"Mindy, have you been studying hard while I was away? And how are you getting along with your teachers and classmates…?"
In the dining room of his villa, Mike, who hadn't been home for over two months, was now savoring the delicious food Scarlet Witch brought him, while subjecting Hit-Girl to a "soul-searching" interrogation.
He had to admit, this feeling of being the "head of the household" was quite enjoyable.
"Did you forget? It's almost Christmas, school's been out for a while. And I got first place in my grade for the end-of-year exams, my teachers and classmates love me so much…"
The precocious Hit-Girl wasn't about to humor Mike, the adult. After an arrogant retort, she continued, "On the contrary, you've been gone for over two months, not a single word, I don't even know where you've been messing around."
"You completely forgot about us, and now you're pretending to care."
"Don't you think it's too late?"
Well, not only did Hit-Girl not humor him, she even started scolding Mike.
"Adult matters are none of your business!!"
"Hmph, I couldn't care less about you!"
"…"
Their bickering made the villa unusually lively.
Meanwhile, Scarlet Witch, dressed in casual home attire, brought Mike his dessert.
She then quietly sat to the side, watching the amusing interaction between the big and small figures with great interest.
Two months had passed, and Scarlet Witch's face showed less of the "deep-seated resentment" and coldness.
At this moment, as she gently gazed at Mike's profile, she unconsciously exuded the aura of a housewife.
At the same time, far away in Tennessee, Tony had also arrived outside the terrorist's mansion.
Facing the mansion's towering walls, he, having prepared in advance, pulled two modified plunger-like devices from his backpack.
Using the suction of the plungers, he easily climbed the wall.
Then, with a graceful little leap, he landed inside the mansion like an assassin.
"Doesn't seem that hard after all—"
Tony, who wasn't wearing his Iron Man armor but still felt good about himself, quietly cheered himself on.
But before he could gloat for long, two vicious dogs came at the sound, baring their teeth and ready to bite.
"Woah woah… woah…"
"No manners at all!!"
Tony dodged the dogs' bites while fumbling through his backpack.
At a critical moment, he pulled out two chicken legs and threw them far away, attracting the dogs' attention.
"Phew, good thing I was prepared…"
Tony, startled, wiped a bead of cold sweat from his forehead and quickly bypassed the dogs gnawing on the chicken legs, heading deeper into the mansion.
With the dog incident, Tony shed some of his arrogance and became more cautious in his actions.
Next, relying on the modified taser in his hand, after stunning several peripheral terrorists, he successfully reached the terrorists' lair deep within the mansion.
"Mandarin, I never thought all of this was your doing from behind the scenes…"
Enemies meeting, their eyes red with fury. Tony, who happened to find Mandarin reveling, immediately stepped forward and stunned the two women by his side with the taser, then pressed the taser to Mandarin's neck.
It seemed he was ready to kill him without a second thought.
Mandarin, also known as the Mandarin, was an international terrorist leader active in America for many years.
He had once committed the insane act of executing government officials live on television.
He was truly heinous, the kind who couldn't atone for his sins even if he died countless times.
"Wait, wait, I'm just an actor. Everything I did before was just acting…" Feeling Tony's intense killing intent, Mandarin knelt on the ground without any dignity, begging for mercy with snot and tears: "I was forced, I can tell you anything you want to know. Please don't kill me—"
This cowardly display indeed didn't resemble a ruthless overlord.
"So, you have a mastermind behind you. Tell me who he is, and how he forced you." Mandarin's performance successfully piqued Tony's curiosity.
"I was originally a third-rate stage actor. Although I loved performance, I never had the opportunity. Until one day, a man named Killian approached me. He gave me a chance, a chance to play a ruthless terrorist leader…" Speaking of his profession, Mandarin became more and more confident, even a little carried away, "You must have seen my performance on TV, executing government officials. How was it? Wasn't my performance very realistic?"
"Shut up!" Tony, realizing that the Mandarin in front of him was a complete lunatic, gave him a harsh blow.
Only when Mandarin was curled up on the ground in pain did Tony chew on the name: "Killian, that name sounds familiar…"
"Oh, right, Killian, Dr. Killian, didn't he come looking for me before?"
Tony, who also had a Memory Palace, quickly recalled.
Before Maya, there was indeed a guy who called himself Dr. Killian who came to him, seeking sponsorship for his gene project.
However, not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry could capture Tony's attention.
Therefore, before that, Tony had also rejected the man named Killian.
"I did hear Killian mention that he had come to you…" Mandarin, enduring the pain, said humbly when questioned: "And, I also heard him say that you two actually knew each other thirteen years ago and even worked together."
