Chapter 145: Rescuing Tony Stark

Outside the cave, gunfire suddenly erupted, causing the terrorists surrounding Dr. Ethan to freeze in their tracks.

"Go out and take a look!"

The bald terrorist leader, his face masked in a sullen expression, ordered a few of those beside him.

The selected men immediately turned and dashed out of the cave with their weapons.

The remaining terrorists continued to aim their rifles at Dr. Ethan, and the glimmer of hope that had briefly appeared on his face quickly turned into despair. Just as they were about to pull the triggers, the group that had rushed out returned even faster than before.

At the same moment, a burst of bullets fired right behind them took several of them down without a sound.

Inside the cave, the remaining terrorists could no longer concern themselves with Dr. Ethan. They quickly turned their guns toward the cave entrance, but unfortunately, their reaction was still too slow.

In Dr. Ethan's view, as several of the returning terrorists were felled by gunfire, two agile figures suddenly appeared outside the cave.

One of them was dressed in a sharply tailored black suit, holding a handgun. Using the rock face on one side of the cave entrance as cover, he leaned out halfway, and with both hands on his gun, he continuously fired at the group of terrorists inside the cave.

The other was clad in black combat gear—a tall, powerfully built man who nonetheless moved with surprising agility for his size.

After taking down the terrorists who had rushed back, his figure swiftly darted past the cave entrance and concealed himself on the opposite side. Before the remaining terrorists inside could even react, he raised the automatic rifle he held steadily in his hands and quickly opened fire, launching a preemptive attack.

Under the rapid and precise barrage from these two, the remaining dozen or so terrorists inside the cave barely had time to turn around before bullets struck from behind. Even the fastest-reacting bald leader only managed to turn and raise his gun, and before he could aim at his attackers, a bullet hit him in the chest, and he fell to the ground.

In just a few seconds, the dozen or so terrorists inside the cave were completely eliminated. Now, Ethan was truly saved.

Breathing out a long sigh, Ethan looked excitedly at the two men who, guns at the ready, had walked into the cave.

"Where is Tony Stark?"

The composed man in a suit asked Ethan, while the tall man next to him kept his gun pointed at Ethan. After all, he was still holding an assault rifle—in fact, if they hadn't been observant enough to notice that he didn't seem to be one of the terrorists, he might have been taken down along with those lying on the ground.

But necessary precautions had to be taken; no potential threat could be taken lightly.

"He's inside—he'll be out any moment now. Are you here to rescue him?"

As he spoke, Ethan tossed the rifle he was holding to the ground and raised both his hands in front of him.

Judging by their attire and their formidable strength, it was clear that these two were not like the rabble of terrorists—instead, they were elite operatives with formal training. Moreover, the continued sound of intense gunfire outside indicated that quite a few of them had come, most likely to rescue Tony.

Agent Phil Coulson nodded at Ethan.

"That's right. Take us to him—we must leave here as soon as possible."

Earlier, as they had rushed through the valley, they had discovered a large amount of munitions and advanced missiles manufactured by Stark Industries on both sides of the valley.

At that moment, with fierce gunfire and bullets flying indiscriminately outside, once those munitions were struck and detonated, a chain-reaction explosion was bound to occur. Given the quantity of these weapons, the explosive power would be enormous; by then, they would inevitably be injured by the blasts, and even face life-threatening danger.

Thus, they had to locate Tony Stark as quickly as possible, rescue him, and evacuate immediately.

That very day, shortly after Agent Phil Coulson and Chen Mo returned to headquarters in Washington, they received news that Tony Stark had gone missing after being attacked in Afghanistan.

As soon as the situation became known, Chen Mo immediately ordered a rescue mission to Afghanistan.

Nick Fury did nothing to obstruct this. Whether it was due to Tony Stark's own formidable talent in weapon development or his status as one of the founders of the Homeland Division and the son of Howard, Chen Mo's rescue operation posed no problems.

If Tony Stark were to fall into the hands of the terrorists and be exploited, then—given his tremendous innate weapon manufacturing talent—those terrorists would gain access to a vast arsenal of powerful weaponry, which would in turn bring even greater harm to the world.

And that is precisely what the Homeland Division is meant to do: eliminate the evil forces that threaten the safety of the Earth and safeguard world peace.

