Fearing for Tony's Life, Ye Mo Grew Frantic

The moment the thrusters completely shut down, Ye Mo began to fall.

The wind whistled past his ears, cold as knives piercing his bones. He didn't move, nor did he shout; he just stared intently at the red light above— Tony was still there, with the nuclear bomb attached, flying higher and higher.

His last words were "Catch me," but now even that can't get through. Communication is lost, the thrusters are broken, and the makeshift tube strapped to his back has long since burned to ashes. He's barely clinging to life, his body tumbling in the air as he struggles to regain his balance.

He can't fall.

Tony is still up there.

He closed his eyes and focused all his attention on the thing in his mind. The system didn't speak or give any prompts, but it was always there. He used it to absorb abilities before, and now he would use it to find Tony.

He remembered the method Emma Frost had taught him: a mental connection isn't about shouting, but about matching frequencies. Only when two people's heartbeats are similar can their brainwaves connect. He took deep breaths, pressing down on the pain in his chest, forcing himself to calm down. Every rise and fall of his broken ribs felt like being pulled back and forth by wires, but he ignored it.

He began to recall his first meeting with Tony.

He had just transmigrated there, wearing a hoodie and squatting outside the cave, watching Tony build armor from scrap metal. Tony was welding and cursing, saying that if anyone dared to touch his armor again, he would blow up their home. When he said this, his hands didn't shake, and his eyes didn't waver; he had that "I mean what I say" attitude.

Later, they fought Obadiah together. Tony almost died in the explosion; it was Tony who dragged him out of the fire. The first thing Tony said when he woke up was, "Why is your face darker than mine?"

Later, Battle of New York, Tony charged forward carrying a nuclear bomb, saying, "Don't follow me."

He went along with it.

This time, he also needs to know where Tony is and whether he's still alive.

His consciousness slowly unfolded, like a net stretching towards the sky. At first, there was nothing but the sound of the wind and his own heartbeat. Then he felt a slight vibration, very faint, like some kind of signal flashing.

It's Tony's mood.

Anxiety, tension, and a sense of resolve. That feeling of "I have no way out."

Ye Mo gritted his teeth and continued to probe forward. He knew it was unsafe; forcing a long-distance connection would damage his brain, causing anything from nosebleeds to fainting on the spot. But he couldn't worry about that now.

Just as he was about to grasp the signal, a burst of energy suddenly exploded.

It wasn't the shockwave of an explosion, but a tremor that shot straight down from Tony's direction, pierced through the clouds, and crashed into his consciousness.

His head buzzed, his vision went white, and his ears were filled with high-frequency noise. He opened his mouth to vomit, but he had no strength and could only desperately try to keep his consciousness from fading away.

This fluctuation is not right.

It's not the frequency of a nuclear bomb activation. When a nuclear bomb explodes, the energy spikes linearly before exploding; there's no wave-like rhythm. This is more like... someone is activating something, and not all at once, but in stages.

He remembered feeling something similar when Loki opened the portal, but that time it was a rapid, explosive sound, while this time it was deeper and more resonant, like the sound of a bell striking his nerves.

His heart skipped a beat.

Tony's signal was lost.

One second you can still feel that anxiety and persistence, the next second it's cut off abruptly. There's no struggle, no interruption warning, it's like a light being unplugged and going out with a snap.

"No."

He growled, his voice hoarse beyond belief.

He couldn't believe Tony was just gone like that. That guy was so resilient, he even dared to send nuclear bombs into space, how could he just disappear without a word?

He desperately tried to activate the ability modules in his mind. He hadn't fully mastered Regenerative Phasing yet; the last time he used it was to Wall Phasing at the bottom of the mothership, which almost killed him. But now he had no other choice.

He tried to combine Wade's Healing Factor with Shadowcat's Wall Phasing Technique. The system didn't respond; the 19th floor of the Gene Spiral Tower only trembled slightly, as if a door was stuck.

He bit his tongue, the taste of blood spreading in his mouth, the pain bringing him a little more to his senses. He clutched his head with both hands, veins bulging on his forehead, feeling as if two electric currents were fighting in his brain.

"Open it!"

He wasn't shouting; he was commanding himself.

