"Hello, ma'am." Thomas Wayne stood up, shook hands with Pepper, and then said, "Are you here to talk about switching jobs?"
Pepper shook her head and said, "What do you think about Luther Group investing in the Rebirth Alliance?"
Upon hearing this topic, Thomas's face darkened. He sat back down and gestured for Pepper to sit as well. He glanced at Shiller, who showed no intention of sitting, and without insisting, returned to the main topic, saying, "This is bad news, but Wayne Enterprises has no grounds to block it."
"We can all see that Luther's intentions are impure. Entrusting such an important department like the Strategic Security Department to him will inevitably cause problems in the future. But right now, the reception activities for the multiverse visitors are urgent, and I can't demand that the Rebirth Alliance refuse their investment, that's unrealistic, unless..."
"Unless Stark Group can change their mind," Pepper said, "But just me trying to persuade them won't be very effective, and Tony will definitely try to trip me up."
"Are you suggesting we team up?" Thomas looked at her and said, "But since we originally belong to two different universes, the overlap between Wayne Enterprises and Stark Group's shareholders is very low, and my influence over them is quite limited."
"Tony's announcement of himself as mentally ill has impacted Stark Group's operations, affecting employee confidence." Pepper frowned slightly, not expecting Thomas to be not very tactful, and appearing unprofessional. She had to explain further, "Mid-level employees are the foundation of a company. Many major enterprises' collapses begin with the collapse of mid-level employees."
"Most lower-level employees are pressured by their livelihoods, and senior employees are too deeply bound to the group. Only mid-level employees have enough leeway to observe and choose, making it relatively easy to switch jobs. Why not take this opportunity to poach Stark Group's mid-level employees?"
Thomas's expression changed: "You've said that mid-level employees are a company's foundation, do you want to destroy Stark Group?"
"Of course not, otherwise, I could make a few small moves, and Stark Group would start to collapse," Pepper said, "Right now, Stark Group only has some problems, it's not beyond saving, so the shareholders choose to observe and do not question Tony's decision to withdraw from the Rebirth Alliance. But if the company risks collapsing, they won't just stand by."
"I understand, you're asking me to give Stark Group a real jolt, make it look more severely wounded, then it'll naturally head for the hospital."
"Exactly," Pepper said, "It's not that Tony isn't making a fuss, it's that he isn't making enough of one. The transformation plan only hurts those close to him, most shareholders aren't affected and won't think about stopping him. But if Stark Group really faces the danger of capsizing, then more people will stand with me to stop him."
"Previously, I was unwilling to do this because it would cause great harm to Stark Group, and it might take years to recover. But now it seems, severe problems need drastic solutions, I should have done this sooner."
"This is very dangerous," Thomas said, "Aren't you afraid Stark Group would never recover?"
"Letting him put the transformation plan into practice won't yield much better results," Pepper said calmly, "Moreover, this will affect the reception activities of the Rebirth Alliance and give Luther an opportunity to exploit, leading to a lose-lose-lose situation. It's better to take this chance to cut off a limb to save a life."
Thomas looked at Pepper with a touch of admiration; in such circumstances, it's not easy to make such a decisive decision. Pepper did everything she could, and there really was no better way.
Pepper pulled a list from her handbag and said, "This is a headhunting list, containing the minimum prices and requirements for many employees willing to switch jobs with a headhunter. You must hurry."
Thomas took it and gave it a brief look. Indeed, Stark Group was full of talents, and Wayne Enterprises' poor management since Bruce took over was due to inadequate human resource management. This list could provide a needed influx of new blood to Wayne Enterprises.
"Thank you, ma'am. I owe you one," Thomas said.
He understood internally that Pepper could have just talked, leaving him to handle the poaching. Managing labor costs is never simple, not to mention that poaching generally requires spending more money.
With this headhunting list, they could better grasp the other party's psychological expectations, significantly increasing their chances of success and saving more on labor costs, given that hiring headhunters to investigate also costs money.
Pepper turned and left the office with Shiller following her. They both got into a car. Pepper paused for a moment and then said, "To the hospital."
Shiller appeared to be contemplating Pepper's strategy, but in reality, he wasn't thinking about anything. At this point, the situation was already quite complicated, and any move Pepper made would stir up everything, benefiting some while harming others, requiring careful thought.
"Do you think this plan will succeed?"
Shiller slowly came back to his senses and then said, "I don't know."
He truly didn't know because he hadn't thought about it at all. The situation had become so complex that any action Pepper took would affect the whole equilibrium, who benefited and who suffered all needed careful consideration.
