Coulson's Hair Loss

The experience points gained from defeating Iron Monger were beyond Fanny's estimation. He had thought that the Iron Monger wouldn't be much stronger than Mordo, but he might have miscalculated its destructive capability.

The Iron Monger had the advantage of flight, diverse arsenal, high defense, and so on—although Mordo could probably still defeat it with a well-timed teleportation portal.

It had its limits as an armor derived from the Mark I, but the Iron Monger almost filled ten percent of Fanny's experience bar. Using Mordo as a baseline, it was equal to more than thirty training sessions with Mordo.

In other words, fighting just seven or eight more enemies at the level of Iron Monger would allow him to extract another skill.

Fanny did not understand this situation.

Was the Iron Monger very strong?

Fanny must admit that it wasn't weak, but it probably wasn't that strong either. None of his estimates would give him nearly as much experience as he got.

"Was it because I killed him?" Fanny thought silently.

It had been almost twenty years since he arrived in the Marvel universe and obtained the system. His research regarding the system's inner workings convinced him that the system worked similarly to an RPG system.

Defeating enemies, gaining experience, leveling up, and then obtaining a skill. Rinse and repeat.

Then, was the reason I didn't get as much experience from the previous battle because I didn't properly 'defeat' my opponents?!

Fanny recalled what Ancient One had said. He had too much influence on this world, and she didn't want him to be controlled by power. Was she afraid that he would be tempted by the system?!

Fanny could not get an answer to this question; Ancient One would not tell him if he asked directly. Moreover, would he choose to kill people just to obtain more experience?

He had experimented with killing animals like ants and even a chicken in his quest to gain experience. But killing sapient beings was a very different matter.

To kill a person just to gain experience would run against the morals and ethics he had formed in his current and previous life.

Obadiah's death was almost an accident. He didn't have time to think and was too focused on preventing Obadiah's escape. And he wasn't even sure that Obadiah had died—perhaps he would survive and become another villain in the future.

Regardless, this was all just his speculation. One with a glaring inconsistency: he had gained the tremendous experience right after the avalanche swallowed Obadiah. Obadiah shouldn't have died in such a short time.

Either way, Fanny steeled his will.

Let nature take its course!

He will not have mercy for his enemies, but he wouldn't kill people just for experience. At least right now, he was not someone who would sacrifice everything for power.

If that day really came, he could reconsider his stance.

After Fanny settled his thought and stowed away his worries, all that was left was the excitement from the experience points. On top of that, he might be able to farm experience through the Iron Man series suits in the future.

After saving Pepper and fighting side by side, would Tony refuse a request to test his combat suit performance against me?!

Fanny slowly fell asleep, lulled by the excitement of the fifth skill. He was blissfully unaware of Coulson's balding head or the effort to find his identity.

...

"Miss Potts, please pardon my rudeness. I have something very important to consult regarding Mr. Stark."

Coulson spent a lot of effort tracking Pepper right after she left Rhodes' protection. This was the fastest way Coulson could think of to grasp the situation.

"I'm very sorry; I don't quite understand what you mean."

Too many things had happened that day; Pepper was left mentally exhausted. She had just finished a call with Tony and was about to get a good rest when Coulson found her.

"We have received reports that you and Mr. Stark had entered the company building today, but nobody had known when the two of you had left."

"Also, do you have any information about the three people in suits of armor that were sighted within the Stark Industry complex?" Coulson asked politely.

"We left the office pretty late at night, so the security might not notice us. I am unsure about the three armored people you mentioned; I'll have someone review our information and get back to you tomorrow." Pepper wasn't used to lying, so her expression was a little unnatural.

As a senior agent, Coulson could tell at a glance that Pepper was not telling the truth. That meant Pepper actually knew something about the event.

"Miss Pepper, you know that we have no ill intentions." Coulson showed a kind expression as he did his best to win Pepper's trust. "We just wish to understand the situation, so we can be prepared if anything happens again."

"Tony is in the armor, right?" Coulson asked suddenly.

Pepper's eyes widened, and she unconsciously gripped his hands tight. Coulson didn't miss those small movements. He was certain that Tony had developed a new technology.

"I don't know. Tony is resting at home now." Pepper tried her best to stay natural and calm before apologizing, "It's already very late. I need to rest. Let's talk about it tomorrow."

"I'm sorry to disturb you. Good night!" Coulson didn't pester her anymore. He wanted to maintain their amicable relationship, and he already got what he wanted.

Coulson contacted Nick Fury right after leaving the house. "Sir, we could confirm that one of them was indeed Tony Stark. It seems that he had won the fight and returned safely."

"What about the remaining two?"

"Information suggests that one of them was very likely Obadiah Stane. His whereabouts are currently unknown, and nobody can reach him. As for the last one, I apologize, sir. We haven't found any new information about him—but I feel that Tony and his assistant Pepper Potts should know his identity."

"I don't want to know what you feel; I only want the result!"

Nick's commanding voice made Coulson worry about his remaining hair.

"Yes, sir. Please give me a little more time." Coulson sighed. If he couldn't rely on Pepper, he could only gamble on the other.

"Sir, there are people outside looking for you!" Jarvis reported to Tony, who still worked in his studio despite going through a battle just a short while ago.

"Who is it?" Tony asked without raising his head.

"The identity of the target is confidential and cannot be searched online."

Tony raised his head to find a smiling Coulson through the front door monitor. The half-bald head reminded him of his identity.

"It's that... What was it again?"

Tony snapped his fingers several times, but in the end, he couldn't remember the name "SHIELD." What he did remember was the fact that this organization wasn't just a run-of-the-mill government organization since Fanny had mentioned that he didn't want to contact this organization for the time being.

Tony recalled that Fanny had said, "for the time being." That means he might change his mind and get in contact with them in the future.