Tony's Return

After a long journey, Tony finally returned to Big Apple.

The transport plane's hatch slowly opened. Pepper and Happy waited anxiously outside.

"Uh, thanks, guys. Or should I be thanking your master?" Tony chattered as he waved at Pepper, naturally and magnificently ignoring Happy beside her.

The two Shadow Ninjas walked down directly, carrying Tony out in the hammock.

"Hey, Lu Qi, can you let me down?" Tony shouted at Lu Qi, unable to exert any strength in the hammock.

"Oh." Lu Qi had already gotten out of the hammock and was simply standing nearby.

A Shadow Ninja appeared and carried Tony down.

"Thanks, brother. Say, were you the one from last time? Why are you carrying me like a princess?"

Tony patted the Shadow Ninja and was carried over to Pepper.

"Honestly, Lu, could you have him put me down?"

Tony looked embarrassed as he called out to Lu Qi.

Lu Qi had the ninja put Tony down, letting him stand before Pepper.

Trying to ease the atmosphere, Tony looked at Pepper.

"Your eyes are red. Did you cry over your long-missing boss?"

"They're tears of joy. I hate job hunting."

"Then your vacation is over."

Tony and Pepper got into the car. Happy was already in the driver's seat, while Lu Qi appeared in the front passenger seat.

"Mind if I hitch a ride?"

"Yes." "Of course not."

Tony and Pepper spoke at the same time.

"Hey, Tony, don't be like that. He saved you."

"Uh, actually, I could've escaped on my own. Of course, I might have had to walk a while before waiting for the plane to rescue me."

"Don't mind him, Lu Qi. Tony's just that kind of person."

"Mm, all right. You understand me best."

"You're welcome."

Watching the inexplicable tension flare up between the two people in the back seat, Lu Qi glanced at Happy.

"Are they always like this?"

"Usually."

"All right, let's put all this behind us, Potts. Right now, I only want one thing. Though two cheeseburgers would be even better. One definitely isn't enough."

"Tony, you just escaped. You need to go to the hospital first."

"No, I've been imprisoned for three months. I've been thinking..."

"That's impossible, Tony. You just escaped!"

Pepper turned her head away in disappointment.

"I think he wants you to arrange a press conference for him. He kept talking about it on the plane," Lu Qi said over his shoulder.

Pepper looked at Tony suspiciously.

"That's right, that's what I wanted to say, not what you were thinking."

Potts shook her head, feeling that Tony's change was simply...

Fine. She made call after call, having them prepare a reception at Stark Industries and two cheeseburgers for Tony while they were at it.

Happy started the car at the right moment and drove toward Stark Industries.

"By the way, Tony, will that prosthetic armor of yours disappear in that explosion?"

Lu Qi remembered something. He wondered whether Iron Monger would still appear.

"I don't know, but it should be destroyed outright. Why?" Tony thought about it. The armor's materials were rather poor, so it should melt away after the explosion unless the blast had only gone off once.

"That's good." Lu Qi spoke indifferently.

Tony had already completed his transformation. He only needed a spark to fully embark on the path of a superhero. Whether Iron Monger existed no longer mattered.

The car continued onward and soon arrived at Stark Industries.

Pepper opened the door first, with Tony following behind her. A crowd stood at the entrance to Stark Industries, all of them senior executives. Even Obadiah was there.

Looking at the welcoming scene, Lu Qi wickedly thought that if he planted a bomb here, Stark Industries, which had not fallen into chaos even after Tony's disappearance, would truly be thrown into complete disorder.

But it was only a thought. Lu Qi had no intention of acting on it.

Looking at Obadiah's delighted face, Lu Qi wondered how to let Tony know that he was the real culprit. Without Iron Monger, as long as there was enough evidence, Obadiah could be sent to prison to pick up soap.

Tony took the two cheeseburgers and tossed one to Lu Qi.

Lu Qi caught the flying burger.

"All right, we're even now," Tony said with a smile.

Lu Qi unwrapped the one-million-dollar burger and took a bite.

"Tastes pretty good."

"Of course. It's from my favorite place."

After exchanging a few words with Lu Qi, Tony turned and walked into Stark Industries.

This conversation also caught Obadiah's attention. His sources were better than Potts's, and he knew that this was the culprit who had ruined his wonderful plan.

But Obadiah showed nothing on his face and instead smiled at Lu Qi.

"Thank you, Mr. Lu Qi. You have no idea how worried I was about Stark. He's the son of my best friend!"

"No problem, sir. It's my duty," Lu Qi said.

With no desire to continue talking, Lu Qi passed Obadiah and entered Stark Industries.

The first thing he saw was the enormous particle accelerator. This thing provided Stark Industries with clean energy, but it was extremely expensive to build. The people at Stark Industries had judged it to have no commercial prospects.

But things were different now. Tony had successfully improved it in that cave. Not only was it smaller and cheaper, it also possessed more energy.

After looking at Stark Industries' future flagship product, Lu Qi arrived at the press conference.

Coulson appeared beside him. "You found him."

Lu Qi nodded. "Indeed. That little mountain region was pretty hard to find. I searched for a long time."

"Your phone signal was in Big Apple, then it suddenly appeared over there, and then you found Tony immediately." Coulson paused. "The director is waiting for your report."

"All right, looks like I have to officially meet that Egghead." Lu Qi spoke helplessly.

Coulson nodded, then headed toward Potts, presumably to discuss something. Meanwhile, after reminiscing about his father, Tony announced before all the reporters that he was shutting down Stark Industries' weapons division.

The reporters immediately erupted, shoving forward one after another. Obadiah sensed that something was wrong and hurried over to pull Tony away, trying to control the atmosphere.

Ignoring Coulson, whom she had just started talking to, Potts walked toward Tony and led him away from the vortex.

"All right, looks like I'll have to wait a while before I can talk to them," Coulson said as he came over to Lu Qi.

Lu Qi looked at the photos in his camera and nodded in satisfaction.

"Looks like you'll have to wait alone. I'm leaving first." Lu Qi waved at Coulson, then found a restroom, drew a portal, and returned directly to his doghouse.

The five Shadow Ninjas were still leisurely playing games. Lu Qi checked the rankings and found that they were already first on the entire server.

"This feels like an idle game," Lu Qi said, then uploaded the photos he had just taken to his blog.

The previously quiet blog instantly exploded. The news had not been reported yet, so the general public still did not know that Tony Stark had returned.

This was Tony's traffic. Lu Qi nodded, then drew a circle and arrived not far from the Triskelion.

As he walked toward the Triskelion, Lu Qi considered how he should face Fury and that coin.

S.H.I.E.L.D. monitored Lu Qi, and they quickly dispatched an agent in a car to pick him up.