Support me and be 30 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/Draco_
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
*****
"Human bombs!?"
Rhodey froze, his brow furrowing as he processed the thought. "That can't be right. The places that were hit are high-security military bases. They have checkpoints. Besides, a human suicide bomber couldn't possibly generate that much explosive force!"
"Rhodey, you don't understand. Human constitutions vary—you can't generalize. Take me, for example: in a state of extreme anger, I once beat the living daylights out of a god. Some people, with just a little bit of the right stimulus, will go 'bang' and trigger a super-powered explosion!"
Fini continued to tease Rhodey from the sidelines, leaving the man wearing a dazed expression.
"They aren't your typical suicide bombers."
Fortunately, Tony didn't join in on the pranking. Instead, he explained with a grim face, "They have a highly unstable serum virus in their systems. If it's triggered, it causes a violent reaction and an explosion far more terrifying than any conventional bomb."
"Is this the 'Extremis' you were talking about?"
Rhodey shot a glare at the grinning Fini before pressing further, "How do you two know about this?"
Tony looked at Fini, but Fini simply shrugged, clearly having no intention of explaining himself.
Tony was forced to pivot. "It's a long story. The most important thing right now is to find them before they cause any more panic."
"Intelligence is working overtime to locate them!" Rhodey sighed, indicating his own helplessness in the matter.
"You're actually counting on those morons? Just give me the login and password for the military database account they assigned you!"
Tony scoffed dismissively. He walked over to his computer, his fingers already clacking away at the keys. He had investigated AIM previously, but some files required military-level authorization, so he had put those leads on the back burner.
Part of his reason for meeting Rhodey was to secure this access; Fini showing up was just a timely coincidence.
"No way. That's my personal account!" Rhodey refused, shaking his head.
But Tony's request was more of a notification than a petition. Even as Rhodey was answering, Tony had already used his technical prowess to bypass the security and grab the account details.
"Mhm... the username is still the same: 'WarMachine68'. And the password... Hahaha! I knew it, you still love 'War Machine'!"
Laughing, Tony turned to explain to the nearby Fini, "Get this—his password is 'WARMACHINE ROX', and it's all in caps!"
Fini couldn't contain his amusement, while Rhodey stood there looking absolutely soul-crushed. He knew Tony was going to milk this for mockery for a long time.
Since it wasn't the first time Tony had hacked his accounts, Rhodey didn't stay angry. He quickly tried to change the subject. "What do you even need my account for?"
"Let's see what they've actually been experimenting on!"
Tony used Rhodey's credentials to breach the military archives. He pulled up a classified video file and projected it into the center of the living room.
The footage showed a man and a woman, both with physical disabilities, strapped to surgical tables. They appeared to be preparing for a procedure. Lab technicians injected them with a substance, and both subjects began to scream in agony as their bodies started to glow with an intense red light.
Then, the woman's missing left arm began to regenerate at a visible speed. However, the man beside her was having a different reaction. The red light inside him grew brighter and brighter, looking like his torso was filled with pressurized, glowing magma about to burst.
Seeing the man's condition, the researchers panicked. On the command of a lead scientist, everyone began to evacuate immediately, leaving the screaming man behind just as he was about to blow.
The camera kept rolling. A few seconds later, there was a deafening BOOM. A violent explosion tore through the room, leaving not even a trace of a corpse behind. The video cut to black.
"Is that the cause of the bombings?"
Rhodey stared at the screen, his brow tightly knit. "I need to report this to the President immediately," he said in a low voice.
"There's not much point in that," Fini remarked, looking at Rhodey. "The priority is finding and capturing them as fast as possible. Besides, I suspect there's a mole close to the President."
Rhodey fell silent. He wasn't the type to follow orders blindly—if he were, Tony wouldn't have trusted him with a suit of armor for the military to turn into the Iron Patriot.
"Alright. Then tell me, what's the plan!?" Rhodey sighed, looking at Tony and Fini for guidance.
"Let me think!"
Tony paced back and forth, rubbing his chin in thought. Soon, he had an epiphany. He clapped his hands excitedly.
"They hijacked every broadcast station a couple of days ago. If we can locate AIM's satellite receiving equipment, we can trace the source of the Mandarin's broadcast signal!"
"Jarvis!" Tony barked out the command.
"Yes, sir!"
Jarvis began following Tony's logic, cross-referencing signals to pinpoint the Mandarin's location.
"And once we find him?" Rhodey interjected, a sudden thought striking him. "I can't take the Iron Patriot on a mission without a direct order from the President!"
"Then you can just stay behind," Fini said nonchalantly.
"Hey, you can't leave me out of this!" Rhodey protested. "I made a public promise to catch the Mandarin and give the people an answer!"
"It's fine. Nobody really believed you anyway!" Fini replied with a laugh.
Just as Rhodey was about to argue back, the ever-efficient Jarvis chimed in, having finally confirmed the signal's origin.
"It's in Miami, sir. Miami, Florida!"
The speed of the result caught the three men off guard. They exchanged glances. Fini stood up from the sofa, while Tony walked toward his display cases, seemingly debating which suit to wear for the occasion.
Seeing this, Rhodey truly started to panic.
"Hey, brothers, you can't do this. That guy provoked the military. If I'm not part of this mission, the entire country is going to laugh at me and the President."
"You wouldn't treat me like that, right?"
Looking at Rhodey's pouting, aggrieved expression, both Fini and Tony broke out into laughter.
Finally, Tony took pity on his friend. "I'll give you half an hour to convince your President, then we leave. As for whether you get laughed at or not, that's up to your own skills!"
"You got it!"
Rhodey nodded vigorously. But just as he was about to rush out, he remembered he had arrived via a portal. If he tried to hurry back normally, it would take a day, not half an hour.
Seeing Rhodey's pleading gaze, Fini stopped teasing him and opened a portal back for him.
After Rhodey left, Fini turned to Tony. "Are you sure you want to take him along? Those people injected with the virus aren't exactly weak."
"The public needs to see a victory," Tony said, looking at Fini. "The shadow of the alien invasion still hasn't lifted, and the military needs to rebuild its image. Besides, we might be leaving Earth soon. People need to know there are others left behind to protect them."
Fini didn't argue further. Although the Extremis soldiers were powerful, their inability to fly was a fatal weakness. As long as they stayed careful and kept their ammunition topped up, there wasn't too much to worry about.
"Besides," Tony said, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the rows of armor surrounding them, "I feel like having a family reunion."
He turned to the AI. "Jarvis, get everything ready. We're going to Miami to throw a party!"
(End of Chapter)