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The plan was to visit Kamar-Taj the next day, but those plans were abruptly canceled.
The following morning, Arthur's phone rang, forcing him to abandon his impromptu trip to Kamar Taj and drive his black car to a different location.
…
It was an open-air café.
When Arthur arrived, he spotted Pepper sitting at a table, gazing into the distance with a troubled expression on her face.
"Sorry I'm late," He said as he sat down across from her.
"I came early," Pepper replied, composing herself and offering a smile.
After ordering a coffee, Arthur asked, "Why the sudden meeting? Is everything alright with Tony? Did something upset you? Don't worry, tell me, and I'll deal with him."
"No..." Pepper shook her head, seemingly unsure how to explain.
After a moment of hesitation, she finally said, "I think he's carrying a lot of emotional baggage. He seems mentally strained. I don't know when it started, but he told me yesterday that he can't sleep at night, lying awake for hours."
"Is he going through a Midlife crisis?" Arthur blurted out.
"…"
Pepper gave him a puzzled look.
"Ahem..." Arthur waved his hand dismissively. "Forget I said that."
"I think he's under a lot of stress. Last night, he even called out for his suit in his sleep," Pepper continued. "It's concerning. He's having nightmares that are making him feel insecure. You know, I can't talk to anyone else about this. He's not the type to open up easily."
"Men tend to bottle things up," Arthur nodded. "I can imagine."
"Are you that type of person too?" Pepper glanced at him, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"...I feel subtly insulted," Arthur replied. "We've been working closely together recently, but I haven't noticed him carrying such a heavy burden."
"He always tries to hide his feelings," Pepper said. "Not just from you. Even though I share a bed with him every night, I didn't notice either, did I?"
Arthur nodded. "What do you want me to do?"
"Please talk to him," She urged. "He listens to you."
"I hadn't noticed that," Arthur said, surprised.
"I told you, he's used to hiding himself. But he's different around you," Pepper explained, then quickly added, "I mean, he really admires you."
"...That's a creative joke," Arthur replied, raising an eyebrow.
"It's true," Pepper insisted. "Although he never says it out loud, he's actually admired you since he was a child."
"Wow, what am I hearing?" Arthur widened his eyes. "This is completely changing my worldview."
"...I'm being serious," Pepper sighed deeply. "So, I think maybe you can help him. You know, the external pressures, the looming crises— all these things are weighing heavily on him."
"I understand that," Arthur said, checking the time. "He should be home right now, right?"
"Yes," Pepper nodded.
"Alright, I'll go see him." Arthur stood up, but just as he was about to leave, his phone rang.
He picked it up and saw it was an encrypted email from Natasha.
"Something came up?" Pepper asked.
"It's fine. Tony's issue isn't something that can be resolved quickly. As long as you have some free time in the next couple of days, you can go see him," She added.
"Looks like you like me haven't been paying much attention to the news lately." Arthur turned his phone around, showing a picture of Tony's face. "News headline. This guy's temper has been flaring up recently."
"Oh my god, what happened?" Pepper asked, her eyes widening.
"An explosion," Arthur replied. "Last night, it involved Happy, his former bodyguard— the big guy."
"Happy?" Pepper was shocked and quickly stood up. "What exactly happened?"
"I don't know the details," Arthur said. "The gist is that Happy was caught in an explosion. This explosion is linked to a guy named 'Mandarin' who's been in the news recently. Tony seems really angry and even taunted this 'Mandarin' in front of reporters. I think he needs some comfort right now, but not from me— from you. I'll probably have to visit him a bit later."
"Okay." Pepper gathered her things and left.
After paying for the coffee, Arthur drove his black car back home, stepped onto the teleportation array, and appeared at the "small base."
The base at Camp Lehigh was the "big base." After officially starting work, the underground facility at Oscorp was referred to as the "small base," used for small group meetings.
As soon as he arrived, Natasha appeared in front of him with a stack of documents.
"There have been nine explosion incidents," She said immediately. "Including last night's, that makes ten. A guy calling himself 'Mandarin' has released a video claiming responsibility for them."
Arthur took the documents and heard Natasha continue, "At first, we thought it was just ordinary terrorism, but then I noticed something interesting."
"For example, some of the explosions weren't actually caused by this 'Mandarin,' but he's claiming responsibility anyway?" Arthur glanced through the documents.
"Exactly. Also, last night's explosion— so far, no explosives have been found. Yet the explosion reached temperatures of 3,000 degrees. Similar explosions typically don't generate such high heat."
Natasha nodded. "So I did another round of data collection and filtering. A similar explosion happened in Tennessee. Same 3,000 degrees and no bomb or parts of it were found on the scene. Compared to last night's chaos, the Tennessee explosion even resulted in a missing person."
"Last night might have had missing persons too," Arthur said. "It's just that with so many people, it's hard to keep track. Some might not want it known that they were there."
"From what you're saying, do you already know what's going on?" Natasha asked, stunned.
Arthur looked at her. "Someone is covering something up! Their motives are dubious."
"...Obviously," Natasha blinked.
"And now, Tony's taunting might force them to make a mistake," Arthur stood up and said. "Get Fury to help. I need aerial surveillance over Malibu Beach."
"No one would dare take action against him, right?" Natasha was shocked.
"Trust me, there are far more lunatics in this world than sane people."
(End of Chapter)