The moment the sensation of weightlessness appeared, Shiller immediately adjusted his posture, landing on his back without hitting his head, although the wound on his shoulder slightly ruptured. He took a slight breath.
The place was very bright, even the lights were somewhat too strong, dazzling to the point where one couldn't open their eyes for a while. Nevertheless, Shiller quickly adapted and saw Pepper, who had fallen beside him, seemingly knocked unconscious.
Just as Shiller was about to go over to check, red dots aimed at him. He squinted against the strong light to see several robots closing in, each holding weapons that did not resemble ordinary firearms.
He examined the room; metal floor, metal walls, accompanied by incandescent lights. There was a circle of operating consoles beside which the robots stood outside, without windows or visible doors, like some kind of experimental base.
At this moment, Pepper awoke; she was startled upon waking, and evidently, Pepper was the intended target of the behind-the-scenes manipulator. As soon as she woke, a door behind her opened.
"Apologies for inviting you over in such a manner, Ms. Bozi," a male voice sounded.
Shiller turned his head to look, seeing Alexander Luther walking out from inside the door.
"It's you indeed," Pepper's expression turned cold. The one who wants to completely ruin Stark Group and has the means to hire assassins and abduct them here is likely none other than Luther.
"Please forgive me for using such rough methods because when deciding to change jobs, you actually chose Wayne Enterprises over me, it really broke my heart."
Shiller examined Luther; because Earth-One was generally younger, Bruce Wayne had just started college, Luther appeared slightly older but only in his twenties, and he had not lost his lush red hair, looking quite handsome.
Although Luther deliberately used a slightly ambiguous teasing tone, Shiller understood this was merely him hiding his true intentions. Whether it's Pepper, White Can, or Luther, people like them wouldn't engage in such drastic measures merely for personal feelings; there must be profits to gain.
"Shouldn't you be aware why I didn't choose Luther Group?" Pepper sneered, reached up to tidy her slightly messy hair, straightened her collar, and said, "All you want is Stark Group's technology, more precisely, the Extremis Virus's primary source."
Shiller turned to look at them. It seemed this attack by Luther was hitting two birds with one stone: one aspect was to strike Stark Group's stock price, and on the other, to force Pepper to reveal the location of the Extremis Virus's primary source.
By coincidence, Pepper indeed knew, and judging from White Can's previous behavior, they had fought like this, yet White Can had not moved the primary source; it remained a secret known only to the two of them.
"I don't even know what to say about you," Pepper snorted coldly. "Even though he and I have fallen out for so long, even if I knew anything, he would've long relocated it. My reluctance to work with you is because you're too foolish."
This Luther clearly hadn't perfected his skills; his expression changed immediately, although he was slightly better than Bruce, quickly restraining his expression, saying, "Which do you think he would choose between you and the Extremis Virus's primary source?"
"Of course the Extremis Virus," Pepper replied without thinking, "I'm already Mrs. Hogan, why would he choose me?"
"Don't you hate him?" Luther paced to her and said, looking into Pepper's eyes. "The reason you two have reached this point today is entirely due to his willful behavior."
Evidently, Stark Group leaks like a sieve, or more accurately, a decision to transform is impossible to hide, Luther is crystal clear about White Can's operations and even has insights into their internal disputes.
"I completely understand you, ma'am," Luther continued. "You've contributed so much to Stark Group, yet that fool wants to ruin it. You have no obligation to keep secrets for him, moreover, your husband is lying in a hospital bed; don't you want to save him?"
Pepper walked over to a chair and sat down, saying, "I've already said, he and I have fallen out for so long, he would've changed the location of everything, possibly even setting traps at the original place, waiting for me to step in. As for my husband, I want to save him, but even if I save him now, Tony will come and kill him. If you could handle Iron Man, you wouldn't be kidnapping me."
Shiller couldn't help but admire this lady's exceptionally clear thinking. The only problem is that she doesn't seem to follow the principles of self-rescue for hostages.
Normally speaking, if a hostage doesn't want to be executed, they need to demonstrate their value, claim they know many secrets, and then slowly divulge them to delay rescue. Pepper outright claims she knows nothing and is indifferent; has she decided Luther won't dare to execute?
On second thought, Luther might indeed not dare. Were it the kind-hearted Iron Man, it might be manageable, but with White Can now, if you dare harm his people, he will chase you to the ends of the earth to kill you, even the Rebirth Alliance might not be able to stop him.
Despite White Can and Pepper being at such odds now, from the fact he hadn't changed the location of the Extremis Virus's primary source, it's evident their bond hasn't completely dissolved.
After working hard all his life, White Can still trusts only one person. If Pepper is alive, White Can may harbor bitter resentment, but if she dies at this pivotal moment, she'll become his untouchable moonlight.
Grudgingly acknowledging again how melodramatic their relationship is, Shiller leaned against the experiment console and sat down. He took a bullet to the shoulder, needed to extract it, and perform a simple bandage; as for the ensuing dialogue plot, let's skip.
The two seemed not even to mind him. Luther continued, "If that's the case, what are you negotiating with Wayne Enterprises?"
"That's none of your concern," Pepper evidently didn't have a death wish, she needed some cards held close to her chest, she said, "Actually, the idea of Stark Group and Wayne Enterprises joining forces utterly terrifies you, right? That's why you're so eager to kill me."
