in the desert this morning and smashed open the doors of the Ten Rings Gang with one punch? How come you have time today to grace my humble doghouse with your presence?"
Arthur didn't mind it at all, patted the swivel chair, and sat right down with an imposing posture.
To be honest, if it weren't for Gwen that girl having a stress reaction because she ran into that newbie Spider-Man on the street today, and running off to investigate a case with a clumsy excuse, he wouldn't have been bored enough to run over here.
"Just bored, nobody's home, so I came out for a stroll."
Arthur absentmindedly spun the chair half a circle, stretched his neck to peer at the table:
"You two busy bees just ran back after cheating death, not rushing to throw a party to celebrate, what kind of high-tech garbage are you tinkering with here?"
Hearing this, Tony flicked his wrist and handed a freshly assembled silver metal gauntlet in his hand to Dr. Yinsen, who was recording data nearby.
Only then did he turn around, pushing his goggles up onto his head, a signature, somewhat boastful smile appearing on his face.
"Hey, what do you mean high-tech garbage? This is an epoch-making work of art."
Tony casually grabbed a rag to wipe his hands:
"Isn't it because that clumsy, heavy lump of iron I built in that crappy cave when I was kidnapped gave me some inspiration? That thing was fierce, but it couldn't fly far and easily fell apart. So I discussed with Dr. Yinsen to try and see if we could make a high-spec upgraded version with a lighter material that can be used daily and even worn on the body anytime, anywhere."
Speaking of which, Tony seemed to feel that just talking wasn't shocking enough, so he directly extended his finger, snapped his fingers stylishly in the air before him, and waved fiercely.
"Hum—"
Hearing only a faint buzzing sound of current, a circular generator above the workbench instantly projected an extremely dazzling blue holographic projection.
Right in the originally empty midair, a full-body armor virtual 3D image that was extremely intricate and complex enough to make one's scalp tingle instantly emerged.
The blueprint slowly rotated in the air.
Dense countless physics symbols that Arthur had never even seen before were marked on it, and strings of dynamic calculation formulas were scrolling beside it.
The connection points of each joint were magnified, displaying millimeter-precise mechanical transmission structures.
Arthur only glanced up at it, and felt that this setup was simply even more terrifying than a college final exam's calculus and advanced mathematics paper, his head instantly swelling as if it were twice its size.
Although he inwardly sighed, "As expected of a genius scientist, this thing looks really cool," he didn't show it on his face at all.
Arthur looked away, completely unable to understand it, and simply looked at Tony with a perfunctory gaze of "Although I don't know what you're doing, you look very awesome."
Just at this moment, Dr. Yinsen, who was busy at the other end of the workbench, turned around.
He had already put the metal gauntlet aside, and walked over holding extremely carefully with both hands a circular ring-shaped object only the size of a palm, exuding a dim blue glow.
"Tony, I have already tested the peak energy output of this thing. It's very stable."
Dr. Yinsen pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his gentle face carrying a hint of an expression of finally being relieved, "While the various data are at their best right now, we can swap out the old one."
Tony raised both eyebrows, his gaze shifting back and forth twice between the blue-glowing Ark Reactor and Arthur, finally locking onto Arthur, a trace of cunning light flashing in the depths of his eyes.
"Oh, coming early isn't as good as coming at the right time."
Tony pointed at the ring on his chest emitting a faint glow through his clothes, looking at Arthur and smiling provocatively:
"Just right, Mr. Great Benefactor. Please help me replace this fatal little gadget on my chest. My Pepper secretary happens to have gone out to deal with those annoying media for me. And as for Dr. Yinsen..."
Tony turned his head to look at Dr. Yinsen and shrugged:
"He's getting old, his hands are bound to shake. The reactor base is connected to the old wires around my heart, and I'm really afraid that he might accidentally, not hold it steady, and pull out some nerve wires that shouldn't be pulled out along with it."
As he spoke, he walked very naturally over to a long leather lounge chair at the edge of the laboratory and lay down directly without any politeness.
Immediately following that, he gave a pull with both hands, very decisively taking off the gray tight vest full of stains on his body and throwing it aside.
Instantly, a metal hole with scarred edges embedded deep in the flesh of his chest, with a glowing, shining Ark Reactor protruding from inside, was completely exposed to the air.
The sight looked somewhat creepy.
Tony placed both hands behind his head, looking at the approaching Arthur, the corners of his mouth splitting into a grin: "After all, facing a genius who is about to short-circuit due to an old leaking battery, dear Mr. Great Benefactor certainly won't stand by and let him die, right?"
Arthur looked at Tony lying there posing like a master waiting to be "taken at will", and couldn't help rolling his eyes in disgust.
"Tch..."
Arthur let out a sigh full of reluctance, "Fine, fine, consider me owing you in my past life. You'd better endure it, I'll try to be quick, I've never fixed anyone's leaky heart problem before."
Arthur rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie slightly, and according to Tony's instructions, slowly reached his hand into that metal hole embedded in his chest.
