Goodbye, Iron Man

Noticing that Heisenberg truly had no intention of killing anyone.

Or rather, at least he did not look like he was about to go on a killing spree.

In any case, Pepper held Tony's arm and slowly sat down across from Heisenberg.

Sunlight streamed through the damaged wall, falling diagonally across Tony's face.

But the sunlight that made Heisenberg so comfortable could not warm Tony's gloomy expression at all.

Heisenberg looked at Tony and felt as though Tony was about to bite through his own gums.

"Tut, tut, tut. Have you discovered your own weakness? The armor you spent over a hundred million dollars painstakingly building couldn't even withstand a single slap?"

Heisenberg's teasing made Tony suck in a sharp breath.

A moment later, Tony's expression actually improved somewhat. He shrugged helplessly and said,

"Fine, it's really nothing. They all say you're Superman, and my armor doesn't have Batman on it, so of course I'm no match for you."

As he spoke, his demeanor quietly changed. In the blink of an eye, he went from gloomy and dejected to unruly and eccentric.

He leaned forward, picked up his glass, and casually clinked it against Heisenberg's.

"This bottle costs sixty thousand, and my assistant's office wall costs three hundred thousand. Have your company pay me!"

"Hahaha, how could that be? Let's drink to the renovation crew you're about to hire, buddy!"

Heisenberg happily drained his drink, and the two set down their glasses almost at the same time.

Pepper sat beside them and silently picked up her own glass.

Her tear-streaked face concealed plenty of resentment and displeasure.

You men are always like this. After a few drinks, you forget the woman beside you. Don't I deserve a toast too?

Throwing punches now, are we, assholes?!

Pepper worriedly took a sip, while the atmosphere between Heisenberg and Tony no longer seemed as simple and pleasant as it had been seconds ago.

After setting down his glass, Tony immediately clenched his teeth, trying to give himself a little more confidence.

Then he opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but took a deep breath instead.

Only after letting that breath out did he finally make up his mind.

"Heisenberg, the way you dealt with those protesters earlier was far too cruel!"

"They deserved that treatment, Tony!" Heisenberg replied disdainfully.

"But the price shouldn't have been their lives. You had every ability to make them pay in other ways. For example, you could have made them destitute for the rest of their lives. That would have been easy for you!"

"So you're crueler than I am. I only want them dead, while you want them to suffer worse than death!" Heisenberg sneered bluntly.

Mocked like that, Tony frowned unhappily. Then, while pouring himself another drink, he shook his head.

"Trash like them might truly be better off dead, but that would violate the law and the rules. More than that, it would show contempt for and insult life itself."

"Isn't that fair? They stood in the street insulting my character, and I stood in the sky insulting their lives."

As he spoke, Heisenberg rose directly from the sofa.

He picked up his glass and clinked it against Tony's again.

"Let's leave it there. Our conversations will never be pleasant, since we only believe in ourselves!"

With that, Heisenberg emptied his glass and placed it back on the coffee table.

Then he waved at Pepper.

"I'm sorry I beat up your man and damaged your office. Most importantly, I'm sorry I frightened you.

"To make up for all that, I'll give you the life you want. It will be incredibly precious to you. Don't thank me. Cherish it."

With that, Heisenberg flew out through the passage he had smashed open when he arrived.

Not long after flying away, Heisenberg seemed to remember something and returned to Pepper's office.

With a solemn expression, he said to Tony,

"I suddenly remembered something, Tony. You'd better remember this—something especially important!

"You love your father and your mother. Even with that playboy act, it can't change your deep love for family.

"But you always like to use family and heroism as weights, placing them on opposite sides of a scale.

"Unfortunately, the weight of the word hero always outweighs your sense of responsibility toward your family.

"That isn't fair to your lover or your future children. It isn't fair to you either."

After saying those cryptic words, Heisenberg vanished in an instant, leaving no trace behind.

He returned all the way to his own rooftop and floated in the air as he looked down below.

He did not know whether his savage beating of Iron Man had worked, or whether the protest leaders had received word that they were being summoned for a talk.

In any case, the protesters had stopped shouting and begun preparing to leave.

But Heisenberg did not want to let them leave so easily.

He took out his phone and called Jessica.

A moment later, the call connected.

"Mm-hmm, boss, do you need something?"

"Fuck, can you stop bringing up fucking every three sentences?"

Heisenberg cursed helplessly, finally making Jessica, whose mind was filled with female hormones, shut up.

After waiting a moment and seeing that Jessica had quieted down, Heisenberg continued.

"Take your people and keep an eye on the notable figures in the protest crowd. The moment they led people in insulting me, they lost the right to go home and keep enjoying themselves.

"Follow them and break their legs. You should be good at that sort of thing, seeing as they're all bastards who hang around Hell's Kitchen!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jessica gladly accepted.

"Of course. That's much easier than fighting Hulk. But the reward you promised me after the Hulk incident...?"

"Come to my room tonight..."

Heisenberg smiled helplessly. This woman.

After hanging up, Heisenberg smiled and lay back in his recliner.

He was in a much better mood than before.

Not only because he had decided to eliminate all the gang leaders, nor because he had sent Jessica to deal with the main figures among the protesters.

What truly improved his mood was that he had finally thought of a way to deal with Iron Man!

Back when he had still been an ordinary person, Iron Man had been one of his favorite characters among the countless films Heisenberg had watched in the Origin Universe.

But after personally arriving in the Marvel Universe...

He discovered that he faced a choice.

Either he had to assimilate himself into an American-style superhero, wholeheartedly doing good deeds. Even then, there was a small chance Iron Man would regard him as a major enemy during the Civil War storyline.

