"Mr. Park, is there really no way to bring Tony back?"
Pepper Potts looked utterly exhausted, as if she had aged several years. Although Tony had always been a source of worry for her, this time the mess he had made was simply too enormous.
"Of course not, Miss Potts."
Bant shook his head, his gaze passing over Pepper seated on the other side of the conference room and settling on a television in the Pleiades building.
On the screen, Tony Stark was covered in grime, his face smeared with blood, looking as though he didn't have much time left.
"You can't possibly not know how serious Tony's mistake was this time, can you?" Bant withdrew his gaze and asked quietly.
Pepper's face showed a helpless expression.
Of course she knew.
With Ultron dealt with by Bant, H.A.M.M.E.R. gradually regained control under Norman's leadership, and world order began to stabilize.
But the trouble Tony had stirred up wasn't so easy to smooth over.
To be honest, Ultron's goal had been to destroy the entire world—slapping a label of "attempted omnicide against humanity" on Tony's head wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Fortunately, Ultron hadn't gotten the chance to carry out its plans. Within the borders of America, it had only gone so far as arbitrarily rounding up potential "criminals."
Countless innocent people—many of whom had never committed a crime, or even had any criminal intent whatsoever—were arrested indiscriminately. Fortunately, after H.A.M.M.E.R.'s review, most of them had been released.
Public resentment toward Tony Stark ran deep. The wrongly arrested innocents went without saying, but even those who genuinely had been planning crimes would never admit it honestly—they too pointed their fingers at Tony. A wave of condemnation against Stark swept across the entire nation.
Stark Industries' stock price had plummeted to rock bottom.
But these things were actually still manageable. The people who had been arrested mostly hadn't suffered any real harm—it was simply a matter of spending money to soothe public anger. As for the protests and insults, ignoring them was enough.
The real trouble lay with America's upper echelons, and with Wakanda.
The former because Ultron had directly overthrown the ruling class and seized all their power—even the nuclear launch codes had fallen under Ultron's control. Norman Osborn himself had been one of the victims. At the time, H.A.M.M.E.R. had been reduced to an empty shell, and superheroes had been branded as fugitives.
The latter was because of the war Ultron had waged!
Whether or not it was under Stark's orders didn't matter to the people of Wakanda.
What mattered was that their country had been invaded, their resources plundered, their people slaughtered... In order to obtain vast quantities of vibranium, Ultron had spared no expense, unleashing wave after wave of robots in an assault on Wakanda.
Thanks to Wakanda's formidable technology, the casualties hadn't been devastating, but a great deal of vibranium had been lost.
Vibranium was the foundation of their nation. The old Black Panther could never let this go.
One had to remember—back when Ulysses Klaue had stolen only a small amount of vibranium, he'd already landed himself on their kill list, with T'Challa personally traveling abroad to hunt him down across borders.
The harm Ultron had caused far exceeded anything Ulysses had done, to the point that many tribes in Wakanda harbored serious objections to the old Black Panther's decision to open Wakanda to the outside world.
Their kindness hadn't been met with gratitude—instead, it had brought disaster upon their nation.
During this period, both T'Chaka and T'Challa had been contacting America, demanding that the war criminal Tony Stark be handed over to them for judgment.
Norman could only deflect by claiming that Stark had been arrested by the Celestial Union and would serve his sentence on Sakaar, using the global livestream as cover to stall. But even that couldn't quell their fury.
"Miss Potts, you should understand—if Tony were brought back to Earth right now, the situation he'd face would be far worse than what he's dealing with now."
"I know Stark Industries has deep pockets, but this is no longer something money can solve." Bant shook his head. "The vibranium losses alone already exceed everything Tony owns."
Pepper pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose, pursing her lips as she looked at Bant, her eyes full of resentment.
What vibranium losses?
What losses?!
Ultron had indeed mined a massive amount of vibranium from Wakanda, but that vibranium had been extracted—not vaporized into thin air.
Don't think she didn't know. That vibranium had actually ended up in Bant's hands.
But she naturally couldn't say anything like "hand the vibranium back to Wakanda in exchange for Tony's safety."
Bant had resolved the Ultron crisis; the vibranium was rightfully his spoils of war. No one could say anything about him taking it—even Wakanda hadn't uttered a single word asking Bant to return it.
Did they not know the vibranium had fallen into Bant's hands?
How could they not?
Pepper could only sigh again.
She truly felt exhausted to her core. Nominally she was Tony's girlfriend, but in reality?
She was practically playing both father and mother, following behind that overgrown man-child day in and day out, cleaning up his messes. It was just that this time, the mess Tony had made was far too big.
Seeing her face clouded with worry, Bant couldn't help but shake his head, feeling a touch of sympathy.
Of course, sympathy was sympathy—there was no way he was returning the vibranium!