To be honest, this feeling was terrible.
His fingertips could touch the temperature and muscle twitching coming from Tony's chest cavity, and there was a circle of tiny copper wires wrapped around the perimeter.
"Gentle, gentle! Hey! That thin wire is connected to the inner magnet, don't break the copper wire!"
Tony drew a sharp breath of cold air on the lounge chair, unable to help nervously starting to nag and direct.
"Shut up, stop talking nonsense. Pulling it out."
Arthur unceremoniously retorted.
He pinched the edge of the old reactor, gave it a gentle twist, and then carefully pulled it out along the slide rail.
Afterwards, he took the brand-new, more energetically abundant new reactor handed over by Dr. Yinsen, carefully connected it to the complex slot of the base, and gave it a clockwise twist.
With a crisp "click" sound, it fit seamlessly.
The new reactor burst forth with brighter, purer blue light, and the skin tone on Tony's chest even became slightly pale due to this stronger magnetic field, but he evidently let out a long sigh of relief, and his entire body relaxed.
After the installation was complete, Arthur immediately pulled his hand back as if electrocuted.
He strode to the side of the nearby console, casually grabbed a dry rag used for wiping engine oil with extreme distaste, and vigorously wiped his fingers which weren't actually stained with much grime.
"I just don't quite understand."
Wiping his hands, Arthur turned his head, looking with slightly furrowed brows at Tony, who had sat up from the lounge chair and was inspecting the status of the new reactor, his tone full of confusion:
"So, why wouldn't a billionaire big boss like you go hire a top-tier medical team to directly operate and take out the shrapnel near your heart? Why must you dig a big hole in your chest and stuff a glowing flashlight in there, do you have some unique modification fetish?"
Tony was slipping on another clean T-shirt, and upon hearing this question, his movements paused for a second.
Afterwards, he shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and snapped his fingers crisply by the way:
"That's a good question. As for why I'd rather plug in a socket than go have surgery, come on, you almighty mysterious great benefactor, take a guess?"
Looking at Tony's punchable demeanor of deliberately keeping him in suspense even at this time, Arthur tilted his head, completely unable to figure out what twists and turns were going on in this playboy's head.
Dr. Yinsen on the side watched the two of them staring at each other in big-eye-small-eye fashion, and finally couldn't help shaking his head and smiling a little.
He picked up the lukewarm coffee and took a sip, his gentle voice slowly drifting over, clearing up Arthur's confusion.
"Actually, it's not that Tony doesn't want to do it."
Dr. Yinsen sighed, his gaze looking at the place emitting the blue glow:
"Those tiny pieces of shrapnel have already followed the blood vessels very deeply, approaching the vicinity of Tony's heart valves. Unless we find a very top-tier lead surgeon with extremely sensitive nerves, the risk of this extremely precise surgery is simply too high."
Dr. Yinsen put down the coffee cup in his hand, his expression becoming somewhat solemn:
"After all, according to current conventional medical means and technological levels, operating around those few cardiovascular blood vessels, as long as the lead surgeon's hand shakes just a tiny, imperceptible bit... it might lead to massive bleeding. The probability of dying on the spot if anything goes wrong in such a surgery can be said to be quite large. So..."
The Dr. paused:
"So under the current circumstance where this Ark Reactor can be used to generate a strong magnetic field to hold the shrapnel and maintain his normal vital signs, our opinion is that it's best to wait until there are sufficiently safe medical technological means in the future before going for the surgery."
After listening to Dr. Yinsen's explanation, Tonyimmediately nodded quickly on the side, expressing deep agreement.
"That's right."
Tony casually pulled a chair and sat down opposite Arthur, spreading his hands with extreme self-righteousness:
"Since I now only need to hang such a simple and quite cool Ark Reactor on my chest to safely protect my little life, why should I take such a huge risk, lie on a cold operating table, and hand over my life to the twitch of an ordinary person's hand?"
Tony extended his finger, forcefully tapping on the holographic armor projection behind him that flashed with countless complicated data, his eyes revealing a complex emotion intertwined with nearly paranoid fanaticism and fear of death.
Chapter 14: Parker: My Senior Turns Out to Be Love-Addled"
"Anyway, while Arthur was having such a relaxing time, things were quite different over on Gwen's end."
"The night wind howled through the skyscrapers."
"Gwen shuttled through the urban jungle made of bricks, steel, and concrete, her hands alternately shooting out tough white mechanical webs."
"Although her movements were still as light as usual, her breathing beneath the mask was rapid and chaotic."
"That figure on the street in the afternoon wearing a crudely made red battle suit stuck in her mind like an unplucked thorn."
"The fact that her counterpart, Peter Parker, had acquired spider powers almost caused her brain to crash."
"She didn't dare to think deeply: if the Parker of this Universe was like the best friend she once knew, conducting some unauthorized experiments in pursuit of extraordinary power and ultimately mutating into an irreversible monster... would that tragedy repeat itself right before her eyes?"
