Tony grunted and rolled on the ground until he crashed into a car before stopping. He looked up at the bar in front of him and found that it had collapsed in the explosion.
Seeing the scene before him, Tony muttered, "So there wasn't a bomb at all, it was a self-destruction."
Just then, Tony heard a sound like steel breaking and turned to look in that direction.
A bright orange light began to emanate from a man, whose hand rested on the iron frame supporting a massive water tower. The iron frame turned red and began to melt.
Seeing this, Tony immediately understood the other party's intention and tried to get up from the ground to avoid it. However, the moment Tony stood up, the water tower's frame melted, and the huge water tower, carrying a large amount of water, crashed towards Tony's location.
The falling water tower smashed a house, and the hundreds of tons of water stored inside poured out instantly, like a waterfall carrying the shattered building debris towards Tony.
Faced with such an attack, Tony had no way to dodge. He could only cross his arms to protect his vitals before being swept away by the water flow. The corrugated steel house behind him disintegrated.
Fortunately, the water flow was limited to the water tower and its destructive power was not excessive. Although it caused him considerable injuries, he managed to withstand it thanks to his enhanced physique.
The water in the water tower flowed in all directions, and soon lost its impact.
Tony was trapped under the rubble when Savin, the man who attacked him, walked over. He was the assistant that Killian had brought with him when he visited Stark Industries. It was a pity that Happy hadn't sent Tony a picture of Seven, otherwise Tony would know who his enemy was right now.
Savin walked up to Tony and said, "Where is that damn file?"
Tony pushed aside the rubble covering him, revealing his upper body. His legs were stuck, and to prevent a sudden attack, he asked, "What documents do you think could have survived that explosion?"
Savin hearing this, Seven cursed angrily, "Bastard!"
Tony nodded and said, "You're a real jerk."
The next second, Tony raised his right hand and fired Unibeam at the target's head, blasting Savin away and creating a hole in his head.
Seeing that he had eliminated his opponent with a single blow, Tony immediately threw down the overloaded Repulsor Blast in his palm. This was a one-time-use weapon he had created, which would be destroyed immediately after use.
Seeing that the enemy had been dealt with, Tony moved the rubble that was pressing down on him, then got up and walked towards the other party.
Tony looked at Savin and, after confirming that he was beyond saving, took the car keys from Seven's pocket, turned around, found his car, and unzipped his jacket to take out some slightly damp documents.
As soon as the car door opened, Harry ran over.
"You were so cool!"
Tony smiled and said, "Thanks, I understand."
Tony got into the car, closed the door, rolled down the window, and said to Harry, "I need you to go home and find your mother."
"Keep your mouth shut, keep your armor on, and don't let the phone line get busy."
"Because when I call, you'd better be able to answer, okay?"
"Got it? Things are settled here."
"Don't block my way, or I'll bump into you."
"Goodbye."
Harry stood in front of the car and asked, "I'm your comrade now. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Tony chuckled, "Just do these things."
Harry nodded. "Yes, Mechanic."
Tony rolled up the car window, stepped on the gas, and drove away.
Meanwhile, Savin, who had been killed by Tony, had a red light flash over his head. His head, which had been punched in the head, slowly recovered. He then stood up, glanced at the scene, and left to return to the base.
······
On the other side.
The Mandarin's video has been recorded. Under the operation of the Killian team, television signals across the United States have been hijacked once again. This time, not only New York, but also the television signals of Los Angeles on the East Coast have been covered and hijacked.
Inside the White House, the Vice President was handling official business when an official beside him spoke up, "We've had an unauthorized broadcast cut in..."
"Mr. Vice President, I think you should take a look at this."
Then, the logo of the Ten Rings appeared on the screen in the conference room.
Upon seeing this, the vice president shook his head and said, "Oh no, here we go again."
"Did the president see that?"
The president was conducting in-flight business on Air One at the time, and he also saw this scene.
On television, the Mandarin said, "Mr. President, I'm going to teach you two lessons."
"And I plan to finish it sometime during the Christmas holidays."
"Let's get to know Thomas Richard."
The Mandarin was lying next to a white man, and the Mandarin was holding a pistol and pointing it at the man.
"He has a good reputation and a secure job."
"This Thomas is an accountant at Roxxon Oil Corporation."
"But I'm sure he's a good person, and I'm going to blow his head off, live-streaming it in thirty seconds."
Thomas lay on the ground howling, "No!"
The Mandarin pointed to the landline phone next to him and said, "You have this number on your phone, isn't that exciting?"
"Are you wondering how this number got into your phone?"
"Listen up, United States people, if the president calls me within half a minute, Thomas will live."
"Start!"
The president picked up his phone, saw the number, and asked his aides, "How did he hack into my phone?"
The aide began, "We cannot allow ourselves to be controlled by terrorists..."
