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Yinsen quickly found a clean set of clothes and put them on, then looked over at Jimmy, who was wiping the blood and grime from his body.
"Then we need to warn Tony immediately," Yinsen said, his voice urgent, "he is in danger, Obadiah cannot be trusted."
"Agreed," Jimmy replied, "we also need to head there and back him up."
"Yes."
Yinsen finished dressing and reached his hand toward Jimmy.
Jimmy froze for a moment, then cautiously took it.
"What are you doing," Jimmy asked, confused.
"My phone," Yinsen snapped, "my phone, call Tony."
"Oh, right, the phone."
Jimmy reached into his pocket.
Then he froze.
The charge earlier had been too chaotic.
Yinsen's phone was still in Jimmy's pocket.
His clothes had been torn to pieces.
The phone was gone.
Reduced to fragments.
"Yeah," Jimmy said awkwardly, "it is completely destroyed."
Yinsen sighed.
"Forget it, let us check outside, maybe there is another one."
When they stepped outside, Yinsen stopped.
He stared at the scene in silence.
When he looked at Jimmy again, his expression was complicated.
He had not expected Jimmy to have killed so many people.
"They were not innocent," Jimmy said seriously, "and I do not kill without reason, if my life is not threatened, I will not take a life."
"I was not saying you were wrong," Yinsen replied, then shook his head, "never mind, let us focus, see if there is a working phone."
They searched through the camp.
No phones.
Not even a headset.
The aircraft communication system had been destroyed.
Inside one of the tents, they only found fragments of a satellite phone, shattered into hundreds of pieces.
Boom!
A deafening explosion echoed through the forest.
The helicopter erupted into a fireball.
Jimmy stared.
Yinsen stared.
There was no choice left.
They had to walk down the mountain.
---
By the time they finally reached civilization and managed to borrow a phone, it was already night.
Tony's number could not be reached from a borrowed phone.
Only Happy could get through.
"Happy, listen carefully," Yinsen said the moment the call connected, "this is Yinsen, Tony is in danger, the person behind his kidnapping is very likely Obadiah."
"I am on my way to Stark Industries right now," Yinsen continued, "you go to Tony's house immediately and protect him."
"Also contact Rhodes," Yinsen added, "have him go there in a private capacity, protect Tony, wait until I arrive before doing anything else."
"Understood," Happy replied.
He immediately sped toward Tony's home.
While driving, he kept dialing.
Tony, no answer.
Rhodes, no answer.
Pepper, no answer.
Happy pressed the accelerator harder.
.
.
.
.
At that very moment, Tony was dragging himself toward the basement.
The arc reactor had been torn from his chest.
His body was numb and unresponsive.
Just moments earlier, Obadiah had walked into Tony's home and removed the reactor himself.
---
While Jimmy was tearing apart the hidden base, Obadiah received word that Yinsen's capture had failed.
Whether the message came from New York or from the base itself did not matter.
What mattered was that it pushed him into desperation.
---
Another reason drove him as well.
Tony had begun suspecting that someone inside Stark Industries was secretly supplying weapons to the Ten Rings.
Only two people had that authority.
Tony himself.
And Obadiah.
That was why Tony sent Pepper to investigate.
Pepper succeeded.
She found the weapons transaction records.
She also found the ransom video sent to Obadiah during Tony's kidnapping.
The truth was exposed.
But with the truth came danger.
Pepper had left in too much of a hurry.
She had not cleaned up after herself.
And now, everything was converging.
If Obadiah had not still been stuck on the problem of the portable arc reactor, Pepper would not have even made it out of Stark Industries.
Obadiah had originally planned to kidnap Yinsen, after all, he was the one who had built the portable arc reactor together with Tony in that cave.
But that plan failed.
That alone would have been manageable.
What truly pushed Obadiah into a corner was Pepper's uncovering of proof of Tony's kidnapping.
With that, Obadiah had nowhere left to retreat.
Left with no other option, he took the risk himself and infiltrated Tony's home, forcibly removing the arc reactor from Tony's chest.
---
At the same time, when Happy made his call, Pepper was already on the phone with Rhodes, asking him to go protect Tony.
Tony himself was crawling downstairs, desperate to reach the arc reactor Pepper had placed in a glass case as a gift.
Without it, he would not survive.
---
"Where are we going?"
The driver, who had been listening quietly, finally realized what Yinsen's words truly meant and asked the question.
Yinsen looked at Jimmy.
Jimmy thought for a moment.
Happy was already heading to Tony's house, and he would arrive faster than they ever could.
If Jimmy's guess was correct, Obadiah had already completed that massive armored suit.
Going to Tony's house would be pointless.
To deal with something that big, you needed something just as heavy.
And that kind of firepower would only be in one place.
"The Stark Industries laboratory," Jimmy said, "there is a weapon there that can help Tony."
"All right, everyone buckle up," the driver shouted, "the speed run begins."
The engine roared.
---
At that moment, Happy arrived at Tony's house.
Gun in hand, he moved carefully through the building and made his way down to the basement.
Hearing noise below, he raised the gun.
"Do not move."
A loud crash followed.
Metal clanged.
Something fell.
Happy used his signature stair descent method.
More than thirty steps in three seconds.
Cost, one bottle of pain relief ointment.
---
Rhodes turned around.
Tony looked up.
"What happened?"
"Happy, what are you doing here? There are no enemies left; you can stand down," Tony asked.
Happy slowly got up, still dazed, his gun pointed toward the stairs.
Only after hearing Tony's words did he holster the weapon.
"Oh, Yinsen sent me," Happy explained, "he said you were in danger, Obadiah tried to kidnap him."
"At the mercenary base, Jimmy saw Ten Rings tattoos," Happy continued, "he thinks the people who kidnapped you before were working with Obadiah, so I was told to come protect you."
"What," Tony said sharply, "they kidnapped Yinsen."
"Yes," Happy replied, "he said he tried calling you, Pepper, and Rhodes early this morning, but everyone had their phones off."
"Then where are they now?"
"On their way here."
Tony straightened himself.
"Looks like I have to end this myself," he said quietly, "five people are not enough to stop Obadiah."
---
At the same time, Pepper was leading agents toward Stark Industries, preparing to uncover whatever Obadiah had hidden in Section Sixteen.
Back at the house, Tony entered his lab.
Under the amazed stares of Happy and Rhodes, he suited up.
A repulsor blast cleared the sports car blocking the exit.
"Oh, that is cool," Rhodes said, "anything you need me to do?"
"Keep the airspace clear," Tony replied.
The faceplate slid down.
He launched straight into the sky.
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