Not only Jay, but shocking changes unfolded in the broadcast, even causing Tetsuo to straighten up instinctively. A group of department directors seated behind him gasped in unison. Everyone rose, eyes glued to the screen in disbelief as the images flickered before them.
[ Tony was asleep, his whole body twitching as if caught in a nightmare. ]
[ Pepper woke abruptly, rushing over to Tony: "Tony, Tony, what's wrong?" ]
[ Pepper kept shaking Tony's arm. Suddenly, a mechanical arm shot out, grabbing Charisse's wrist and slamming her against the bed. ]
[ "Ah!" Pepper cried out in panic. At some point, the Mark 42 suit appeared by the bed, sensors fixed intently on Pepper. ]
[ Tony sprang awake, leaping upright and shouting: "Shut down!" ]
[ The suit's lights flickered and went dark. Tony made a sweeping gesture, and the suit disassembled instantly, its parts clattering to the floor. Pepper gasped, breath hitching. ]
[ Tony collapsed onto the floor, hurriedly saying: "I must have triggered it in my sleep. This should never happen." He looked up and added, "I'll recalibrate the sensors." ]
[ "Can we, let me just catch my breath first?" Pepper, still trembling, rose and paced the room. She sobbed, "I'm going downstairs to sleep, you go ahead..." ]
[ Tony reached out to her: "Don't leave me, Pepper… okay?" He glanced at the wreckage on the floor and leaned back onto the bed. ]
Tetsuo narrowed his eyes, slowly sinking back into his chair. Jay tossed a shattered pen into the trash can.
"Very serious," she whispered. "The brain-wave fluctuations must have been extreme. All systems were ready to deploy Mark 42."
Tetsuo nodded. "That's up to him. If he can't pass this level, it could become a recurring barrier."
Jay said nothing. Honestly, Tony still commanded her respect. She'd pondered it more than once: wearing a steel suit, carrying a nuclear bomb into space, very compelling.
"I hope he pulls through this," she murmured.
The scene of Mark 42 assembling itself mid-sleep had sent the audience into shock.
"Damn! It just grabbed Pepper."
"Did Mark 42 sense Tony's thoughts and activate itself?"
"That's dangerous to even speculate!"
"If Tony's anxiety isn't resolved and he falls asleep again, could this happen all over?"
"I suppose so…"
"Tony must be helpless, I can feel his pain."
"Actually, Pepper sacrifices so much for Tony."
"But now isn't the time to judge that. I'm worried about something else."
"Do you remember the purple sweet-potato essence? The Avengers are gone somewhere unknown now."
The audience was horrified. Terra-Earth's Age was flawed. Many believed the purple entity was the root cause. Tony's anxiety had worsened. The other Avengers couldn't locate him. Their hearts hung in the balance.
"It's probably Tony's serious illness. Then the purple entity struck, and he couldn't resist the attack."
"That would be hopeless!"
"I don't know, but if our Federation survives to this point, the outcome isn't necessarily grim."
"Anyway, Tony is the key. Did you notice? It was during the Chitauri battle."
"Putting aside Tony's heroic feat of sending a nuke into space, his brilliance and gear were instrumental throughout."
"Yes, Tony didn't tell Rhodey just now that he's got a lot of high-tech equipment."
"Hope Tony gets better soon."
Viewer comments flooded the screen, concern mounting over whether Tony could recover safely.
The image flickered.
[ In front of a show venue, a solitary middle-aged man sat on a bench, clutching an iron card in his hand, his face unsettled. A bald man in a suit, carrying a box, approached him directly. ]
[ "Can you hold it?" asked the bald man. ]
[ The middle-aged man nodded: "I can bear it." ]
[ "Are you sure?" ]
[ "Yes." ]
[ Nearby, Happy watched through mirrored sunglasses as the bald man placed the box on the man's lap. The man opened it. The bald man walked away. ]
[ Seeing this, Happy hurried over. As the man rose to leave, Happy bumped into him, knocking the box to the ground and scattering its contents. "Sorry, let me help you pick that up." ]
[ The two men locked eyes, and the middle-aged man's face flushed crimson. ]
"Wow! Did you see that just now?" someone exclaimed.
"I did! Something's off about that guy!"
"I think I've seen that red pattern somewhere…"
"It matches Maya's potted plant! After broken branches, it regrows with that fiery red pattern."
"That's terrifying!"
"Could it be… the human experiment of the Extremis virus succeeded?"
Happy's tracking was sharp; he found someone.
At Human Potential Organization, Ashton looked at the screen in surprise and asked Kayden beside him, "That was the Extremis virus in action just now, right?"
Kayden nodded. "Yes, just like the change from the last episode."
Ashton stared blankly. "Doesn't this mean the Extremis virus really works in a human body?"
Kayden forced a smile. "It seems so, based on his appearance, but it still feels more complicated than that."
Ashton didn't reply. He kept watching the broadcast.
[ After helping pack up, Happy rose and walked out with a strange device in his hand. Suddenly, he collided with someone. Turning back, it was the bald man. ]
[ "What are you doing, man, did you sneak out alone? Date night? Coming to your favorite romance film?" asked the bald man. ]
[ Happy forced a casual tone: "Yeah… a little movie called 'The End of the Party'." ]
[ "The protagonist is you and your drug-addicted girlfriend," smirked the bald man. ]
[ Happy pulled out the device he'd just acquired. "This is a movie ticket." ]
[ The bald man tilted his head. "Don't joke, this isn't your thing." ]
[ He grabbed Happy's arm, but Happy punched him in the head. The bald man's face reddened and contorted. In a flash, the broken nose bridge, shattered by Happy's punch, reset to normal without a single drop of blood. ]
[ Stunned, Happy tried to strike again, but the bald man caught his arm and threw him across the booths with a backhand. ]
A chair handle broke under Kayden's support, and Ashton looked at Kayden in surprise.
Thoughtful, she said hesitantly: "That just now was the manifestation of the Extremis virus! The broken nose bridge restored in a blink, it was remarkable!"
Watching that scene, Kayden's mind surged. The Extremis virus had truly appeared in a human, and he seemed to control it, with no sign of discomfort.
"Control… this bald man definitely masters the Extremis virus." After swallowing the implications, all previous speculation and unknowns seemed clear. The change in the bald man confirmed it definitively.