"What did you discuss?!" Luther's tone turned colder, and those robots encircled, nearly pressing gun barrels against Pepper's forehead.
Pepper knew that she hadn't gone to negotiate cooperation, but since Luther was unaware of this fact, she could capitalize on it.
"There's another thing." Pepper didn't answer; instead, she shifted the topic, "The bodyguard by my side is assigned by the Rebirth Alliance, maybe you didn't know?"
Luther only then noticed Shiller who was pressing bullets, as he was relatively young and hadn't been to the Battleworld, he didn't recognize Shiller's face, only assuming he was some ordinary agent.
He walked over, looking down at the busy Shiller from a height. Shiller had already gotten the bullet out by this time and was using his coat to bandage the wound, never once lifting his head to look at Luther.
"Rebirth Alliance..." Luther murmured quietly. He was contemplating whether the Stark Group, Wayne Enterprises, and the Rebirth Alliance had already united, the scenario he feared most.
The thing is, he's too young; if it were any older, more scheming Luther, he wouldn't have come in person, at most he'd yell from a screen at a distance. Moreover, he wasn't sufficiently cautious of Shiller, thinking that with so many guns on his side, one agent couldn't stir up any trouble.
The outcome was that the second Shiller finished bandaging his wound, he sprang up and pressed Luther to the ground.
When the robot raised the gun ready to shoot, Luther was already being choked by Shiller, used as a human shield in front of him.
Pepper shouted, "Don't move recklessly!"
The robot certainly didn't dare make any rash moves. Luther struggled vigorously for a moment, naturally unable to break free. He shouted fearfully, "Let go of me, you damned agent!"
Shiller ignored him and looked towards Pepper. Pepper shook her head and said, "He has accomplices; this intelligence doesn't look capable of researching a Whirlpool Teleportation portal..."
Shiller couldn't help but agree, Pepper's words were truly hurtful, Luther visibly flushed red, and his struggling became more intense, but Shiller didn't mind him, he also began inspecting this room, trying to determine where they were.
Suddenly, one side wall lit up, displaying a familiar face on the screen, it was Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards.
"Sorry to invite you here in this manner," Reed said, "I only wanted to have a chat with Tony Stark."
Pepper stared at the screen for a while, then said, "What do you want to talk to him about?"
"None of us like the Rebirth Alliance," Reed continued, "They have imprisoned me here, and want to judge Tony Stark, but we all know civil war is bound to happen; even if we need to pursue the responsibility of the initiator, the person who should stand in court is someone else."
Pepper tilted her head slightly, she approached the screen and squinted: "You're not Reed Richards, who are you?"
With such a cliché plot, Shiller was initially feeling a bit sleepy but immediately became energetic. Not Reed? How did she figure it out?
Since the person only appeared on the screen, and didn't say much, Shiller really couldn't discern who he was. Even if Pepper had interacted a lot with Reed before, she still shouldn't be able to judge based on these few words.
However, Pepper leisurely paced in front of the screen: "Firstly, this is not Yodenheim, because Alexander Luther, no matter how foolish, would never leave Earth to come to such a place to threaten me."
"Secondly, Reed could never allow Luther to enter. Even if he really had schemes, bringing Luther in openly like this would prematurely expose his intentions, if caught by Thor's eye, Reed wouldn't be able to do anything."
"Lastly, he has no need to cooperate with Luther. What can Luther really provide him? Money? Status? Technology? He lacks none of these; if he wishes to break out, he doesn't need anything from Luther, and Luther has no leverage over him. There is no foundation for cooperation between them."
"So I should still be on Earth now, probably on Luther's turf; this is the conspiracy Luther and his accomplices concocted, meant to frame Reed Richards, thus they made such a scene."
"If it's just to perform for me, there's no point; your real target is Tony. You want Tony to believe that Reed Richards kidnapped me, prompting a reckless trip to Yodenheim, triggering a conflict between Tony and the real Reed."
"It seems your confidence in the strength of our relationship is even greater than our own; you're certain he would rescue me." Pepper shook her head and said, "But you're wrong, he won't just rush over."
"Why wouldn't he?" Luther asked her, "You possess so many of his secrets and disdain him, he would come to stop you from cooperating with me no matter what."
Pepper merely sneered without saying a word.
Meanwhile, the news of Pepper's attack and kidnapping had already reached Iron Man's ears.
"I don't believe you didn't leave any tracking device on her." Natasha looked at Iron Man and said, "Where is she?"
Iron Man didn't speak, he stared at the word "Jotunheim" displayed by the positioning system for a long time.
"Even if you're not worried about her personally, at least be worried about the secrets she knows about you?" Natasha struck the heart of the matter, "They're definitely coming after those things with all this commotion; she wouldn't remain tight-lipped for you through this..."
"You're wrong on that, she would definitely keep silent." Iron Man lowered his head, seemingly not anxious at all; he said, "A person who doesn't love someone because of money isn't necessarily a utilitarian, but someone who doesn't hate someone because of money definitely is."
"You're talking about Pepper Potts?" Natasha asked.
"I'm talking about both of us." Iron Man checked that address again, he said, "We don't trust each other's integrity, but we trust each other's pure pursuit of interests; this is the most vital reason why we've both lived to this day."