"This immense panic drove her to leave Arthur with a clumsy excuse, Web-slinging all the way as she rushed at top speed toward Peter Parker's home in Queens."
"When that white, pink, and blue figure lightly landed on the exterior wall of an old-fashioned house, she held her breath."
"Relying on her superhuman wall-adhesion ability, Gwensteadily pressed her body against the red bricks of the second floor."
"She tilted her head slightly, looking through the glass window into the room where a desk lamp was lit."
"Inside the room, eighteen-year-old Peter was busy with his back to the window."
"Randomly discarded at his feet were a red sleeveless hoodie and a pair of cheap blue long-sleeved long Johns, and scattered on the table were a few goggle lenses and needles and threads dismantled from somewhere unknown."
"The boy was standing in front of a crude fitting mirror, twisting his body in a very chuunibyo manner, trying to strike a few hero entrance poses that he thought were extremely cool."
"Looking at this comical and chuunibyo-infused scene, Gwen outside the window was slightly stunned."
"That paranoid mania caused by the frantic pursuit of power did not appear on this boy."
"He looked entirely like an adolescent boy who had suddenly gained superpowers and was eager to show off."
"The tight string in Gwen's heart inexplicably relaxed a fraction."
"No longer hiding her whereabouts, she extended her knuckle wearing the white battle suit glove and gave two light taps on the glass window, 'knock, knock'."
"Hearing this sudden sound, Peter, who was still striking a pose in the room, jumped up abruptly as if scalded by fire."
"He flusteredly shoved the drafts and a pile of rags on the table under the bed, while vigilantly running over to pull back the curtains."
"When he clearly saw the 'colleague' hanging upside down on the wall outside the window with one hand, wearing a highly technological tight battle suit, his entire person was dumbfounded."
"He hurriedly pushed open the sliding window."
"Without giving Peter any time to react or prepare, Gwen's flexible waist exerted a sudden burst of force, and her legs lightly pushed off the window frame, flipping into the room like a civet cat unaffected by gravity."
"Her landing made almost no sound, and with a backhanded 'clack' sound, she tightly closed the window."
"Then, she directly reached out to grab the edge of the pure white hood, skillfully pulling it back to reveal her signature light gold gradient pink short hair."
"Her expression was frighteningly cold, and her azure-blue eyes locked tightly onto the somewhat flustered boy before her."
""Were you bitten by a spider?""
"Without unnecessary pleasantries or a friendly self-introduction, Gwen went straight to the point, and her tone was so stiff and direct that it was like interrogating a newly caught criminal."
"Peter obviously didn't expect this mysterious female colleague to be so direct and oppressive; he subconsciously took half a step back and nodded dumbly."
"But immediately after, his thick-skinned personality took the upper hand, and his gaze was instantly attracted by the high-material, form-fitting professional uniform on Gwen."
"He lowered his head to look at the pile of hoodie rags at his feet that could only be described as atrocious, a trace of embarrassment appearing on his face, yet he still couldn't help puffing out his chest to show off."
"He walked over to the bed, picked up the hood that could barely make out a shape, and waved it: 'Hey, um... yeah! But look, this is a battle suit I designed myself! Well, compared to that cool and flashy equipment of yours, it's really far behind...'"
"As Peter spoke, he rubbed the back of his head and broke into an excited smile: 'But this is just a preliminary testing version right now! I'm still improving it, thinking about how to sew it to look cooler. I promise you, in the future I'll definitely have a uniform that's even cooler and has more powerful features than yours!'"
"Looking at the big boy in front of her who treated superpowers like a cool toy and whose mind was full of how to be a hero and show off, Gwen felt her heartbeat skip a beat."
"She remembered the friend in her memory who also dabbled in chemical solutions in the Underground Room, longing to become as strong as her."
"'Peter, shut up.' Gwen sternly interrupted his babbling; her voice was not loud, but it carried unquestionable majesty."
"Peter was so frightened by the sudden scolding that he immediately shut his mouth, and the hood in his hand drooped down."
"Gwen took a deep breath, her eyes losing a bit of their iciness and gaining an extremely heavy warning."
"Looking into his eyes, she said word by word: 'You must remember, with great power comes great responsibility.'"
"She took a small step forward, as if wanting to carve these words into the other's brain, 'Absolute—absolutely do not lose control of yourself just because you possess extraordinary power, do you understand?'"
"After finishing these words, Gwen seemed to have exhausted the strength of her whole body, and her tense shoulders visibly collapsed."
"She let out a long sigh, her tone softening instantly, carrying an indelible sorrow."
"'Sorry...' Gwen lowered her eyelids, looking at the wooden floor beneath her feet, her voice trembling slightly,"
"'It's just that seeing you like this reminded me of some extremely bad things... In my experience, my best friend back then took the wrong path simply because of an incomparable desire to become someone with abilities like me...'"
"Gwen's fingers unconsciously curled and tightened at her sides, as if she could once again feel that suffocating smell of blood,"
"'In the end, he completely lost control and turned into a monster. And I... had no choice but to kill him with my own hands.'"
