Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life...

If Pepper Potts' war stomp was at most a deterrent to Justin Hammer before, now Justin Hammer is truly afraid.

Bang!

As Justin Hammer finished speaking, Pepper Potts fired almost without hesitation. The bullet grazed the fabric of Justin Hammer's crotch, leaving a dark bullet hole in the floor.

When the gunshot rang out, Justin Hammer was unsurprisingly terrified. He dared not hide anything any longer and immediately spilled all his secrets.

"I don't know! I don't know! It was Ivan Vanko who did it. I brought him back from the rabbits and perfected my Iron Soldier Project! All the programs were written by Ivan Vanko on the Hammer Corporation's servers. The best way for you to stop it is to go find Ivan Vanko! He's inside the Hammer Corporation building!"

Hearing Justin Hammer's rap-like speech, Pepper Potts looked at him with disdain, casually unloaded the gun and tossed it to the security guard, then spoke to Justin Hammer with the air of a queen.

"Pray that the shareholders behind you won't abandon your foolishness, and while you're at it, pray that the little money in your account is enough to compensate Stark Industries for its losses!"

After saying that, Chili Pepper walked towards Sherlock behind her.

Chapter 158 The Perks from Black Widow

Watching Pepper walk towards him, Sherlock silently gave her a thumbs up. It's true that there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names.

To Sherlock's surprise, as soon as Pepper arrived, her queen-like expression vanished instantly, and she looked towards Sherlock with a pleading expression.

"Sherlock, you heard what Justin Hammer just said. What's the next step?"

Although Sherlock was somewhat surprised when Pepper asked him what to do next, he quickly understood the reason and provided a solution.

“It’s simple. Natasha and I will go to Hammer Corporation’s server room to shut down those steel soldiers. Happy, you protect Pepper. Doro will protect both of you.”

Since Pepper Potts wasn't a combatant, even though she had obtained crucial information, she still chose to consult Sherlock on professional matters.

However, Black Widow has a different opinion regarding Sherlock's statement. Her main objective is not to clean up the mess left by Justin Hammer, the brilliant strategist, but to protect Pepper Potts.

Furthermore, Black Widow really doesn't believe that Doro, this little cutie, has any fighting ability to protect Happy and Pepper.

After hearing Sherlock's words, Doro simply flicked the whisk he was holding, nodded at Sherlock with the air of a wise sage, and then did nothing more.

Seeing this, Black Widow became even more suspicious of whether Sherlock's plan was correct, and her eyes were filled with worry as she looked at Pepper.

However, aside from the issue of childcare, Chili had absolute trust in Sherlock, so she did not object to his arrangements.

Sherlock, of course, could see Black Widow's worry. He went over to take the Rolls-Royce keys from Happy and pulled Black Widow's arm to lead her outside.

“Natasha, don’t worry. Doro is now almost capable of taking on your entire S.H.I.E.L.D. team single-handedly. There’s no need to worry about his combat strength. And most importantly, if you don’t come with me, almost no one here will be able to crack the operating system of those Iron Soldiers.”

Hearing Sherlock's words, Black Widow, though still puzzled, did not argue and obediently allowed Sherlock to take her away.

The moment Sherlock left, Doro, who was sitting cross-legged on his little cloud, appeared in front of Pepper Potts and Happy.

This scene moved and saddened Little Chili, but she couldn't say much. She could only stay backstage under Happy's protection and wait for the storm to pass.

Compared to Pepper Potts' situation, Sherlock's is much more exciting.

Whether it was because Ivan Vanko realized that these Iron Soldiers couldn't deal with Tony in the short term or for some other reason, the Iron Soldiers, who were originally only targeting Tony, suddenly began to attack indiscriminately.

Fortunately, Tony had Jarvis break control of the Rhodes Armor, and the two of them were able to handle the situation by working together.

But it was unfortunate for others, such as Sherlock.

The parking lot, which should have taken only a few minutes to reach, took almost twice as long to get there due to the indiscriminate attacks of the steel soldiers.

Throughout the process, Sherlock dismantled countless steel soldiers. The danger itself wasn't real, but the trouble was genuine.

After getting into the driver's seat, Sherlock immediately turned on the navigation and started the car, speeding towards the Hammer Corporation.

It's worth noting that Happy is the director of the Iron Man series in the movies. In Iron Man 2, Happy even arranged an extremely glamorous scene of Black Widow changing clothes for himself.

Sherlock had completely forgotten about this incident, but when he was driving Pepper Potts' Rolls-Royce through the streets of Los Angeles to experience giving her real love, this steamy scene actually happened just like in the movie.

Well, although Sherlock doesn't really have any feelings for Black Widow, it doesn't stop him from having a secretive, lecherous personality that enjoys looking at beautiful women.

After all, Scarlett Johansson is really beautiful and looks really young now. At least her figure and face are much better than the Scarlett Johansson in the movies.

When Black Widow, dressed in her signature black bodysuit, saw Sherlock peeking at her while she was changing in the rearview mirror, she wasn't angry at all; instead, she burst out laughing.

