After leaving the hospital, Henry smiled at his wife and reassured her: "Relax, didn't the doctor say everything is fine?"
Henry had actually regained consciousness on the way to the hospital in the ambulance. He initially felt fine and didn't want to go, but finally conceded to his wife's insistence and went for a full body check-up.
After the examination, the doctor found no signs of any illness. The doctor attributed it only to prolonged mental stress, advised Henry to rest, and prescribed some ordinary painkillers.
His wife's expression softened slightly as she nodded: "The doctor said your headache and sudden faint might be due to your nerves being too strained recently, and he told you to take more time off to rest. Hasn't your company already passed the difficult phase?"
"I think you should seize this chance to take a leave of absence from work and properly relax."
Henry looked at his wife with a gentle gaze but firmly shook his head: "After the series of turbulences we went through, the company's operations are only just stabilizing. I really can't leave right now."
"Besides, didn't the doctor give me painkillers? Don't worry, it won't be a big deal. Just one or two more weeks. Once the business connecting our company with Stark Industries Group is fully on track, I can take it easier."
"When the kids are on vacation, I'll take a few days off and take the whole family on a trip."
"But..." Henry's wife still looked hesitant, wanting to say more.
"It's fine. Let's just hurry home now. Don't let our son and daughter worry," Henry smiled gently and nudged his wife's shoulder.
"Alright, but don't work yourself too hard at the company. If you feel tired, you should rest appropriately," his wife finally cautioned.
"Don't worry, I know my own body. I want to live to a hundred, seeing the two little ones go to prestigious universities and start their own families."
"It's getting late now, so don't worry too much. Let's hurry back and rest. That way, the kids won't be scared at home. If I don't get a good rest tonight, it will really be bad for my health, since I have to go to work tomorrow morning."
"Okay, okay, you have a point." His wife gave Henry a helpless look: "I won't say any more. Let's go home quickly."
"Tony, are you actually playing a game in your own lab?" Pepper Potts walked into the villa's underground laboratory with a stack of documents and looked with some surprise at Tony Stark, who was staring at a video game on a virtual projection screen.
Pepper Potts had served as Tony's secretary and personal assistant for about ten years, and she believed she understood Tony's daily habits very well. She even remembered things like Tony Stark's Social Security account number for him.
Therefore, Pepper knew very well that Tony Stark's daily hobbies were always parties, beautiful women, and sleeping around. She had never seen him interested in video games before.
When Tony saw Pepper entering the lab with the documents, he casually took a sip of the high-end red wine at his side, took another bite of his burger, and asked, "Is something wrong?"
Pepper nodded: "The military is already preparing to hold a hearing, looking to seize your armor. According to information the company has received, they have secretly approached Justin Hammer of Hammer Industries as a consultant."
"You need to prepare in advance."
As for how Pepper knew about the military's secret plan? Stark Industries Group had been deeply involved in the American military manufacturing industry for so many years, so it naturally had its own connections and channels. An event like a hearing would certainly require the attendance of various personnel, making it impossible to maintain strict secrecy.
Tony snorted coldly and smiled contemptuously when he heard this: "They must be dreaming, thinking that finding that clown Justin can get the Iron Man suit from me? Justin is not a concern at all. I suppose he's a qualified businessman."
"But when it comes to weapon manufacturing, he's basically an outsider, if not completely clueless. There's no need to pay too much attention to such an amateur. Just keep a slight watch on their petty moves behind the scenes. I have my own way to deal with them."
"Alright." Pepper nodded. Since Tony was aware of the situation, this matter was not a problem and didn't require her concern.
She continued: "After closing the weapons manufacturing division, Stark Industries needs a complete transformation. All members of the company's board of directors are requesting your attendance at this board meeting."
Tony raised an eyebrow: "You are the president of Stark Industries Group now. You can decide everything related to Stark Industries Group's business yourself."
Pepper's eyes softened. Although her boss was rebellious and often did things that made life difficult, his trust in her was unquestionable.
However, Pepper still shook her head: "The board members must see you—Tony Stark—to feel reassured. Only your genius mind, Tony Stark, can give them hope for the future of Stark Industries Group."
"Please, just do it for me, Tony."
"Fine. Since you put it that way, I'll make time to attend the board meeting," Tony replied, shrugging his shoulders, his expression softening slightly when he heard Pepper's slightly pleading tone.