"This heavy confession plunged the narrow bedroom into a deathly silence."
"The heartless, grinning expression on Peter's face vanished without a trace instantly, replaced by shock and deep sympathy."
"He stood in place at a loss, stammering as he wanted to comfort her: 'Um... I'm really sorry, I, I didn't know you went through all that...'"
"'It's fine.'"
"Gwen took a sharp, deep breath, forcibly suppressing the soreness about to surge in her eye sockets."
"When she raised her head again, the fragile gloom on her face had been replaced by a hint of relief."
"The tragedy did not happen to this innocent big boy, and her knot in the heart was finally completely untied at this moment."
"She extended her gloved hand, gently patted Peter's rigid shoulder, and smiled slightly,"
"'I was just too emotional and lost my composure a bit. Since you're a sensible silly boy, I have nothing to worry about. I should have faith in you; after all, you are the Spider-Man of this city now.'"
"After saying these words, just when Peter thought his senior was going to give him profound guidance, Gwen's style suddenly took a 180-degree turn."
"After confirming that the new security guard of New Yorkhad a very healthy mentality, the string in Gwen's mind called 'heroic duty' snapped completely with a 'pop'."
"Her mind was left only with the man back at the apartment who carried a familiar scent and could always soothe all her anxieties."
"Thinking that Arthur might still be bored at home waiting for her, she felt that staying here one more second was a waste of life."
"Gwen immediately pulled up the hood behind her, covering her head with a'swish' and hiding most of her face."
"She turned around and lightly jumped onto the open windowsill, the evening wind blowing her clothes to rustle loudly."
"'So,' Gwen, squatting on the window ledge, turned her head back, the previous heaviness completely swept away, her tone so brisk that it even carried a hint of liberated joy,"
"'From now on, you handle whatever happens in this city! I'm going to focus wholeheartedly on dating! Well then, I'm heading home to find Yu right now~ Bye-bye~'"
"Accompanied by this extremely irresponsible statement, her legs kicked off fiercely, shooting out a tenacious Web-slinging line, and her entire figure vanished into the night of New York like a swallow returning to the woods, without taking even a single cloud with her."
"Leaving Peter standing alone in the center of the room, the expression on his face perfectly interpreted what it means to be petrified."
"His eyes widened like copper bells, and his brain plunged into a frantic crash in an instant."
"What do you mean 'you handle whatever happens in this city'?! This is the Free U.S. metropolis with dozens of robberies every day and a population of several million! Are you just dumping such a crushing mess onto me alone? Senior, where is your sense of responsibility?!"
"Just as Peter was about to collapse and scream in his heart, a clear knock suddenly came from outside the closed solid wood bedroom door."
"'Knock, knock, knock—'"
"Following closely was Mei's slightly puzzled inquiry: 'Peter? What was that clattering sound in your room just now? How come I seemed to hear someone else's voice too? Is someone in your room?'"
"This voice scared Peter into shivering violently, nearly scaring his soul away."
"He hurriedly snapped back to his senses, rushed to the table, grabbed a few textbooks at random to open them, and shouted at the top of his lungs toward the door to cover up,"
"'No, it's nothing, Aunt Mei! Just now... just now I was on the phone with a classmate! We were talking about study problems! Yes! One of the questions was too hard to solve!'"
"The footsteps outside the door paused for a moment."
"A few seconds later, Mei's slightly sleepy and affectionate voice came through the door panel once more: 'Alright, don't stay up too late, remember to go to sleep early.'"
"Hearing the footsteps gradually fading away and walking down the stairs, Peter let out a long sigh of relief, his entire body collapsing and lying limply on the bed like a pile of mud."
"Senior! I suddenly don't want powers anymore! What kind of procedures do I need to go through to return these powers?!"
Chapter 15: Good grief, what does it mean when a girlfriend comes home and doesn't see me at home?
Inside the private laboratory on the lower floor of Stark Tower, various holographic projectors and high-tech mechanical arms were operating methodically.
Arthur leaned listlessly against a wide workbench piled with discarded blueprints, watching the two middle-aged men not far away who seemed to have fallen into some kind of frenzied state.
Tony Stark was holding an extremely precise laser welding torch, huddled together with Dr. Yinsen, gesturing and discussing an armor plate made of unknown material. The two spoke at a speed as fast as cross-talk, continuously popping out various profound physics and materials science jargon from their mouths.
Arthur tried to perk up his ears to listen for two minutes, and then decisively gave up.
He sighed, looking at the ceiling listlessly. Well, he was originally here to watch them research mecha, but instead, he completely became a transparent person forgotten in the corner.
Not to mention cutting in, he couldn't even figure out which wiring harness of the armor they were discussing right now.
The World of high-tech geniuses was indeed not something ordinary people could casually intervene in.
Just as Arthur was pondering whether to go out and find a cup of coffee to refresh himself, the glass induction door of the laboratory slid silently to the sides.
"Da, da, da..."
