The wind hadn't stopped, and the clouds were pressing even lower. Ye Mo leaned against the corrugated iron wall, staring at the dark control room door, his fingers tracing the Vibranium fragments back and forth. That heat from earlier felt like a signal, or perhaps a warning.
Just as he was about to move, a very faint buzzing sound came from above his head, like a mosquito flying by, but with a more steady frequency. He didn't look up, but simply shrank half an inch into the shadows.
Three seconds later, a dark shadow descended from the sky, landing almost silently, with only a slight hissing sound from the decompression of the armor joints.
"Are you squatting here guarding the gate, planning to write an inscription for this crappy factory?" Tony's voice came from inside his helmet, a little hoarse from just waking up. "Or do you think waiting for it to open by itself will save on the electricity bill?"
Ye Mo then looked up. Iron Man stood five meters away, his armor a lightweight version of the latest Mark 42. The paint job wasn't finished, and the exposed metal frame gleamed with a grayish-white light, like an unassembled model.
"I've been waiting for you." Ye Mo stood up, brushing the dust off his pants. "And to make sure there's no self-destruct button here—I remember last time someone did human experiments, the whole base was blown up like fireworks."
"Still got a sense of humor, so your brain's not fried." Tony retracted the thrusters, his helmet visor slid open, revealing a stubble-faced man. " Pepper's last signal was five kilometers from here. Your text message said her temperature was 392 degrees Celsius? Is she a person or a pressure cooker?"
" Extremis Virus." Ye Mo handed over the Vibranium fragment. "It gets hot when you get close. It reacted once just now, which means the system is still running. I didn't chase after it because Killian wasn't running away in a panic; he was retreating, leaving us with a show of force."
Tony took the fragment, squinted at it, and said, "So you're not playing the lone hero anymore? You finally remembered you brought a membership card?"
"I didn't forget, I was just afraid you'd come too fast and break the door." Ye Mo adjusted his glasses. "Now that you're here, the door can be broken."
The two exchanged a glance for a second, then simultaneously turned and crept towards the main entrance of the factory. The collapsed wall on the west side remained, but several new sets of pressure sensors had been buried on the ground, their green lights flashing regularly and much more densely than before.
"A scan every nine seconds." Ye Mo crouched down and glanced at the ground through his tactical goggles. "The thermal imaging has been upgraded, and drone patrols have been added. That buzzing sound just now, that was them."
"So you only dared to move after I brought the 'interference source'?" Tony sneered, popping a miniature device from his armored wrist. "EMP pulse, range thirty meters, duration two seconds—enough for us to rush in, not enough for us to take photos and check in."
"That's enough." Ye Mo took two steps back. "You let go, I'll probe."
Tony didn't waste any words and pressed the button. The device emitted a low-frequency vibration, and all the green lights within fifty meters in front of him instantly went out, even the motion-sensor lights on the tin roof dimmed for a moment.
Ye Mo immediately slid into the gap, his movements like a fish weaving through a crevice. Tony followed closely behind, his armored footsteps a bit heavier, but thankfully the alarm didn't go off.
"The first electronic door is twenty meters away," Ye Mo said in a low voice. "It's locked; we need to crack it remotely."
"Give me ten seconds." Tony crouched down, placing his palm on the control panel on the wall. The armor's built-in AI began reverse decoding. "By the way, how did you know where this door was? You didn't go this deep last time we came."
"A coat I found in the trash can." Ye Mo leaned against the wall. "Light gray, PB embroidered, with signs of struggle on the cuffs. She passed through this corridor at least twice when she was dragged in. And..." He touched the Vibranium fragment, "The place where it heated up a third time is right behind this door."
"So you're using a piece of junk as your navigation system?" Tony asked without looking up. "Next time I'll get you a Bluetooth headset."
"Save your breath, your headphones broke after only ten seconds last time." Ye Mo stared ahead. "The door opened."
The electronic lock clicked open, and the door slowly slid open a crack. The two slipped inside, and the alarm behind them still hadn't been triggered.
The second corridor was quieter than I had imagined. The ceiling was covered with crisscrossing lasers, the red light as fine as a net, spaced less than half a meter apart. The floor was covered with large black panels, with faint blue light flowing around the edges.
"Pressure sensing." Tony glanced at the data. "If we exceed the weight limit or remain there for more than five seconds, those hatches above will open—I'm not sure if they're machine guns or acid spray nozzles inside, but they're definitely not welcome ribbons."
"I'll do it." Ye Mo cracked his knuckles, took a deep breath, and said, "Just a reminder, don't try to imitate what you see."
