When Lin Xiao's fist slammed into the iron bars, the entire gate flew out of its frame and into the cave, striking the stone wall with a dull thud.
Tony watched that seven-foot figure duck into the cave. The smiling face backlit by the flames outside felt somehow unreal.
"Tony." Lin Xiao straightened up and brushed the rust off his hands. "You've lost weight."
Tony opened his mouth. He had spent three months in this cave, thinking every day about what he would say once he got out. He had come up with a bellyful of clever lines, planning to show off his survival to the first familiar face he saw. But now he looked at Lin Xiao-at this friend he had only just acknowledged, who had stolen his thunder at the press conference and traded drinks with him at the hotel, standing right at the cave entrance. His blue bodysuit had several tears, his hair was full of sand and dirt, and his face bore several streaks of blood, though the blood clearly wasn't his. Tony no longer knew what to say. Countless emotions surged through him all at once. Gratitude? Surprise? Joy? Lingering fear? Confusion? Tony took a deep breath and quickly suppressed the churning emotions.
"You still haven't fucking told me what the hell you're wearing."
Lin Xiao looked down at his outfit, looking a little embarrassed. "I came in a bit of a hurry. Didn't have time to change. I swiped this from some guy's closet. He said it was some Krypton commemorative edition. I don't really get it either."
Tony looked utterly exasperated and was about to speak when Yinsen's voice came from behind him. Yinsen was studying Lin Xiao with an extremely cautious gaze, looking him up and down before finally settling on the iron gate behind him, which had been sent flying by a single punch.
"Tony." Yinsen's voice was steady, but he spoke much faster than usual. "Is this the... friend you mentioned?"
"Yeah." Tony nodded and continued, "The idiot I told you about, the one who stole my thunder at the press conference. He's also my best friend." Tony nodded solemnly, about to say something more, only to have the moment ruined the very next second.
"I'm not an idiot," Lin Xiao corrected earnestly. "I just stand out."
Yinsen's gaze bounced between the iron bars and Lin Xiao several times. He fell silent for a moment and decided to keep his mouth shut.
"How many people are outside?" Yinsen asked.
Lin Xiao scratched his head and began counting on his fingers.
"I took a quick look on my way here. About twelve at the southern watchtower, at least twenty in the northern barracks, and two pickups with antiaircraft machine guns mounted on them."
"You're fucking telling me you took a quick count?" Yinsen repeated, his tone suggesting he was confirming some unbelievable fact.
"Yeah." Lin Xiao nodded. "Oh, and there's good news and bad news."
Tony's brows knitted together.
"The bad news is, I made a bit too much noise just now. They should all be heading this way by now."
Tony looked exasperated. "And the good news?"
"The good news is-I've already dealt with the first batch that could move."
He stepped aside, revealing the scene outside the cave.
Tony walked forward and looked out through the entrance.
The camp outside no longer resembled the scene he had seen through the bars every day for the past three months. That scene had mud-brick watchtowers, pickup trucks, antiaircraft machine guns, and a dozen or so armed men carrying AKs. Now there was a crater in the middle of it, with seven or eight figures sprawled around it. Half a watchtower leaned to one side, and something had smashed a washbasin-sized dent into a pickup's hood.
Tony remained silent for a long while.
"You came alone?"
"Alone." Lin Xiao nodded.
Yinsen opened his mouth, unsure what to say. He composed himself, his voice carrying a doctor's particular pragmatism. "Either way, we need to leave now. Before more people arrive."
"Good point." Lin Xiao clapped his hands and turned to Tony. "Where's that tin shell of yours? The one you spent three months hammering together in here, the one that can fight."
Tony froze for a moment. "How did you know I built-"
"I guessed." Lin Xiao's expression didn't change. "You're Tony Stark. If you spent three months in a cave and didn't build something, that would be abnormal."
Tony stared at him for two seconds, then turned and headed deeper into the cave. A moment later, heavy footsteps rang out.
The Mark I emerged from the shadows.
The armor, cobbled together from missile scrap and discarded parts, gleamed a rough iron gray under the dim yellow light. It had no streamlined shell, no paint job, none of the refinement and elegance expected of a Stark Industries product. It was simply a beast piled together from scrap iron, cumbersome and ugly, covered in welding scars. But it could stand, it could walk, and the Arc Reactor in its chest shone with a steady blue light.
Lin Xiao's eyes lit up as he looked at the Mark I.
"Cool." There was genuine admiration in Lin Xiao's voice. "Tony, this thing is fucking cool."
Tony snorted inside the armor, but Lin Xiao could hear a trace of smugness hidden in it.