The reason is simple: Scarlett Johansson has seen a lot in life.

But this was the first time her mother's widow had ever seen such a strange thing—her mother driving with one eye and peeking with the other!

Is it pretty?

Black Widow couldn't resist teasing Sherlock.

One sentence made Sherlock blush, and a flash of red lightning appeared in his voyeuristic eyes before he returned to normal in an instant.

Seeing this, Black Widow was speechless. As one of Sherlock's confidantes, she was well aware of how Sherlock's alchemy manifested when it was activated.

She pulled up the zipper on her chest, and after holding back a lot of complaints for a long time, she finally couldn't hold them in anymore and started ranting at Sherlock.

"No, is this right? You fucking used alchemy to destroy your own eyes, just so you could peek at me changing clothes while I'm driving?"

Sherlock wasn't annoyed by Black Widow's teasing. He just chuckled and shamelessly joked back at her.

"So what? It's not like we don't have the means."

Hearing Sherlock's shameless words, Black Widow practically rolled her eyes to the sky.

"You've really put this alchemy to good use. No wonder Pepper didn't want you to take care of the kids. The information Black Egg gave us was absolutely right. You're a nasty brat."

"Slander! I'm telling you, this is slander! I'll sue S.H.I.E.L.D. for defamation one day!"

Hearing Black Widow's complaints, Sherlock didn't hesitate to retort, but all he got in return was a big eye roll from her and the comment that he was a repressed pervert.

Fortunately, Sherlock was a good driver, and the Rolls-Royce had come to a steady stop at the entrance of the Hammer Corporation. Black Widow was too lazy to argue with the ill-tempered Sherlock, so she opened the car door and drove into the Hammer Corporation.

Sherlock could only shrug at Black Widow's retreating figure, then casually summoned his spear and followed.

Faced with the Hammer Corporation's security personnel, who were only slightly stronger than ordinary people, Sherlock and Black Widow could be said to have easily overpowered them. However, the difference was that Black Widow's side had an action scene, full of skill and entertainment.

Aesthetic appeal in every sense.

Sherlock's approach, on the other hand, is pure fantasy—simple, direct, and effective.

Black Widow's enemies were simply lying on the ground unconscious, while Sherlock's people were basically embedded into the walls by Sherlock using alchemy, and they remained conscious.

Hearing the screams and shouts of Sherlock's security personnel, Black Widow finally couldn't take it anymore. She threw a few stun guns at the unfortunate guys, knocking them unconscious, before rushing towards the server room.

Sherlock didn't react much to this. After shrugging his shoulders, he strolled around the entire Hammer Corporation building like a retired old man.

Chapter 159 Reciprocity

Sherlock didn't choose to go to the server room with Black Widow, but instead chose to tour the Hammer Corporation building. The reason for this was quite simple.

On the one hand, Sherlock really doesn't understand programming, so even if he went there, he wouldn't be of much help. It would be better for him to have a good look around and, incidentally, help Black Widow with the security situation inside the building.

Another reason is that the Hammer Group building may very well become a one-of-a-kind building like the Twin Towers in the United States in the future, so such an opportunity to visit openly and legitimately should naturally be cherished.

The reason why Sherlock was so certain that the Hammer Corporation would become a collector's item like the Twin Towers was simple: Sherlock himself came and took action.

Although Hammer Industries was nominally helping the US military develop steel soldiers, the military would absolutely not take the blame for the riots at Stark Industries.

In short, Justin Hammer's brilliant mind is absolutely finished; the only difference is whether he's dead or alive.

If the number of casualties is not large, this "big smart guy" might still have a chance to survive. However, if the damage is significant, then he most likely won't survive. After all, this isn't the first time someone has committed suicide after being shot multiple times in the back in the US.

The reason why Hammer Corporation is said to be doomed is actually due to Sherlock and Black Widow.

Black Widow is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and her entry into the Hammer Corporation building signifies S.H.I.E.L.D.'s involvement in this operation, regardless of their wishes.

If only Black Widow were involved, the military might try to negotiate with S.H.I.E.L.D. by citing Hammer Corporation's involvement in classified military projects, and ultimately allow Hammer Corporation to continue operating through a deal involving mutual benefits.

Ultimately, S.H.I.E.L.D. might not be so willing to get involved in the underlying power struggles. Given Blackie's situation, if it were just Black Widow alone, he would most likely let go and exchange Hammer Corporation for more benefits.

But Sherlock got involved, and he even took action.

Most importantly, Sherlock never killed any of the security personnel; he simply used alchemy to embed them in the wall.

In such a supernatural situation, whether they like it or not, S.H.I.E.L.D. must get involved and compete with the military for control of the Hammer Corporation.

The outcome of this struggle between the two sides will most likely be the same: finding a person or company trusted by both to take over Hammer Group, and then conditionally dividing Hammer Group's technology.

The only person or company that can be trusted by both the military and S.H.I.E.L.D. is Tony Stark Industries.

