"Yes, Maya Hansen, a botanist friend. Not a very close one."
Tony Stark emerged from his Iron Man suit, explaining to Pepper Potts.
He actually remembered who Maya Hansen was, which was quite a feat.
"Don't tell me there's a 12-year-old boy I've never met waiting for me in the car," Tony Stark then whispered to Maya Hansen.
"He's 13 now!" Maya Hansen said, and Tony Stark flinched.
"Don't be silly, I just need your help!" Maya Hansen quickly added, which made Tony Stark's expression improve slightly.
"Help, help with what?"
"Because I read the papers, and frankly, I don't think you'll last the week!"
"I'm fine!" Tony Stark said sternly to Maya Hansen.
"Sorry, Happy's in the hospital. I didn't expect guests," Pepper Potts said, walking over to them.
"Not guests!" Tony Stark immediately corrected Pepper.
"Then it's a lover! Nice!"
"She's not."
"No, at most I'm a one-night stand."
"That's one of your accomplishments, isn't it?"
...It was clear that Pepper and Tony Stark were in the middle of an argument. As they spoke, they started bickering again in front of Maya Hansen.
Maya Hansen couldn't even interject and could only wait awkwardly on the side.
But suddenly, Maya Hansen saw a missile flying towards Stark's villa on the surveillance screen of the TV hanging on the wall.
Tony Stark and Pepper, however, were still arguing and hadn't noticed at all.
"You two! You two, shouldn't we be worried about that?" Maya Hansen forcefully interrupted the arguing pair, pointing at the TV screen.
Tony Stark and Pepper finally turned their heads and looked at the TV screen, their expressions changing.
Everyone present felt their hearts race.
"It seems I'll have to install a proper security system at home when I get back," Tony Stark secretly decided in his mind.
Currently, his villa was just an ordinary rich man's residence; it couldn't even stop bullets, let alone a missile.
Any armed individual with a gun could force their way in.
However, due to Tony Stark's identity, such a situation was unlikely to occur in the past, so he had never paid much attention to it.
But now, this footage served as a wake-up call for Tony Stark.
At this moment, the camera on the screen switched.
The scene moved outside the villa.
A missile, trailing a long plume of smoke, shot directly towards Tony Stark's beachfront villa.
With a bang, it slammed into the villa wall.
Boom!
Then it exploded directly.
A violent explosion shockwave erupted.
Tony Stark and Pepper were immediately knocked over by the powerful shockwave.
Tony Stark, while airborne, wasn't idle; he immediately made a gesture, signaling to Pepper.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Various parts of his Iron Man suit began to spew flames, flying towards Pepper, quickly assembling and completely enveloping her.
Boom!
Only then did Tony Stark and Pepper crash heavily against the wall and then fall to the ground.
Pepper, protected by the Iron Man suit, felt nothing, but Tony Stark was thrown around, dazed and disoriented.
The few people present couldn't help but look at Tony Stark with newfound respect.
In such a life-and-death crisis, Tony Stark completely disregarded his own safety and prioritized rescuing Pepper.
This spoke volumes.
In that moment, everyone saw a different side of Tony Stark, one that was distinct from his arrogant, self-important persona.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The sound of rapidly spinning helicopter blades echoed as four helicopters sliced through the sky, roaring towards Tony Stark's villa.
The face of one of the pilots was also revealed to everyone; it was none other than their "old acquaintance," Savin, who had hijacked the president on Air Force One.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several missiles began to launch continuously towards Stark's villa, tearing it to pieces.
"Hurry, get her out of here!"
Tony Stark shouted to Pepper from within the ruins, but because the ground had split open, Tony Stark was temporarily trapped inside. "I'll find a way to follow! Go!"
Pepper also knew that lingering would only harm them both, so she stopped wasting words, helped up Maya Hansen, who had been stunned by the blast, and quickly left the villa.
Boom, boom, boom!
A continuous series of explosions rattled incessantly.
No sooner had Pepper emerged from the villa than it began to collapse extensively, turning into a complete ruin.
"Tony!" Pepper cried out anxiously.
Tony Stark himself was desperately struggling within the constantly collapsing, tilting, and shaking villa.
"Sir, Ms. Potts has safely departed!" Jarvis finally alerted him.
Tony Stark's spirits lifted, and he immediately made another unique gesture. The Iron Man suit on Pepper outside the villa began to detach piece by piece.
It flew onto Tony Stark, who quickly armed himself, transforming into Iron Man.
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
By this time, several aircraft outside had surrounded him, using Gatling guns from all directions to unleash a hail of bullets on Iron Man.
Clang, clang, clang!
The bullets all struck the Iron Man suit, scattering sparks.
Phew!
Everyone present couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, their racing hearts settling slightly.
Although it was just a video, it still made everyone feel like they were on a roller coaster, incredibly thrilling.
The situation just now was truly perilous; if he had been even half a second slower, Tony Stark would have been riddled with bullets like a beehive.
Iron Man, fully suited, was about to fly away, but found he couldn't take off.
"Jarvis, where's my flight power?" Tony Stark couldn't help but ask.
"Sir, I'm working on it. This is just an engineering prototype!" Jarvis replied.
Alright, it seemed he couldn't fly for now. Tony Stark could only continue to brave the hail of bullets and confront the helicopters head-on.
At this moment, a piano slid down from the tilted floor. Iron Man, with quick reflexes, blasted the piano with a repulsor ray from his palm.
