The air in the garage felt like glass, ready to shatter at the slightest touch.
Pepper's chest heaved. She pointed at the jagged hole in the wall, then at the damaged red-and-gold armor on Tony, her voice trembling with a mixture of anger and residual fear.
"A bird? Tony, you're calling *that* a bird? A bird that can punch through three layers of bulletproof glass and reinforced steel plating?"
"Maybe it was a pterodactyl. The genetically mutated kind." Tony rolled his sore shoulder, trying to dilute the heavy atmosphere with his usual flippancy, but he couldn't stop his eyes from darting away.
Paul silently swallowed the last bite of his burger and tossed the wrapper neatly into the trash. He didn't join the argument, just watched Tony's back.
He knew it wasn't a bird, and certainly not a pterodactyl.
It was an F-22 Raptor.
The apex predator of this planet's skies.
And his father, just a few hours ago, had been inside that metal suit, playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek with two of those 'big birds' in the sky.
No wonder... No wonder there was that hollow look deep in his eyes. It was the mark left by someone who had clawed their way back from the edge of death, having seen through to something on the other side.
"Tony Stark!" Pepper's voice shot up, his attitude driving her mad. "You need to go to a hospital! Now!"
"I'm fine, Pepper. See? Not a scratch." Tony turned, spreading his arms to prove his point, but his pale face betrayed him.
Just as Pepper was about to explode, Tony's gaze shifted to the silent Paul, as if grabbing a lifeline. He abruptly changed the subject.
"Speaking of which, kid, I took care of something for you today."
Paul looked up. He knew this was a classic Tony Stark deflection tactic.
"What is it?"
"Nothing much," Tony said breezily, as if discussing the weather. "Just registered a company for you, and while I was at it, signed over that vacant Stark annex building downtown. Oh, and I already picked out a name for the company. The 'Paul Stark Research and Development Center.' How does that sound? Grand enough for you?"
The air froze again.
Pepper's impending explosion of fury was choked back, her expression one of utter disbelief as she stared at Tony.
Paul was completely stunned.
His brain crashed for a full three seconds before he found his voice. "You... registered a company without my permission?"
A wave of shock, absurdity, and a subtle trace of indignation washed over him. He felt like a child whose parents had arranged his entire life. The 'arrangement' was tempting, but the feeling of being kept in the dark was infuriating.
"Is that the point?" Tony spread his hands, completely unapologetic. "The point is, you're a CEO now, Mr. Paul Stark. You have your own turf. You can mess around with your Baymax and your... whatever... Transformers, as much as you want. Just stop wrecking my garage."
Pepper pressed a hand to her forehead. She couldn't tell if Tony was just messing around or expressing his concern and compensation for Paul in an extremely twisted way.
"Of course, to make sure you have fun," Tony's lips curved into a smug grin. He winked at Paul, dropping the real bombshell. "I had a little gift installed in the basement of that building for you."
Paul's brow was still furrowed, the annoyance lingering.
"An independent, newly upgraded, large-scale Arc Reactor. Enough to power any crazy experiment you can dream up. Energy... unlimited supply."
"..."
*Boom!*
It was as if a thunderclap had exploded in Paul's mind.
An Arc Reactor? An independent, large-scale Arc Reactor? An unlimited energy supply?
The indignation and annoyance that had filled him a second ago were instantly washed away, vanishing without a trace!
His dark pupils instantly lit up, as if countless lines of code and data streams were surging wildly within them, shining with the light of pure ecstasy!
What did that mean? It was a super energy core, at least fifty years ahead of its time! It was the cornerstone of every wild technological concept! With it, his 'Transformers Project' was no longer just a theory on paper! Sideswipe's power source, energy shields, a space-jump engine... every idea that had been constrained by energy limitations was now possible!
"JARVIS!" Paul practically shouted, lunging toward the console. His hands became a blur over the holographic keyboard. "Pull up the complete structural blueprints for the Stark downtown annex building, now! I need to redesign the energy conduits and lab layout for the three sub-basement levels! Establish a new security system, the firewall needs to use a quantum encryption algorithm, set up an independent AI server matrix, and the core codename... will be 'Zhengping'!"
He was completely lost in his own world, his speech impossibly fast, his eyes burning with a fervent flame—the passion of a genius and an infinite hope for the future.
Watching his son instantly return to 'full health,' Tony raised a smug eyebrow, shooting a 'See? Handled' look at the dumbfounded Pepper.
Pepper sighed helplessly. Looking at Paul, who was now completely deaf to the outside world, and then at the triumphant man before her, most of her anger dissipated.
What could she say? This father and son were clearly two madmen cut from the same cloth.
"This between us," Pepper said in a low, warning tone to Tony, "is not over."
"Of course, of course," Tony immediately surrendered with his hands up. Then, while Pepper's attention was still on Paul, he began to discreetly inch toward the garage exit. "I... I just remembered I have a very important file to deal with. Regarding... father-son relationship maintenance! Gotta go!"
Before the words were even out, he was gone.
...
An Audi R8 sped along the Pacific Coast Highway, the setting sun painting the ocean in hues of gold and crimson.
Inside the car, however, Tony Stark was in no mood to appreciate the view.
A fine sheen of sweat had even beaded on his forehead.
The smugness he'd felt driving away from the Stark mansion had vanished without a trace. Now, there was only one thought in his mind. *I'm screwed. This time, Pepper is really angry.*
He had lied to her and almost gotten himself killed. This wasn't something he could smooth over with a new handbag or a few witty remarks.
*Screech—*
The screech of tires against asphalt was deafening as he slammed the multi-million dollar supercar to a halt at a roadside scenic viewpoint.
Tony ran an agitated hand through his hair, pulled out his StarkPhone, and unlocked it.
He took a deep breath, opened his browser, and his fingers hovered over the screen for a long moment before he finally, painstakingly, typed in a search query.
[How to pacify your girlfriend when she's angry? Urgent, waiting online.]
The page loaded, displaying a motley assortment of answers.
"Buy her things! There's no problem a handbag can't solve. If there is, buy two!"
Tony scoffed. Too cliché.
"Cook her a candlelight dinner by hand. Win her over with romance."
Him? Cook? The kitchen would probably explode.
"Sincerely apologize, admit your mistakes, and promise it will never happen again."
That one sounded plausible, but... it felt like something was missing.
His finger continued to scroll down when a bolded headline caught his eye.
[The High-EQ Apology Guide: How to Pull Yourself Back from the Brink of a Breakup!]
Tony's eyes lit up as if he'd found a holy scripture. He tapped it immediately.
"Step One: Your apology must be sincere. Your gaze must be earnest. Let her feel your remorse..."
"Step Two: Proactively hand over the 'weapon' and promise to accept any and all punishment..."
"Step Three: Prove you've changed through concrete actions, such as doing something unexpectedly romantic for her..."
Tony was completely absorbed, his brow furrowed, muttering the words under his breath. With his frustrated, head-scratching demeanor, there wasn't a trace of the billionaire, genius inventor. He looked just like a clueless teenager who had messed up his first relationship.
The last rays of the sunset streamed through the windshield, illuminating a face etched with 'relationship anxiety'.
And he was completely unaware that in a black SUV not far away, a pair of binoculars was capturing his every comical move.