Or he could tell American heroes to go fuck themselves and walk his own path, exactly as he was doing now.

In that case, it would not be long before he came into direct conflict with Iron Man.

So how could he prevent Tony Stark from causing him trouble without killing him?

Talk no Jutsu...?

No, no, no. Not everyone's Talk no Jutsu could persuade someone afflicted by the Curse of Knowledge.

Besides, Heisenberg did not possess the Talk no Jutsu skills of a Japanese anime protagonist.

All the subordinates he had taken in so far had submitted only because of absolute power and changing circumstances.

There had never been any intimidating aura that made everyone submit. There were simply many people willing to borrow a tiger's might.

So that method would not work.

Then how about another approach—what if Iron Man lost his intelligence?

Taking it a step further, what if Tony lost his intelligence while becoming more devoted to love and family, so that he would no longer abandon Pepper and his daughter for his heroic career...

That way, there would be no need to worry about Tony continuing to be that flying Iron Man, nor about him snapping his fingers and losing everything.

Most importantly, Tony would no longer cause him trouble!

Of course, if Nini knew what Heisenberg was about to do to him, he would definitely put on his armor and fire a few shots at Heisenberg immediately.

But sorry, as long as the result pleased him, Heisenberg did not care about the process!

He would always be that same Heisenberg. His words matched his heart, and he did whatever he wanted.

He did not need to consider others, because throughout a person's life, whether food, clothing, shelter, travel, love, hatred, or grudges, everything existed only to satisfy that person's own needs.

You needed love because you did not want to be lonely.

You needed family because you did not want to be lonely.

You needed friendship because you still did not want to be lonely.

And you needed money, power, status, attention, and other people's respect because you were always pursuing a better life!

That was human nature.

Therefore, without Iron Man himself knowing it, Heisenberg was about to get rid of the great hero Iron Man of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all so he could get what he wanted.

At the same time, he would create a Tony Shit-Stark who loved his family, loved his wife and daughter, and lived happily...

Ahem.

Heisenberg did not know whether he was right or wrong, nor did he care. He only knew that this was the result he wanted most right now.

It was better than being forced to kill Iron Man, Tony Stark, in the future.

"System!"

Heisenberg immediately called out in his mind.

"How much Origin Matter is needed to remove the Curse of Knowledge imposed on Iron Man by the Marvel Universe?"

"Two thousand six hundred and seventy-two cubic units of Origin Matter are required."

"Ha, that's so cheap. Is he only worth that much?"

"He is the only Iron Man in the current universe, but also one of infinitely many Iron Men across the infinite universes."

"Fine, fine."

Heisenberg nodded in understanding.

"Everyone has an Iron Man in their heart, right?"

As he spoke, he waved his hand decisively. In an instant, his Origin Matter was reduced by the amount required by the system.

But that was not the end.

Heisenberg continued asking.

"Next, alter Tony Stark's subconscious so that none of his desires can ever exceed his love for his family!"

"That is very simple. It requires only 8.97 cubic units of Origin Matter."

"Uh, this... that's absurdly cheap..."

Heisenberg had not expected the number to be so low that it could only buy two watches shipped over from the Origin Universe.

His answer soon received a response.

"Order Keeper, there is no need for surprise. There are abundant methods for altering Tony Stark's subconscious. You may exchange for the ability of Mind Machine Superman to control him, or use the cheapest subconscious alteration method from the Inception universe.

"With too many available options, the system automatically recommends the lowest-cost solution."

"This system... I keep feeling like it thinks the same way I do. Is that an illusion?"

Heisenberg instinctively muttered, then decisively made his choice.

"Change him!"

The moment he spoke, everything changed without anyone noticing.

That night, Tony stormed out of the laboratory in frustration.

He seemed to have been struck hard by Heisenberg's inhuman strength, to the point that all his inspiration for upgrading his armor had vanished.

His mind felt like a tangled mess. He was even close to forgetting how he had personally built the armor in the first place!

This was truly terrible!

At that moment, Little Pepper, who had been keeping an eye on Tony, quickly noticed that something was wrong with him.

She came to his side with concern.

The moment she sat down, Pepper heard Tony say to her,

"My heart is a mess, Pepper. Maybe I'm not as great as I thought I was."

As soon as he finished, Pepper rolled her eyes helplessly. How great did you think you were? Don't you know that yourself?

Just how narcissistic are you? This is already the eighty-sixth time you've brought up a similar topic.

But every time you run into trouble, you solve it quickly. This time will definitely be the same.

So she hugged Tony, intending to comfort her frequently dejected lover as she always did.

But Tony pulled her into his arms instead.

Holding his lover tightly, Tony leaned close to Pepper's ear and said solemnly and earnestly,

"Even though this is stupid, I want to propose to you. Let's get married."

The moment he spoke, Pepper's eyes widened.

She finally realized what was different. This time, Tony truly was different.

Just as she was about to answer, Tony took a deep breath.

At that moment, Pepper clearly saw Tony cry.

Even though he lowered his head and wiped away the tears in an instant, she remembered it deeply.

Then Tony softly murmured sorrowfully beside Pepper's ear,

"I... suddenly miss my father so much. He would be happy that I have a happy family.

"I love you, and I will love our children too, just as my father loved my mother and me.

"I... really miss him."

Meanwhile, at Heisenberg Mansion.

Heisenberg lay on the rooftop and glanced toward Stark Tower.

"Maybe you won't like my solution, but considering your future, you should at least thank me.

"Of course, I should also say goodbye to you, future Iron Man."