A crisp and rhythmic sound of high heels striking the floor broke the drowsy mechanical humming inside the laboratory.
Arthur turned his head and saw a woman with soft red hair and a capable, form-fitting professional suit walking in with big strides.
It was Tony's decisive personal assistant who seemed to always have endless messes to clean up—Virginia "Pepper" Potts.
Pepper looked extremely exhausted. She had just finished dealing with that pile of head-splitting public relations crises and shareholder inquiries after Stark Industries shut down its weapons division, and right now she was constantly rubbing her throbbing temples with her right hand.
Her left hand was carrying a paper bag exuding an enticing aroma, printed with the logo of a famous fast-food restaurant in New York.
She walked over to an empty experimental workbench and casually placed the paper bag on it, which obviously contained two substantial cheeseburgers inside.
Just as she put down the paper bag and prepared to call that still-neglectful boss over to grab a bite to eat, the corner of her eye suddenly caught a completely unfamiliar figure.
"Who is this...?" Pepper's fingers massaging her temples stopped abruptly.
Her slightly scrutinizing gaze immediately fell on Arthur. This was a young Asian man with delicate features and wearing very casual home clothing.
No matter how one looked at it, he didn't look like an internal researcher of Stark Industries, nor did he look like those fanatical fans or reporters hovering around Tony all day long.
After Tony just announced that decision which caused an earthquake in the World, a completely unfamiliar outsider appeared in this highly confidential private laboratory, which made the extremely sharp Pepper immediately raise her vigilant radar.
Hearing Pepper's voice, Tony, who had been burying himself in hard work, finally came to his senses as if waking from a dream.
"Oh! Pepper, you're back!" Tony casually threw the outrageously expensive laser welding torch onto the multi-million-dollar precision instrument, turned around, and walked over quickly.
He behaved extremely warmly, and it could even be said to be somewhat deliberately overly familiar.
Tony walked to Arthur's side, raised his arm very naturally, tightly wrapped his arm around Arthur's shoulders, and turned to grin at Pepper.
"Relax, Pepper. Don't look at him with that commercial spy look." Tony patted Arthur's shoulder, "This is my buddy, who came specifically to see me today. His name is..."
Tony's voice came to an abrupt stop.
His mouth, which was always eloquent and could talk eloquently even in front of hundreds of acerbic reporters, suddenly stuttered bizarrely at this moment.
Tony blinked his eyes rapidly twice, then slightly turned his head, looking at Arthur whom he was embracing with a gaze tinged with a bit of confusion and innocence.
"What... was your name again?"
The air in the laboratory seemed to freeze at this instant. Dr. Yinsen, who had just straightened his body beside them, couldn't help pushing his glasses and let out a very slight cough.
Arthur raised his hand speechlessly and covered his forehead. What kind of business was this. But thinking back carefully, from punching open the gate of the Ten Rings Gang Base in the desert to chatting nonsense with them here just now, it seemed indeed... he had never formally introduced his name in front of these two people.
This was simply too outrageous. It turns out that this multi-billionaire arms dealer, who called him "buddy" and "savior" mouthful after mouthful for a long time, didn't even know what his name was?
"My name is Arthur." Arthur sighed helplessly, speaking with clear articulation.
"Whoa!" Tony's eyes lit up instantly, and he arched his eyebrows exaggeratedly, sizing Arthur up and down as if discovering a new continent:
"Chinese! I knew it, you look a bit different from us, that magical Eastern mysterious power that can fly around without relying on any equipment... Cool!"
Tony turned his head back and introduced solemnly to Pepper, who was still standing in place with a somewhat dazed expression:
"Did you hear that? Arthur. Yes, my extremely good buddy. He just came specifically to see if I was dead or not. Yep, that's how it is, there's no other conspiracy."
Arthur really couldn't stand this guy's foul mouth anymore, so he unceremoniously reached out and heavily slapped the back of Tony's hand that was still shamelessly resting on his shoulder.
"Tony, if you really feel like you can't find anything good to say, you can just shut your mouth, really."
Arthur rolled his eyes, too lazy to bullshit anymore with this playboy in an excited state.
Tony shrugged indifferently, withdrew his hand, walked over to the table with the fast-food bag, and very naturally picked up a cheeseburger that was still warm.
"Sorry, Arthur." Tony said in a muffled voice while unwrapping the burger:
"Pepper didn't know you were coming, there are only two portions here. How about I have the security department buy you another one from the next street later?"
As he spoke, he took out the other burger from the bag and handed it extremely generously to Dr. Yinsen, who was standing aside with a stomach growling from hunger.
"Come on, Dr. Yinsen, have a taste." Tony nudged his chin toward Dr. Yinsen, "
This place has a big reputation in New York, it's really, really delicious, I guarantee you'll fall in love with this guilt-ridden capitalist flavor after eating it once."
Looking at this harmonious scene in front of him except that there was no meal portion for himself, Arthur could only let out a long, powerless sigh.
Fine, this was the so-called treatment of a savior.