"Thirteen years ago again? Can't you come up with something new?" Because of the Maya incident, Tony was almost allergic to the phrase "thirteen years."
"Wait, thirteen years ago… I remember now. There was indeed a Dr. Killian in my team." Tony fell into a memory, "However, that guy's research level was very substandard. He blew off both his hands due to a violation of procedures…"
"That shouldn't be right. Even if his research ability was very average, Stark Industries' worker's compensation shouldn't have treated him poorly."
Stark Industries was a large and prosperous enterprise, and its worker's compensation was also very thorough. In other words, Killian had no reason to seek revenge on Tony.
If Malibu's terrorist attack was indeed orchestrated by Killian, then it could only mean that the other party was also a lunatic.
A lunatic even more twisted than the Mandarin in front of him.
"Last question, what is Killian's relationship with Maya?" Tony, having received a lot of new information, couldn't help but suspect the woman named Maya.
After all, her and Killian's appearance, one after another, was too suspicious.
"Are you talking about Maya Hansen?" Mandarin feigned a look of shared suffering, revealing: "She, like me, is a pitiful person whose talents are not recognized. It was Killian who gave her a chance…"
"And the gene serum Maya researched, the Extremis, indeed cured Killian's physical disabilities."
Overall, Maya could indeed be considered unappreciated, and if her researched Extremis didn't have various huge side effects, she would deserve a bigger stage.
And even so, Maya's genius was still recognized by Mandarin.
"Is that so? I knew I didn't recognize Killian at first glance." Everything connected, and Tony finally understood the cause and effect of the attack he suffered.
The only thing he couldn't figure out was why Killian had such great hatred for him.
Ultimately, he could only attribute it to a loser's jealousy of a genius.
"Alright, I've asked all I needed to. It's time for you to go." Before going to find Killian, Tony also wasn't planning on letting Mandarin, this accomplice, off the hook.
Compared to pure evil, people like Mandarin, who made aiding and abetting evil their job, were clearly more detestable.
"Yes, everything will end." After pretending to be a coward for a long time and delaying enough, Mandarin, noticing the figure entering the doorway from the corner of his eye, instantly put on his boss demeanor and said in a deep voice: "However, it's not me who will be terminated, but you."
Is he getting into character???
Tony, who was about to use the taser on Mandarin, was momentarily stunned by the other party's sudden change.
Then he realized that something was seriously wrong, and while turning to check behind him, he also casually threw out a charger bomb.
With a "boom," the newcomer stumbled from the explosion.
But before Tony could breathe a sigh of relief, Killian, who had passed through the flames, was right in his face.
With a chop, Tony's vision went black, and he fell unconscious again.
"What did you two talk about before?" After capturing Tony, Killian looked at Mandarin beside him.
"I promise, I didn't say anything. I just exchanged performance tips with him." Mandarin seamlessly changed his expression again, a fawning smile appearing on his face.
"It better be that way!" Killian said coldly: "Remember your place, you're just a puppet. If necessary, many people can replace you."
After intimidating Mandarin, Killian waved two of his subordinates over, and they carried Tony out.
When Tony was roused by cold water, Killian had already changed into a white suit and was standing opposite him.
Tony, on the other hand, was tied to a rack, "I advise you not to waste your efforts. Whatever you want to get from me, you won't succeed."
Lose the battle but not the spirit. Facing the former loser, Tony's attitude was as arrogant as ever.
As if the person who was captured wasn't him.
"Is that so?" Killian said with a smile, "I hope you can still be so stubborn in a moment."
As it stood, Tony was still Tony, but Killian was no longer the failure who had messed up the experiment all those years ago.
Now, he had enough confidence to stand before Tony.
Subsequently, a video call was placed in front of Tony.
On the other end of the video was Pepper Potts.
She was also tied up like Tony, and in the background, the arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty could vaguely be seen.
Further to the side, Tony also saw a familiar figure—Maya Hansen.
"Tony, are you okay?" In the video, Pepper, seeing Tony, quickly said, "Don't trust anyone, Maya is with them."
Clearly, Pepper also knew the truth.
"Understood, I'm fine. Let me say a few words to Maya…" After Tony comforted Pepper, the video switched to Maya.
"Listen, Maya. If I've done anything to offend you, you can come at me, just don't hurt Pepper."
Maya was clearly just one of Killian's helpers, just like Mandarin, so Tony felt he could talk to her.
It wouldn't cost anything anyway, what if he succeeded in turning her?
"Alright, as long as you support my gene research, I'll let Pepper go." Facing Tony again, Maya's face held a sense of satisfaction, as if "a great revenge had been exacted."
She looked as if she had seen a scoundrel finally get his comeuppance.