Pepper seemed to also notice that Shiller didn't want to think about this issue, so she stopped talking. After a moment of silence, she suddenly spoke again, "Change course to the Stark Group."
The car turned around; no one asked her why she did that. The inside of the car fell silent until the driver suddenly braked, with a bang, the entire windshield shattered, and fragments flew to the back seat. Shiller almost instinctively pressed Pepper under the seat and pulled out his gun.
A car collided head-on with theirs, the front seat was equipped with a firing mechanism, which instantly killed the driver and completely shattered the windshield, followed by two bangs of gunfire.
Shiller used the front seat for cover to peek out and saw that the opponents were clearly professional killers, and if he hadn't reacted quickly, everyone in the car would have been dead.
He didn't even have time to sigh and directly fired two shots at the opponent's car window, only making two holes but failing to completely shatter the glass. The people in the opponent's back seat had already gotten out of the car.
In this situation, staying in the car meant hoping to kill the people getting out of the opponent's car, but it was clear that there was more than one person, and they were fully equipped, likely wearing bulletproof vests, and with people getting out from both sides, it's impossible to kill them all. Once the opponents approached the vehicle, everyone inside was sure to die.
So Shiller made the wisest choice, dragging Pepper to get out from one side of the car before the opponents got out, moving to the back of the car. Of course, the process of getting out inevitably exposed them to the view of the opponent's shooter, and Shiller was shot in the shoulder.
After the two moved to the back of the car, Pepper looked at his bleeding shoulder and exclaimed, "You've been shot!"
Shiller motioned for her to be silent, looking around, realizing the opponent's position was well chosen, with no cover on either side of the street, making it difficult to move. Charging into the nearest store would surely get them hit; Shiller could probably survive, but Pepper certainly couldn't.
The emergency aid button had already been pressed, Natasha's actions should be quick, but not fast enough to outpace the killer walking over.
As expected, footsteps like those of a God of Death sounded. Shiller popped his head out from the rear of the car to shoot the opponent, and from the muffled sound, it was clear the killer was fully armed, likely wearing the highest-grade bulletproof vest.
Shiller was left with no choice but to take out "Diana's Blessing" from another gun holster, turning to Pepper and saying, "Cover your ears."
But actually, at this distance, whether or not she covered her ears made no difference. As Shiller fired, there was a thunderous roar, and half the street's pavement was overturned. Bulletproof vests could only protect against bullets, not explosions, and the killers on one side of the car were directly thrown out, lying on the ground, their life or death unknown.
Pepper was completely shocked; even though she covered her ears, her ears started bleeding, and her head was spinning. The silver lining was the killer on the other side was stunned.
The reason Shiller didn't fire directly was to leave a living witness; if he killed them all in one shot, there'd be no one alive to testify.
Those killers clearly hadn't seen such a scene before; after a moment of hesitation, they had no choice but to run to the back of their own car, simultaneously peeking and trying to see what kind of weapon caused such commotion.
Temporarily stabilizing the killers, Shiller breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, he saw a flash, instinctively dodging to the side, but there was no sound of a sniper rifle firing. Shiller looked in that direction and saw a figure hurriedly running away.
From the figure's movements, it was clear it wasn't a sniper; if not a sniper's scope, could it be a camera lens?
Pepper didn't see this flash, but she suddenly realized and said, "Someone wants to trade stocks."
In such a tense situation, this sentence made Shiller understand why there was a suspected reporter present. This was more straightforward than any lengthy explanation—it simply meant Stark had already become a psychiatric patient, and if anything happened to Pepper, the stock price of Stark Group would be finished.
Shiller glanced down at his gun, "Diana's Blessing" absolutely couldn't be used again; even if he could bear it, Pepper wouldn't be able to. He switched back to his Glock.
The loud bang just now didn't only temporarily repel the killers but had an important role to play. They weren't far from Wayne Enterprises now, and today was the weekend, with the university also on holiday.
As expected, a red and blue figure appeared in the sky above Forward York City. Spider Man jumped down, stunned by the scene upon seeing it. The killers hiding behind the car didn't run but directly raised their guns to shoot.
Spider Man dodged nimbly and then flipped behind the car, first punching down a killer who was raising his gun, then chasing after the others.
Shiller didn't relax his vigilance, as the crisis was not yet resolved. Now, in Forward York City, superheroes were a dime a dozen, and the corresponding supervillains were also very easy to find; just finding professional killers targeting ordinary people didn't make sense.
Sure enough, the next moment, a whirlpool-like thing appeared by the car, directly sucking both people together with the car inside.