Marvel: I am Iron Man

Natasha Romanov feels very strange now.

As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, her resume should theoretically be quite extensive. Over the years, she has done almost every kind of job and played various roles.

It's no exaggeration to say that her extensive undercover experience could fill a book called "An Actor Prepares." Before that, she was confident that there was no role she couldn't handle.

But now her confidence is wavering.

Logically speaking, Natasha's mission should probably be considered a failure by now. After all, her target was Tony Stark, and she was supposed to infiltrate Stark's inner circle as a beautiful female employee to observe and evaluate him.

Now that Tony Stark, the subject of her observation, already knows her true identity, there's no longer any need for her to continue as an undercover agent.

But then the interesting part comes.

Tony Stark clearly knew she was a spy, but instead of firing her, he accelerated her promotion and even took her on a business trip to Monaco.

What's even stranger is that her superior, Nick Fury, clearly already knew she had been exposed, but instead of informing her that the mission was canceled, he told her to remain on standby.

This mission became quite bizarre for Natasha.

To continue being an undercover agent even when the target knows you're one... that's something she's never done before.

And frankly, she had initially thought assessing Tony Stark would be an easy task. Before coming here, she had assumed Stark would be an easy person to understand, but lately she had increasingly realized she was wrong.

Sometimes she felt that Stark's behavior was contradictory, and sometimes she couldn't understand what this high-tech tycoon was thinking at all... just like the last two days.

Just before the Monaco motorsport trip was about to begin, this eccentric boss suddenly called the hotel in Monaco, spouting nonsense about "booking all the rooms in the hotel."

"...I'm very sorry, Mr. Stark. But you should also understand that we are a major international brand." The hotel manager who answered the phone maintained a professional smile that was neither humble nor arrogant. "As you know, the next few days are the peak period of the Monaco Grand Prix, and almost all the rooms are already fully booked."

Although Tony Stark is a world-renowned figure, as the manager of a large hotel, he has hosted many wealthy celebrities and even political figures. The manager prides himself on having seen it all and is not easily intimidated by the names of others.

"Of course, I understand," Tony said. "Doing business is all about integrity. But there's also a saying, isn't there something money can't buy..."

The manager smiled: "I believe that wasn't the original quote. You're a businessman too, so I think you should understand, Mr. Stark, that for people in our line of work—especially for an international brand like ours—reputation is priceless."

Many people have already booked our services; it's a promise we make to our customers. So I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but this isn't about money. We can't just go back on our word... huh?"

There was a commotion on the other end of the phone, as if someone was rushing to the manager. The manager pressed the receiver and whispered something, then blurted out something like "My God" without being able to hold back.

Tony laughed: "Looks like you guys received my e-check."

The manager's composure and humility vanished instantly, and he stammered, "But Mr. Stark, this...this check, this amount...you...you...I...I..."

He sounded as if he wanted to ask if Mr. Stark had made a mistake by filling in the exaggerated number on the check while drunk, but his tongue seemed to be tied in knots and he couldn't get the words out for a long time.

Tony said casually, "I heard your hotel's policy is to refund one room and compensate three times the amount? If a customer books a room and the hotel breaches the contract, it not only has to compensate the customer for their loss but also pay three times the amount in compensation. I understand your difficulties, really, but I really need these rooms too. So this check is just a small token of my appreciation."

Of course, this is still just a proposal. If you find it really inconvenient...

"Convenient! Extremely convenient!"

The manager's tongue seemed to have suddenly cleared up.

"Our hotel is not only committed to building an international brand, but we will also always spare no effort to meet the needs of our top VIPs. For example, distinguished guests like Mr. Stark are always our priority..."

The following is a long string of compliments.

Tony thus successfully booked all the rooms in the entire hotel for the Monaco tournament.

At this point, he was increasingly realizing that one of the most significant advantages of transmigrating into Tony Stark's body was that any problem that could be solved with money was not a problem at all.

The movie only states that Tony Stark is very rich, but never gives specific figures. It seems that the setting of Stark being "rich" has reached a certain level of concept that serves the plot, and if a comparison must be made, he is probably much richer than any wealthy person in his previous life before he traveled through time.

In fact, according to Marvel's lore, if there were such a person, not only would they possess immense wealth accumulated from arms dealing during wartime, but they would also have hundreds of unique, world-leading technologies, including the "Iron Man armor," and a monopoly on the global energy sector after the invention of the Arc Reactor...

So it's really not an exaggeration to say that he's incredibly wealthy.

However, Natasha was still very puzzled.

After accompanying Tony onto the private jet, she finally couldn't help but ask, "Do you really need so many rooms?"

Tony joked, "I can't sleep when there are people upstairs and downstairs."

Natasha didn't believe it at all. Tony had been out and about before, and she knew he didn't have this strange habit.

Although Stark is very rich, he wouldn't do things that seem like flaunting wealth for the sake of flaunting wealth—like enjoying the sense of accomplishment from spending lavishly and the sense of superiority from seeing others bow down to tons of money.

No, Stark shouldn't be that kind of person. She was certain Tony had ulterior motives, but she just couldn't figure out what they were.

Tony showed no intention of explaining to her, instead abruptly changing the subject and asking, "By the way, the identification information and address I sent you last time, that's your sister, right? Have you seen her these past couple of days? Is she alright?"

Natasha's expression was a little strange: "I saw her. She's fine."

She didn't want to tell Tony that they weren't that close yet.

Natasha did go to see Yelena, but the meeting was far from pleasant. They had a fight and parted on bad terms.

Natasha didn't want to talk about her own affairs, so she steered the conversation back to Tony: "You know, you booked the entire hotel. This amount of money probably isn't much to you, but it's still enough to get you in the news. The media will definitely report it, you'll be very high-profile..."

"That's great." Tony winked.

Natasha wasn't sure if the rich man was pretending to be stupid.

"This isn't good for your personal image," Natasha said. "It's also not good for your security. Because now the whole world knows where you stayed in Monaco..."

"That's why I brought you along," Tony laughed. "With the world's top S.H.I.E.L.D. agents protecting me, why would I need to worry about safety?"

Natasha: "..."

She leaned back in her seat and turned her head to look out the window.

She suddenly felt she didn't want to talk to this rich guy anymore.