"Don't listen to her, that gene research definitely isn't a good thing." At the same time, Pepper's voice came from outside the video.
"Don't worry, Pepper. Trust me, we'll be fine…" Just as Tony was about to say something else, Killian motioned for his subordinate to take the phone away.
"How touching, I never thought the famous playboy Tony would one day care about a woman." Killian teased for a couple of sentences, then continued, "So, our great genius. Have you decided to join us now?"
"The gene drug Maya developed, you've seen its effects on me. As long as we cooperate, the entire America, and even the entire world, will belong to us in the future."
The Extremis's ability to treat disabilities was secondary; its true value lay on the battlefield.
Imagine, a team of Extremis warriors immune to heat weapons entering the battlefield, who could resist them?
Therefore, for his grand ambitions, Killian now desperately needed Tony's financial support.
To build his Extremis army.
"I think the Extremis Maya developed isn't as good as you say it is, there must be some huge hidden danger, right?" Tony said with certainty.
If the Extremis was truly as good as Killian claimed, then people wanting to cooperate would probably line up all the way to Washington.
Why would Killian go to such great lengths to find Tony for sponsorship?
Seeing Tony's confident tone, Killian couldn't help but turn his gaze to Mandarin at his side.
He seemed to suspect that Mandarin had revealed something to Tony earlier.
"It has nothing to do with him, I saw a human bomb on the street before." Tony said mockingly, "Let me guess, your so-called Extremis must be very unstable, which is why you came to me seeking cooperation."
Moreover, in Tony's opinion, Maya's serum was clearly still in the experimental stage and could have been tested on mice or other animals, but Killian's group wanted to go straight to humans.
Clearly, they weren't thinking straight.
Therefore, when facing Killian, Tony had an absolute intellectual superiority.
"What exactly do you want to say?" Looking at Tony's annoying face, Killian could no longer maintain his previous elegance.
He felt as if he had been offended.
"I want to say that your initial direction was wrong." Tony glanced at Killian's back from the corner of his eye, and then, like Mandarin's previous change of expression, he smiled and said, "However, on the other hand. Some of your ideas are not without merit. For example, your method of recruiting hooligans has effectively solved social problems."
"If I were president, I would definitely give you the Best Peace Prize…"
Tony seemed to have an extraordinary talent for rambling, and in no time, the conversation had veered off to who knows where.
"Shut up!" Killian, who had been listening intently, found that Tony's words were all meaningless nonsense and impatiently snapped, "If I hear one more word of nonsense, I promise you'll regret it."
"Is that so? I don't believe it!" Tony's smile grew even wider, and he reminded him, "If I were you, I'd turn around and look behind me right now."
Iron Patriot, also known as War Machine.
It was a set of war robots provided specifically for the government by Tony, modeled after his Iron Man armor series.
After discarding the flexibility and intelligence of the Iron Man armor, the only advantage of this replica armor was its ample arsenal.
And the person qualified to use this armor was Colonel Rhodes, Tony's friend in the military.
This time, it was precisely Colonel Rhodes who was officially dispatched to rescue Tony.
As Killian turned around, he was met with a laser cannon attack like a flashbang.
Colonel Rhodes, wearing the Patriot armor, strode out from the light.
Any terrorist who tried to resist along the way was eliminated by the multiple machine guns extending from his mech's shoulders.
Including Killian, who was shot in the forehead and fell to the ground with his eyes open.
"Hey, Tony. I'm here to save you, surprised?" After clearing the battlefield, Colonel Rhodes slung the giant laser cannon back onto his back.
He walked up to Tony, teasingly.
Opportunities to see Iron Man in a tough spot were rare.
Colonel Rhodes, whose smile was equally brilliant at this moment, was undoubtedly a qualified bad friend.
"Watch out!" Tony, knowing the power of the Extremis, wasn't as relaxed as his friend.
However, his warning came too late.
The terrorists injected with the Extremis were not so easy to kill. Just as Colonel Rhodes was careless, about half of the terrorists he had previously knocked down got back up.
Among them, Killian, who had been shot in the head, now appeared behind Colonel Rhodes.
As Killian embraced the Iron Patriot, a violent red light surged from his body.
In a short while, Colonel Rhodes was so hot that he jumped out of the mech.
"I knew this would happen." As Colonel Rhodes, who had abandoned his mech, was caught by the terrorists, Tony had a helpless urge to complain.
"Hey, I was caught trying to save you, at least say something nice." Seeing the look of disdain on Tony's face, Colonel Rhodes also promptly expressed his dissatisfaction.
"Then I really should thank you for being willing to keep me company. You truly are my good friend, sharing adversity."
"Never mind, just don't say anything else."
"…"