"Maybe you two really can spare some time to come to the company. I really can't handle all of this alone." She paused, then looked at Henry.
"By the way, Henry, the Dr. Helen Cho you asked me to recruit has arrived in New York from Korea. She is now the head of our Stark Industries Biotechnology Lab. In fact, she joined a week ago." Pepper really wanted to complain. She was just an assistant before, and now she's basically a senior overworked employee.
Shaking her head helplessly, she said, "Honestly, sometimes I really wonder whose company this is? I feel like I'm the real CEO."
Henry looked at Tony and shrugged innocently. "Isn't that true?"
Tony nodded in agreement. "Always has been."
Pepper rolled her eyes, deciding not to argue with the two jerks anymore.
Henry smiled and walked into the living room. He casually tossed the two still-unconscious men he was carrying onto the carpet with two dull thuds.
Regarding recruiting Helen Cho, it was Henry's idea, of course. He knew very well that this genius female doctor from Korea was researching a cutting-edge technology that could change the world: the Cradle of Life. Initially, he just thought this technology was very promising for... well, treating minor injuries and bruises. But now, it seemed the technology was very useful.
Once he developed the new element and conquered nanotechnology, he could definitely use the Cradle of Life to completely heal the large hole in Tony's chest and create an external Arc Reactor. That would be much cooler, and more importantly, it would allow him to do more things.
Yes, that's right. His goal was absolutely for his dear older brother, and definitely not because Dr. Helen Cho was quite pretty. Absolutely not.
Thinking this, Henry comfortably sat down on the sofa. Tony had already poured a glass of red wine and was chatting with Pepper about company matters, with Henry occasionally interjecting to ruthlessly attack Tony's "genius" ideas.
After chatting for a while, Henry put down his glass.
"Alright, the time for reminiscing and flirting is over," he clapped his hands, a smile on his face.
"Come on, time to do some serious work."
"What serious work?" Tony asked in return.
"Shouldn't we have a party first to celebrate our narrow escape from death?"
"The party can wait," Henry said, pointing at the two unconscious men on the floor.
"Before that, we need to interrogate our captives."
"Interrogate?" Pepper looked at the two men with some concern.
"Wouldn't that be too dangerous?"
"Don't worry, Pepper," Henry winked at her.
"With me here, even if they turn into Godzilla, they won't cause any trouble. Besides, we need to welcome our new guests, don't we?"
With his bio-force field surrounding them, the two men had been sleeping soundly. So soundly, in fact, that they looked like two two-hundred-pound babies.
Of course, who would have thought that Abomination and the Hulk would be simultaneously knocked out?
It was truly an eye-opener. Seeing them sleeping side-by-side, Henry felt like his eyes were Thanos snapping his fingers—half-closed, half wide open.
As he spoke, he snapped his fingers.
"Jarvis, wake them up."
"Affirmative, Sir." Jarvis immediately responded.
The next second, the living room ceiling silently split open, and a thin mechanical arm slowly extended from inside. Then, under the watchful eyes of Tony and Pepper, two tiny hands emerged from the end of the mechanical arm.
Henry was also stunned. He hadn't expected Jarvis to wake them up like this. It was like Groot carrying a welding torch to carve flowers—a perfect blend of violence and refined craftsmanship!
SMACK! SMACK!
Two crisp sounds echoed. The tiny hands accurately slapped Banner and Blonsky across the face.
Tony and Pepper couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"I have to say, Jarvis, that design is brilliant!" Tony praised.
"Yes, it's full of dark humor. I love it," Pepper added, smiling.
The two men on the floor, woken up by the loving slaps, sat up blankly.
"Uh..." Bruce Banner rubbed his slightly red cheek, looking confusedly at the three people in front of him.
"Did someone just hit me? Are you... Henry Stark? And Tony Stark? Wait, where is this?" He felt like he had a long nightmare, only to wake up in a different place. It felt like his rationality was dropping dramatically after transforming—his mind said stop, the Hulk said play with mud!
"I'm so sorry," he said subconsciously, his face filled with guilt and anxiety.
"Did... did the big guy hurt you? Uh, you know, the green guy."
Blonsky, who was clearly more lucid than Banner, responded coldly.
"The green big guy was just beaten to within an inch of his life by this much more unreasonable Playboy here, then knocked out."
He then looked at Henry.
"This must be his Malibu villa. Tell me, Mr. World's Richest Man, what do you plan to do with us?"
Banner was utterly confused. He looked at Henry in disbelief.
"You beat the Hulk?"
As the person who knew the Hulk best in the world, he knew how terrifying that green monster's power was. And this man, who looked about the same age, or even younger than him, actually defeated him?
"Are you a superhero, too?"
"Oh? Are you complimenting me?" Henry raised an eyebrow, his tone irritatingly smug.
"Thank you. However, I prefer to be called a genius."
"As for you, Big Guy," Tony also interjected.
"You did cause us quite a bit of trouble. But, seeing as you helped us test my brother's combat capabilities, and casually helped with some urban renewal in New York, I'll let it slide."
"Exactly. You're in my house now," Henry crossed his legs, looking at them casually.
"As for bringing you back, you have two choices." He held up two fingers.
"First, become my test subjects. Let me thoroughly research the secrets in your bodies. Second, join my team. It's much better than one of you constantly running around like a street rat, and the other acting like a mad dog being used as a weapon, isn't it?"
"And as long as you stay here with me, I guarantee that no one in this world will dare to take you away."
Banner was completely bewildered. He hadn't expected Henry to not only have similar abilities to the Hulk but also want to recruit him? His face instantly changed when he heard the word "research," but then he fell silent again after hearing the rest.
"I'm General Ross's man," Blonsky said coldly.
"Do you think he'll let this go? And it seems you Stark brothers still haven't solved the government's problem with wanting you to hand over your Armor, have you?"
"That's no problem," Tony waved his hand dismissively.
"No one can take what belongs to us from the Starks. Not even the government."
×××××××××××××××
If you're interested, you can read advanced chapters:
p-atreon.com/Heroicverse