Pepper's shock and curiosity came from the way she had reached the rooftop.
Just minutes earlier, she had stood outside the Stark Industries Base Building, anxiously looking up at the two "shooting stars" tangled together as they climbed through the night sky.
Then Iron Monger had fallen from high above, and Tony had landed on the roof soon after. Beside her, Lin Hai had raised a hand and swept it through the air. Golden sparks had burst from nowhere, spinning outward until they formed a circular portal.
On the other side was the roof where they now stood. With a single step, they had gone from the ground to a place hundreds of feet above it. It was beyond anything she understood.
Obadiah had been briefly stunned by Peter's reappearance and rambling speech, but the arrival of Lin Hai, Pepper, and the others quickly sent him into a rage.
"You actually dared to come here?! What do you take me for?!" Obadiah roared through Iron Monger's speakers. "Fine! Then you can all die with Tony!"
Feeling as though they were treating him like a spectacle, he locked onto Lin Hai and the other two behind the Nova Armor, who appeared to have no protection. Iron Monger raised its left arm, and the rotary machine gun beneath it began to spin.
"Pepper! Watch out!" Tony cried. He had no idea what Lin Hai and the others could do.
He had barely finished speaking when Iron Monger's gun spat a long tongue of fire. Heavy-caliber rounds flew straight at Pepper!
Pepper went pale with fright and instinctively took a step back.
But the moment Obadiah aimed the gun at her, Gwen moved. At a sweep of her hands, a translucent golden circular shield formed from countless magical runes spread out before them.