Just as Arthur was preparing to consider whether to use the power of the Rabbit Talisman right now to teleport back to the opposite street to buy a hot dog to fill his stomach, the phone in his pants pocket suddenly erupted with an extremely intense vibration.
This vibration felt exceptionally abrupt in the slightly empty laboratory.
Arthur froze for a moment, quickly reaching out to pull out his phone. When his gaze fell on the lit-up caller ID on the screen, his eyelids jumped fiercely.
On the screen, four extremely eye-catching words flashed: [Baby Gwen].
Almost at the moment of seeing these four words, Arthur's mind immediately conjured up that face with pink gradient short hair, who always liked wearing oversized hoodies, and was super cool in front of outsiders but soft like a cat the moment she was in front of him.
But now, only a short while had passed since he left the apartment!
Making this phone call so urgently, there was definitely no good news.
Arthur subconsciously glanced not far away at Tony, who was biting into a burger and casting curious glances toward this side, and Dr. Yinsen, who was planning to ask Pepper about company affairs.
To avoid some unnecessary explanations, he quickly took his phone and walked toward the relatively quiet corner of the laboratory piled with discarded mecha shells.
"Hello? What's up?" Arthur answered the phone, lowering his voice, with a tone carrying twelve points of patience and gentleness.
There was no immediate answer from the other end of the phone.
Only faint breathing sounds, seemingly forcibly suppressed, were transmitted through the earpiece into Arthur's ears. Following closely, a faint, inquiring voice carrying obvious resentment, as if extremely restraining some kind of emotion, drifted over clearly.
"Yu..." Gwen's voice sounded a bit tight, "Where... where did you go again? I went home, but... you're not home."
Hearing this sentence, Arthur only felt a chill down his back, accompanied by his scalp slightly tingling.
He knew his superhero girlfriend way too well.
Gwen had just been triggered in her deepest PTSD trauma because she witnessed the actions of that newbie Spider-Man on the street, plunging the whole person into extreme panic and vulnerability. He had managed to soothe her with great difficulty.
According to her current state, after confirming that newbie counterpart was not in danger, her first reaction would definitely be like a frightened hedgehog eagerly needing to hide into a warm blanket, frantically running back to the safe haven where Arthur existed to seek comfort.
But instead, she swung her web back home full of joy or rather full of anxiety, only to find the house completely empty.
That huge disparity after losing a sense of security could definitely make this already insecure girl blow her top on the spot.
"You... you finished your business and came back so soon?"
Cold sweat had already begun to ooze from Arthur's forehead, and he tried hard to make his voice sound as calm and confident as usual:
"I... um, I'm hanging out with a friend right now, out taking care of some things. Don't worry, I'll be right back~"
"Friend?"
The pitch on the other end of the phone instantly shot up by an octave, and that resentment in Gwen's voice directly transformed into strong vigilance and a sour-grapes interrogation at this moment.
Even across more than half of New York City, Arthur could imagine Gwen at this moment tightly clutching her phone, her azure eyes staring fixedly into the void, her small nose wrinkling slightly.
"Is it a guy or a girl~"
These two words were dragged extremely long by Gwen, carrying a thick warning meaning of "if you dare to lie to me, you're dead", smashing into Arthur's ears extremely clearly along the radio waves.
Arthur looked at this hot potato of a brick in his hand, feeling a burst of despair. It was over, there was really no explaining this now.
Originally Gwen was in the recovery period of post-traumatic stress disorder lacking security, and her possessiveness and sense of dependence were at their peak. If he stammered at this time, that cold-outside-warm-inside kitten at home could definitely crawl over along the internet cable on the spot and tear him apart.
Knowing that he must never let such groundless misunderstanding continue to ferment, Arthur made a prompt decision. He had to use the most direct and irrefutable way to dispel his girlfriend's doubts.
He immediately pressed the "Speaker" button on the screen and turned the phone's volume to maximum.
Then, Arthur turned around abruptly, poked half his body out from that corner of mecha ruins used to evade sight, and shouted loudly at the culprit who was still relishly munching on a cheeseburger with a full face of spectator expression:
"Hey! Tony! There's a fatal misunderstanding, hurry up, come over and help explain!"
Chapter 16: Showing Off Big Time!
Over at the laboratory, Tony Stark, who had been sitting in the corner of the workbench dealing with that cheeseburger, instantly froze his movements upon hearing Arthur's cracking, loud shout.
This billionaire, always known for loving nothing more than chaos, instantly had a fierce gleam of gossip flare up in his eyes.
So there was a dramatic showdown to watch?
Tony stuffed the last bite of his burger into his mouth without hesitation, even speeding up his chewing a bit.
He swallowed it messily, casually grabbed a tissue to wipe his mouth, and strolled over with that utterly punchable gait of his.
"What?" Tony's tone was brimming with playful mockery and curiosity, his eyes locked tightly onto the phone in Arthur's hand. "Had a falling out with the little girlfriend?"
Arthur was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan right then, his mind completely occupied with how to deal with Gwenwho might bite through the radio waves at any moment, and he couldn't spare the time to entertain Tony's teasing at all.
