The next course of action was quickly decided.
Luca and Tony led Yinsen toward the hidden base inside the mountain.
By now, Tony's armor was almost out of power.
The light from the Arc Reactor in his chest was growing dimmer and dimmer.
Every step Tony took made the armor's joints creak and clank.
Not only was he moving painfully slowly, but the gears in the thigh section had also started to jam.
"Tony, is that pile of junk really a revolutionary weapon? I bet even the old men at a nursing home could walk faster than you."
Seeing Tony's comical stop-and-start gait, Luca mocked him mercilessly.
Tony rolled his eyes and shot back between heavy breaths.
"Shut up! This is the intimidating presence of heavy armor! I'm conserving energy, understand? It's a genius tactical decision."
Luca shook his head and smiled helplessly.
He couldn't stand watching anymore. If they kept crawling along like this, it would be dark by the time they reached the base.
He walked straight up and grabbed an armor plate at the back of Tony's neck.
"What are you doing? Let go of me! I'm warning you, don't touch my work of art!" Tony shouted.
Luca couldn't be bothered to listen to his protests and gave a slight pull with his arm.
The next second.
They rose off the ground and floated in midair.
Then he carried Tony swiftly down the passage.
Yinsen stared after them, dumbfounded, before hurrying to catch up.
Up in the air, Tony's limbs dangled as his bulky armor swayed back and forth.
"Damn it! Luca! Put me down! You're making me look like a turtle!" Tony protested loudly, feeling that he was losing face.
Luca laughed with delight.
"Bro, you should be thanking me. I'm helping you conserve that pitiful amount of energy you have left."
Tony gritted his teeth and stubbornly retorted.
"Bullshit! I don't need your help. I'm just helping you test your flight's weight limit! This is valuable data. You should pay me a testing fee!"
"Sure. I'll buy you a coffee when we get back to New York as your testing fee."
Luca laughed as he replied, then rounded a bend in the passage and entered the inner base deep within the cave.
Tony and Yinsen froze as soon as they entered.
They had assumed that, at most, the terrorists had put up a few rooms and set out some shabby tables in the cave.
But the sight before them was completely unexpected.
Those damned bastards had hollowed out the entire mountain!
Inside was a vast circular space, with smooth flooring, numerous ventilation ducts, and independent generators.
There were also several sterile laboratories filled with precision instruments.
Numerous screens flickered with a faint blue glow on the walls.
"A bunch of idiots eating sand in the Middle Eastern desert built a high-tech base this big?"
After Luca set Tony back on the ground, he saw the equipment around him and couldn't help exclaiming in astonishment.
Yinsen was just as shocked.
"No wonder they managed to get their hands on so many advanced weapons. This place is practically a small underground arms factory."
Luca stood beside them, looking relaxed.
"Welcome to my nightmare, bro. Now you know how I spent those two months, right?"
"Those bastards not only had all this equipment, but also a leader with a severe obsession with cleanliness. And I had to research this and that for them every day."
Luca pointed to a lit laboratory in the distance, his voice full of irritation.
"The worst part was that the food here was terrible! It was awful every day, and there wasn't even a decent steak. It was an insult to me."
Tony listened quietly to Luca's complaints.
Although he knew Luca was using a joking tone to cover up the pain of the past, he still couldn't stop his anger from rising.
"Don't worry, Luca. After today, there won't be anything left of this place," Tony said coldly, closing his faceplate again.
The three continued toward the control room deeper inside the base.
By then, alarms were blaring throughout the base.
As they went, the remaining terrorist soldiers kept charging out of the various passageways, trying to stop them.
But those soldiers posed no threat to Luca and Tony.
Tony walked at the front.
Although his armor didn't have much power left, he relied on its tough shell to charge straight through.
When he encountered a soldier firing at him, he raised his fist and sent both the man and his gun flying with a single punch.
Luca was much more casual about it.
With a wave of his hand, blue-white beams of energy shot from his palm, vaporizing the enemies hiding behind cover.
During the process, Luca also continued to experience the changes in his body.
He found that using energy projection was becoming easier and more natural.
It was a very curious feeling.
It was also an instinct he had naturally acquired after awakening his ability.
He didn't need to chant or charge up. It was as simple as breathing.
All he had to do was think, and he could feel the energy in his body flowing rapidly along his blood vessels, finally gathering in his eyes or palms.
When he thought the energy should come out from somewhere, he simply made it happen.
It all came so naturally.
Soon.
The brothers had cut down every soldier who charged out at them along the way as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.
The smell of burning filled the base.
With nothing else in their way, they went straight to the door of the chief's office at the deepest point of the base.
Tony raised his foot and kicked the door flying.
Inside the office.
A bald man in a suit stood in front of a safe, sweat pouring down his face.
He was clutching a pile of hard drives, preparing to flee through a secret escape passage behind his desk.
This man was the base's highest-ranking leader, the same bald man obsessed with cleanliness.
The bald leader jolted all over at the deafening sound of the door being kicked open, dropping the hard drives all over the floor.
He turned to look at the three people blocking the doorway.
Damn it, how did these guys get here so fast?!
"Well, well, if it isn't the great boss. Where are you going? Taking all those hard drives to open an internet café in the desert?"
Luca couldn't help laughing when he saw the bald man.
He swaggered into the office, found a couch, sat down, and crossed his legs.
The bald leader glared at Luca, his eyes full of resentment and venom.
"Damn you, Stark! We experimented for two months without success! When exactly did you inject the Perfect Serum? You cunning bastard, you used the laboratory!"
Hearing the bald man's words, Luca gave a contemptuous snort.
"Let me correct you on one thing, idiot. This was all because your scientists were too stupid."
"They couldn't even understand the blueprints. They wouldn't have figured anything out in another hundred years. And I was kind enough to rewrite the core formula for you."
Luca spread his hands as if it were only natural.
"Since I worked out the formula, of course I got to use it first. That's not taking advantage of you. It's intellectual property protection."