Compared to the Reimbursement Hero Black Egg from the Central Universe, who's a master of economics, the Nick Fury of Old 616 Earth is way more slick at political games—one of those old foxes who never shows his hand but has everything calculated.
He wants to deal with the Luther Group, but instead of going at the Luther Group directly, he came up with a way to give the Stark Group, which was already standing at the edge of a cliff, a shove.
The brilliance of this method lies in the fact that if he confronted the Luther Group head-on, he could kiss the money goodbye. Luther might be a bit green, but he's already one of the smart guys on Zero Earth, and he's not cheap enough to keep handing Nick money while Nick is actively trying to screw him over.
If Nick wants the money in his hands, he has to put on the attitude of dealing with a cash cow, preferably without even pulling any tricks on the side. Otherwise, once Luther catches him with something, it'll be a huge pain.
So even though he could go after the Luther Group, he chooses not to, and instead goes to kick the Stark Group when they're down. Precisely because he knows exactly what kind of couple Iron Man and Pepper are—what pot fits what lid—you don't get two different kinds of people out of the same bed.
Right now, the two of them are arguing because they think they can sacrifice some immediate gains to win bigger gains for themselves in the future. But if anyone threatens their fundamental interests, they'll absolutely charge in and throw down.
While the Stark Group is still teetering on the edge, the two of them can argue day and night over all sorts of old grudges. But once the Stark Group gets kicked off the cliff, the two of them will definitely be more in love than most "true love" couples in this world. Because at that juncture, if either one of them is missing, the Stark Group will shatter on the spot into eight pieces.
At that point, Iron Man won't be thinking the way he did before—"Pepper won't betray him anyway, letting her suffer a little is fine." He'll absolutely have to rush off without a break to save Pepper, the two of them will reconcile on the spot, and hurry back to save their lifeblood.
And at that moment, the one who'll take the biggest hit will definitely be the Luther Group, which planned the kidnapping. Luther himself, the Luthor Building, and the Luther Group's business will all get hit with a heavy punch, and the stock price won't be going anywhere good.
This way, it artificially throws the Luther Group into trouble as well, and the situation shifts from the previous "Rebirth Alliance is asking the Luther Group for help, the Luther Group is holding out for a higher price" into a state where both sides need something from each other.
Simply put, previously Nick needed money, but Luther didn't necessarily need anything in particular. Because it was uncertain, the entire Rebirth Alliance had to be on edge, worrying he'd open his lion's mouth or use this chance to stir up trouble.
But now, no matter what Luther wanted before, he can only beg the Rebirth Alliance to help the Luther Group out; otherwise, the Luther Group won't easily make it through this.
The upcoming decline of the Luther Group is inevitable, not just because the Luthor Building was attacked and Luther himself got into trouble, but because if the Stark Group doesn't want to fall to its death, it has to find a scapegoat.
Business is war; with limited resources, there's bound to be one rising while another falls. If Stark wants to recover, it has to bite off a chunk of someone else. It's hard to take a bite out of a company in its prime, but if it's already been stabbed once, the greedy vultures will swarm in.
In this situation, the Luther Group has no choice but to rely on the Rebirth Alliance, not only to pay, but to pay enough. If they don't win Nick over, the Luther Group is done for.
Also, Luther's kidnapping of Pepper can be made big or small. If the law is strictly enforced, Luther is definitely going to Court, but whether Pepper, the victim, chooses to press charges is also a key factor.
The fact that Pepper stabbed Luther blind in one eye can also be made big or small. Sure, she can sue Luther for kidnapping, but Luther can also sue her for intentional injury.
When the two of them are about to face off in Court, what's the most important thing?
That's right: Shiller, whom Nick sent over.
He was involved in the kidnapping from start to finish and saw exactly how Pepper attacked Luther. His testimony will become a key piece of evidence, and due to confidentiality rules, Shiller himself won't appear in Court; his statement will only be collected by professionals, which leaves Nick with plenty of room to maneuver.
Besides, Shiller is a professional Agent; he understands this kind of thing. Whatever the higher-ups say is what goes. Lying through his teeth is part of the job description for an Agent.
In other words, whichever side—the Stark Group or the Luther Group—pays more, Nick can tilt his ass toward that side, and tilt it in a very effective way, forcing both sides to have to pay him.
On a normal day, there might still be a chance to settle, but when both sides want to bite off a piece of each other, they'll probably fight to the bitter end. To win the support of the Rebirth Alliance, they'll be willing to pay a hefty price.
"How's Luther?" Shiller tilted his head slightly as the Doctor treated the wound in his ear. Maybe he's built up resistance from being shot too many times; although his eardrum was damaged, his hearing hasn't actually dropped much.
"Not great," Natasha said. "This eye is definitely gone. The problem is whether the other one can be saved. If his luck's bad, he might lose both eyeballs."
"Is his brain okay?"
"Yes," Natasha said. "But judging from the injuries on his body, Pepper might really have wanted to kill him. She just didn't have the experience; the angle she used couldn't have killed anyone."
Shiller nodded lightly. That's not surprising; this kind of Skill isn't something ordinary people can master. Pepper is a businesswoman, not an assassin. Even with great Strength, getting a one-hit kill isn't that easy.
