Otto squinted as he observed the massive Arc Reactor in the lower levels of Stark Tower, comparing it in his mind to the little sun he had once created in the sky.
In truth, he had been extrely cautious ever since that tragic incident. The fear of repeating the disaster still weighed heavily on him. Because of that, he had yet to resu any real experints, choosing instead to focus solely on calculations—refining his data to ensure there were no errors.
So when he saw Stark Industries' Arc Reactor, Otto couldn't help but share the sa thought Tony once had: If only we lived in the sa world. He longed to witness such groundbreaking technology firsthand, to see the kind of innovations he had always dread of.
His research had stalled at a crucial stage—stabilizing energy conversion and output from the little sun was proving to be an overwhelming challenge. But Tony Stark had clearly already conquered that obstacle.
The First Generation Spider-Man knew exactly what Otto was thinking. After all, he had been assisting him with his research for so ti. When he wasn't fighting cri at night, he spent his free ti during the day—outside of class—helping Otto.
Yet, despite his own high intelligence, he hadn't been able to help Otto crack the core problem in a short ti.
["Mad Money! Mad Stark!"]
[Pepper sat in a chair, watching a projection on the wall—a news segnt covering Tony's announcent to shut down Stark Industries' weapons division.]
[On the screen, the host was practically shouting about Stark Industries' plumting stock prices, urging investors to abandon ship. To emphasize his point, he smashed a cup to pieces with a baseball bat.]
[The dramatic imagery mirrored the state of Stark Industries' latest business strategy—shattered. Pepper frowned as she watched, but before she could process it further, Tony's voice suddenly ca from her tablet.]
["Pepper, how big are your hands?"]
["What?" Pepper asked, confused.]
["How big are your hands?" Tony repeated.]
["I... I don't understand," Pepper said, her brows furrowing. What kind of question was that?]
[Tony's tone remained calm. "Co downstairs, I need your help."]
[Pepper sighed, putting down her laptop. The host's voice still echoed faintly from it: "Unfortunate investors! Stark Industries has turned into a junk stock!"]
"It looks like Stark Industries' stock took a major dive—at least 40 points?" Second Generation Harry muttered, shaking his head. He was all too familiar with such financial disasters. After all, Osborn Industries had experienced its own devastating declines.
"I just hope the investors don't start jumping off rooftops," Harry added with a self-deprecating chuckle.
Osborn Industries had seen its fair share of wild stock fluctuations. Ever since discovering that the genetically enhanced spider turned 2nd Gen Peter into Spider-Man, their stock had been soaring. Then ca Connors' regeneration serum, pushing their valuation to an all-ti high.
But then, everything fell apart.
Rajit Ratha's unethical human experintation plans caused a dip in confidence. Then Connors injected himself with the lizard serum, mutating into the Lizard—and stock prices plumted to historic lows.
Then, Max Dillon's electrocution was covered up, causing another wave of panic. Harry's desperate attempt to cure himself—injecting spider venom and becoming the Green Goblin—triggered yet another crash.
Osborn Industries beca infamous for having the most volatile stock price fluctuations in history. Many shareholders had lost everything, having placed their hopes on the regeneration serum as their golden ticket. Instead, one catastrophe after another left them in financial ruin.
It was only thanks to 2nd Gen Peter and Gwen standing firmly by his side that Harry managed to keep things stable. Investors had slowly regained confidence, especially now that Connors had successfully restarted his regeneration research, giving their stock a much-needed recovery.
Otherwise, Harry would have lost his mind by now.
[Pepper entered the underground garage, inputting the security code. As the door slid open, she was greeted by the sight of Tony—shirtless, holding a new reactor in his hands.]
["Hi!" he greeted her.]
["Co here, let see!" He waved her over, and Pepper hesitantly raised her hands as she approached.]
["Such delicate hands," Tony mused, his eyes flicking to the reactor in his hands. "I think... I need a favor from you."]
["Oh my God! Is that the thing that saved your life?" Pepper exclaid as she got closer, noticing the reactor still embedded in Tony's chest.]
[Tony raised the new reactor for her to see before explaining.]
["Yeah! The old one's outdated. This is my new life-support system—I need to swap it out. But I ran into a small problem."]
[Pepper frowned. "What problem? What are you talking about?"]
[Tony casually pulled out the old model from his chest, showing it to her.]
["Nothing major, just a little issue. There's a wire that's gotten stuck under the device. It's touching the socket housing and causing a short circuit."]
[Hesitantly, Pepper took the old reactor from Tony. "You... what do you need to do?"]
["Just put that on the table over there. It's useless now," Tony instructed. As Pepper set it down, she muttered, "Oh my God..."]
["I need you to reach in and gently pull the wire out," Tony said, glancing at her.]
["Wait... is this safe?" Pepper asked, looking worried.]
[Tony gave her a calm, reassuring nod. "Yeah! It should be fine. Think of it like surgery—just don't touch the wrong part, and nothing will explode."]
["Surgery?! What do you an, surgery?!" Pepper's eyes widened in horror.]
["Relax, it's just like a ga. You'll be fine—just pull the wire out gently," Tony assured her.]
["Okay..." Taking a deep breath, Pepper gathered her courage and slowly reached into the hole in Tony's chest. But the mont she made contact, she yelped and pulled her hand back. "Hah! Nope! Nope, I can't do this!"]
["What? No, no, no! You can do this!" Tony insisted. "You're the most capable, reliable, and qualified person I know! You'll do an excellent job!"]
[He watched her hesitation and decided to provoke her. "What's the problem? Too many questions? I really need your help."]
["Ugh... fine!" Pepper groaned, giving in. Taking another deep breath, she reached in again.]
["Oh my God! There's pus inside!" she suddenly scread in horror.]
["That's not pus," Tony corrected her. "It's just so inorganic electrolyte. It's a fluid from the device, not my body."]
["Well, it slls disgusting!" Pepper cringed.]
["Yeah, I know. Now focus—did you touch the copper wire?"]
["Yes! I found it!" Pepper nodded quickly.]
["Good, now just—" Before he could finish, Tony let out a pained scream! "Ahhh! Gently! Gently!"]
["Sorry! Sorry!" Pepper panicked but managed to pull out the wire.]
["Okay! Now, just be careful... don't remove the magnet, it's underneath—" Tony's words trailed off as Pepper, unknowingly, pulled out the magnet covered in electrolyte.]
[Tony stared at her, then sighed, raising his hands in defeat. "Welp... that's it. You did it."]
[As the magnet was removed, alarms started blaring from the nearby equipnt…]
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