Three months later, Stark Group's shares had plummeted because of the disappearance of the supergenius Stark. Luke was somewhat tempted to buy shares in Stark Industries, but this was not the best time yet.
Once Tony returned, the shares would rise a little, but when Tony announced the closure of the weapons division, Stark Industries' shares would fall another 56.3% on top of their earlier plunge. That would be the best time to buy in.
Luke was playing an online game with four ninjas when his phone suddenly rang.
"Coulson, what do you need me for?" Luke checked the name and spoke into the phone.
After listening for a while, Luke said helplessly, "I've already sent more than four hundred ninjas to look for Stark, but the area is just too big. There's no way the ninjas could find him this quickly."
After exchanging a few more words, Luke hung up and had a ninja take over his game. He traced out a portal and stepped into a mountainous region.
Three months ago, after unlocking the new map, he had taken a few pictures of Tony the human battery and gone straight back to New York. Since then, S.H.I.E.L.D. had been calling him relentlessly.
Sneaking into the cave where Tony was being held, Luke watched him hammering away at an iron mask.
"Finally, he's almost done." Luke sighed helplessly.
The moment Tony disappeared, S.H.I.E.L.D. had mobilized completely.
Tony's father was, after all, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders. Now that a founder's son had gone missing, S.H.I.E.L.D. was quite anxious.
As far as Luke knew, even Coulson had stopped overseeing the Helicarrier's construction and come here to search for Tony.
But as Luke had said, the region was vast and crawling with terrorists, so S.H.I.E.L.D.'s search was progressing very slowly.
Watching Tony show the mask to Yinsen, Luke could not resist snapping a photo.
These days, his blog had been full of dull landscape photos, and even the few followers he had worked so hard to gather were about to leave. Now he could finally get some good material.
"Who's there?" Tony seemed to have suddenly caught a glimpse of something flashing past, but when he looked, there was nothing.
Yinsen glanced around a few times, then looked at Tony in puzzlement.
"What's wrong? There's nothing else here."
Tony sighed. "Maybe I'm just too on edge. We can get ready to put on the armor."
Seeing that paparazzo here, of all places. Tony felt as though something might be wrong with him. Of all people, he had seen that guy instead of Pepper. He would definitely have to get himself thoroughly checked when he got back.
Luke breathed a sigh of relief. He had not expected Tony to have become so much more alert.
Still, looking at the photo on his camera, getting spotted would not have mattered much. The angle had captured both Tony and the helmet from the front. It was worth keeping as a memento.
Tony might have a breakdown, though. After all, he had spent so long building his armor, only to be rescued by some annoying brat before he even had a chance to use it.
Luke gave a couple of mischievous chuckles.
Just then, a bald man walked into the surveillance room. As the Ten Rings' only bald man here, he served as the group's leader and was also the cleverest of these bandits.
Yesterday, he had discovered that Tony and Yinsen were not building the Jericho missile they wanted, but something unknown instead. He had gone in and given them a good scare, and Yinsen had nearly been made to take a bite of freshly heated charcoal.
He watched Yinsen doing something behind a rack, while Tony Stark was nowhere to be seen.
The bald man frowned, sensing that something was wrong, and quickly sent two men to check.
The two immediately ran to the door of the room where Tony was being held, opened the little window, and shouted something.
Tony and Yinsen were putting on the armor behind the rack. Hearing the guards shouting, Tony feared they would barge straight in and told Yinsen to hurry up and placate them.
"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't speak it." Yinsen sounded helpless.
"What do you speak? Just say something." Tony was a little nervous too. There was still another step ahead that would take quite a while to prepare.
Helplessly, Yinsen shouted a few random words, but the men outside clearly were not easily fooled. They opened the door to come in, only to be blasted away by the bomb behind it.
"How did it go?" Tony was now secured to the rack and could not see what had happened, so he asked Yinsen.
"Looks like it worked," Yinsen replied.
"My stuff always does," Tony said, relieved. "Now get the power program running."
Following Tony's instructions, Yinsen started the program. Watching the agonizingly slow progress bar and hearing the constant shouting, he gritted his teeth and fastened the last few screws for Tony. "We need time!"
After tightening the screws, Yinsen turned around. "I'll buy us some time."
Tony had a bad feeling. "Stick to the plan."
For the first time in the past two weeks, Yinsen did not listen to him. He ran to the door, picked up a rifle, and charged out, shouting and firing as he went.
"Damn it!" Tony cursed fiercely, but there was nothing he could do now except watch the progress bar crawl across the battered screen in front of him.
Seeing that events were still following the plot, Luke breathed a sigh of relief. He left a few Ninja Soldiers to protect Tony in secret and ran outside.
Yinsen was a good man. He should not die.
Yinsen charged forward, firing as he went. Intimidated by his momentum, the terrorists actually fled with him chasing after them.
Yinsen kept running until he reached the cave entrance, only to find a large crowd waiting for him.
"It's over," Yinsen said.
Meanwhile, Stark finally saw the progress bar fill. He fastened his helmet and hurried outside.
"Yinsen, where are you?"
He took out a few grunts hiding in the cave. They were all shouting something, but Tony could not understand them.
He made his way into a large chamber littered with bodies. Looking at the bullet holes in them, Tony began to wonder how Yinsen had ever been captured. Was he really not some country's secret agent?
"Stark..." A weak voice reached him, and Tony saw Yinsen lying among a pile of sandbags nearby, covered in blood.
Tony hurried over. Seeing Yinsen covered in blood, his heart filled with sorrow.
"Come on, Yinsen. Let's get out of here." Using the armor's strength, he flung the sandbags aside and looked at Yinsen, who lay motionless before him.
"Move. Stick to the plan."
But Yinsen shook his head. "This was my plan, Stark."
Tony drew a deep breath. "But your family is waiting for you."
Yinsen smiled weakly. "My family is dead. I'm going to see them."
Shaken, Tony froze for a long moment. "Thank you for saving me."
Yinsen slowly closed his eyes, as though his strength was nearly gone. "Don't waste it... don't waste your life." With that, Yinsen went still.
Tony was deeply saddened, but anger surged through him as well. He closed his helmet and charged outside.
Yinsen quietly opened his eyes, watched Tony leave, and drew a deep breath.
If Tony had stayed a little longer, he would have suffocated from holding his breath.
A young man suddenly appeared before him. "Nice acting, Yinsen."
Yinsen stood up and tugged uncomfortably at his clothes, which were soaked in other people's blood.
"Why did you lie to Stark?"
"This is the final step in his transformation," Luke told Yinsen, patting the camera in his hand. "Nice acting. You look good on camera."
Yinsen gave a helpless grimace. He had finally managed to get into character, only to suddenly spot Luke taking pictures in the background. He had nearly broken character and hurriedly closed his eyes.
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