"Yinsen, stay behind me." Tony's voice came through the armor's loudspeaker with a metallic resonance. "Lin Xiao, you-you're in charge of protecting Yinsen. Don't die."
Lin Xiao grinned.
"I know this job."
Lin Xiao turned, walked to the cave entrance, lifted his foot, and kicked the stone wall beside it.
With a thunderous boom, a washbasin-sized hole burst open in the wall, spraying rubble and dust outside. Terrified shouts and scattered gunshots came from outside.
Lin Xiao leaned halfway through the hole and shouted outside, "The people inside are coming out! Anyone out there with a gun, run! Anyone without a gun, run too! Otherwise, you'll be in for it!"
A burst of AK fire answered him, striking sparks off the stone wall.
Lin Xiao pulled his head back and sighed.
"I tried reasoning with them," he told Tony, a hint of sincere regret in his voice. "They wouldn't listen."
Tony rolled his eyes inside the armor, though no one could see it.
"Then stop reasoning with them." The Mark I's shoulders opened, exposing the miniature missile launchers hidden inside. "We'll fight our way out."
Lin Xiao nodded, then moved, turning and walking over beside the Mark I. He reached out and grabbed the armor by its waist and shoulder.
"What are you doing-" Before Tony could finish, Lin Xiao lifted him into the air.
The seven-foot-tall burly man hoisted the armor weighing hundreds of pounds as though it were a slightly heavy suitcase.
"Give me a hand, Tony. I still have to protect our squishy. That hard shell of yours should be fine." Without waiting for Tony to react, Lin Xiao took a deep breath and hurled the Mark I toward the cave entrance.
The Mark I flew out of the cave like a human-shaped cannonball, tracing an extremely inelegant arc through the air before crashing into the clearing at the center of the camp. The ground shook on impact, dust billowed ten feet high, and the blast of air knocked the two nearest armed men off their feet.
Tony's roar came from inside the armor, mixed with the clang of colliding metal and the shriek of launching miniature missiles. "Lin Xiao, you fucking-"
A series of explosions drowned out the rest.
Standing at the cave entrance, Lin Xiao dusted off his hands and turned to Yinsen. "Let's go. We'll follow him. Let Tony draw some fire. He should be fine."
Yinsen opened his mouth, looking at the seven-foot-tall burly man before him-his scalp simply prickled.
"Are you always like this?" Yinsen asked.
"No," Lin Xiao said earnestly. "I'm usually much gentler. I'm being a little violent today because we're in a hurry."
Lin Xiao bent down and slung Yinsen over his shoulder in a motion much like when he had lifted Tony, but at least three times lighter. Stretching his long legs, he charged out of the cave.
The camp outside had descended into complete chaos.
The Mark I stood at the very center of the camp, smoke rising from its shoulder-mounted missile launchers. Of the three watchtowers, one and a half had fallen. One pickup had been blown over, while the other had its tires shot out by stray bullets and sat tilted to one side, unable to move. Seven or eight armed men lay on the ground, and the remaining dozen or so were pouring into the camp from every direction, gunfire and shouts blending together.
Tony was frantically busy inside the armor. The Mark I's left arm sprayed high-pressure flames, driving back three armed men charging from the north, while the rotary cannon on its right hand swept the south, spent casings clattering to the ground. Though its movements were clumsy, its firepower was fierce enough to temporarily suppress all the surrounding enemies.
But Lin Xiao saw what lay in the distance.
More headlights. More gunfire. More people.
On the dirt road outside the camp, at least three pickups loaded with armed men were accelerating toward them. Farther away, the dust kicked up by several military vehicles was also visible.
"Tony!" Lin Xiao roared. "North! Another wave!"
The Mark I turned, its armored movements half a beat too slow-the power system wouldn't hold out much longer. Lin Xiao could tell. Tony knew it too, of course.
"You carry Yinsen. I'll cover you!" Tony's voice came through the loudspeaker amid gunfire and explosions. "Head east! There's a jeep over-"
"No need to make it that complicated," Lin Xiao said.
He set Yinsen down and drew something from behind his waist.
It was a pink magic wand. Its handle was white plastic, with a rotating pink heart-shaped gem set at the top and three little stars on the side.
Tony saw the object clearly through the armor's viewport, and his brain briefly crashed for a fraction of a second.
"What the fuck are you holding?"
"A backup plan." Lin Xiao's expression became very serious. "I didn't want to use it. This thing is really embarrassing, but... to get us out of here faster, I'm going for it!"
He raised the magic wand to his chest and pressed the gem. A burst of sparkly flashes appeared, accompanied by the intro to a sickeningly sweet background tune.