Chapter 176: The Mandarin's Acting
Subsequently, the people on the plane couldn't hold on any longer and were all sucked out.
"Ah!" A woman screamed as she plummeted.
Whoosh!
An Iron Man suit shot out and rescued her.
"Whew~ Whew~ Iron Man?" the woman asked, still shaking with fright.
The Iron Man suit didn't reply, instead looking up. The woman followed the armor's gaze and saw many Iron Man suits, nearly one suit per person.
On the Other Side
After rescuing the people, Jarvis quickly detached from the Iron Patriot and reassembled into the Prodigal Son in mid-air.
The Iron Patriot, however, was different. Jarvis had hacked into its flight system and tampered with the armor's systems, preventing it from using its thrusters normally.
"No!" The Iron Patriot screamed hysterically, watching the ground rapidly approach.
Boom! Crash!
The Iron Patriot plummeted from ten thousand feet, smashing into the ground like a cannonball and kicking up thick dust.
Thud! Jarvis followed, landing safely on the ground.
Jarvis walked step by step toward the Iron Patriot. Parts of the armor had scattered, revealing a bloody and mangled hand inside.
Clang!
Jarvis squatted down, grabbed the Iron Patriot's faceplate, and pulled it off, revealing the unrecognizable face inside.
"Confirmed deceased." After confirming the terrorist had lost his life, Jarvis rapidly flew toward Stark's location.
After dropping off the people they rescued, the Iron Man suits all flew after Jarvis. Dozens of Iron Man suits flying simultaneously created an instantly spectacular scene, leaving the people on the ground dumbfounded.
"I don't think one Iron Patriot is enough anymore," the President said to his secretary, who was still staring in shock.
"Uh... uh..." the secretary replied woodenly.
Bang!
Tony was currently seized by a mantis man, while another mantis man beside him was preparing to attack his head with its scythe-like arm.
"I don't want bugs growing on me," Tony leaped lightly. With his back thrusters firing, the scorching hot stream blasted onto the mantis man's body.
"Hiss!" The mantis man immediately released Tony, and Tony spun around, firing a repulsor blast that sent the mantis man flying.
But there were ten mantis men here in total. He had only killed four so far, and two others were lying on the ground, temporarily immobilized. The remaining four were still restlessly eyeing Tony, slowly surrounding Stark.
"Looks like I need to deploy the ultimate weapon," Tony said, scanning the mantis men around him.
Tony glanced at the mantis man on the left that was about to attack, then flew up. Long tubes extended from his elbow sections.
Pssh~~~~
Thick white smoke rapidly spewed from the two tubes. In an instant, the smoke filled the entire room.
"Ah!" The mantis men had barely inhaled the white smoke when they felt a searing pain in their chests, as if they were being burned by fire. The remaining mantis men collapsed one by one, curling up and twitching on the ground.
Clang! Tony landed on the floor. With the back thrusters on full blast, all the white smoke was immediately blown away.
Looking at the twitching mantis men on the floor, Tony said, "Looks like I should bring bug spray more often from now on."
Since the incident with the Klein, Tony had subconsciously included bug spray in his subsequent armor research. And being a perfectionist, Tony didn't forget to upgrade the bug spray with every armor update.
"Done. Although it looks like I killed beneficial insects." After saying that, Tony headed inside the house.
As soon as he stepped inside, he saw two terrorist guards. Just as he was about to casually deal with them, "Wait! Don't kill us, we'll do it ourselves," one of the terrorists said. He immediately slammed the butt of his gun hard against the other's head, and both men promptly passed out.
"..." Tony stepped over the two men lying on the floor. Staring at the iron door in front of him, he raised his right hand and shot out a red laser beam. Soon, Tony cut a circle into the door, then easily removed it.
"Pepper?" Tony asked tentatively.
But there was no response from inside the room.
"No one?" Tony checked the surroundings. After confirming the room was empty, he realized he had been tricked!
"F*ck!" Tony angrily turned and marched toward the Mandarin's room. That little man dared to deceive him!
The Mandarin's Room
"Alright, since you refuse to hand over the Vanishing Spell, then I will make you regret it." Rhodes had spent over ten minutes constantly telling the Mandarin to hand over the spell, but the Mandarin had completely ignored him.
The Mandarin suddenly seemed to sense something. A flash of light appeared in his eyes, and he slowly raised his head, chuckling, "Haha~ Here he comes, charging over angrily~"
"Charging over angrily?" Rhodes was confused about who the Mandarin was talking about.
Bang! Tony punched through the wall and appeared before the Mandarin, furiously saying, "You dared to lie to me!"
"I thought I played the part quite well~ Haha!" The Mandarin's body gradually became transparent, then miraculously vanished.
"Hmm... should I ask him to teach me that?" Rhodes said after a moment of silence.
Tony's face was dark beneath the armor's faceplate. He had actually been deceived. Was someone who could vanish like that an ordinary person?
Tony was now reconsidering Rhodes' earlier words. If he truly had a way to instantly disassemble the armor, wouldn't that be the kryptonite to his Iron Man suits?
"Sir, we have arrived overhead," Jarvis stopped the suits above the Ten Rings base.
"Conduct a complete sweep. You must find Pepper! And the Mandarin!" Tony ordered.
"Yes, sir!" Jarvis led the suits in commencing the search.
Rhodes saw Stark standing in place and asked, "What should we do now?"
"Wait for me to finish searching here," Tony replied.
"Searching?" Rhodes looked at Tony, surprised. "You're going to search just standing there?"
The words had barely left his mouth when an Iron Man suit zipped past the window. Rhodes quickly walked to the window, looked up at the Iron Man suits flying around in the air, and swallowed. "Are all those yours?"
"Mhm," Tony replied.
"Could you lend me one? I don't feel very safe," Rhodes looked down at his clothes and the single pistol in his hand. If he were ambushed and shot, he'd be dead.
"Sorry, none of them fit you. These are all custom-fitted for me. See if you can call your Iron Patriot," Tony teased, then flew out the window himself.
"Fine," Rhodes felt like he had a lot to say, but he condensed it into a single word: "F*ck~"
Far away from the Ten Rings base, on a ship.
"Haha! They call that 'Genius Stark'?! Give me a break." The Mandarin sat on a chair, roaring with laughter.
After dealing with Rhodes, he had rushed here immediately. The one left at the Ten Rings base was merely a decoy he had created. Beside him, Pepper was tied to a pillar with her mouth taped shut, and lab personnel were mixing something nearby.
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