Marvel's Venom, starting with a Hydra undercover agent.

Upon hearing Pepper's words, Holm didn't rush to say anything more. Instead, he listened to the music playing in the hall and extended his hand to her, inviting her to dance. "I simply wish to ask Ms. Pepper to dance. I wonder if I have the honor?"

Pepper was somewhat surprised by Holm's invitation. She instinctively wanted to refuse, but she was also curious about what Holm was up to. After pausing for a few seconds and thinking for a while, she finally put her hand on Holm's hand.

Holm smiled slightly upon seeing this, then took Pepper's hand and walked onto the dance floor.

As soon as Pepper's hand touched Holm's, she immediately felt something hard in her palm.

She looked at Holm with some confusion, but Holm didn't keep her in suspense any longer and explained directly in a low voice, "This is a USB drive containing some explosive information about Obadiah Stanislavsky."

"Based on the information here, we have reason to suspect that Obadiah Stanislav was the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Tony Stark by terrorists."

"He has a long-standing cooperative relationship with those terrorists, and all the Stark Industries weapons used by those terrorists were resold by him."

“I think my superior made it very clear to you before, but Mr. Tony Stark has always been hesitant.”

“I can understand that you refused our cooperation because of Mr. Stark’s instructions, but I think you should take a look at these documents yourself and make your own judgment. You should decide whether we are making a mountain out of a molehill or Mr. Stark is being too emotional.”

"I can only remind you that if Mr. Stark continues to do nothing about that guy, he will be the one who suffers in the end."

"After all, compared to him, Obadiah Stanislav is the least lacking in ruthlessness."

As Pepper's eyes widened and her gaze grew increasingly unsteady, Holm smiled and stopped dancing when the music stopped for that section.

"By the way, next find a secluded place and a secure device to open this USB drive, and don't leave any traces."

After Holm finished speaking, he walked away from the dance floor, while Pepper, after a moment of stunned silence, also went to a corner of the venue to ponder alone.

In the dim light of the corner, Pepper slowly opened his palm, revealing the small USB drive that Holm had just given him.

Then she reached behind her hair and pulled out a similarly small USB drive from under her loose hair, which had a sticker of a vintage car on it.

Chapter 94 Happy New Year! Also, I'd like to ask for a day off.

I've been busy with the Lunar New Year these past few days, so I'm taking a day off today and will resume updating tomorrow.

Chapter 95, The Rampage of the Plot

Good morning, Ms. Pepper.

"Good morning," Pepper said as she stepped out of the elevator and headed towards her office, responding to the greetings from the others.

Upon entering the office, Pepper locked the door from the inside, frosted the glass, pulled up her chair nervously, and turned on her computer.

After the computer was turned on, she plugged the USB drive (which had no sticker) into the computer and started looking at the data inside.

This USB drive was given to her by Holm at the party last night. After hesitating all night, she finally decided to see what was on it.

The other USB drive with the sticker was given to her by her boss, Tony Stark, who told her to find an opportunity to plug it into Obadiah's office computer to search for and copy some confidential information.

This action suggests that Tony also has suspicions about Obadiah. After her previous contact with S.H.I.E.L.D., she already had some ideas in mind, and now she can confirm them to see if it's really as they think.

As she was lost in thought, the documents on the USB drive were opened, filled with videos and images related to Obadiah.

The more Pepper browsed, the more alarmed she became, and her conviction that Obadiah was the mole who had orchestrated the unexpected kidnapping grew stronger.

What she didn't know was that while she was looking at these materials, Daisy in the next building also perked up, immediately pulled the computer on her lap, and started typing away on the keyboard.

"Haha! The opportunity has come. She did look at the USB drive, and it was inside Stark Tower. I thought she would look at it at home first, which would have required more effort from me. I didn't expect her to be right here at Stark Tower, which saved me a lot of trouble."

Listening to Daisy's excited chatter, Holm jumped up from the sofa next to him, pulled up a chair, and sat down next to Daisy to watch the big screen.

"Have you found any information? Show it to me on the screen first. Now that you have Miss Pepper as a springboard and cover, getting all the information on Stark Industries shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"

Hearing Holm's words, Daisy nodded confidently and said, "Of course, Stark Industries will soon be opening its arms to me."

As she spoke, Daisy's hands moved faster and faster. After a moment, she suddenly typed on the keyboard, and then countless folders and hidden documents appeared on the large screen in front of her.

