All I can say is… Daredevil really lives up to being the blind man.
"Your nose must be broken," Herman replied without a change in expression, though he couldn't help but think Matt's nose was sharper than a dog's.
What kind of scientific explanation could explain this? Molecular residue? Yeah, right.
"Maybe."
Daredevil didn't press the matter. After all, Herman wasn't some vicious criminal. There was no reason to hound him over a little "snacking."
He was a wealthy bachelor. Going out to have fun was perfectly normal. As long as Herman wasn't breaking laws, Daredevil had no need to step in and play vigilante. The employees around them didn't suspect anything either, just teasing Matt about his nose and heightened sense of smell.
"Probably just the scent of his body wash."
Skye, eating something that looked like a meat sandwich, gave a casual remark. She knew most people smelled good simply because the fragrance of their body wash lingered.
"Or maybe it's the boss's natural scent?" Carrie suggested with a straight face, her comment sending the group into laughter.
But Herman didn't laugh.
Because the way Carrie said it made it sound like she was talking about food. He couldn't shake the suspicion that the "fragrance" she meant was actually "the aroma of a meal."
Cannibalism?
No way… right?
He glanced at the wide-eyed, innocent-looking Carrie and pushed the thought aside. There was no way such a sweet girl could be a cannibal.
"What kind of body scent could a man have? Carrie, you've been reading too many novels!" Skye chuckled, shaking her head.
"You don't understand! The boss is different!" Carrie said seriously, shaking her head. She thought that if she hadn't become a "civilized person" after arriving on this planet, she probably wouldn't have been able to resist "devouring" her boss on the spot.
Truth was, she'd felt that impulse as early as the job interview. Lately, Herman's scent had only grown more enticing. Luckily, Carrie prided herself on her self-control, and she knew eating people was wrong—like her father swallowing an entire planet in one gulp, an act of pure cruelty.
Besides, the boss's Glowing Cuisine was far too delicious. She couldn't bear the thought of eating him, because then she'd never get to taste those dishes again.
"Eat some more meat."
A sudden chill ran down Herman's spine. He quickly piled more than twenty pieces of grilled meat onto Carrie's plate, trying to shake off the unnatural feeling.
It must've just been fatigue from the afternoon's battle.
"I still think the Chinese barbecue on the next street tastes better."
"The boss's barbecue is the best."
"Too bad the boss hasn't cooked in a while. When will we get to see Glowing Cuisine again? Don't tell me he was adding fluorescent agents to it?"
Everyone was happily enjoying their late-night snacks.
...
At S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret airport on the outskirts of New York, a plane bearing the S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia slowly descended onto the runway under the night sky.
"Hello, New York."
Tony Stark, wearing an ill-fitting suit, was helped off the plane by Coulson. His face looked haggard, his body thin and weak. Without Coulson's support, Tony might not have been able to walk steadily at all.
Trailing behind them was a middle-aged man glancing nervously around—Ho Yinsen, the scientist Tony had met in the terrorists' lair. A man who should have died, yet S.H.I.E.L.D. had managed to bring him out alive. Quiet and reserved, he followed the two men off the plane at a slow pace.
"What did you say your organization was called again? Didn't expect your airport to be this big. Still, it's just a little smaller than the one I built myself."
Tony gave S.H.I.E.L.D. a backhanded compliment, praising their wealth while still flaunting his own greater resources.
Now that he was back in the safety of the city, Tony Stark's playboy persona began to resurface.
"Oh, Tony."
At the airport, Pepper had already been waiting for some time. The moment she saw him safe, her eyes welled with tears as she rushed toward him.
"What the hell? Why would I need that? Take it away!" Tony was snapping at the medics approaching with a stretcher when he caught sight of her. Then he smiled. "Eyes that red—were you worried about your boss?"
Pepper Potts meant something to Tony Stark that no other woman ever did. She was someone he could truly trust—protecting him, cleaning up his messes, and keeping his life in order.
Because of that, even though she wasn't dazzlingly beautiful, to Tony Stark she was the most important and closest woman in his life.
Still, because of their personalities, their relationship remained strictly professional. Tony was confident when it came to pursuing models—they practically fell into his lap—but when it came to real romance, he was utterly clueless. Many so-called womanizers understood women's hearts far better than Tony Stark ever could.
"Don't be ridiculous. I was just worried I might lose my job." Pepper refused to admit more, but she embraced him tightly all the same.
The truth was, she had always admired and been drawn to him, though she feared ending up like the other discarded models or starlets.
"Well, you don't have to worry anymore. I'm back, and tomorrow I've got plenty of work lined up for you." Tony tried to act nonchalant. But deep down, he was ecstatic. His parents had long since passed, and in these days of captivity, the woman before him was who he had missed most.
"I'll start preparing for the press conference tonight." Pepper was all business. She knew Tony's return had to be announced globally. Otherwise, Stark Industries' stock would continue to plummet. She was a consummate professional—that was why Tony would eventually appoint her CEO. In reality, she had already been handling CEO-level responsibilities for quite some time.
After Tony's death in the battle against Thanos, she would still manage Stark Industries with steady hands, passing it down to her and Tony's child—a stunning beauty who would inherit Tony's striking looks and her mother's figure. But that was still many years in the future.
"I think before the press conference, I need a burger." Tony swallowed, craving the taste of junk food after so many days.
"You guys have cheeseburgers here?"
He turned to Coulson, still knowing little about S.H.I.E.L.D. beyond that it was some kind of official covert agency.
"Of course."
Coulson nodded with a warm smile. "As many as you'd like. But the doctor recommends you start with something light—liquid foods first."
Tony snorted at that. "Then my recommendation is you fire that doctor. His advice sounds like pure crap to me."
"Tony! You should listen to the doctors! They're professionals!" Pepper scolded him immediately.