The president took off his glasses and said, "I have to make this call."
The aide said, "I strongly advise you not to do this."
The president stood up and said, "This is the right thing to do."
He then dialed the number, and the landline on the television rang.
Just when everyone thought Thomas was going to survive, the Mandarin shot him in the head.
Having done all this, the Mandarin continued, "There's one more lesson to learn, President Ellis."
"Run away quickly, hide and kiss your child goodbye."
"Because no one can save you. Your army can't save you, and neither can that red, white, and blue striped police dog."
We'll see each other again soon.
Then the Mandarin disappeared from the television screen, leaving behind the symbol of the Ten Rings.
Seeing all this, the president angrily said, "Notify Rhodey and tell him to find this madman immediately."
At this point, a staff member said, "Sir, we've tracked the broadcast signal, and we've located a possible target point in Pakistan."
"The Iron Patriot are ready to strike."
The president nodded and said, "Let's begin!"
Yes, sir.
······
On the other side.
Tony was driving while reviewing the documents in his hand. After looking through them, he saw a document that read 'List of Missing Personnel' and bore the logo of AIM.
Upon seeing the company's logo, Tony sensed something was amiss. Could these people have been developed by AIM?
A new Super Soldier Serum?
Thinking of this, Tony remembered Rhodey's fighter jet, which seemed to have been contracted to AIM for upgrades and modifications. With that in mind, Tony immediately dialed Rhodey' number.
Meanwhile, Rhodey arrived in Pakistan and stumbled upon what appeared to be the Mandarin's target location.
"Don't move!"
Rhodey raised the weapon on his arm and aimed at the people in the room, but he realized that the target should be wrong. The person in front of him did not look like the Mandarin. Just then, the phone inside the mask rang.
Seeing the ringing phone, Rhodey said, "Uh, wait a minute."
He then answered the phone, "Hello."
Tony then said, "Have you ever had a girl sitting on you, and when you looked up, she suddenly started radiating a bright orange light from the inside out?"
Rhodey asked in confusion, "Hmm, I've met you before. Who are you?"
Tony: "It's me, buddy."
"If I remember correctly, you came looking for me when I went missing last time. What were you doing?"
Rhodey looked at the person in front of him and said, "Just a small visit to Pakistan, to make some friends."
What are you doing?
Tony asked, "Was the redesign of your armor done by AIM?"
"Yes."
Upon hearing Rhodey's affirmative answer, Tony threw down the documents in his hand, then started driving, saying, "I'm going to find a large communications satellite now. I need your account."
Rhodey replied, "It's always been War Machine 68."
Tony said, "And the password, thank you."
Rhodey complained, "Listen, Tony, I have to change the password every time you hack in."
Tony chuckled and said, "This isn't the 80s anymore; nobody talks about hacking in anymore."
"Give me the password."
Rhodey sighed, and finally revealed the code. "War Machine Rocket, Rocket ends with X, all capital letters."
Upon hearing Rhodey's words, the Pakistan beside him also burst out laughing, mocking the code.
Rhodey immediately activated the weapon equipment on his foot, and the other party immediately fell silent.
But Tony's mocking laughter immediately followed, and Rhodey said helplessly, "Just keep laughing."
Tony laughed, "This is much better than the Iron Patriot."
Just then, Tony happened to pass by the Hamilton County Memorial Hall, where the Chattanooga Christmas Pageant was being held. Seeing this, Tony knew that the equipment he needed must be there, so he immediately made a U-turn and drove there.
Upon arriving at the location, Tony took a roll of cable and went over. He found a satellite vehicle in the plaza and then quietly sneaked inside.
Stepping into the car, I saw the communications vehicle broadcasting the beauty pageant inside the church. I immediately tested the internet speed on the car's computer, but found it was slow.
Just then, the car owner opened the door, saw Tony inside, and asked, "Excuse me, sir, I don't know who you are?"
Tony turned around, looked at the other person, and made a silencing gesture.
"Shh."
The car owner, who was on the phone at the time, immediately said, "Mom, I'll call you back in a bit. The moment to witness a miracle has arrived."
After saying that, he immediately hung up the phone and excitedly said, "Tony Stark is in my car."
"Keep your voice down."
Tony then told the other person to close the car door and get in first.
During the conversation, Tony gained a little fan, a fan who had his portrait tattooed on his arm – Gary.
Finally Tony the other party to let Gary climb onto the roof of the car to readjust the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and increase the network speed by 40%.
At Tony's request, Gary immediately went to take action.
With the improved internet speed, Tony quickly gained access to AIM's internal network and found the information he needed.
Through the enemy's internal video footage, Tony learned that Killian's AIM had developed a new type of Super Soldier Serum with the ability to heal severed limbs and disabilities. He also learned that the self-destruction was not an attack method, but rather an uncontrollable accidental discharge.