"I'm not a high school student, I won't imitate dangerous stunts." Tony took a step back. "Let's begin."
Ye Mo closed his eyes and silently recited the system commands in his mind. His skin quickly developed a metallic sheen, his muscle lines became firmer, and his knuckles made a slight "clicking" sound.
" Steel Bone Body, activated."
He raised his hand, passing directly through a laser beam. An electric current surged up his arm to his shoulder blade, and a wisp of smoke rose from his skin. But instead of withdrawing his hand, he pushed it forward another half inch.
"Zzz--" Two adjacent laser beams overloaded simultaneously, and the red light went out.
"Well done." Tony immediately accessed the remaining systems, unleashing a series of low-power Quake from his palm cannon, precisely shattering the pressure plate's core. "Let's go!"
The two quickly crossed the corridor, and the alarm behind them still hadn't sounded.
The third passage was narrower, and there was a faint smell of burning metal in the air. At the end was an alloy door, ridiculously thick, with a camera embedded in the side, its lens pointing directly at the passage.
"Over eighty centimeters," Tony estimated. "We'd need directional blasting to demolish it."
"No need." Ye Mo stared at the camera. "It can recognize faces and also detect anomalies."
Are you going to play with fire again?
"It's not fire." Ye Mo stood directly under the camera, deliberately showing half his face, while simultaneously simulating high-intensity biological heat fluctuations in his mind. "It's to make it feel that what's inside is about to explode."
The camera flashed red twice, then suddenly turned yellow. Immediately afterwards, the sound of machinery turning came from inside the door, and the alloy door began to slowly open.
"The emergency quarantine protocol has been activated," Ye Mo whispered. "It assumed the experimental subject was out of control and automatically opened the door to prevent further spread."
"You're using Pepper as a shield," Tony frowned.
"No, I'm using Killian's logic as the key," Ye Mo sneered. "When he conducts experiments, his biggest fear is loss of control and leaks. In the system's priorities, blocking always takes precedence over theft prevention."
With the door halfway open, Tony immediately fired out a magnetic hacking patch, which firmly adhered to the control terminal.
"Forced to remain operational, sixty-second countdown." He withdrew his hand. "Are you leaving or not?"
Ye Mo didn't answer, but took the first step.
The space behind the door suddenly opened up. The lights automatically turned on, their whiteness glaring. In the center was a circular testing platform, surrounded by monitoring equipment, with vital signs data scrolling across the screens.
Ye Mo paused in his steps.
Tony looked over his shoulder and his breath hitched.
Pepper was strapped to the platform, her eyes closed, her face pale. But beneath the skin of her neck, a faint orange-red light flowed, like lava crawling through her veins. The catheters connecting her glowed dimly, and the data screen showed her heart rate and body temperature all outside the normal range.
"She's alive." Tony was the first to rush over, his armored glove lightly touching her wrist. "Her pulse is pounding like a drum, but it's still beating."
Ye Mo didn't move. He stared at the red light; the Vibranium fragment in his pocket was slightly warm, not hot, but not cold either.
"This isn't the end," he whispered. "It's just the beginning."
Tony looked up. "What did you say?"
" Killian didn't take her away; he left her behind." Ye Mo looked around. "The lab is excessively clean; all the equipment is running, but no one is guarding it. This isn't hiding someone; it's a setup."
"So he's waiting for us?" Tony sneered. "He thinks too highly of us."
"It's not about looking up to you." Ye Mo walked towards a terminal, where residual logs were being automatically deleted. "It was because he knew you would come. Pepper isn't a subordinate to you; she's family. He didn't need to kidnap her; just getting her here would guarantee you'd walk through this door."
Tony paused for a second, then looked down at Pepper's face.
"So what do we do now?" he asked.
"First, confirm if she can be taken away." Ye Mo brought up the system interface. "Can your Steel Bone Body withstand one more high-intensity impact? What about your armored state?"
"Energy at 87%, weapons systems ready." Tony looked up. "As long as the entire base doesn't self-destruct, I can carry it out."
"Then let's wait for the next signal." Ye Mo stared at the screen. "He showed us her, but he didn't let us rescue her. The real test hasn't even begun yet."
Tony stood up and stood next to Ye Mo, the two of them side by side looking at the experimental table.
The wind outside grew stronger, making the metal sheets of the factory rattle and clang. A muffled rumble of thunder streaked across the distant sky. The rain hadn't started yet, but the air was already so humid you could wring water out of it.
Ye Mo's hand rested on the edge of the experimental table, his metallic fingertips gleaming coldly under the light.
The lights suddenly flickered.