21st Floor.

  As soon as Peter entered Pepper's office, he crumpled the phone he receptionist had given him into a ball and tossed it into the trash.

  Pepper stood up when she saw someoer.

  She was wearing a professional suit, her figure slim, with faint freckles on her face. Like Gwen, she had blonde hair, though it cked some of the luster and looked a bit worn out.

  This was uandable. After all, she was secretly in love with a pyboy.

  Of the twelve cover models from Maxim magazi year, eleven had slept with Tony Stark.

  Watg the man you love sleep with other women would make anyone anxious and irritable.

  "Hello, do we know each other?"

  Pepper looked at the high school student in front of her with fusion.

  "Sorry, Miss Potts, we've never met before. I'm here because I have something urgent to discuss."

  With that, Peter pulled out his phone.

  "Take a look at this, and you'll uand."

  Pepper cautiously took the phone, and the image on it indeed shocked her.

  "Oh my God, what is this?"

  "Exactly."

  Peter tinued:

  "It's beled as Stark Industries."

  "Forty minutes ago, on Angelina Avenue, a few blocks away, a criminal driving a Rhino Armor attacked a bank, causing casualties."

  "And the thing he was driving—or at least some of its ons—were produced by your pany."

  "Almost everyone in the try knows Stark Industries is a defense tractor. Now, this teology has fallen into the hands of criminals."

  "I assume you don't want this to bee publiowledge."

  After saying this, Peter paused.

  Why did that sound like something out of a political speech?

  He quickly added:

  "If this gets out, it could affect Stark Industries' stock price."

  Pepper's expression turned serious.

  "Thank you fing this to my attention."

  "I'll look into the authenticity of this matter."

  Pepper replied politely.

  Just then, a voice came from the inner room of the office.

  "o thank him!"

  "I've seey of these money-grabbing tricks before."

  Tony Stark, wearing a shirt, walked out of the room.

  He patted Peter on the shoulder.

  "Kid, are you in college yet? When I was in college, I liked to mess with people too, but I argeted billionaires."

  Peter eechless…

  Typical Tony, his words dripping with sarcasm.

  "Tony!"

  Pepper's tone was stern.

  "He's just a kid, and he came here out of goodwill."

  Tony leaned against the desk, p himself a gss of red wine.

  "A kid? e on."

  "What kid sweet-talk a beautiful receptionist in just a few sentences?"

  "Sorry, I didn't mean to spy, but I happeo be bored and saw it on the security feed."

  "I have to say, your pickup skills are better than mine. I'll have to remember that trick…"

  "Tony!" Pepper interrupted him again.

  She then apologized sio Peter.

  "I'm sorry. My boss isn't quite right in the head."

  Tony: "??"

  "Excuse me, are you saying a genius isn't right in the head?"

  "I bet the photo on this kid's phone is photoshopped."

  "The goal is to scam some money."

  "If you don't believe me, I taeone in the military right now. By tonight, we'll know the truth. There's no way the ons on that Rhino Armor came from Stark Industries."

  "I trust Obadiah Stane pletely. He was my father's business parthere's no way he'd sell ons to the wrong people."

  Peter was utterly exasperated.

  So frustrating…

  He had already decided that tonight, he'd ge into his suit and approach Tony with a different identity to discuss this matter.

  As for Obadiah Stane, whom Tony had mentioned, Peter was familiar with him too.

  He was the main antagonist in Iron Man 1, secretly selling ons to the Middle East and plotting against Tony.

  But because he was a friend of Howard Stark, Tony trusted him pletely.

  "Mr. Stark, since you don't believe me, there's nothing more I say."

  Peter left with those words.

  "Why not stay for a drink? We chat about pickup teiques. I'll pay, and you provide the expertise?"

  Peter ignored him pletely.

  After he left, Pepper stomped her foot in frustration.

  "Tony, you're being pletely unreasonable!"

  With that, she also left the office.

  Tony shrugged nontly, downing the gss of red wine.

  He then sat in his office chair and tacted his military friend, el Rhodes.

  His goal was to prove that the ons on the so-called Rhino Armor had nothing to do with Stark Industries.

  An hour ter, as the sky darkened, he received Rhodes' reply.

  "Tony, those ons are indeed from Stark Industries. We've reviewed the street footage, and it clearly shows the Stark Industries logo. Our teis have also disassembled the armor, and all the core ons are from your pany."

  "What?!!"

  Tony couldn't believe his ears.

  Although he was the pany's CEO, sales were handled by Obadiah.

  Could it really be…?

  Tony's expression turned grave as he muttered to himself:

  "I'll have to apologize to that kid the ime I see him."

  As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of wind swept through the room.

  A man in a trench coat and a ft cap, resembling a British Peaky Blinder, appeared before him.