"Done!" Daisy looked at the Stark Corporation's database, which was now completely exposed, and excitedly raised her hand to Holm.

Seeing this, Holm smiled and gave her a high five. Then he pointed to the folder on the big screen and said, "This is not the end yet. You have to find all the information related to Obadiah, preferably direct evidence of his communication or even transactions with terrorists."

"Once we find all these things and report them to Commander Coulson, our mission will be considered complete."

As Holm spoke, Daisy, who was reviewing documents, suddenly became serious. She immediately pulled up the documents and displayed them on the big screen, then said to Holm, "If I'm not mistaken, these should be Stark's Iron Man armor design drawings and specifications. Why are these in Obadiah's possession?"

As Daisy continued her search down this path, she projected more and more secrets onto the big screen.

"A secret research institute? Iron Monger armor design blueprints? It seems like Obadiah also wants to create a steel armor!" Daisy exclaimed loudly as she looked at the documents of the newly established secret research institute.

Hearing Daisy's exclamation and looking at the information displayed on the screen, Holm felt his mind go blank.

The party just ended, didn't it? How did Obadiah get this information and design the Iron Monger?

You should know that the original Iron Man suit that should have belonged to him in the desert is currently under the guard of S.H.I.E.L.D. So how did he know about this, and how did he come up with this idea?

The story was clearly severely interfered with and altered from the very beginning, so how come the process has not only not deviated or slowed down, but has instead accelerated in an absurd direction?

According to the movie's pacing, Tony should have been driving the Mark II to the town of Gemilla to eliminate a group of terrorists, and then, with Pepper's help, learned Obadiah's true identity and had his Arc Reactor stolen. How come things have completely deviated from this plan, and the situation seems to be getting worse?

Thinking of this, Holm immediately picked up the phone to call Phil Coulson, but the phone rang first, and the caller ID showed it was Commander Coulson.

Seeing this, Holm also had a bad feeling, and when he answered the phone and heard Coulson tell him that Tony Stark was missing, this feeling was fully confirmed.

"Miss Pepper just contacted me. She said she found evidence of Obadiah's crimes, but she doesn't know why she can't get in touch with Tony Stark..."

"Our men rushed to Tony Stark's residence, only to find it charred black and containing an unidentifiable male corpse..." Coulson briefly recounted the current situation to Holm.

"A male corpse? Is it... Tony Stark?" Upon hearing this, Holm felt his throat go dry.

He never imagined things would develop this way. If the corpse really was Tony Stark, then his worldview would have to be reshaped once again.

When he first arrived, Peter Parker died, and now if Tony Stark were to die too... just thinking about it made him feel incredibly suffocated.

“It wasn’t Tony Stark. We conducted tests immediately and confirmed that the body wasn’t his.” Coulson’s answer relieved Holm.

Then he quickly gathered his thoughts and told him about what they had just learned: Stark's research data led to the design of an iron armor called the Iron Monger...

After exchanging their information, they had a general understanding and speculation about the current situation.

Obadiah took Tony directly and forcefully, taking away his armor and all his documents, setting fire to the villa, and leaving behind a male corpse as a cover.

Judging from this arrangement, Obadiah, though swift and decisive, must have spared Tony's life in an attempt to extract more information and ideas about the armor from him. Otherwise, he could have simply used a real body.

The only question is where Tony has been hidden, and what his plans are.

Chapter 96, Tony in a sorry state

In a small, all-white room, Tony Stark was firmly strapped to a bed, half-lying down. Except for his head, which could still move, his hands and feet were tightly chained, preventing him from making any movement.

Faced with this situation, he felt nothing but frustration and anger. No matter how he tried to break free, the heavy, cold chains would repeatedly slap his current desperate situation in his face, forcing him to accept his fate.

Just as his body swayed, causing the chains to rattle, Obadiah's trusted confidant, Scarface, pushed open the door and walked in.

He looked at Tony, who was struggling, with great sarcasm, then walked to the bedside with the bowl in his hand and sat down, saying, "Don't waste your energy. You can't break free of these chains. Even a Tyrannosaurus Rex would be bound here by these chains, let alone a playboy like you who is worse than an ordinary person."

"If you know what's good for you, cooperate and eat it obediently. Otherwise, when I start forcing it down your throat, it won't be so comfortable. You should know that I'm not going to be polite to you."

