Tony watched helplessly as Qin Xiao brutally smashed the tank into thin sheets of metal.
As for what had become of the people inside, Tony had no interest in taking a look.
But Qin Xiao's performance today...
"Qin, do your clothes come with an automatic dry-cleaning function? Oh, for God's sake, you should go clean yourself up on the plane first. You look like you just got tossed into King Kong's asshole."
Rather than ask directly, Tony probed with a joke.
"The mysterious East always has a few mysterious things."
Qin Xiao had no intention of hiding the matter of his clothes. After all, he wouldn't be able to keep it hidden forever.
Right in front of Tony, he turned the jeans and T-shirt he was wearing into a fitted casual suit.
"And another thing!"
Qin Xiao pointed at himself.
"This is how men fight. It beats hiding inside a tin condom!"
Qin Xiao gave Tony's shoulder a playful pat as he spoke.
"That outfit of yours looks more like a shapeshifting condom!"
Seeing that Qin Xiao could still joke around, Tony felt much more at ease and muttered with his head lowered.
Then he jumped as though he had caught fire.
"Oh, damn it! Why did you pat my shoulder? God knows what you've got on your hands! JARVIS! Remind me to give the armor a thorough disinfection when we get back!"
"Yes, sir!"
The nearby base belonging to that bald man from the Ten Rings was once again swept through by Tony Stark and Qin Xiao.
All the weapons and personnel were once again wiped out.
At a camp on the far side of the desert, the bald man nearly died of anger at the news.
It was all that Obadiah's fault. God knew how much trouble this Tony Stark had brought him.
Although Tony was wearing armor, he had recognized the Arc Reactor on his chest at a glance in the video his men had sent.
"Damn it!"
The bald man slammed his fist hard against the table in front of him.
He had only learned the value of that Arc Reactor afterward, while talking to Obadiah.
Sitting on a gold mine and making the man develop missiles instead-this was a textbook case of suffering for a lack of education.
After angrily smashing several things on the table to vent his emotions,
the bald man pointed at a heavy breastplate piled in the corner and told his men,
"Take a picture of this pile of stuff Tony Stark built and send it to Obadiah along with this video. He knows what it's worth. And tell him to send us another shipment of weapons. He has to cover our losses this time."
The breastplate in the corner was the Mark I that Tony hadn't had time to finish building back then. When Qin Xiao came to rescue him, he had only had time to bring out the blueprints.
He hadn't had time to bring out the small portion of the first-generation armor he had already built.
At the time, Tony had figured that these terrorists probably wouldn't be able to make much sense of it anyway. Besides, it was incomplete, and they didn't have the blueprints.
But he could never have imagined that it would eventually find its way into Obadiah's hands.
The various factions in the Middle East were tangled and complex. Even S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence capabilities were greatly diminished there.
Under normal circumstances, Nick Fury would have discovered what Tony and Qin Xiao had done there sooner or later.
But S.H.I.E.L.D. currently had people keeping Obadiah under comprehensive surveillance.
So, when Obadiah received the video sent by the Ten Rings,
Nick Fury saw that footage too.
"This is..."
He recognized Qin Xiao, but was the other one... a robot?
Tony's armor and Qin Xiao's combat prowess left Nick Fury deeply shaken.
But he quickly caught on.
That reactor on the chest was simply too distinctive.
"That's Tony Stark! Should I say he really does live up to his reputation as a genius weapons developer? He's already put the miniature Arc Reactor to its greatest possible military use! What a brilliant idea!"
Nick Fury instinctively reached to call Coulson and have him make contact with Tony Stark.
But after thinking it over, he called Qin Xiao instead.
"Oh, my dear director, my boss, you finally remembered you have a trainee agent like me!"
Qin Xiao was still on the plane back with Tony.
Nick Fury completely ignored Qin Xiao's deliberate emphasis on "trainee."
He spoke with even more sarcasm.
"I almost forgot. I ought to give you a level-eight agent slot outright. After all, you can take terrorists head-on in the Middle East. Oh, and you seem to have blown a tank to pieces too. What an outstanding fellow. I should put you on an operations team."
"So isn't it time you came back and reported to your boss about the Middle East, and that armored man beside you? I'm guessing he's your good friend Tony Stark, right?"
That last sentence was the real point.
Qin Xiao snorted with laughter.
"Boss, were you dreaming? What Middle East? What Iron Man? Is that a new movie?"
Qin Xiao remained as flippant as ever.
"Damn it! Stop playing dumb with me. You're an agent under my command. That substantial sum of dollars that shows up in your bank account every month is there because of my signature. Do you understand?"
Nick Fury crushed the pen in his hand in anger.
"Of course I know I'm an agent under your command. A trainee agent-the kind whose ID won't even get him through a branch office's front door!"
Qin Xiao rolled his eyes, ignoring Nick Fury's anger.
"Whoa!"
No sooner had Qin Xiao finished speaking than Tony flicked him on the forehead.
"What are you doing?"
Qin Xiao mouthed silently.
Tony looked at Qin Xiao as though he were an idiot, mimed holding an ID and swiping it to open a door,
then pointed at the plane's instruments.
Qin Xiao instantly understood what he meant. He couldn't bring that up-the plane was stolen.
"What are you doing?"
Hearing Qin Xiao's surprised cry, Nick Fury asked.
"I'm out at sea with Tony. You know, there are quite a few cute young girls on board. A hot blonde just suddenly kissed me. Damn it, is being handsome my fault too? My dear boss, would shooting her in this situation count as self-defense?"
"Qin!"
Nick Fury's furious shout was loud enough for Tony to hear every word beside him.
"Stop making up stories! I want you in Washington to see me immediately! And what you just said about your ID-damn you, you bastard, I knew it! Why would someone steal a plane out of the blue? A Quinjet, the Middle East-I knew it! Get to Washington and see me right now! Right now!"
Faced with Nick Fury's roaring, Qin Xiao simply put the phone on speaker, examined his left hand, and picked a finger with a longer nail.
He aimed it at the phone's microphone and began scraping lightly.
"What? What did you say? Oh! This damn signal! For God's sake, I'm on the phone with my boss! Hello? Hello?"
As Qin Xiao spoke, he hung up.
Bang!
Nick Fury smashed his phone to pieces against the desk!