"I'm back."
Inside X-Mansion, as his consciousness gradually returned, Fenris opened his eyes again and slowly stretched his body.
During that stretch of time, his size had expanded another full step beyond what it had been before. Just standing there, he now gave off an overwhelming sense of pressure.
Even if the Hulk appeared in front of him at full size, he would look like a child by comparison.
"Why does my skin feel even darker?"
Fenris examined his body. His skin, already rough to begin with, now carried a faint purplish-black sheen.
What came with it was defensive power several times greater than before, along with a somewhat faster healing speed.
After letting out a satisfied, heat-filled burp, Fenris's body shrank at a visible rate and quickly returned to its original form.
Everything seemed to be moving in a good direction, except for one thing.
No matter how Fenris tried to use soul magic to recreate what he had seen earlier, those intricate lines and glowing points never appeared again.
After trying for quite a while and realizing it was all just wasted effort, he could only give up in frustration.
The Ancient One had seen far more than he had. He could just ask her about it when he got the chance.
"And Tony Stark..."
"No. I can't just let him die like that."
The moment the words fell, Fenris vanished from the reactor chamber.
...
At the same time, inside Professor X's office.
Looking at the exhausted Nick Fury on the screen across from him, Professor X still shook his head with firm resolve.
"Director Fury, it's not that I'm unwilling to help you. I simply cannot do this."
Professor X's words made Nick's heart sink halfway on the spot.
Tony Stark had already been missing for months. SHIELD had thrown an enormous amount of manpower and resources into the search, but the situation over there was simply too complicated. Even now, Nick still had nothing to show for it.
After thinking it over for quite some time, he had ultimately gone to Professor X again.
"Why?"
Nick was confused. Even though he was already anxious beyond measure, his face remained calm. "As far as we know, Xavier's School possesses a global detection method. Can that method really not even locate one completely ordinary human being?"
"If the goal were merely to find that person, it would not be difficult. But ordinary people cannot withstand my gaze."
Professor X explained gently, "Their minds and spirits are too fragile. If I use my ability on a large scale, every ordinary person nearby would be affected."
"If Tony Stark really has been kidnapped, then there probably aren't any ordinary people near him anyway. Just terrorists..."
Nick let out a sigh. He knew perfectly well that Professor X had no intention of involving himself in this matter, and that the excuse he was offering was most likely false.
But the stance and attitude were already clear enough. Knowing that pressing further would lead nowhere, Nick could only nod helplessly and end the video call.
"Fuck!"
He swept a huge stack of documents off the desk without the slightest mercy.
He had only just finished dealing with the mess caused by Stryker, and now this fresh disaster had landed in his lap. Nick felt utterly drained.
Setting Tony Stark the man aside, the problems tied to Stark Industries alone were already more than enough.
Because of Howard, SHIELD and Stark Industries still had a complicated, half-severed relationship, with countless tangled ties beneath the surface.
Stark Industries, with its cutting-edge military technology, supplied a huge portion of SHIELD's current weapons. Even the Helicarrier relied on a great deal of weaponry and equipment purchased from Stark.
Now that Stark was in chaos, SHIELD's own progress had been dragged down with it.
Publicly and privately, if only for the sake of that flying toy of his in the future, Nick had no choice but to be anxious.
"Get me a batch of high-energy-density nuclear fuel. The purity needs to be as close to weapons-grade as possible. In exchange, I can solve your Tony Stark problem."
A sudden voice rang out from the sofa behind Nick.
"Hostile contact!"
For someone to break into a place as private as his office like this, Nick's rage was instantly doused with a bucket of ice water.
Without hesitation, he rolled behind his desk, drew his pistol, and emptied the magazine toward the source of the voice.
"It's me."
Fenris's voice came from the other side, making Nick's finger freeze halfway to the alarm button.
"How did you...?"
On the surface, Nick seemed to relax, his expression easing as he calmly holstered his gun again.
"Weapons-grade nuclear fuel is a tightly controlled strategic resource. I don't have that kind of pull."
Even though inwardly he was more wary than ever of Fenris's ability to appear and disappear like a ghost, outwardly Nick even poured him a cup of hot tea and started bargaining. "I can only get you the next best thing."
"Tony Stark is about to die."
Fenris dropped the bombshell so bluntly that Nick's expression froze completely.
"If he dies, then your toy can stay rotting in the factory forever."
Fenris casually stretched out his hand and placed several crushed bullets on the table in front of Nick. They had hit his palm and been squeezed into mangled lumps.
"Deal."
Nick ground his teeth and agreed.
"Smart."
Fenris stood up at once, turned, and stepped into a portal crackling with sparks.
"A bunch of useless idiots!"
The spacious office was once again filled with a fresh round of furious cursing.
...
Afghanistan.
Inside a dark cave, a bespectacled man with a somewhat scholarly appearance stood beside a hidden iron rack.
Across from him, Tony Stark, haggard and pale, his eyes bloodshot with exhaustion, was breathing in small, shallow gasps as he strapped a heavy iron armor plate onto the man's body.
"Yinsen, you already know the weapon systems pretty well. There are three mini-missiles in the arm guard, and it's also equipped with two flamethrowers..."
Tony tightened each hex bolt on the armor one by one, continuing to instruct him without pause. "The flight system under your feet is your final trump card for getting out of here. Once it starts, run if you can. Don't get bogged down fighting."
"Tony..."
Dr. Yinsen looked at the increasingly weakened Tony with reddened eyes. "You're the one who was supposed to wear this suit..."
"Don't think about that now."
Tony slammed Yinsen's helmet shut. "The terrorists outside are about to come in. From here on out, you're on your own."
From a billionaire playboy high above the world to a prisoner in chains, the days he had spent in this cave had forced Tony to understand many things.
If he could live, he was absolutely the one who least wanted to die.
But at this point, Tony knew the truth. That piece of shrapnel had nearly taken his life already, and the fact that he had held on this long was a miracle in itself.
He was never getting out of here now.
If only one of them could escape, then from the bottom of his heart, Tony wanted that person to be Yinsen.
The man who had saved his life.
(End of Chapter)
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