"Why the sudden interest in video games?" After finishing the serious business, Pepper's attention turned to the game displayed on the virtual screen in front of him. As Tony's assistant for a considerable time, she was responsible for arranging Tony's daily life.
Tony's interests were simple: besides research and invention in weapons and technology, it was beautiful women, parties, and cheeseburgers.
Tony waved his hand: "I just wanted to study the characters and mechanisms of these games. These so-called video games are too simple for me. There's no need to play them if I can beat them effortlessly."
Tony was extremely confident. He entered MIT at 14 and graduated from the Electrical Engineering department at 17, completing all undergraduate and doctoral courses in three years. A mere video game, even if he had never played it, would definitely not pose any challenge.
"Then why are you suddenly interested in the mechanisms of these games?" Pepper asked with interest.
"Is that... the footage of your fight with Iron Monger earlier? So Iron Monger was destroyed by this monster, is this the monster Colonel Rhodes mentioned?" Pepper looked around and was immediately drawn to a screen showing the footage. Tony's figure in the Iron Man suit was clearly visible, and next to him, Iron Monger was being destroyed by a Bugster monster.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.," Tony called out to his AI butler.
Hearing Tony call him, J.A.R.V.I.S. understood and brought up the footage of Brave and Snipe fighting the Bugster monster that had been recorded earlier in the virtual screen, zooming in and playing it.
"Those two mechs look quite cute. Are they your latest armored suits? And what's that monster?" Pepper immediately assumed the Kamen Riders Brave and Snipe in the footage were secret suits Tony had invented.
"The armor these two people are wearing has nothing to do with me, and there's no way I would design suits with that kind of appearance!" Tony Stark's face darkened, and he stated categorically.
"It wasn't manufactured by you? Is there anyone else in America capable of manufacturing this kind of fully-covered, full-exoskeleton steel armor?" Pepper asked, sounding quite surprised.
Tony gently shook his head: "If it were just ordinary exoskeleton armor, I wouldn't be so concerned. The key is what comes next. J.A.R.V.I.S., speed up the playback."
"Yes, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. responded, accelerating the playback of the battle footage, which showed various dazzling attack effects that looked just like game skills.
Also, after the monster was defeated, it simply vanished into thin air. Finally, Li Hua and Elena, who transformed into Kamen Rider Brave and Snipe, disappeared into thin air through something that looked like a teleportation circle.
Pepper was shocked, her mouth slightly open: "What on earth is going on? They are simply..."
She was momentarily at a loss for the right descriptive words.
Tony took over: "The entire battle is exactly like game characters fighting monsters!"
"That is why the Sir asked me to collect and analyze different video games," J.A.R.V.I.S. interjected.
"Have you found any useful information?" Pepper asked curiously.
"The appearance and features of the armor on those two individuals are very distinct. They are exactly like the main player-controlled characters that appear in many games. However, the one using a gun should be from a shooting game, and the one using a sword should be from a combat or adventure game like a knight or hero," J.A.R.V.I.S. displayed the images of Kamen Rider Brave and Snipe, annotating their features and explaining.
"Including the appearance of the monster and its attack methods, they all highly conform to patterns found in games," Tony added.
"So, someone manufactured these two suits based on the appearance of game characters?" Pepper was slightly astonished: "Why choose a game character as the model for such advanced exoskeleton armor? Is there some special significance to this?"
Tony waved his hand and complained: "Who knows? Maybe it's just because the creator is maniacally obsessed with games, so they created such tasteless armored suits."
"Even their self-proclaimed name, 'Kamen Rider,' is exactly like the hero characters in a B-movie written by a third-rate screenwriter."
[Common Tony Stark L]
"Bugster Virus... Kamen Rider..." Tony pondered inwardly, but he did not tell Pepper all the information related to the Bugster Virus.
After the Iron Monger incident, Tony was unwilling to involve Pepper in such bizarre and hard-to-control events. He preferred for her to safely serve as the president of Stark Industries Group, so he did not completely disclose everything to Pepper.
"But it looks like they don't seem to have any ill will toward you. They shouldn't be enemies. But who else in all of America, besides you, has the ability to manufacture exoskeleton armor with this kind of performance?"
"Have you found out their origin?" Pepper asked curiously.
(End of Chapter)