Tony rushed out, filled with anger, unaware that the actor behind him was discussing a new plot with the director.
A group of terrorists had already received word. They stood among all sorts of rocket launchers and bombs but ignored them, each holding a rifle aimed at the cave entrance.
All they knew was that Stark had built something and escaped. They had no idea what he had actually built and thought the rifles in their hands would be enough to kill him.
Hearing something rapidly approaching the entrance, the group readied themselves. But as the sound grew louder, they could not help growing afraid. The unknown always stirred people's deepest fears with ease.
A suit of Iron Man Armor appeared at the entrance. The terrorists, who had never seen anything like it, were a little frightened, firing and shouting to bolster their courage.
But clearly, their battle cries could not strengthen their guns. The bullets struck Tony's armor without leaving so much as a dent.
"My turn!" Tony said after letting the terrorists fire a burst.
He raised both hands, and two streams of flame shot out, setting every armed man in front of him ablaze.
When had those armed men ever seen anything like this? Even Yinsen firing at the ceiling had been enough to scare them.
The armed men immediately scattered, with barely any of them even trying to fight back.
Tony attacked as he walked out, but at the checkpoint, an armed man operating a heavy machine gun managed to pin him down.
Another armed man circled behind Tony and fired several shots, destroying the gear mechanism in his leg and dealing the most damage anyone had inflicted on him so far.
Tony tried to move his foot, but it would not budge.
With the situation critical, Tony was about to use his emergency escape system to fly out when he suddenly noticed the enemies around him dropping one after another. At some point, two throwing stars had lodged in each of their necks.
"Hey, Mr. Stark, interested in remembering my name now?"
Ninjas sprang out one after another and cut down the enemies, while Luke emerged from the shadows.
"You? The kid taking pictures?" Tony could hardly believe his eyes.
Luke nodded. "Want to remember my name? Luke, security consultant for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."
Tony let out a breath. "All right, kid, you win. I might remember that name for the rest of my life."
Luke watched the ninjas cut down the last enemy and had them return to the shadows. Seeing Tony struggling endlessly to take a couple of steps, he cheerfully walked over.
"Need a hand?"
"Of course. Come give me a hand. Something's wrong with my armor. I can't move my legs."
Tony tried moving his foot again, but still failed.
Luke had several Ninja Soldiers go over and help Tony take the armor straight off, freeing him.
Watching the Ninja Soldiers around them vanish on the spot, Tony looked at Luke curiously. "Is that a superpower?"
Luke nodded casually. Luckily, superpowered people existed in this world, or explaining things to these guys would have been difficult.
"By the way, a friend's body is still inside. Could you help me bring him out?" Tony said to Luke, remembering Yinsen in the cave.
"Uh, I don't think there's enough time. Those explosives are about to catch fire. We need to leave first."
Luke's expression turned serious. He had the Ninja Soldiers take Tony and run straight out, giving him no chance at all to look back.
What a joke. If he went back now and couldn't find Yinsen's body, Tony would be bound to shut down. And I don't want to kill Yinsen.
Only after running several kilometers did Luke stop with Tony.
"Doesn't look like anything exploded." Tony looked back in confusion.
"Maybe the explosives take longer to burn? Anyway, it's fine. I'll call for help now. A plane will come pick us up in a bit. Stay here and don't move."
"Okay. Thanks, paparazzo." Tony did not want to think about anything else. Having finally crawled out of hell, all he wanted now was a good night's sleep and a cheeseburger, something he had not had in ages.
Luke took out his satellite phone and called Coulson, telling him to hurry up and send someone over with two cheeseburgers, or Tony was going to die.
Ten minutes later, two aircraft approached from the distance.
"Ohhhh!" Tony waved excitedly as the helicopters circled down to land.
Coulson and Rhodey got out of the aircraft one after the other. Rhodey walked straight up and hugged Tony.
"Next time, don't ride alone in your fun Humvee, okay?"
Luke took two burgers from Coulson.
"Hey, rich guy, want to buy a burger for a million dollars?"
Tony spotted the burgers in Luke's hands. "All right, normally I'd sue you for deceiving consumers, but right now, give me another two."
Snatching the burgers from Luke, Tony looked toward the distant valley. Just as he was about to ask Rhodey to retrieve Yinsen's body, a deafening explosion rang out. A small mushroom cloud rose, blasting the entire valley into collapse.
All right, looks like you're really not coming back.
That was what Tony thought as he remembered Yinsen telling him not to waste his life and the cheeseburger in his hand.
"Hey, kid, how much do you think I could make selling burgers?"
?
Luke looked puzzled. This guy wanted to sell burgers instead of working on armor and clean energy? Had Yinsen's acting been so good that it had changed him this much?
After secretly having the ninjas blow up the valley and finally bringing this performance to a successful close, Luke certainly did not want Tony running off to sell burgers.
"Then I think you'd be better off selling building materials for children's hospitals," Luke said sarcastically.
Tony shrugged helplessly. Since Luke had saved him, he would refrain from arguing with him today.
The group soon headed back. Luke looked toward a distant mountaintop, where several figures stood.
Yinsen watched the aircraft depart. "All right, Tony, I didn't want to lie to you, but that guy was a little too vicious."
Remembering how the ninjas had cut down a whole group of people in no time, with barely anyone managing to fight back, gave Yinsen goosebumps.
He could guarantee that not even special forces had that kind of coordination and strength. Still...
"He seems to have put you under my command, right?" Yinsen turned to look at the fifty Shadow Ninjas behind him.
"Then let's go save more people. The operating table isn't the only place I can save lives."
Yinsen picked up his gun, remembering the family he had lost.
"Don't waste your life. That's right. Just like that."
Luke watched Yinsen. He had assigned these fifty Shadow Ninjas to Yinsen after speaking with him.
However, once these ninjas returned to the Shadow Realm, Luke would not give Yinsen any more Shadow Ninjas. If Yinsen wanted to save more people, he could not rely solely on a mere fifty Shadow Ninjas. He ought to recruit local people instead.
These people deeply hated the terrorists, so mobilizing them to resist those terrorists would be easy. The fifty Shadow Ninjas Luke had provided were more of a safeguard to keep Yinsen from getting taken out by some small fry, and they could also help train the locals.
Though I don't know what you'll accomplish, I hope you can achieve your goal.
Luke thought silently.
Before you continue