"What? No! Pepper, don't look at me like that!"
Tony raised his hands, his eyes behind his sunglasses filled with innocence and horror, his speech rate soaring: "I don't know her! God as my witness, I never get involved with minors! This is definitely not some romantic debt of mine! There's no such person in my brain's database!"
"Is that so?" Pepper raised an eyebrow. "Then whose child is she, or is she just a crazy fan of yours?"
"How should I know? Jarvis? Are you asleep?" Tony shouted into the air.
Just then, Jarvis's voice sounded in Tony's invisible earpiece, carrying a rare hint of confusion and vigilance: "Sir, I apologize, but I must warn you to maintain your distance from that target."
"What?" Tony was stunned. "She's just a little girl, Jarvis."
"No, Sir." Jarvis's voice became somewhat low. "Scans show... her biomagnetic field was extremely abnormal just now. I detected a massive, highly unstable energy source, but I cannot analyze its composition. It's as if... she's carrying some kind of unknown reactor inside her body."
Tony's brow furrowed slightly.
An unstable energy source?
An unknown reactor?
For real?
He looked back at the girl, a hint of scrutiny in his eyes, but on the surface, he maintained his cynical demeanor.
Tony straightened his collar and strode over, but deliberately maintained a subtle safety distance.
"Hey! Uh... little girl?" Tony bent down, speaking in the tone one would use with a lost child. "While I appreciate your infiltration skills, this is private property after all. Whose child are you? Are you lost? Or do you want an autograph?"
As he spoke, he pulled out a checkbook from his pocket and shook it: "Or, are you the daughter of some former... cough, friend? Listen, I'm busy. If you're here to collect child support for someone, you might have the wrong person."
Reze slowly stood up, hands behind her back, tilting her head with a shy smile that seemed a bit embarrassed to speak: "Um... Mr. Stark."
Reze's voice was soft and sweet, with a slight tremor as if she had gathered immense courage: "I'm not here for an autograph."
"I... I'm here to get money."
"Get money?" Tony froze for a moment, looking at the girl's 'wrong but bold' appearance, and then laughed in spite of himself.
Yes, this was Su Modie and Reze's plan—to go straight to the door and ask for money, the most unadorned approach.
As for whether he'd give it, that was another matter. There were ways to ask if he gave, and ways to ask if he didn't... Tony put his sunglasses back on and shrugged: "Alright, a very creative reason."
"How much do you want? Five hundred? A thousand? Take it and buy a new backpack, or get a nicer collar."
Reze quietly looked at the self-righteous man before her.
Thousands of miles away, Su Modie watched this scene through the shared vision and couldn't help but laugh out loud on her bed: "As expected of a fat cat... since you're so insistent on throwing money around, I won't be polite."
A flash of mischief crossed Reze's emerald eyes.
She didn't take Tony's bait; instead, she reached out a fair palm, palm up, and spread it out in front of Tony.
The action was blunt and straightforward.
"Don't worry, I don't know any of those friends of yours."
Although Reze's voice was still sweet, her tone became somewhat entitled: "But since you plan to give money, that's perfect."
Tony shrugged, reaching for his pen: "That's the spirit. How much? Is twenty thousand enough? That's quite a lot of pocket money."
"I won't ask for much, I only want..."
Reze looked at him, her rosy lips parting slightly as she held up one finger, uttering a number that made Tony's hand movements jerk to a halt: "One million."
Tony was stunned.
He looked up, staring at the purple-haired girl in front of him as if she were a lunatic:
"Sorry, I think I misheard? How much did you say?"
"One million," Reze repeated. "Cash only."
[villainess value +3]
The "I was planning to brush off a kid" expression on Tony's face froze instantly, then turned into a sense of absurdity, as if he were looking at an idiot.
With a "snap," he closed his checkbook, tucked it back into his suit pocket, and a sarcastic sneer curled at the corner of his mouth:
"Whoa, whoa, hold on, I think there might be some misunderstanding between us."
Tony took off his sunglasses and pointed at Reze with the temple arm: "Listen, little sister, although I'm very rich, that doesn't mean I'm an idiot who just throws money away. One million in cash? Do you know what that concept even is? Unless you're some future heir to Stark Industries I don't know about, that price—"
He made an exaggerated gesture: "No way."
"Not a single cent. I'll call security to throw you out, even though I really don't want to get rough with a little girl."
Just as Tony was about to turn and leave, Jarvis's voice suddenly rang in his invisible earpiece, his speech rate unusually fast:
"Sir, please wait. I have just completed a retrospective analysis of the atmospheric flow around the Villa."
"Jarvis, if you're trying to tell me it's going to rain today, then shut up," Tony said impatiently.
"No, Sir. Data shows that this lady did not enter through any terrestrial path."
Jarvis's voice carried a cold mechanical logic, yet it reached a crazy conclusion: "Based on atmospheric pressure disturbances and instantaneous wind speed calculations... she fell directly here from a high altitude at high speed."
Tony's footsteps came to a sudden halt.
"What? Are you joking?" He subconsciously looked back at the seemingly weak purple-haired girl.
High altitude, high-speed fall?
The other party was still standing there, without moving a single finger. On that face as exquisite as a doll's, the smile seemed to have become somewhat eerie.
That kind of smile was like a hunter watching prey fall into a trap.
"What's wrong, Mr. Stark?" Reze tilted her head and took a small step forward.
This step was very light, but it caused Jarvis to have an unusually direct stress response.
"Warning! Immediate armed intervention recommended! Immediate evasion recommended!"
Jarvis was 'hissing' frantically, leaving Tony completely bewildered.
Tony only felt his scalp tingle. Visually, a cute girl-next-door was asking him for money; she might be thick-skinned, but she seemed harmless.
But his AI butler was warning him frantically, telling him that a reactor monster that fell from the sky was standing right in front of him?
Damn it, either he was possessed, or Jarvis had a virus.
This massive sense of disconnect left him completely unable to grasp the situation, but he still instinctively made a choice.
Better safe than sorry!
"Dammit... I knew I shouldn't have gone out today!" Tony looked at Reze, his body suddenly retreating, while shouting at Pepper not far away:
"Pepper! Give me that red case! Fast!!"
"What? Tony, we're in a hurry..."
"Hand me that briefcase! Now! Immediately!"
Tony's eyes were still fixed on the purple-haired girl, who remained calm and composed, as if she were some man-eating Beast..
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