In other words, when Sherlock makes a move at Hammer Corporation, Black Egg's side has to intervene, whether out of self-interest, duty, or the 'deal' that once got Sherlock to rescue Tony.

This can be seen as Sherlock's small revenge for when Blackie came to his doorstep and asked him to do a mission.

After all, Sherlock was never a good person, so this was just a return gesture to Black Egg.

Sherlock didn't even choose to go to the server room, but instead wandered around the Hammer Corporation building, partly to increase his leverage in 'forcing' S.H.I.E.L.D.

While Sherlock was strolling around the Hammer Corporation building, occasionally embedding people into the walls as decorations, Black Widow, who had rushed into the server room, immediately spotted Ivan Vanko's former workstation.

Black Widow sat down at the computer almost without hesitation and began to crack the program that Ivan Vanko used to control the mechanical soldiers.

However, Black Widow is not a professional hacker. When she started cracking Ivan Vanko's system, an alarm sounded almost immediately on Ivan Vanko's end.

Ivan Vanko, upon seeing the alarm, showed no sign of panic, or rather, this scene was something he had already anticipated. He calmly activated the countermeasure system.

Meanwhile, an enhanced version of the Cable armor, created specifically to counter Tony, appeared in front of Tony, who had just finished using laser cutting.

Following Ivan Vanko's 'Paine-esque' speech that caused Tony to lose everything and feel immense pain, Ivan Vanko's pre-prepared countermeasures were activated.

The mechanical soldiers that had been attacking indiscriminately stopped their actions almost simultaneously, looking around like hunting dogs searching for prey. Before long, the mechanical soldiers seemed to have locked onto their target.

Both the mechanical soldiers in the sky and those on the ground rushed towards the same place almost simultaneously.

The backstage area of ​​the Hammer Group!

Seeing this scene, coupled with Ivan Vanko's Payne-esque remarks, if Tony still doesn't know what this guy is planning to do, then Tony's brain might as well be ripped out and thrown away.

"Ivan Vanko!!!"

The moment those mechanical soldiers made a move, Tony, his eyes bloodshot, roared and prepared to charge toward Pepper's location. However, every attempt to break through was blocked by Ivan Vanko's Cable mech with its massive body.

Just as Tony was becoming increasingly anxious, a dazzling golden light suddenly erupted from the Hammer Group's booth not far away, followed by a massive wall of fire, as large as a crescent moon, flying out at an extremely fast speed from behind the Hammer Group's booth.

The golden wall of fire expanded as it advanced, and in the blink of an eye, it surged towards Tony and his companions like a monstrous wave.

Tony could almost clearly see that the overwhelming mechanical soldiers began to vaporize the moment they came into contact with the golden wall of fire.

Almost instantly, the swarming mechanical army, like locusts, vanished without a trace.

But strangely, the golden flames could vaporize steel in an instant, so the temperature should have been close to that of the sun's surface.

But strangely enough, under Tony's watchful eye, nothing happened to the surrounding trees when they came into contact with the golden flames.

It was as if the golden flames were an illusion; they did not spontaneously combust, did not vaporize, and even continued to sway in the evening breeze.

The golden wave of fire was incredibly fast; in the blink of an eye, it had already reached them.

Looking at the golden fire wave that was tens of meters high, even a genius like Tony couldn't think of a way to escape. He could only stare blankly at the scene unfolding before him and utter a somewhat dazed comment that wasn't really a sarcastic remark.

"My hair!"

As Tony finished speaking, Tony, Rhodes, and Ivan Vanko's Cable armor were instantly engulfed by the golden wave of fire.

Surprisingly, Tony didn't feel any heat at all; in fact, he felt a bit cold.

This amazing feeling made Tony slightly open his tightly closed eyes and look around.

It was still the same familiar environment; even the trees he had just cut were lying quietly on the ground, unchanged.

The only difference was that his steel armor had disappeared, leaving him completely naked.

Strangely, only Tony and Rhodey, who was also completely naked, remained at the scene, their eyes tightly closed as they prayed.

Chapter 160 Doro Unleashes His Power

As for who caused this spectacle, it could only be Doro, who had been sitting on a little cloud floating in front of Chili and Happy the whole time.

If we rewind a little, when Ivan Vanko activated the counter-traps of those mechanical soldiers, they immediately severed the network connection according to the program Ivan Vanko had already set up.

Furthermore, the system changed Tony's target to Pepper Potts.

The fact that all the mechanical soldiers stopped what they were doing and looked around like hunting dogs was actually just them setting up a local area network and searching the database for Little Pepper's whereabouts.

When the group of mechanical soldiers found Pepper's trail, they took action almost immediately.

Ivan Vanko's design was that these mechanical soldiers would capture Pepper Potts and bring her near him, then kill her in front of Tony.

It was precisely because of this design that Doro had time to act the moment the first mechanical soldier smashed through the ceiling of Hammer Corporation's back office and fell from the sky.

Doro, who was sitting on a small cloud and exuding a faint golden light like an enlightened master, suddenly shone brightly with golden light. After muttering a spell that Chili couldn't understand at all, he simply waved his miniature whisk.