"Maybe you two really should make some time to visit the company. I can't handle everything alone."
Pepper paused, then looked over at Henry.
"By the way, Henry, the Dr. Helen Cho you asked me to recruit has already arrived from South Korea. She's now heading Stark Industries' Biotech Lab. In fact, she's been on the job for a week already."
Pepper really wanted to complain—she was supposed to be just an assistant, yet somehow ended up working like a senior manager.
Shaking her head helplessly, she muttered, "Honestly, sometimes I really wonder, whose company is this anyway? Why do I feel like I'm the real CEO?"
Henry glanced at Tony and shrugged innocently. "Isn't that the case?"
Tony nodded in full agreement. "Exactly, it always has been."
Pepper rolled her eyes, deciding it wasn't worth arguing with these two idiots.
Henry chuckled and followed them toward the living room. The two unconscious men in his hands were casually tossed onto the carpet with a dull thud.
Recruiting Helen Cho had, of course, been Henry's idea.
He knew very well that this genius doctor from Korea was working on a piece of world-changing black technology: The Cradle of Life.
At first, he thought the tech was simply promising—something that could be used to treat injuries and the like.
But now? It was far more impressive than he expected.
Once he finished developing the new element and cracked nanotech, he could combine it with the Cradle of Life to fully heal the hole in Tony's chest—then design an external arc reactor.
It'd look cooler, and more importantly, open up countless new possibilities.
Yes, that was absolutely his motivation.
Definitely not because Dr. Cho happened to be attractive.
Absolutely not.
With that thought, Henry stretched out comfortably on the sofa.
Tony had already poured himself a glass of wine and was chatting with Pepper about company matters, with Henry occasionally jumping in to mock Tony's so-called genius ideas.
After a while, Henry set his glass down.
"Alright, reunion and flirting time is over." He clapped his hands, smiling.
"Let's get down to business."
"What business?" Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Shouldn't we be throwing a party first, celebrate our miraculous survival?"
"The party can wait." Henry pointed at the two still-unconscious men on the floor.
"First, we interrogate our guests."
"Interrogate?" Pepper looked at them with worry. "Isn't that dangerous?"
"Relax, Pepper." Henry winked.
"With me here, even if they turned into Godzilla, they wouldn't make a ripple. Besides, we should welcome our new guests, don't you think?"
Wrapped in his bio-field, the two had been sleeping soundly—like two oversized children, nearly 200 pounds each.
After all, who would've thought that Abomination and Hulk could both be knocked out at the same time?
Looking at them snoozing side by side, Henry felt like Thanos snapping his fingers—one eye half-closed, the other wide open.
With a snap of his own fingers, he said, "Jarvis, wake them up."
"Right away, sir."
The ceiling split open silently, and a slender mechanical arm extended downward.
To Henry's surprise—and to Tony and Pepper's amusement—the arm ended with two little mechanical palms.
Even Henry was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected Jarvis to wake them up like this.
It was like Groot wielding a welding torch—brutality mixed with finesse.
Smack! Smack!
Two crisp slaps landed squarely on Banner and Blonsky's faces.
Tony and Pepper burst out laughing.
"Jarvis, I have to say, that's brilliant!" Tony praised.
"Yes, deliciously mean-spirited. I love it," Pepper added with a grin.
The two men stirred awake, sitting up groggily with dazed expressions.
"Uh…"
Bruce Banner rubbed his reddened cheek, blinking at the three in front of him.
"Did someone just hit me? You're… Henry Stark? And Tony Stark? Wait, where is this?"
It felt like he had woken from a long nightmare, only to find himself in a completely different place.
The feeling was like transforming into the Hulk—your brain saying stop, but Hulk saying let's play in the mud!
"I'm sorry," he blurted, guilt written all over his face.
"That… big guy, did he hurt anyone? You know, the green one."
"You mean the green one that this unreasonable playboy beat down until he doubted his life—then knocked him out cold?"
Blonsky, clearly more clear-headed than Banner, answered coolly before turning his eyes to Henry.
"This must be his Malibu villa. So tell me, Mr. World's Richest Man, why did you bring us here?"
Banner froze, staring at Henry in disbelief.
"You… beat the Hulk?"
No one knew better than him how terrifying Hulk could be. And yet this man—who looked younger than him—had defeated him?
"You're… a superpowered human too?"
"Oh? Is that a compliment?" Henry arched an eyebrow, smug.
"Thanks, but I prefer being called a genius."
"As for you, big guy," Tony chimed in,
"You did cause us a lot of trouble. But since you helped test my brother's combat power and even gave New York City a round of urban renewal, I'll let it slide."
"That's right, you're in my house now." Henry crossed his legs and looked at them with a relaxed smile.
"As for beating Hulk? Was that supposed to be hard? The angrier he gets, the stronger he becomes, right? Well, so do I. The difference is, I know how to control it. I simply calmed him down in a more civilized way before he went completely berserk. If he had fully lost control, sure, he would've been terrifying. But I'd never give him that chance."
He paused, his smile turning more meaningful.
"As for why you're here, you've got two options." He held up two fingers.
"Option one: become my lab rats. Let me study the secrets inside your bodies. Option two: join my team. Better than being a hunted fugitive or a mad dog used as someone else's weapon, don't you think?"
"And as long as you stay under my roof, I promise—no one in this world can take you away."
Banner was completely dumbfounded.
Not only did Henry have Hulk-like abilities, but now he wanted to recruit him?
The word research made his face darken, but after hearing the rest, he hesitated.
"I serve General Ross," Blonsky said coldly. "You think he'll just let this go? And you Starks still haven't dealt with the government breathing down your necks, demanding those suits of armor, have you?"
"That's not a problem." Tony waved dismissively.
"No one takes what belongs to the Starks. Not even the government."
***
Very close to 120 stones guys just few more
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