Stark Tower.
Iron Man gazed at the glowing "triangle" in his hand, his face alight with excitement and anticipation.
After so many days of effort, a new element had finally been synthesized by him.
"Congratulations, sir, you have created a new element," the thoughtful AI J.A.R.V.I.S. immediately sent its felicitations.
Iron Man wasted no words, placing the new element into the Arc Reactor with a hint of excitement.
The Arc Reactor immediately began to glow.
"Sir, the reactor has accepted the updated core. I will begin testing immediately," J.A.R.V.I.S. said, and then promptly started the tests.
The result was, of course, beyond doubt: the new element was fully usable!
The palladium poisoning problem that had plagued Iron Man for more than half a year was thus perfectly resolved!
Iron Man's mood could now be described as light and joyful.
"Sir, Miss Potts has arrived!"
J.A.R.V.I.S. suddenly announced, and Iron Man indeed saw Pepper Potts at the door, entering the password, opening the door, and walking straight in.
"God, Tony, how many days have you been without sleep?" Pepper couldn't help but exclaim, covering her mouth.
Iron Man looked as if he had been on opium, his condition utterly terrible. "What on earth have you been doing locked down here?"
"Pepper, I just synthesized a new element! I succeeded!" Iron Man cried out to Pepper, overjoyed.
"A new element?" But Pepper was completely bewildered and confused.
She had no idea what it meant.
"Listen, Tony, no matter what element you've synthesized, or anything else, you need to rest now."
Pepper advised Stark with a serious expression, "Listen to me, leave this room and go relax outside."
"That sounds like a good idea!" Iron Man nodded solemnly.
In reality, even if Pepper hadn't said anything, Iron Man had planned to go out and relax. This period of intense work was unbearable even for an "Iron Man."
"Tony, do you really think so?"
This caught Pepper off guard. Tony Stark was actually willing to listen to advice from others. This was truly a rare occurrence.
"Of course!" Iron Man eagerly began to suggest, "The Monaco Grand Prix is about to start. How about we go watch the race? Will you come with me?"
"I still have a lot of work to do."
"You don't anymore. I'm giving you time off immediately," Iron Man said capriciously. "Your only job now is to accompany your boss to watch the race."
"Tony, you can't do that," Pepper said, utterly speechless.
"Of course I can. Who says I'm your boss?"
What else could Pepper do? Faced with such a capricious and inhumanly extravagant CEO boss, she could only comply.
"Sir, I need to remind you that I still haven't found anyone matching the description for Ivan Vanko."
After Pepper left Stark Tower, J.A.R.V.I.S. immediately reminded Iron Man, "He might not be in America."
Indeed, besides being busy synthesizing a new element, Iron Man had also asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to search for Ivan Vanko.
Unfortunately, J.A.R.V.I.S. had found many people named Ivan Vanko, but none of them matched the characteristics Iron Man had described.
"It's fine… I don't think he'd coincidentally be in Monaco."
Iron Man said nonchalantly. How could such a coincidence exist in the world?
After making some simple arrangements for the upcoming matters, Iron Man took a shower and enjoyed a delicious meal, finally feeling alive again.
The next day, Nick Fury received the news and personally came to see Iron Man.
"Stark, it seems Howard certainly didn't misjudge you," Nick Fury said, sitting unceremoniously opposite Iron Man, speaking in an old-fashioned tone.
"Of course he didn't misjudge me," Iron Man said as a matter of course. Humility was a word he had never known.
"Alright, Stark, we both know I'm not here to visit you, so let's skip the useless pleasantries and get straight to the point."
Nick Fury straightened up and spoke to Iron Man with a serious expression, "I need your help."
Nick Fury helping Iron Man synthesize a new element, and Iron Man helping Nick Fury investigate Hydra—this was something they had agreed upon after the quiz ended.
Iron Man naturally wouldn't go back on his word.
"Tell me your needs directly," Iron Man asked concisely.
"I have a large number of personnel that need to be monitored and analyzed, but I cannot use S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources. Under these circumstances, it's very difficult for me to do so."
"So I was wondering if you could provide me with some technical support, such as developing some surveillance drones, giving me a system similar to J.A.R.V.I.S., and other such methods."
"You are Iron Man, you are a rare genius in America. I imagine this shouldn't be too difficult for you."
Everyone had seen the quiz system's video, so Nick Fury didn't hide anything and directly stated his purpose.
"I understand. I will make sure to create some things as quickly as possible," Iron Man solemnly promised.
Nick Fury left, satisfied.
However, what he didn't expect was that Iron Man, who had just promised him to expedite development, boarded a private jet to Monaco the very next day.
He arrived at the Monaco Grand Prix.
"Iron Man!"
"Iron Man!"
When Iron Man and Pepper Potts emerged from the luxury car, enthusiastic cheers immediately erupted around them.
Even in Europe, Iron Man had many fervent fans.
Iron Man was already accustomed to this, wearing a confident and composed smile, waving to his enthusiastic fans.
Then, he and Pepper walked into the venue, chatting and laughing.
Happy, who wasn't yet a 'meatball', followed behind them, wearing sunglasses and looking incredibly cool.
"Pepper, we're in Europe now, so whatever happens next, let's just let it be, okay?"
Considering that his upcoming actions might severely provoke Pepper, Iron Man began to prepare her in advance.
"What do you mean, 'let it be'?"
Pepper keenly sensed that something was amiss. Was Tony going to cause trouble again?
Her boss had never been easy to deal with.
Although she wasn't the CEO now, she felt many times busier than a CEO.
But before Pepper could press for answers, many people from various sectors of high society in the hall came over to greet Iron Man.
Pepper no longer had any opportunity to inquire further.