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Chapter 22 - 22

Another day gone," Reyna sighed, then secretly glanced at Mike. He actually wanted to say, "Another fruitless day."

"Yeah," Mike's lips curled slightly.

He had finally found the Ten Rings Gang's Base, and his premonition was indeed correct.

He just didn't know if Stark was being held inside.

The cave was very well hidden, disguised on the outside, so it was normal for Reyna not to find it, but it couldn't escape Mike's Observation Haki.

Mike didn't alert them but returned to the temporary camp as usual, showered, and ate.

Then he called Pepper, asking her to arrange a car to be placed outside the Air Base.

It was midnight.

"I seem to really like going out at midnight. Fortunately, my body is in great shape and can handle it."

There was no other way; the night was a natural cover, and people naturally got sleepy in the latter half of the night, unless they were a Night Owl.

Mike put on Momochi Zabuza's possession card and easily avoided surveillance and sentries to leave the Base.

Following the location Pepper provided, Mike arrived at a small grove where a military Humvee was parked.

Mike stepped forward.

The car window rolled down, revealing Hawkeye's face.

"I only asked for a car, but I didn't expect a driver to be included," Mike said with a half-smile.

"I just wanted to help… I mean, do you need a driver?" Hawkeye seemed a little awkward, probably unaccustomed to such a clumsy lie.

"Is there a charge?"

"Ah!"

"I mean, no payment needed?"

"Or, just a little something?"

Mike entered the coordinates into the navigation, and Clint started the car.

At about 80 kilometers per hour, Clint asked, "Is this speed okay?"

"It's fine, quite good," Mike praised. "It's fast and super stable. With this driving skill, you could make a living even without being an Agent."

Clint: "My vision is better, so I can see potholes on the ground in advance. But, are you complimenting me?"

Mike answered affirmatively: "Of course."

The road conditions outside the Air Base were very poor; people often deliberately damaged them. Digging a pit here, placing a stone there, laying down spikes—even experienced drivers wouldn't dare to drive fast. The worst was hitting an improvised landmine, which could blow you to smithereens.

The two were silent for a long time.

Clint suddenly said, "Charlie spoke… Charlie is the mercenary code-named 'Flamingo'."

Mike smiled and said, "His name is unexpectedly ordinary."

Clint continued, "Flamingo gave in ten hours after being escorted back to the Base, demanding assurance for his family's safety before handing over the audio evidence stored in a locker at the train station. It took a total of twelve hours."

Mike stroked his chin and said, "He deliberately dragged it out for twelve hours, but he didn't completely betray his employer…"

Clint said, "Exactly. By the time the Agent went to Obadiah's residence, he was already gone."

Mike: "That's normal. The disappearance of two mercenaries for so long alerted Obadiah. However, Obadiah must still be in New York; he's just hiding and observing. A single recording won't be enough to completely bring him down."

Mike himself studied law; as long as enough money was spent and the legal team hired was sufficiently dream-like, they could turn black into White, and dead into living.

Clint sighed: "Alas~ We've alerted them… Now Stark's situation is even more dangerous. So, when Pepper heard you needed a car, she thought you might have made a breakthrough. At Miss Potts's request, my mission is to assist you."

"Is that the reason why a dignified S.H.I.E.L.D. senior Agent is acting as a driver?"

"One of the reasons… According to Flamingo's description, you used a knife to intercept a miniature missile remotely, and you air-dropped from fifty meters without equipment. I'm very curious—that's another reason."

About two hours later, Mike signaled Clint to stop.

"We're here already?" Clint asked.

"How could that be? We still have two or three miles to go. This area is sparsely populated, and driving a car makes it easy to be discovered," Mike explained briefly.

So Clint, carrying his sniper rifle case and with his bow and arrows on his back, followed Mike through the mountains and over the ridges.

Stop!

Mike made a hand gesture.

Clint took out his Night Vision binoculars and carefully observed a small valley. Only with his extraordinary vision could he see several tents pitched at the bottom of the valley, with various military supplies casually piled in the open, simply covered with camouflage netting. But it was precisely this crude disguise that allowed them to evade various high-tech detections.

Clint noticed Mike staring intently at a cave entrance on the hillside.

"Is this where Stark is being held?" Clint asked in a low voice.

"Not certain. Before, I was about fifty percent sure, but now… ninety percent!"

Mike was quite confident. From this angle, the position of the cave entrance, and the scenery outside the cave, were almost identical to the silhouette in the movie.

The remaining one percent uncertainty was due to the butterfly effect.

"Two visible armed guards at the cave entrance, and two hidden sentries nearby at each location."

Clint's eyes grew brighter and brighter. In the wilderness, such strict guarding indicated that an important person was residing there.

Clint asked, "Do you have a plan? What do you need me to do?"

Mike: "Yes. Stay here obediently and provide remote support."

Clint: "…"

His surge of enthusiasm was instantly extinguished.

That's it?

Just as Clint was about to protest, he noticed a thick White mist appearing in the air. The Night Vision goggles became useless, and Mike beside him vanished.

Suddenly, Clint's hairs stood on end, and he felt a chill down his spine. He turned his head. Mike was standing behind him, his Katana dripping with blood.

"Three hidden sentries. One on each side of the cave entrance, and one opposite… which is over here, not far from us. Three points, forming a triangle, watching each other," Mike's voice sounded ethereal.

Clint knew the source of the blood on Mike's sword. He had missed one hidden sentry; perhaps that was the blind spot. And Mike not only found it but also dealt with it.

Clint swallowed hard. If Mike had attacked him just now, would he have noticed? He subconsciously reached for his throat, feeling a slight chill there.

Just as Clint was about to say something, Mike took a step back, and his figure disappeared into the fog.

"What should I do?" As a senior Agent, Clint's mind raced, and he finally decided to wait and see.

Two or three in the morning is when people are most prone to fatigue. Although there were several visible and hidden sentries, years of ease had made them relax their guard long ago. They were either sound asleep with their rifles or dozing off.

The dense fog spread, and Mike knew everything within the fog like the back of his hand. Regardless of whether they were visible or hidden sentries, they were all killed before they could make any sound.

As for the people in the tents, Mike knocked them out with heavy blows.

The scent of blood drifted through the fog. Clint's mind became more focused and tense, like a taut String.

In contrast, Mike was relaxed and at ease. As expected, finding Stark was the difficult part of this mission. These Terrorists from the Ten Rings Gang might have lorded over civilians, but their discipline was only at a gang level.

No wonder they were easily wiped out by Obadiah's subordinates in the movie.

Stark had been imprisoned for over a month, and with Ethan's encouragement, he had already recovered and rekindled his hope for life. At this time, the Mark I blueprints were completed, and it was entering the crafting stage.

Clang, clang, clang…

The sound of a hammer striking steel.

Stark suddenly stopped, holding the hammer, and turned to look towards the cave entrance.

"What's wrong?" Ethan asked.

The latter half of the night was when the Terrorists were most relaxed, the best time to forge the armor, so they had to hurry.

"It sounds like someone's knocking," Stark said.

"You must have misheard," Ethan said, thinking, "Am I hallucinating? Being confined in such a dark place indeed easily leads to psychological trauma."

"Probably," Stark said with a bitter smile. Terrorists wouldn't politely knock on the door. They would only violently smash it or burst right in.

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