"She actually injected herself with the Extremis Virus." There was a hint of disbelief in Natasha's tone.
"Isn't the more surprising part that Iron Man didn't use the Extremis Virus to control her?"
"No, the more surprising part is that she knew full well Iron Man can use the Extremis Virus to control people, and she still injected herself with it."
The two of them looked at each other, momentarily speechless. This feeling is hard to put into words; even after being Agents for so many years, they still want to ask: is there still any Human race left?
Iron Man got dumped by Pepper, but he still refuses to move the Extremis Virus master sample he left for himself, letting Pepper take it whenever she wants. Pepper dumped him and went off to marry someone else, but she still injected herself with Extremis Virus and isn't afraid of him controlling her.
You could say these two put利益 above everything, but the trust they have in each other absolutely surpasses that of most couples, even married ones; it's basically handing their lives over to the other person. You could say they're true love, but honestly you can't quite taste where the "love" part is supposed to be.
It's like when a human walks into the monkey mountain and stands in the middle of a bunch of monkeys—they'll feel a bit dazed: the monkeys are carefree among the trees, while their own life is a tangled mess of a thousand worries, especially when they remember they had to buy a ticket with hard‑earned wages just to see the monkeys—it's hard not to feel that maybe their "evolution" isn't actually more complete than the monkeys'.
In TV dramas, the male and female leads tug at each other for love over seventy or eighty episodes, suffer every conceivable trial and tribulation, and when they finally get their perfect happy ending, their love for each other is not necessarily expressed more than what these two natural-born bastards casually show.
"I just hope it ends here." Natasha sighed, checking the gear on her body as she spoke. "The wedding venue is already set. Next we need to prepare the defense layout. Do you know anything about that?"
"Does it really have to be in a church?" Shiller's face showed difficulty.
"Of course, the venue is already chosen—Forward Yueke Cathedral, which used to be the original Gotham Cathedral, the oldest Gothic Church… You don't like churches?"
"Of course not, defense layouts are usually drawn to defend against me." Shiller muttered under his breath.
"What?" Natasha seemed not to have heard clearly.
"Nothing. I mean, I can help." Shiller said. "Do you guys have any Healing injections or something? Give me a shot?"
"No need to be that hasty." Natasha said. "You can rest a couple more days. We still have to wrap this up."
"Wake me up if anything happens." Shiller didn't argue. The pain pump brought a subtle sense of Dizziness, and he quickly fell asleep.
When he woke up again, it was already the next day. Shiller saw Arrogant sitting by his bed, Peter standing by the window.
"No need to mobilize the troops like this, right?" Shiller asked.
"Luther is in the ward next door." Arrogant said bluntly. "We mainly came to see him, but it's a bit noisy over there right now."
"Did they save his eye?"
"The other one was saved." Arrogant sighed; the implication was that the one stabbed through with the pen wasn't saved. It's really hard to believe Nick didn't do it on purpose.
Just as Shiller was about to say something, the noisy voices came from the next room.
"Tony, where the hell did you take Pepper? I'm her husband—do I seriously not even get to see her once?"
"It's not that I won't let you see her." Iron Man's voice still carried a trace of cold mockery. "Your dear wife injected herself with Extremis Virus, and you know that stuff is under my control. She might not be very eager to see you right now."
"What?! She injected Extremis Virus, how is that possible?! Was it for me…"
"Don't flatter yourself. She injected the master sample. That version of the master sample was produced before Civil War—it has nothing to do with you."
"Impossible, you must have tricked her! I want to see her!"
Shiller put on an incredulous expression again. So that meant Luther was in the ward to his right, and Happy was in the ward to his left. There was no way Nick didn't arrange this on purpose.
Just as he was thinking this, Natasha walked in, looked at Shiller and said, "Where's that gun you used to destroy the killers' vehicle and the Luther Group basement?"
Shiller looked down at his waist, but the gun had already been taken off him. Natasha continued, "The power of that kind of weapon is way too great; it exceeds the Strength upper limit for personal weapons set by the Rebirth Alliance and has already been classified as an illegal weapon. You can choose to temporarily hand it over for us to keep, or head out for a bit and send it back."
"I especially need that gun right now." Shiller said, first glancing left, then right, and letting out a long sigh. "I'd only need to fire one shot and the whole world would go quiet."
"You're not getting out of this. Without handing over the gun, I'm not going back…"
Shiller had been waiting for that sentence. Not even a second after Natasha finished speaking, a scream came from the neighboring ward. Natasha instinctively reached for her gun, and saw a bunch of medical staff rushing toward the next room.
Natasha went out with her gun in hand. Intense sounds came from next door again—it seemed Luther was cursing someone, and there were sounds of things being thrown. After more than ten minutes, Natasha came back looking slightly disheveled.
"He's completely insane! Instead of staying in the VIP ward of his top private hospital, what the hell is he doing here?!" Natasha started picking bits of glass out of her hair.
She had just begun to holster her gun when there was a thud from next door, followed immediately by Happy's roar. Natasha dashed out again without missing a beat.