Tony snapped his the Snap and said, "Got you, buddy."
"That thing can malfunction sometimes, right, buddy?"
"Despite its flaws, you still found a buyer, right?"
"Sold to the Mandarin."
Tony still believed that Killian had simply developed the device and sold it to the Mandarin, a terrorist organization, without knowing that Killian was the mastermind behind it all.
······
On the other side.
After arranging the video playback, Killian began to check Maya Hansen's location using GPS.
He learned from his subordinates that one of them had been present at the scene when Tony Stark was bombed.
Kylian had some idea of what the other party was thinking, but he wasn't 100% sure. He needed to confirm the other party's location.
Upon activating the tracking device carried by Maya Hansen, it was discovered that Maya Hansen's location was actually inside the base of the superhero Charlotte Doyle.
Upon seeing the location, Killian cursed, "Damn it, what's going on here?"
At this moment, one of his subordinates spoke up, "Sir, according to the situation at the scene, Charlotte Doyle brought men to Tony Stark's Villa and took Pepper Potts away. Maya Hansen also left with them."
Upon hearing his subordinate's report, Killian slammed his fist on the table.
"Bang!"
The desk in front of him was smashed to pieces by Killian's punch, clearly indicating that he had also been injected with the Extremis Virus.
At this moment, Killian was somewhat annoyed. The Extremis Virus was not yet perfected, and the initial initiator of this technology was Maya Hansen, who was also one of the senior members of their team.
If they let the other side do whatever they want, the losses to them will be quite significant. If the Extremis Virus were already perfected, losing Maya Hansen wouldn't be a big deal, but the current situation is making him very upset.
Pepper Potts and Maya Hansen are both in each other's bases. Unlike Tony, this superhero has a large number of ninjas under her command, unlike Tony who fights alone.
Can his men bring Pepper Potts and Maya Hansen back?
After some thought, Killian felt he had no choice but to give it a try. He couldn't give up on Maya Hansen yet, and it wouldn't be a loss if he could kidnap Pepper Potts along the way.
It seems I need to find a group of subordinates who can't leak his information.
"Send those soldiers who were injected with the Extremis Virus over here."
"And those disabled volunteer soldiers who haven't been vaccinated yet, arrange for them to receive the Extremis Virus injection together."
The subordinate beside him nodded and said, "Yes, sir!"
However, Killian was preparing to send a large number of Extremis Virus Injectors to Charlotte Doyle's base. If they couldn't bring back Maya Hansen, they would launch a self-destruct attack on her.
Since the other party dared to make such a fuss in the media, Killian would let him experience the treatment Tony Stark received. This time, he wouldn't use missiles; instead, he would directly attack with Extremis.
······
On the other side.
Inside Charlotte's base.
John Wick had already driven everyone back to the base, and Charlotte had already assigned rooms for Pepper Potts and Maya Hansen to rest in.
Charlotte Doyle looked at Maya Hansen and said, "I'd also like to know about your meeting with Tony Stark, and about your boss."
Upon hearing Charlotte Doyle's request, Maya Hansen wanted to refuse, but since he was already in Charlotte's base, he could only nod in agreement.
"Since Mr. Charlotte is interested, I will tell everyone about it as well."
Charlotte glanced around and then said, "Let's go to the Rest Area over there. There are sofas there so we can talk more easily."
Soon the four of them arrived at the sofa in the Rest Area, and after they sat down Maya Hansen began to tell her story.
"In fact, our research is similar to that of that Germany nuclear physicist and Rocket."
"Before he built Rocket for the Nazis, this idealistic version of Wernher von Braun dreamed of space travel and gazed at the stars."
"Do you know what he said when the first V-2 missile hit London?"
"The Rocket functioned perfectly, it just landed on the wrong planet."
Maya Hansen looked at Charlotte Doyle and said, "You see, we were all very naive at the beginning, just doing pure science."
"Then arrogance arises, followed by obsession, and when you look up again, you've strayed far from your original intention."
Tsunade to the side, shook her head and said, "That's because you've lost your original intention and haven't fully carried out your will."
"If you can consistently stick to your will, you won't stray from your original intention. Although time may change some people's will, there will always be those who persevere and move forward with their will."
Maya looked at Tsunade, who was speaking, and then shook her head, saying, "We're just ordinary people, not powerful ninjas. There are some things we can't control..."
Just then Pepper Potts comforted her, saying, "Don't be too hard on yourself, Maya."
Charlotte then spoke up, "You mean, you gave your research to the think tank?"
Maya Hansen nodded and said, "Yes, but Killian is a think tank built on a military contract."
Pepper Potts didn't seem to mind, and instead offered words of comfort, "That's how we've always been, so don't blame yourself."