He knew that this was the worst thing to do; if he combined the wrong abilities, it would backfire, causing paralysis at best and turning him into a vegetable at worst. But he couldn't care less about the rules now.

Tony might be in trouble.

He couldn't wait any longer.

He recalled the last time he saw Tony —the red armor glowing, the nuclear missile hanging on his back like a star ready to explode at any moment. Tony didn't turn around or say anything, but a voice came through the channel. "If you can't get up here, I'll handle it myself."

He spoke very calmly, as if he were discussing whether or not to eat breakfast tomorrow.

But Ye Mo knew that wasn't a discussion.

That was a farewell.

His eyes burned, not from the wind, but from a burning fire within him. He couldn't let Tony carry the burden alone until the end. He missed it last time, but he had to make it this time.

He continued to activate his abilities, his consciousness pressing firmly against the door. The Gene Spiral Tower trembled slightly, and the lock on the 19th floor seemed to have loosened a little.

Just then, that energy fluctuation returned.

It was stronger than before, with a strange rhythm—three short and two long, like some kind of encoding. He suddenly realized that this wasn't an attack, nor a detonation, but more like a response—someone was receiving a signal and then sending a confirmation.

He had seen this frequency before.

In Thor's memory, there was a erased record in the sealed archives of Asgard. Emma Frost had discovered a similar waveform when she scanned it. At the time, they thought it was corrupted data, but now they realized it was a key.

Someone is remotely controlling something using the Asgard royal family's frequency band.

Tony is flying towards that point.

Ye Mo suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils contracting.

He understood.

This isn't about nuclear weapons.

Tony was outmaneuvered.

The enemy doesn't care whether the nuclear bomb explodes or not; they're waiting for someone in a precise location to fly to a designated altitude with a high-energy target and trigger the release mechanism of the seal.

Tony is the last link in the keychain.

He wasn't going to destroy the enemy.

He was used as a tool to open a passage.

"Damn it!" he roared, his voice ripped through the wind.

He couldn't wait for his ability to activate any longer. He released his grip, turned in mid-air to face upwards, squeezed his legs together, and assumed a diving posture. He would use the remaining height difference as a source of speed, and even if it meant crashing, he would crash into it.

He began to free fall.

The wind picked up, blowing his hat off and sticking his hair to his face. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but he didn't wipe it away. He stared intently at the cloud, waiting for Tony's signal to reappear.

He would rush at the slightest sound.

He couldn't believe that Tony was gone just like that.

That guy is so despicable, saying things like "At least AI will publish my obituary when I die." Does he really think he's a programmed person? If he actually dared to die, he'd trample his grave flat.

As he plummeted, he mobilized all his senses, scanning the space above him like a radar. He no longer relied on communicators or equipment; he used his own brain, his own nerves, and his own life to sense things.

He remembered Tony's little habit before each battle—his right pinky would tap the edge of his mask twice, as if testing its seal. This action would trigger a weak electromagnetic pulse, which others wouldn't notice, but he knew it.

He was waiting for this signal.

Once, twice.

As soon as he appeared, he knew Tony was still alive.

Time ticked by, second by second.

The clouds are getting thicker.

He quickly passed through.

Suddenly, he sensed something unusual.

It wasn't an emotion, nor energy, but an extremely short pulse signal—the frequency of tapping the mask with the right finger, twice, with a 0.3-second interval, just like usual.

Tony is still alive.

He didn't give up, and he didn't die.

He was waiting for him.

Ye Mo's lips twitched slightly, but the wind made them sting.

He raised his hand to wipe his face, finding it covered in a mixture of blood and sweat. He ignored it and continued charging down. He knew that in a few dozen seconds, he would break through the cloud and see what was happening above.

His body had begun to tremble; hypothermia and blood loss were causing his consciousness to become somewhat blurred. But he held on.

He cannot fall.

He also wanted to kick Tony's ass.

Just as he was about to burst out of the clouds, the 19th floor of the Gene Spiral Tower suddenly trembled.

The door opened.

A surge of heat exploded in his brain, rushing down his spine. His skin began to burn, his muscles twitched, as if something was being reassembled.

Regenerative Phasing - Activating.

His right hand slowly became translucent, like glass, revealing the blood vessels and bones inside.

He glanced down.

The next second, his hand passed through his left arm.