Coulson and Yinsen both nodded in agreement.
But Tony Stark only smirked. "If they were smarter than me, they wouldn't just be doctors. And they sure as hell wouldn't be working in some government agency."
His arrogance and sharp edge hadn't dulled in the slightest.
"Your cheeseburger."
An agent brought it over, and Coulson passed it straight into Tony Stark's hand.
"But your chef's got real talent. Maybe I should hire him? I'll pay him triple without a second thought."
Tony took a bite, then casually tossed the rest into a trash bin. Chewing, he said to Coulson,
"I get now why Obadiah hated you so much."
Coulson's smile didn't falter, but his words made Tony's eyes narrow.
The sting of betrayal by "family" was never easy to swallow.
Tony forced himself to smother the sadness, masking it with a dismissive sneer.
"That useless pig. Without me, he thought he could keep Stark Industries alive? My old man really had a lousy eye for people."
It was a forced show of disdain.
Coulson, though, was no fool. A top-level agent, he knew exactly how Tony felt—and had thrown those words deliberately to hit a nerve.
"What are you planning to do now that you're back?"
He asked the question S.H.I.E.L.D. needed answered. Stark Industries' upheaval was tied to national stability.
"Didn't my secretary just say? A press conference announcing my return."
Tony spotted his driver pulling up with the car. He started forward, but then something struck him, and he turned back to Coulson.
"Oh, right. Who was your informant? I need to thank him. His intel saved the most important person in the world."
Classic Tony Stark—narcissism in full display, crowning himself as the world's most important man.
"And let's be clear, I didn't need your help. I could've escaped with the little toy I built... but since he saved me, he deserves my personal thanks."
When he bragged, he did it with an almost righteous conviction.
"We've already paid him."
Coulson replied with a smile.
"Not enough. Tony Stark's life is worth a hell of a lot more than a 'Good Citizen' medal." Tony pressed on, smug as ever.
"Perhaps you should ask your secretary what exactly we paid." Coulson tilted his head toward Pepper beside him.
Tony looked at her, confused. What did this have to do with her? Unless…
Oh, crap.
Then Pepper answered, her tone resigned.
"Obadiah's shares. All of them are being transferred to the one who provided the intel."
Relief washed over Tony.
At least it wasn't what he'd been fearing. He exhaled deeply.
"A full twenty percent of the company," Pepper added, unable to hide her pained expression. But she knew this wasn't her decision to make.
The organization behind this deal was clearly one of immense power—so much so that even Tony might not be able to sway them. If not for his genius being tied to national security, Pepper was certain they wouldn't have cared about the death of a billionaire at all.
"It was the informant's demand," Coulson said, his tone filled with respect. To him, Herman Chu was someone whose strength deserved nothing less than reverence.
Even Nick Fury, in private, had called Herman a god among men more than once—though always with an edge of concern in his voice.
"Smart move. Asking for shares? That's a man who knows what he's doing. Smarter than ninety-nine point nine percent of the idiots walking this planet."
Tony knew well enough that anyone demanding Stark shares was betting on his ability to make them worth far more in the future.
For someone who had that much confidence in him—someone who clearly wasn't just another nobody—Tony couldn't help but feel a certain fondness.
"I think that man might be a little too clever," Pepper muttered quietly, though Tony heard her clearly.
"What do you mean?" He arched a brow.
"Besides Obadiah's shares, during your disappearance he was also heavily playing the stock market."
"According to our intel, he now controls about forty-three percent of Stark Industries." Coulson's smile widened.
On the surface, he phrased it as a casual remark, but inside he was savoring the moment. "You do understand what that means, don't you?"
His voice carried an unmistakable edge of mockery.
As Tony's expression froze stiff, Coulson's satisfaction swelled.
After all the arrogance, the quips, and the ego, even his normally patient temperament had been pushed to its limits by Tony Stark.
Now, at last, he got to watch the smug playboy choke on reality.
"Is this true?"
Tony Stark felt the situation slipping beyond his control, and he turned to Pepper—his most trusted confidante—for confirmation.
"Exactly. If a new board meeting is held, he'll become the largest shareholder. To stay on as chairman, you'll need his support."
Pepper's tone carried clear worry. She feared Tony might be sidelined and stripped of his control over Stark Industries.
But Tony was hung up on something else.
"So what you're saying is... my savior is richer than me?"
Classic Iron Man.
Only he could focus on that.
"Besides the Stark shares, your savior must also have a strong financial foundation. Otherwise, he couldn't have spent that much to acquire stock."
Pepper laid out her reasoning. Not just anyone could pull together hundreds of billions. In all of New York, only a tiny handful of people could.
"Is she telling the truth?"
Tony couldn't even believe the words coming from the person he trusted most. The thought that someone else could rob him of his sense of superiority was unbearable.
"That man... is far wealthier than you think."
Coulson didn't spell it out, but his emphasis was enough.
And it wasn't just about wealth. In Coulson's mind, Herman could probably shatter Tony—armor and all—with a single punch.
"That's just temporary..."
Tony started to argue, but then the real problem hit him: his savior was now the largest shareholder of Stark Industries.
Which meant...
Even if Tony worked around the clock inventing new technologies, the profits would still funnel into the other man's pocket through dividends. That guy would always earn three percent more than him.
"Hss~"
Right then, Tony Stark finally understood just how loathsome capitalists could be.
He... was miserable.
Unless he abandoned Stark Industries and started over.
But could he? Despite all his griping, Tony knew he couldn't. This was, after all, the legacy his parents had left him.
"Still thinking about how you'll repay your savior?"
Coulson knew exactly how to twist the knife.
"....."
Tony's expression was priceless.
He'd been planning to toss his savior a token gesture of gratitude.
And now?
It turned out he was the one working for him.