Tony and Happy

Perhaps it was the butterfly effect caused by Xia Yu's arrival that made Killian's team even stronger than Xia Yu remembered, and perhaps it was because of Xia Yu's arrival that the Avengers became incredibly powerful.

The government is investing more money in some agencies that serve the military, Killian's team has actually developed a rudimentary form of artificial intelligence. Although it is far from being as advanced as JARVIS, it at least resembles artificial intelligence.

Therefore, cracking the address became extremely troublesome. They had placed a large number of virtual IP addresses and smoke bombs around the world. Helpless, Tony and the others had to let JARVIS do his best to crack and eliminate the problem, which was expected to take at least twelve hours.

"The base seems safe now; they definitely won't come. But I suspect he has someone inside the government, someone who's become their accomplice," Natasha analyzed.

Xia Yu stepped forward and patted Tony on the shoulder. "They kidnapped Pepper instead of killing her, which means they need something from us or you. So you don't need to worry about her safety. She'll be fine. We'll get her out."

Tony didn't directly respond to Xia Yu's words. Instead, he stood up and said to everyone, "Let's go back. There's no point in staying here. Now we can only wait for JARVIS. Let's go back and have a drink. It's been a long time since we had a proper drink."

Having given the address of the military base, the group, having been completely outmaneuvered by Killian, returned to the base dejectedly.

Several men went up to the roof to drink, and even Banner was engrossed in his work, was dragged up by Thor.

"It's all my fault. A few days ago, Killian came to my company, representing AIM to discuss cooperation with Stark Industries. Happy even called me and said that this Killian doesn't seem like a good person."

Tony downed his drink in one gulp and continued.

"He also said he was going to track Killian. You know Happy can be a bit overly sensitive sometimes. At the time, I was focused on building the Nano Armor and didn't take his words to heart at all. Looking back now, I realize I didn't pay enough attention, which is why they both got hurt."

"What? What happened when you went out? Weren't they terrorists? Pepper got into trouble too?" Banner, who was busy with work every day, really didn't know anything.

"Don't talk, drink." Thor pulled Banner away.

"You see? This is a common problem among you scientists. You don't know anything when you're working. Of course, this time it's not your fault, Tony. You don't need to blame yourself. What I mean is that you need to give the people around you more time. You can't just think about inventing or changing the world. You're not me. Natasha has the same goals as us, Pepper doesn't."

Xia Yu comforted Tony.

Tony gave a wry smile, poured himself a drink, and clinked glasses with Xia Yu. "Do you know how Happy and I met?"

Xia Yu spread his hands and shook his head.

About seventeen years ago, Happy had just been discharged from the military. He had a girlfriend, a very beautiful reporter. Happy loved her very much, but she just wanted to play around with Happy.

"So one day, this reporter interviewed a young tycoon. The two had a very pleasant conversation, and the tycoon gave her his room number. That evening, the reporter had dinner with Happy and asked Happy to take her to his hotel."

At this point, Tony seemed to remember something and smiled.

"This idiot found out what she was thinking and actually said to his girlfriend: 'Could you bring the condoms I bought? That way I can feel a little involved too.'"

"What the F... You're that rich guy, aren't you, you bastard, Tony?" Xia Yu yelled.

"That's right, I'm that bastard. I didn't know she had a boyfriend, and of course I didn't care even if I did. I never intended to have anything with her; we just spent a wonderful night together. Who knew that a few days later, Happy would come to my company, demanding that I marry that reporter and that I treat her well."

"How is that possible? I've consistently ranked number one on the list of men women worldwide most want to have sex with, and Happy has been waiting outside my company every day! Haha! It's truly an unforgettable memory."

"The person at the top right now is Thor, Tony. You really are a bastard," Xia Yu said.

"Yes, I'm an asshole, arrogant and selfish. Happy is a good guy. Before I met you guys, I only had him and Pepper by my side. Then I became Iron Man and met you guys. I had a new goal, and we saved the world together. I felt that what I did was very noble, but in the end, I was still the same as before, engrossed in my own things and completely ignoring the people around me. I don't deserve such good people like them."

Tony was clearly very remorseful.

Everyone present fell silent. They all shared the same experience: Hawkeye had long neglected his family, Banner had been hiding ever since becoming the Hulk, afraid to see his girlfriend or make new friends.

Before coming to Earth, Thor was obsessed with conquering battlefields and consolidating his rule over Asgard, neglecting even his own brother. Natasha was even more neglected; she was sent to the Red Room for training as a child and eventually fought her way out from thousands of children to earn the title of Black Widow. Before joining S.H.I.E.L.D.., her hands were stained with blood. She once longed to have a home of her own and live a peaceful life.

If Xia Yu hadn't appeared, most of them wouldn't have had their own lives or complete existence.

Hero always bear more Hero than others, and loneliness often accompanies Hero.

"Everything will pass, everything will be alright, don't be so sentimental, okay? We're the Avengers." Xia Yu raised his glass high.

"A tribute to Happy's TT from over a decade ago."

This is a secret base of the Killian organization, one of Killian countless underground bases. The instability of the Extremis Virus forced them to place the base deep underground so that even if an experimental subject exploded, it would not alert anyone.

The instability of the Extremis Virus resulted in an extremely low success rate after each injection. Therefore, when Killian decided to use Pepper Potts for his experiments, he moved all the other test subjects to other locations, and the entire base was dedicated to serving Pepper Potts alone in order to ensure the success rate of the experiments.

Besides forcing Tony Stark to solve their stability problem after injecting Pepper Potts, Killian had another ulterior motive: he believed that those who successfully injected the Extremis Virus represented evolution, the perfect humanity in his eyes.

He had worked with Pepper Potts at the same company seven or eight years ago. He liked Pepper Potts very much, but at that time, Killian was a cripple and had low self-esteem, so he didn't have the courage to ask this seemingly outstanding woman out.

Later, after he was injected with the Extremis Virus and gained power, confidence, and wealth, Pepper Potts became Tony Stark's woman again.

This infuriated Killian even more. He remembered how he had begged Tony Stark to slip him his business card, and Tony had readily agreed to meet him on the rooftop.

Tony completely forgot about it, Killian waited on the rooftop all night with high hopes. When the Sun rose, Killian was so desperate that he almost jumped off.

He finally had everything, but the woman he loved became Tony Stark's woman.

Killian was furious. He wanted to turn Pepper Potts into a perfect new human like himself, and he wanted to turn Tony Stark's ridiculous Armor to ashes in front of Pepper Potts.

Stroking the face of Pepper Potts lying unconscious on the hospital bed, I looked at the faint orange-red glow beneath her skin.

Killian laughed nervously, the sound echoing throughout the underground base.