Seeing that Arthur ignored him, Tony got even more spirited.
He took a few steps over to Arthur's side, and with extreme familiarity, leaned his head close to the phone which was on speaker mode.
Relying on his dozen or so years of experience conquering the romance field, dealing with a pissed-off little girl was practically effortless for him.
"Hey, beauty," Tony cleared his throat, switching to a magnetic voice that could make tabloid reporters scream, and spoke into the phone microphone with extreme flippancy, "If you want——"
Before the second half of his sentence—trotting out "have dinner with me, Stark, to understand your boyfriend"—could slide out of his throat, his voice abruptly choked off.
Because Arthur, standing right beside him, was turning his head, staring at him with a gaze that was extremely calm yet filled with substantive threat.
The instant he made contact with that gaze, Tony Stark's brain felt like it was electrocuted, reflexively retrieving the terrifying scene that had happened just this morning in the boundless desert of the Middle East.
He clearly remembered how this seemingly harmless Asian youth before him, who was currently clutching a busted phone with a face full of anxiety, had effortlessly smashed a heavy metal blast door weighing several tons into paper-thin pieces with a single punch, without any armor protection whatsoever.
He also remembered how, under the heavy gunfire of the Terrorists, large-caliber bullets capable of tearing through bulletproof steel plates hit Arthur's body; although Arthurfrowned and complained of pain, in reality, not even a patch of skin was grazed (as long as I heal fast enough, it doesn't count as breaking the skin).
The corners of Tony's mouth, which had originally worn a playful smile, twitched slightly, his Adam's apple uncontrollably rolling heavily up and down, forcibly swallowing that self-destructive pickup line back into his stomach.
He who adapts to the times is a wise man.
"I am Tony Stark."
Tony instantly straightened his posture, the expression on his face as solemn as if he were attending a shareholders' meeting, and his tone turned into a deadpan, official mode of communication.
"Excuse me, miss, is there something you need? Arthuris indeed engaging in some friendly communication with me right now."
The other end of the phone fell into a brief silence.
Even separated by half of New York, Arthur could guess what kind of brain storm Gwen was experiencing right now.
Just a moment ago, Gwen was feeling terrified and irritable because of that novice Spider-Man on the street wearing a homemade ragtag suit; coupled with the panic of not finding Arthur upon returning home, her sensitive nerves belonging to post-traumatic stress disorder had been stretched to the extreme, convincing her that Arthur must be hanging out with some unidentified girl.
However, once the name "Tony Stark" came out, the nature of the situation changed completely.
Today's midday television news was overwhelmingly reporting one thing: Tony Stark, the kidnapped genius arms dealer of the Middle East, had escaped death and high-profilely announced the indefinite closure of the weapons manufacturing department of Stark Industries.
The entire World was paying attention to this playboy; for an ordinary twenty-year-old young man, a top-tier bigwig like Tony Stark, who was full of high-tech machinery and weapon elements, undoubtedly held a fatal attraction.
Gwen's train of thought immediately completed a closed loop upon this perfect excuse.
"Yu…" When Gwen's voice came from the phone again, that scalp-numbing resentment and sourness had vanished completely, replaced by a sudden realization of relief.
"No wonder you've been staring at the weapon news on TV these past two days; it turns out… it turns out it's because you're friends with Tony Stark!"
Clearly, Arthur's previous abnormal attention now all had a very reasonable and harmless explanation in Gwen's eyes.
Hearing Gwen's tone finally return to normal, Arthur felt as if a great mountain had been lifted off him, letting out a long breath and letting his shoulders slump down.
He had finally smoothed down this fluffed-up cat.
"Yeah," Arthur replied gently, following Gwen's lead, "I'm right here in the laboratory of Stark Tower watching him research things. But it's about time, I was just getting ready to head home."
"Really?" Gwen instantly captured the most critical information; the defense in her voice had completely transformed into full dependence and joy, and she said happily while holding the phone, "Then come back early, I miss you…"
Those last few words carried a faint nasal tone, brushing across Arthur's heart like a feather.
"Mhm, I'm heading back now. See you in a bit." Arthurreplied gently, casually pressing the hang-up button.
Just as Arthur completely put his heart, which had been hanging in his throat, back into his stomach, an extremely sickening commotion came from beside him.
Tony was currently crossing his arms over his chest, rolling his eyes enormously, and writhing his body exaggeratedly, vividly repeating Gwen's last sentence in an artificially pitched-up, pretentious voice that made people want to punch him:
"I ~ miss ~ you ~ yikes——"
Tony exaggeratedly shook the goosebumps off his body, glanced at Arthur with a face full of disgust, shook his head, and turned to walk toward the table full of mechanical parts, evidently feeling that the sour stench of such mortal romance had polluted his noble, sacred laboratory.
Arthur stood in place, watching Tony's punchable back, his eyelid twitching uncontrollably a few times. How on earth did a man in his mid-thirties manage to be more childish than an elementary schooler?
