It wasn't just Tony's side; Qin Xiao was in the same predicament. In his peripheral vision, he saw over a dozen battle armors take to the sky, each clutching an unidentified metal component.
Around Qin Xiao, all the battle armors—whether their ammo was depleted or they were still firing at him—had their chest plates flashing red with frantic intensity.
"Tony! Get out of here!" Qin Xiao screamed into his comms.
Tony wanted to flee more than anything, but he was surrounded by at least seven or eight battle armors. He frantically engaged his thrusters, trying to break free from the tangled mass.
"I'd love to, but it seems I'm too popular with these armors. Why don't you go first?"
"Trust me, I'm probably in more trouble than you are!" Qin Xiao said quietly, looking at the at least twenty battle armors closing in on him.
***
As soon as Tony met Ivan Vanko, he had Jarvis immediately notify Rhode.
Even the honest Rhode had his moments of ruthlessness. He deliberately waited until Justin Hammer and his team had finished modifying the battle armor's systems and completing their weapon systems before making his move and arresting Hammer.
In addition to the message, Jarvis sent Rhode the complete video footage of Tony's descent from the elevator on the first floor of Hammer Industries all the way to his final encounter with Ivan Vanko.
With such irrefutable evidence, even if Justin Hammer eventually implicated Senator Stern and Francis, he would still be convicted of colluding with terrorists.
The Monaco hospital bombing was such a major event that, regardless of the perpetrator's intentions, it had already been classified as a terrorist act by the international community.
Unfortunately, Justin Hammer had only just been escorted out of the base.
A single sniper bullet ended Hammer's life.
The shooter, dressed in the base's soldier uniform, casually boarded a fighter jet and flew away after firing.
Within a minute, the fighter jet had vanished from the base's radar.
In the office of Alexander Pierce at the World Security Council:
Senator Stern, who had been arrogantly holding forth in front of Justin Hammer, now stood trembling before Alexander Pierce's desk.
*Buzzing...*
The phone on the desk began to vibrate.
Stern's head snapped up, his eyes fixed on the device.
Alexander Pierce swiftly picked up the phone, murmuring a casual "Hmm."
He looked up at Stern. "Hammer's dead. I've cleaned up your mess. If it weren't for the fact that your position in the Senate is still useful to us, your head would be the next to explode!"
Despite Pierce's venomous tone, Stern let out a deep sigh of relief, nearly collapsing to the floor.
"I can't believe how stupid you are, running off to collaborate with Francis. Did you really think the two of you could manipulate Project Insight? Did you truly believe that if I died, you could seize control of North America? Foolish!"
Pierce casually grabbed a folder from the desk and slammed it against Stern's forehead.
Stern didn't dare move.
"Now get out! And remember, accelerate the passage of Project Insight through the Senate. Otherwise..."
Pierce left the threat hanging in the air.
Stern nodded frantically, scrambling to agree, and hurried out of the office.
***
At a certain estate in the New York suburbs, three Super Soldiers sat in chairs, dazed and still alive thanks to Qin Xiao.
They allowed the people around them to make incision after incision in their bodies with small knives, and to extract bullets from their muscles and bones with tweezers. Their faces remained completely expressionless, as if the knives weren't cutting into their flesh at all.
Francis sat on an antique sofa, watching the three expressionless Super Soldiers.
His mind replayed the earlier account of his encounter with Qin Xiao and Tony Stark.
"It seems that Qin Xiao is even more interesting than the battle armor. Such formidable combat power and defensive capabilities—is this truly the result of the Super Soldier serum? You've piqued my interest!"
***
The instant before the explosion at the Hammer Building, Tony still managed to pull Qin Xiao out of the structure.
Tony's new weapon, a high-intensity laser beam, sliced through all the enemy battle armor in the corridor at the last moment.
As they burst out, they ran into Qin Xiao, who was swinging a battle armor like a weapon as he broke through the encirclement.
The two finally escaped the building together just before the explosion.
Unfortunately, their primary target, Ivan Vanko, still managed to escape.
Moreover, he also made off with a significant portion of Justin Hammer's stored battle armor.
From the metallic components Qin Xiao saw in the battle armor's hands as they fled, Tony quickly deduced that it was likely a custom-built suit designed by Ivan Vanko himself.
He had done the same in the Afghan cave, assembling a seemingly random collection of objects into a battle armor.
Considering the five Super Soldiers, Ivan Vanko was likely being held under house arrest to manufacture reactors and battle armor.
However, Qin Xiao and Tony's intrusion had inadvertently given him the opportunity to escape.
"It's a shame Hammer was assassinated. Otherwise, we might have been able to force him to reveal who was pulling the strings behind all this. Five Super Soldiers—Justin Hammer doesn't have the power to control such forces."
Black Widow had already reported the matter directly to Nick Fury.
Only Qin Xiao was certain that Hydra was behind this, but it likely wasn't Alexander Pierce himself.
After all, in the movies, Alexander Pierce always maintained a low profile. With Dr. Zola's Project Insight, he wouldn't risk exposing himself at this stage.
On the other hand, the final act of killing Hammer felt very much like Pierce's style. Only he had the power to kill someone in the United States, even within a military base, and escape without a trace.
If Ivan Vanko weren't still hiding somewhere secretly building battle armor, and if Loki weren't constantly watching Thor's every move from above, Qin Xiao might have confronted the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director by now.
It seemed that once these two matters were resolved, it would be time to bring Captain America out early and confront his old enemy, Hydra, together.
"There's nothing to regret. Ivan Vanko's target is me. He can't move all that battle armor without anyone noticing. He won't do anything else until I show myself. Once I step forward, he'll be forced to reveal himself. I'll contact Rhode—the Stark Expo can serve as a platform to showcase the military's strength!"
-----------------------
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