On the way back to the Malibu mansion, the engine of the Audi R8 roared, but the atmosphere inside the car was colder than ice.
Tony Stark, the man who had just announced to the world, "I am Iron Man," was now glaring at a lemon-yellow sticky note on the passenger seat, as if trying to burn a hole through it with his eyes.
"She just left? Like that?"
His voice was filled with utter disbelief, as if he'd been kicked from the peak of Mount Everest straight into the Mariana Trench.
"A sticky note! Just a damn slip of paper! It says, 'I resign. All the best.' Ha! All the best? Do I look like I'm doing my best right now?"
Tony slammed his fist on the steering wheel, and the car shuddered slightly.
"I saved the world! Okay, at least a village, and I took care of some terrorists along the way. I became a superhero! And my CEO, my... Pepper, dumps me with a breakup note a middle schooler would write?"
He was on the verge of losing it. The swagger he'd shown at the press conference was gone without a trace, replaced by a sense of wronged bewilderment, as if the whole world had abandoned him.
From the back seat, Paul watched his father's colorful expressions in the rearview mirror and almost burst out laughing.
The plan was working perfectly.
Step one, complete.
He cleared his throat and spoke in a perfectly calibrated tone of youthful innocence and confusion. "Dad, have you ever thought about why Pepper decided to resign?"
"How should I know?!" Tony roared, then immediately deflated like a punctured balloon. "A woman's heart is a needle at the bottom of the sea. Who knows what she's upset about this time. Maybe it's because I didn't thank her at the press conference? Or because last night on the rooftop..."
He trailed off, catching himself.
"What happened on the rooftop?" Paul asked, feigning ignorance, his voice full of curiosity.
"Nothing," Tony waved a hand irritably.
Paul leaned forward from the back seat, bringing his face close to Tony's ear, and said mysteriously, "Dad, you're a genius, no one denies that. But sometimes, a genius's brain is so full of circuit boards that it's missing something else."
"What something else?" Tony asked instinctively.
"Emotional intelligence," Paul said, hitting the nail on the head. "Think about it. A young, beautiful, and incredibly capable woman has been your assistant for so many years. She handles your company's affairs, she fends off all your flings, and when you were dying, she was even willing to stick her hand into that bloody hole in your chest... What do you think she was after?"
Tony fell silent.
The R8 sped along the coastal highway. The sea breeze whipping through the window messed up his carefully styled hair, and his thoughts.
What was she after?
He used to think it was money, or the status of being the assistant to the heir of Stark Industries.
But now, those reasons seemed incredibly hollow in his mind.
Seeing the confusion emerge on his father's face, Paul knew the fish had taken the bait.
He pressed his advantage, his voice dropping lower, like a secretive little devil.
"Have you ever considered the possibility... of an office romance?"
*BOOM!*
Those two words exploded in Tony's mind like a bomb.
His pupils contracted violently, and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel.
An office romance?
Him and Pepper?
All those blurry moments, that subtle ambiguity, that unspoken understanding... were instantly given a new, heart-pounding definition.
He always thought it was one-sided...
Could it be that Pepper...
"But... but..." Tony was tongue-tied. "Then why would she resign?"
"Stupid," Paul commented bluntly. "Because of you, of course."
"Me?"
"Think about it. Boss and subordinate, it's such a sensitive relationship. Especially when you're a notorious playboy. Pepper's such a proud woman, how could she let herself get caught up in that kind of gossip? What's more..."
Paul paused, delivering the fatal blow. "You disappointed her. On the rooftop last night, you ran away again, didn't you?"
Tony's face fell instantly.
He remembered the look in Pepper's eyes then—full of expectation, which slowly faded to disappointment.
He had run away.
"I..." he opened his mouth, but couldn't say a single word.
Seeing his father's devastated, soul-searching expression, Paul-the-actor-Stark silently gave himself a thumbs-up.
"So, now isn't the time to figure out why she left," Paul began, shifting into the second phase of his plan with an air of "trust me, I know what I'm doing." "The question is, how are you going to get her back."
"Get her back?" Tony sounded like he'd just been told to fly to the moon. "How? She won't even answer my calls!"
"So you need a plan," Paul said, leaning back and crossing his arms, looking every bit the master strategist.
"Step one: Cooling-off period. She needs space, and so do you. Give her a long, paid vacation. Keep her salary coming, double her bonus. Let her know you respect her decision, but her position will always be waiting for her."
Tony nodded blankly. That made some sense.
"Step two: Show you care. You can't call, but you can email or send gifts. But! No talking about work, and no talking about feelings. Just chat about the weather, ask how her vacation is going, send her something she likes but isn't too obvious. Make her feel your presence without feeling pressured."
Tony continued to nod, a glimmer of hope appearing in his eyes.
"Step three, and this is the most crucial step," Paul's voice was filled with temptation. "Find the right moment and bravely tell her how you really feel. Not as her boss, but as Tony Stark. Tell her that you need her. Not that you need a CEO, but that you need Pepper Potts."
The car glided slowly into the mansion's driveway.
Tony parked but didn't get out immediately. He sat in the driver's seat, completely immersed in the grand "Win Her Back" blueprint Paul had laid out for him.
His mind, usually crammed with palladium and superhero glamour, was clearer than ever.
He had... really screwed up.
He needed Pepper.
The realization hit him like a bolt of lightning.
"I... I know what to do," he finally murmured, his voice holding a seriousness and vulnerability it had never held before.
From the back seat, Paul flashed a sly, triumphant grin.
Mission accomplished.
The father and son walked one after the other into the vast, empty living room. Without Pepper's presence, the entire mansion felt soulless, cold and silent.
Tony was still lost in his own emotions, drifting dazedly toward the bar to pour himself a drink to calm his nerves.
Paul, however, scanned his surroundings warily.
Something was wrong.
J.A.R.V.I.S. didn't greet them as usual.
It was too quiet.
Just then, from the deepest shadow in the corner of the room, a figure slowly rose to its feet.
It was a tall Black man, bald, wearing a black leather trench coat. The most striking feature was the black eye patch over his left eye, giving him a cold, mysterious, and unapproachable aura.
"Tony Star—"
The mysterious man's voice was deep and magnetic, carrying an undeniable authority.
Tony spun around, his pupils shrinking. The glass nearly slipped from his hand.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
The man didn't answer, instead taking slow, deliberate steps toward him. An invisible pressure radiated from him.
"I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative—"
He didn't get to finish his sentence.
A swift black shadow darted past Tony.
*THUD!*
A dull thud echoed in the room.
Before Tony could even register what had happened, the imposing, mysterious man in black had rolled his eyes back and collapsed to the floor.
And his son, Paul, was standing where the man had fallen, a small taser in his hand, which he had just retrieved from the back of the man's neck. His face wore an expression of annoyance, as if to say, *another uninvited guest*.
Tony-Iron Man-Stark was completely dumbfounded.
He watched, wide-eyed, as Paul expertly pulled pre-stashed high-strength zip ties from under the sofa and, with a few deft movements, tied up the mysterious one-eyed man. His technique was so professional it looked like he'd done this hundreds of times.
"Dad, what are you gaping at?"
Paul dusted off his hands and glanced back at his stunned father, complaining, "We need to upgrade the security system. How can any Tom, Dick, or Harry just wander in here?"
Tony stood with his mouth agape, looking from the unconscious one-eyed man on the floor to his nonchalant son. He felt like his CPU had completely fried.
What... what the hell was happening now?