Hearing Scarface's words and threat, Tony looked at him coldly and said, "What? You think you can kill me? If so, I'd really like to thank you."

“Obadia just took my Arc Reactor. He should know by now that it’s something that no one else can do or possibly make. So even if he wants to kill me now, he can’t kill me, right?”

Hearing Tony's words, Scarface sneered and said, "Heh, since you know it yourself, then just cooperate obediently. You probably don't want to know what it feels like to be worse than dead."

"Worse than death? Aren't I already feeling worse than death right now?" Tony said, looking at the white ceiling with a desolate expression.

His chest was now empty; the Ark Reactor, which should have been emitting a faint blue light and continuously functioning there, had been forcibly removed, leaving him only with a dilapidated battery to sustain his life.

“I’ll feed him, you can go out.” Obadiah appeared at the door at some point and said to Scarface.

Upon hearing this, Scarface immediately stood up, handed the bowl in his hand to Obadiah who had come forward, and then consciously stood at the door.

As Obadiah walked up and sat down next to him, Tony glared at him, his eyes filled with resentment. He hated himself for not seeing through this guy's true colors sooner, and he hated himself for being so unaware of the other's methods and for being so unprepared, which led him to this predicament.

"Don't look at me like that. You should be grateful that I spared your life." Obadiah looked at Tony's resentful eyes without any emotion.

"You should be glad you still have some use, otherwise how would you have the chance to glare at me like that?"

After saying that, Obadiah didn't say anything more. He just reached out and pinched Tony's chin, then poured the paste from the bowl into Tony's mouth.

"Looks like you know you still want to live, don't you?" Obadiah said sarcastically, watching Tony swallow repeatedly.

No matter who you are, no matter how nice your words are, you are all the same when faced with death and danger.

Upon hearing this, Tony swallowed the last mouthful of the thick paste, then looked at Obadiah and sneered, "I really need to live well so I can see what happens to you later."

“My fate? Ha, you should worry about yourself first,” Obadiah said, tossing the bowl aside.

"It's already noon. In two or three hours at most, news of Tony Stark's residence catching fire and him perishing in the flames will be all over the world."

"By that time, whether you are alive or not, you will already be dead."

Hearing Obadiah's words, Tony clenched his teeth instantly, his eyes filled with even more resentment.

Obadiah kept redefining his understanding, making him witness the other party's shamelessness time and time again.

This approach aims to truly erase him from everyone's sight and memory, turning him into an unknown, wandering ghost, destined to spend the rest of his life resigned to his fate, using the knowledge and ideas in his mind to expand his evil empire.

Tony believes that his return was due to Ethan giving him a new life, so he should cherish life as Ethan said and not make unnecessary sacrifices.

But faced with Obadiah's evil plan, Tony's original intention to survive and find a way out vanished instantly. Now he only wanted to end it all with his death and put a big X on Obadiah's plan.

Seeing the change in Tony's expression, Obadiah seemed to have guessed his thoughts and said with a smile, "What? Do you think it would be better if you were dead?"

"Don't worry, I won't let you die easily. You still need to contribute to my plan."

"Even if you go on a hunger strike, I will have someone inject nutrients into your veins, and I will have someone change your battery every day, just like you did in the cave. So don't even think about struggling."

After saying this, Obadiah seemed to suddenly remember something and reminded him: "By the way, let me remind you in advance, never think of giving those researchers wrong guidance or deliberately disrupting their experimental process."

“You don’t want to live anymore, and you think it doesn’t matter if you die, but Pepper and Rod are still alive and well. They don’t have the same thoughts of not wanting to live as you do.”

"If you dare to fool me or deliberately hinder my plans, I will punish them to show you what cruelty is."

"I think you should be well aware of my methods by now, so I hope you won't do anything that will hurt yourself and your friends. It's better for all of us, don't you think?"

If looks could kill, Obadiah would already be torn to pieces by Tony.

Unfortunately, Tony, who was firmly bound to the bed, did not have such skills. He could only watch resentfully as Obadiah stood up, then smiled and waved goodbye to him like a victor.

Is this really all there is to it? Tony thought with a sense of despair. He never imagined that he would become like this, unable to live or die.

Even close friends are used as bargaining chips, placed on one side of the scale, and could become victims of this struggle at any time.