"These idiots."
While nervously setting up the wedding venue, Tony's sunglasses displayed the recent news report of the superheroes being washed ashore. The most hilarious part was Peter with his upper body buried in the sand and his lower body kicking wildly at the sky. The Captain was facing the camera while an octopus on his head was hogging the shot. There was no doubt they had failed completely, and the defeat was quite tragic. Tony couldn't bear to look; it was so pathetic he felt embarrassed for them. But this also proved that the problem in the ocean was significant. The opponent's ability was likely controlling the sea or commanding marine life; either way, that was near-invincible power in the ocean.
"There is no such thing as invincible power in this world."
With a swipe on his sunglasses, Tony viewed the latest suit—a silver-blue streamlined armor. Compared to Tony's previous gold and red MK series, this color clearly marked a new type of machine. From inspiration to finished design, it had taken less than a day. Tony wanted this suit to perfectly adapt to Earth's harshest environments, capable of going into the deep sea or soaking in magma; these were all Tony's visions. The suit was made using the latest nanometals, though some parts were energy-based structures. As for whether the suit could fulfill his expectations, that would have to wait until it was actually built.
"Tony... Tony."
Pepper gently patted Tony's shoulder. This was the most important day; he better not pull any more stunts. If he did, she'd take his sister and leave; she'd rather live with her sister-in-law than with this jerk. It was too much; he was actually spacing out during their once-in-a-lifetime wedding. She let him know that this wouldn't fly with her.
"Oh! Sorry, dear Pepper."
Realizing his mind had wandered, Tony quickly apologized to Pepper. He realized his main priority today. Everyone would be arriving soon; if he went off to solve problems now, the most important person in his life might truly never forgive him.
"I'm telling you, Tony, on such a wonderful day, if you go off to be a hero again, I'll go live with Artoria and won't stay with a jerk like you anymore."
Facing Tony's somewhat hollow apology, Pepper smiled, stood on her tiptoes, and whispered the threat into Tony's ear in a very calm tone. Tony blinked in a daze. If he didn't handle this wedding well, would he not only lose the woman he loved but also his dearest sister? My god! Was that even fair? Although he had a belly full of witty retorts, Tony ultimately lowered his head before Pepper. He couldn't afford that price.
"What's wrong with you two?"
Just as the atmosphere between the two turned awkward, Artoria appeared with a group of women. Artoria was wearing a silver dress with gold patterns. Her long hair, usually pinned up, was neatly styled, with an Angel-wing hair clip holding back the stray strands. As soon as Artoria stepped out of the car, all surrounding colors seemed to fade to gray, leaving Artoria as the only bright spot in the world. This was even with Artoria being reluctant to dress up, only having her hair styled and adding a few ornaments. Otherwise, who knows how crazy these women would have gotten? Even so, her impact was stunning. A guy painting the roof nearby got so mesmerized by Artoria that he fell straight into a large dumpster.
"My dear sis—pfft!"
Artoria looked curiously at the awkward pair. Tony's eyes lit up when he saw Artoria's outfit, and he intended to step forward to hug his sister. But the moment he moved, a sharp pain shot from his side. Tony turned his head to see Pepper looking at him expressionlessly, the source of the pain being her elbow.
"Artoria is here! Welcome, let's go inside and sit!"
After silencing the jerk who annoyed her, Pepper immediately switched to a face full of smiles and walked up to Artoria. She took Artoria's hand and led her inside, not even glancing at Tony, who was clutching his side. This left Artoria quite confused. They weren't even married yet, and domestic violence had already started? Brother, what did you do? Why did you make Pepper angry again? Seeing Artoria being pulled away by Pepper, the other women didn't say anything. After all, she was their sister-in-law-to-be; she was a member of the stark family, so they were all family.
"My brother, he..."
"He's fine, don't worry, Artoria."
Artoria cast a worried glance at Tony. Her brother wouldn't be broken, would he? Thinking of this, Artoria's eyes twitched as she looked at Pepper, who was holding her hand.'Sister, even if you don't care about your husband, you should care about your own future "happiness"! If he becomes impotent because of this, who's going to comfort your loneliness later?'
"My dear baby."
After being cut off by Pepper, Artoria stopped worrying about Tony. Pepper led Artoria into the inner hall, where Maria happened to see them. Maria greeted Artoria with a joyful smile and opened her arms, waiting to give her dear child a hug. Nearby, Howard also noticed Artoria and opened his arms like Maria, but his movements suddenly froze because his wife gave him a Death stare. Having been married for so many years, how could Howard not understand that look? He could only lower his arms awkwardly and look at his wife with a bit of grievance; he wanted to be close to his child too.
"Mom, really, I'm not a child anymore."
How could Artoria miss the interaction between the two? Upon seeing Maria, Pepper let go of her hand. Artoria walked up to Maria, gave her a big hug, and kissed her on the cheek. As expected, Maria was very happy. It felt exactly like when she was a child, except Artoria was older now and felt a bit embarrassed acting spoiled with her parents.
"You're not young anymore, hurry up and get married."
Maria smiled as she held Artoria's hands, looking meaningfully at the women behind her. Seeing Maria's gaze, two of the women looked embarrassed, while the rest indicated they would work hard. Although they didn't speak, Maria surprisingly got along well with Hope and the others. However, hearing Maria's words, Artoria rolled her eyes helplessly. What era was this? Besides, this wasn't Taiwanese; could she please stop picking up the Chinese habit of pressuring children to marry?
"Aren't I still young? I don't need to get married yet."
In the end, Artoria could only sheepishly claim she was still young and didn't want to marry yet. She felt being single was actually quite good; she didn't need to worry about anything else as long as she was fed, and she didn't have to coax anyone else. If she met someone she liked, she could try dating, but marriage could wait.
"Whoever dares to touch the flower I raised, I'll kill his whole family."
At that moment, Howard couldn't help but mutter. But under Maria's gaze, he could only shrink back and dared not say another word.
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