Chapter 22: Saving Tony and Yinsen
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After hearing what Kai Vale said, Pepper just thought he was comforting her and wanted to help, so she didn't take it to heart. She forced a smile and expressed her gratitude.
When Kai saw Pepper's reaction, he knew she didn't believe him, but it didn't matter — he would wait until he brought Tony back.
Then Kai prepared to set off.
He found the approximate location of the Middle East on a map and teleported directly there.
However, after landing, Kai stood silently for a long time as he found himself in an endless desert.
"Where do I even begin to look? It's all desert, and it all looks the same."
But there was no other choice — he had to find Tony, so he could only begin a slow and thorough search.
Originally, Kai wanted to use satellites to directly locate the base where Tony was kidnapped, but after Gear reminded him, Kai realized that since the US military hadn't found Tony for so long, searching via satellite wouldn't work.
So Kai activated his space power and began teleporting continuously, searching for Tony's location.
In a blink of an eye, Kai had been in the desert for almost half a month. During this time, Kai had searched nearly the entire desert.
Fortunately, Kai could teleport back to New York whenever he needed rest or food. This convenience kept him going strong through the long search.
Finally, Kai stood before a valley formed by sand dunes and thought, 'This looks like another potential base... but is Tony here?'
Kai teleported onto a large sand dune nearby and looked inside.
He saw Stark missiles and weapons scattered across the area, terrorists patrolling the grounds, and people constantly moving in and out of a cave.
Kai's eyes lit up. After searching for so long, he had finally found the place. This had to be where Tony was being held.
Kai sneaked in, found a hidden corner, and pulled out his invisibility cloak from his space storage. The moment he put it on, he vanished from sight.
With the cloak on, Kai carefully moved through the camp, skillfully avoiding patrols and guards.
Once outside the cave entrance, Kai observed quietly and confirmed this was indeed Tony's prison.
He slipped inside, moving slowly and cautiously through the narrow passages. The number of terrorists increased as he ventured deeper, so Kai became even more careful, waiting until patrols passed before continuing.
Before long, Kai reached the innermost part of the cave. Through a small window in a heavy iron door, he spotted Tony and another middle-aged man inside. If Kai remembered correctly, that man was Dr. Yinsen.
Kai watched for a few minutes and noticed the arc reactor on Tony's chest. Tony and Yinsen were busy welding something — the armor was in its final stages.
'Perfect timing,' Kai thought. 'Tony's almost finished. Now I just have to wait for his escape plan to begin.'
Knowing the terrorists frequently checked on Tony's progress, Kai couldn't linger long inside. Instead, he returned outside the cave, leaving behind a small listening device to monitor the situation.
Sure enough, just two hours later, Kai heard noise from the device.
. . .
"Yinsen, hurry up! Put on your armor now! Only then will we have a chance to escape!"
While Tony urged Yinsen to help him suit up, he kept an eye on the door.
Yinsen helped Tony into a leather suit first, then began strapping the armor on.
As he worked, Yinsen described the layout — how many steps to the door, how far to the turning point, and how to reach the cave exit — repeating the instructions several times.
Meanwhile, the terrorist leader noticed something wrong on the security cameras and sent men to investigate.
Tony had prepared a bomb in advance. When the door opened, the explosion blew it apart.
"Oh my goodness! Looks like it worked," Yinsen gasped.
"Of course, I did it," Tony said proudly.
"Okay, Tony, what next?" Yinsen asked anxiously.
"Look here — function key 11. Press that, and a progress bar will appear. Once it's done, we're good to go," Tony explained while adjusting his armor.
As more terrorists gathered outside, Yinsen saw how slow the progress bar was moving.
"We need time," he muttered, then turned to Tony.
"Hey, I'm going to go buy you some time."
Grabbing a fallen terrorist's gun, Yinsen bolted toward the entrance, firing wildly to create a distraction.
"Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan! Hey! Yinsen!"
Tony could only watch as Yinsen ran out, unable to stop him. Tony's eyes turned red with emotion.
By now, Kai — hearing the commotion — had teleported back inside, still cloaked. He caught up with Yinsen just as the man charged outside with his gun.
Before Yinsen could run too far, Kai reached out from beneath his invisibility cloak, grabbed Yinsen's arm, and stopped him.
In front of Yinsen's shocked eyes, Kai waved his hand. Instantly, the sand beneath several approaching terrorists swallowed them whole, leaving no trace behind.
"Who are you?" Yinsen asked, still stunned.
"Don't be nervous, Dr. Yinsen. I'm here to save you and Tony," Kai explained.
After handling the immediate threat, Kai teleported Yinsen outside the cave, back to the valley where he had been hiding earlier.
"Doc, stay here and hide under this cloak. I'm going back for Tony," Kai said.
Leaving the invisibility cloak with Yinsen, Kai teleported back into the cave to finish the rescue.
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