The piano arced gracefully through the air, crashing violently into one of the helicopters and bringing it down.
"First one!" Iron Man said excitedly, then used a missile to take down the second aircraft.
However, unfortunately, Iron Man only managed to destroy these two aircraft before the entire villa was completely reduced to rubble by the enemy's bombardment.
The entire structure collapsed directly, sinking into the sea.
Iron Man himself, along with the debris, was buried at the bottom of the sea, miserably pinned down by heavy objects and unable to move.
Savin and the other Mandarin's minions, seeing that the entire villa had been completely obliterated, piloted their helicopters away.
Meanwhile, Iron Man himself had fallen unconscious at the bottom of the sea.
The crucial problem remained: there was no air inside the Iron Man suit!
Seeing this, everyone present couldn't help but be curious. Iron Man was buried under heavy objects at the bottom of the sea, unable to call for help, and had fallen unconscious.
Under these circumstances, how could he escape danger?
However, what followed was a dazzling display of the Iron Man suit's capabilities.
The Iron Man suit's right arm directly detached from Tony Stark's armor, grasped Tony Stark's hand, and pulled Iron Man himself out of the ruins!
Amazing!
Everyone almost couldn't help but applaud. No one had expected the Iron Man suit to operate in such a way.
It was simply a god-tier operation!
"What a brilliant design concept!"
Even Tony Stark himself couldn't help but watch with gleaming eyes, marveling at the modular design.
If not for this ingenious design, he, the esteemed billionaire, super genius, and playboy Tony Stark, would have died a most ignominious death at the bottom of the sea.
"Flight power restored!"
Jarvis's voice rang out. At this crucial moment, flight power was finally restored, and the Iron Man suit shot out of the sea with a whoosh.
It transformed into a streak of light, disappearing into the swirling dust.
The image froze there.
"That's an impressive suit, Stark!" Dr. Banner immediately said to Tony Stark with immense admiration.
The modular assembly of the suit had left a very deep impression on Dr. Banner as well.
If not for this ingenious design, Pepper might have been killed by the explosion immediately. Even if Tony Stark hadn't drowned later, he would have been killed by the hail of bullets earlier.
Not to mention, in the previous footage, it was also due to this modular assembly that Killian suffered fatal injuries.
This design was indeed very ingenious.
"Actually, there's still a lot of room for improvement!" Tony Stark unconsciously humble-bragged.
"Stark, that Maya Hansen read the papers, so she specifically sought you out, and you also took precautions at home. It seems the news that the Ten Rings are coming after you is already common knowledge."
"It's possible they declared war on you in advance."
Hawkeye said gravely to Tony Stark at this moment.
This was also typical terrorist behavior; many terrorists liked to do this, first "announcing" what kind of terrorist attack they would carry out, thereby attracting worldwide attention.
Then they would act under the gaze of the entire world.
Whether successful or not, they could greatly boost their presence and increase their notoriety.
The Ten Rings' attack on Tony Stark likely followed this pattern as well.
"It's not important, and I'm no longer interested in knowing. In any case, none of this will happen again, because as far as I'm concerned, the Mandarin is already dead," Tony Stark declared emphatically.
This question further strengthened his resolve to eliminate the Mandarin!
Everyone present silently mourned for the Mandarin.
Of all people to provoke, why did you have to provoke Tony Stark?
Isn't that just asking for death?
Frankly, the information revealed by this question wasn't too extensive, and there wasn't much to analyze or summarize.
Everyone started chatting casually for a few sentences, then moved on to discussing other questions.
Before long, a new question appeared.
[Please answer the question: The birth of Vision was a collaborative effort by many. Which of the following individuals did NOT help create Vision?]
[A. Ultron]
[B. Bruce Banner]
[C. Captain America]
[D. Thor]
[Friendly Reminder: Correct answers will receive a reward of the latest version of the Saiyan battle suit; incorrect answers will result in a random deduction of one personal attribute, including but not limited to knowledge, experience, skills, possessions, etc...]
Vision!
The appearance of the new question made everyone present feel a surge of excitement. They hadn't expected this question to be about Vision.
Vision had always been quite mysterious to everyone.
Everyone had seen a glimpse of Vision's abilities.
He could fly, and he could emit powerful shockwaves from his forehead. Although not displayed much, his power was deeply impressive.
However, everyone's knowledge of Vision was extremely limited. Besides the fact that he used Jarvis, they had practically no other information.
They were completely in the dark about the origins of such a powerful being.
And this question directly revealed the origin of Vision to everyone.
How could they not be excited?
Even without answering the question, everyone had already gained a very important piece of information: Vision was indeed created by someone, and not just one person!
Instead, it was the result of multi-party cooperation.
This also coincided with everyone's previous conjectures.
"So we can now confirm that Vision is indeed a very advanced robot!" Tony Stark shrugged, looking at the big screen.
"The key is, who created such a powerful robot?" Captain America said gravely on the side.
Captain America had always been quite resistant to the creation of powerful artificial monsters.
And once such beings appeared, he was more vigilant than the average person.
"It's a shame Stark isn't in the options," Thor shook his head with a bit of regret. "From what we've seen so far, Stark should have been involved in Vision's creation."
Everyone present largely agreed with this point.
Since Tony Stark used Jarvis in Vision, and everyone now knew that Vision was the result of a joint creation by multiple powerful figures, then a logical conclusion could naturally be drawn:
Tony Stark was also one of Vision's creators.