Although he was speechless, he really couldn't be bothered to argue with him right now.
Arthur nodded at Dr. Yinsen and Pepper, who were standing nearby watching with some helplessness, and then shouted toward Tony's back, "Then I'll be heading back first."
"Wait."
Arthur, who was just about to turn around to take the elevator, was called to a halt. Tony didn't look back; while picking up a screwdriver to gesture over a wiring harness, he said without raising his head, "Lin, leave your contact information."
Tony casually slid a tablet-like device across the table toward Arthur's direction.
"Tonight, or at the latest by dawn tomorrow, a rudimentary prototype of the first decent iron lump can be assembled."
Tony's tone exuded his unique arrogance and confidence, "At that time, I must invite you, this witness, to come over and properly appreciate what a true genius creation is."
Arthur smiled knowingly, cleanly making an "OK" hand gesture. He stepped forward and quickly punched his number into the screen.
After adding the contact information, Arthur glanced at this luxurious laboratory full of futuristic technological sense.
Under normal circumstances, he would definitely obediently walk toward that dedicated elevator requiring tedious identity verification.
But now, recalling the early morning when, in order to avoid drawing attention and to save those few hundred dollars in plane ticket money, he had constantly hidden and tucked away his travels back and forth between New Yorkand the Middle East, never once using his abilities to his heart's content.
Looking again at the multi-billionaire before his eyes and those self-proclaimed cutting-edge security equipment of his, a youth's brand of dark humor and mischievousness uncontrollably surged into Arthur's heart.
Screw the elevator; that's way too slow.
Arthur turned around and walked straight toward that entire unobstructed, floor-to-ceiling panoramic glass window of the laboratory that overlooked more than half of New York City.
Under the completely unresponsive gazes of Tony, Dr. Yinsen, and Pepper, Arthur very calmly reached out, pressed the unlock button, and then shoved open that wide window used for ventilation.
A howling gale instantly poured into the room, messing up Arthur's hair. He didn't hesitate in the slightest, stepping one foot onto the windowsill, and amidst everyone's ghost-seeing gazes, leaped forward.
Jumping straight out from a high altitude of several hundred feet above the ground!
"My God!"
The laboratory instantly exploded into chaos. Pepper, who had originally been standing quietly to the side as an ordinary person completely unaware of supernatural powers, let out a terrified scream directly upon seeing this scene of a living person jumping off a building.
Wearing seven-centimeter high heels, she sprinted desperately to the side of the window, gripping the windowsill tightly with both hands and peering downward.
Although Tony and Dr. Yinsen had witnessed Arthur's inhumane operation of tearing down a door under a barrage of bullets, no matter what, in their inherent cognitive framework, that at most counted as some kind of physical reinforcement, which was entirely different from committing suicide by jumping off a building hundreds of meters high.
The eyes of these two middle-aged men also widened like copper bells in an instant, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.
"Jarvis! Immediately pull up the high-speed surveillance of the building's exterior walls for me!" Tony's reaction speed was nothing if not fast; he roared, his hands dancing frantically across the virtual control console.
A blue holographic projection instantly popped open in mid-air, clearly presenting the vertical high-definition footage of the outside of Stark Tower.
The three people, regardless of whether they had seen the World or not, all held their breaths at this moment, staring fixedly at that blue-and-white screen.
In the footage, Arthur's body was plummeting rapidly like a heavy stone under the pull of gravity, the wind tearing fiercely at his clothes.
One second.
Two seconds.
Just as Pepper squeezed her eyes shut in fright, thinking she was about to witness a bloody tragedy, a jaw-dropping scene appeared on the surveillance footage.
Arthur, falling at high speed, when he dropped to the middle section of the building, unexpectedly—without any warning and in violation of all physical laws—stopped instantly.
Just like that, without any point of force, he hovered steadily mid-air. It was precisely the levitation ability of the fully activated Rooster Talisman.
However, the shock was far from over. Before the three people in the laboratory could recover a shred of rationality from this incomprehensible "mid-air floating," Arthur in the surveillance footage moved again.
No, rather than saying he moved, it was more like he simply vanished.
Leaving only a distorted afterimage barely distinguishable to the naked eye at the edge of the surveillance camera's capture limit, Arthur's entire person was completely erased from the spot with an extremely unscientific divine speed, as if tearing through space.
Left to the surveillance footage were only a few clouds whistling past outside the building and empty air. The ultimate speed brought by the Rabbit Talisman filled this departure with visual weirdness and shock.
The laboratory of Stark Tower fell into a dead silence, the three people's worldviews suffering a devastating reconstruction at this moment.
On the other side, accompanied by the sharp, piercing gale by his ears, Arthur, rushing toward Brooklyn at extreme speed, had the corners of his mouth stretched almost to his earlobes.
He tried hard to maintain a steady and mature image, but the immensely satisfying mood generated from showing off such a perfectly epic flex simply made it impossible for him to suppress the upward curve of his mouth no matter how hard he tried.