Those were his spoils of war. He'd finally gotten his hands on that much vibranium fair and square—how could he possibly give it back?
Bant had long since shipped the surplus vibranium to Sakaar via the particle collider that Dr. Otto had built.
That vibranium was barely a drop in the bucket for the Celestial Union's needs. Bant only wished Ultron had mined more—how could he ever return it?
He cleared his throat, steering away from the topic:
"Leaving Tony on Sakaar is already the best possible solution."
"I know that too, it's just..." Pepper shook her head and turned toward the screen, but upon seeing Tony Stark's miserable state on the display, she averted her eyes, unable to bear it.
She lived in constant fear, too afraid to even watch the livestream, terrified of seeing Tony suffer more, terrified that one day he might not make it through...
Pepper's eyes reddened, tears welling up, her voice choked with sobs. "...He's never had to endure so much hardship. You know him—he can't even do his own laundry. He's always had everything handed to him... and without his armor, he... he'll die..."
"I think you may be underestimating him, Miss Potts." Bant shook his head.
He agreed that Tony Stark lived a life of luxury, but that didn't mean the man would simply keel over in a harsh environment.
Putting aside the fact that Bant would never actually stand by and watch Tony die, Tony himself wasn't that fragile.
One had to remember that back in the Middle East, the threats Tony faced had been far more severe than now, yet he'd still managed to escape and create a miracle.
"I know you're worried about him and don't want to see him suffer, but right now it's best if we trust him." Bant said reassuringly. "I can promise you this—Tony won't die."
"I know..." Pepper still hung her head, sobbing quietly.
Of course she knew Bant wouldn't let Tony die. What she wanted was for Tony not to suffer at all.
She felt that Bant was fully capable of secretly bringing Tony back to Earth and fooling everyone with a fake video feed—after all, no one would be able to see through it.
But in the end, she couldn't bring herself to say it.
She opened her mouth, breathing deeply several times before she managed to steady her emotions somewhat. With difficulty, she asked, "Then... when can Tony come back?"
"When people no longer resent him." Bant didn't give a specific date, but he blinked and offered a suggestion.
"If you ask me, Miss Potts, rather than pleading with me here, you'd be better off pleading with the whole world."
"Plead with the whole world?" Pepper was taken aback for a moment, then immediately understood.
Bant certainly didn't mean for her to apologize on behalf of Stark Industries—well, the apology was necessary, and compensation was unavoidable—but more importantly, she needed to leverage the media to publish statements favorable to Tony. For instance, emphasizing that Tony was also a victim, that he'd been exiled into space by Ultron, gradually redirecting people's hatred away from Tony and back onto Ultron.
She wiped her tears and immediately stood up. "I'll get on it right now!"
Pepper left in a hurry.
Bant shook his head. Just then, Mary Jane walked in with documents in hand.
"Little Bant, T'Challa wants to see you. He's still hoping you'll hand Tony over to him."
Mary Jane shook her head helplessly, swaying as she walked to the side of the conference table and leaned her hip against the edge.
She had a fuller figure—a completely different type from Felicia.
The blonde Felicia looked delicate and soft, the white-haired Felicia was full of wild energy, while Mary Jane had a bit more flesh on her. Though still a teenager, she already carried the air of a mature woman.
"He's here again?" Hearing T'Challa's name, Bant's face twisted with disgust.
To be fair, Bant actually rather liked T'Challa as a person. Yes, he was black, but he didn't have most of the bad habits common among black people—honest, upright, and generous. A good friend, at the very least far better than that Nick Fury, whose face was dark and whose heart was darker still.
But even so, he couldn't stand the guy showing up every other day!
These past few days, Bant had seen his face almost as many times as he'd seen Mary Jane and Felicia combined. Anyone who didn't know better would think Bant was dating him.
"Not seeing him!"
"Tell him I've already left Earth."
Bant quickly stood up. He had no desire to waste time haggling with T'Challa. That guy simply wanted to personally drag Tony back to Wakanda and put him on trial.
Perhaps T'Challa would spare Tony's life out of respect for their former camaraderie as comrades-in-arms, but he would certainly make Tony pay a brutal price.
It wasn't that T'Challa was wrong—he was already being merciful enough.
But Bant still didn't want to see the Avengers collapse because of Ultron.
The current outcome was already the best possible. Tony had received his due punishment, the Celestial Union had obtained a massive amount of vibranium, Eunice had gained life, and those who hated Stark had found some solace...
The only one truly wounded was Wakanda, and that was a world where everyone else had come out ahead.
"OK, I'll go turn him down." Mary Jane smiled and nodded. She too felt that black boy was visiting Bant a little too frequently.
She wiggled her hips and threw him a flirtatious look. "In that case, we still have some time..."
"Here?" Bant raised an eyebrow.
"Why not?"
"Why not? How could I say no? It's you who won't be able to keep
/-\
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