Even though he was the one who started this fight in some ways, and he knew he had acted a bit too rashly, he didn't really regret it since the fight had already begun.
Besides, he didn't think he was truly wrong. At least from his point of view, it was Raymond who was rude first.
But Pepper showing up now was clearly a problem.
If Raymond really was the one behind Happy's kidnapping, then Pepper coming here now was like handing herself over as a hostage.
Even if he couldn't beat Raymond, Tony thought he could still escape if he had to, or at least call for help.
But if Pepper was here too, things would be totally different.
He wasn't sure he could protect Pepper from Raymond.
While Tony was thinking quickly about what to do, Pepper seemed to notice something was wrong. She stopped her car not far away and got out.
On the ground, "Raymond" gave a threatening throat-slitting gesture to the air with a wicked smile, then turned and walked toward Pepper.
Seeing Raymond really walk toward Pepper, Tony didn't have time to think of a plan. He flew to Pepper as fast as he could and stood in front of her to protect her.
What surprised him was that Raymond didn't do anything to Pepper. He just walked over slowly.
"What's going on, Tony?" Pepper asked.
"Be careful, this guy is dangerous!" Tony stared at Raymond, who was walking over, not daring to let his guard down.
He knew how fast Raymond could move, so he didn't dare to relax.
"Who's really the problem here? Are you still trying to twist the truth, Mr. Stark?" Raymond said calmly.
He had switched back to his normal self.
Even Tony could feel that Raymond seemed different, but he couldn't figure out why. He just felt that Raymond's attitude now was not the same as before.
But Tony definitely didn't plan to attack again unless he had no choice.
Hearing Raymond's question, Tony fired back, "If you have nothing to hide, why did you try to leave so quickly?"
Raymond just sneered, shook his head, and didn't bother to answer.
Pepper knew Tony very well. Seeing the situation, she guessed that Tony's bad temper must have made things worse, and it even looked like Tony had suffered a loss.
Pepper was secretly surprised.
The last time she saw Tony in such a mess was during the Battle of New York, and before that, it was when he fought that guy from Asgard.
She didn't expect Detective Raymond could push Tony into such a corner. It was hard to believe.
But anyway, she knew she had to step in now. This was always her role:
"Detective Raymond, I'm really sorry. Is there some misunderstanding here? If Tony did something wrong, I apologize to you on his behalf."
"Honey, you don't need to—"
Pepper glared at him and told him to let her handle it.
Tony had calmed down by now and knew this was the best way to deal with things. Even though it was a little embarrassing, Pepper gave him a way out, so he took it.
"If we talked from the start, none of this would have happened," Raymond said with a laugh, glancing at Tony.
Seeing that Raymond was willing to let it go, Pepper asked Tony what had happened.
After Tony quickly explained the situation, Pepper nodded to show she understood, then asked again:
"Detective Raymond, can you tell us what conditions you wanted to talk about before? If you really know where Happy is, as long as your request isn't too much, we can accept it…"
"But… Detective Raymond, are you sure you've found Happy's location?"
Raymond had already guessed they would ask this. He took out his phone, found a recent selfie, and tossed the phone over.
Pepper caught the phone, and both of them saw Happy in the photo. Raymond was next to him, making a V sign.
But Happy looked pretty bad in the picture. He had a black eye, blood at the corner of his mouth, and was missing two teeth.
Raymond also looked strange in the photo, wearing a big red chef's hat and a red robe.
But neither of them had time to wonder about Raymond's outfit.
When Tony saw the photo, he had JARVIS scan it. The scan quickly showed the photo was real and not edited.
This made Tony even angrier. He glared at Raymond.
"You still want to say Happy's disappearance has nothing to do with you?"
"I already said, if you keep talking to me , then there's nothing more to discuss. I'm busy and don't have time to mess around," Raymond said calmly.
Pepper tapped Tony's suit, telling him not to lose his temper again.
She knew Tony couldn't stand seeing his old friend get hurt, so it was normal for him to lose control. But Raymond clearly didn't care about that.
If this kept going, there would be no way to talk.
Pepper tossed the phone back to Raymond and asked, "Detective Raymond, since you know where Happy is, have you managed to get him out? Like I said, as long as Happy is safe, we can talk about anything."
"I did find him, but the situation is complicated, so I haven't gotten him out yet," Raymond shook his head.
"Complicated? Can you explain a bit more?" Pepper asked.
Raymond put away his phone and said, "The reason I contacted you was to discuss how to handle this. But before I could finish, our Iron Man here told me to stop and even called me a kidnapper…"
"If I couldn't fight back, I'd probably already be locked up and tortured, right?"
Pepper looked at Tony, but this time Tony didn't argue. Because of his helmet, she couldn't see his face, but she knew Tony well enough to realize this was his fault for making things worse.
She apologized to Raymond again, and then asked him to explain what he meant by "complicated."
Raymond saw Tony's reaction and knew Tony had already backed down, so he didn't push any further.
After all, Tony just gave him 300 exploration points, and he didn't want to lose such a valuable client.
So, he quickly explained the situation to them, telling them about A.I.M. and Killian.