Thus, on the day Tony Stark went missing, Chen Mo smoothly arrived at the U.S. Air Force Base in Bagram, Afghanistan, and assumed command of the rescue operation for Tony Stark.

Recon aircraft, satellites, and ground search forces simultaneously launched a carpet search centered on the attacked area. However, these terrorists were clearly well-prepared—with someone guiding them—and left no trace along their escape route, completely vanishing from the military's sight, so that their hiding place was never discovered.

A massive search force was mobilized and the search area kept expanding until, more than ten days later, meticulous satellite reconnaissance finally revealed a terrorist base hidden among the mountains, nestled in a valley.

To avoid alerting the enemy and endangering Tony Stark by causing a large-scale movement that might tip them off, Chen Mo did not deploy the bulk of his forces.

Dr. Ethan was about to lead Phil Coulson and the others back to the cave to look for Tony Stark when a heavy mechanical clatter suddenly echoed from within the cave—and it was drawing ever closer.

The two—Phil Coulson and his colleague—quickly raised their weapons, aiming toward the depths of the cave from which the sound emanated, their faces full of vigilance. At that moment, Dr. Ethan's expression brightened as he saw their actions, and he quickly explained:

"Don't worry—it's Tony!"

Yet Ethan's explanation did not cause them to relax. When facing the unknown, they would not allow one person's word to make them ease up on their guard; on the battlefield, one must remain at full alert.

The dull, thunderous impact and the sound of machinery grew ever nearer. Finally, a tall, broad-shouldered figure emerged from the depths of the cave—a figure whose chest emitted a circular white glow—revealing his true appearance before them.

It was a suit of steel armor, its exterior constructed from thick steel plates welded together to completely enclose and protect the person inside. At the joints on the arms and legs, numerous hydraulic mechanisms and tracked drive devices were exposed. Clearly, this was not merely a suit of defensive steel armor, but one that was self-powered; it looked much more like a formidable, powerful robot.

The rough weld seams and uneven exterior of the steel armor indicate that it was manufactured under extremely primitive conditions, yet no one would consider it unthreatening.

At the very moment this suit of steel armor appeared, the two men of Phil Coulson immediately aimed the muzzles of their guns at it.

Inside the steel armor on the opposing side, Tony Stark saw that Ethan was unharmed. With a sigh of relief, he also noticed that Ethan had thrown his rifle aside and raised both hands in front of him, and that the two men had their gun barrels pointed at him.

Immediately, without stopping his stride, Tony strode straight toward the two—with the heavy "clang! clang!" of his armor echoing—clearly preparing to act against them.

The two men from Phil Coulson, seeing this, quickly aimed their guns at Tony, ready to fire at any moment.

Just as a fight was about to break out, Ethan, who had been standing nearby, rushed between the two sides and separated them.

"Tony! Don't be impulsive—they came to save you!"

Then, Ethan turned around and said to the two men from Phil Coulson, 

  "Gentlemen, this is the Tony Stark you're looking for!"

Following Ethan's explanation, Tony finally stopped in his tracks, and the two men from Phil Coulson lowered their guns simultaneously, though they did not completely let down their guard.

"Who are you?"

Tony Stark's voice rang out from beneath the steel mask. Hearing his voice, Phil Coulson's guard eased slightly—it was indeed Tony Stark's unmistakable voice.

"Phil Coulson, Agent of the Homeland Division, deployed on orders to rescue you."

"Then you're too late. I don't need rescuing right now."

Tony spoke as he raised his arm outfitted with a flamethrower, saying in a teasing tone, "Then what about you, buddy? You don't exactly look like an agent."

He was confident that the Mark I Iron Suit he wore would enable him to escape the terrorists' base without any trouble—and he felt little gratitude for their belated rescue.

Tony then turned his head toward a tall figure clad in black combat gear standing nearby. Glancing at the cold, metallic mask on Tony Stark's face, the tall figure spoke slowly:

"Brock Rumlow, Leader of the Special Operations Task Force of the Homeland Division."

This formidable warrior, who had stormed the cave alongside Phil Coulson to rescue Tony Stark, was none other than Brock Rumlow—the former Rapid Reaction Special Forces Team Leader of the Homeland Division—who also went by a little-known alias: Crossbones!

After Chen Mo took charge of the Rapid Reaction Special Forces and reorganized it into the Special Operations Task Force, he, together with Phil Coulson—who had just been conscripted into the task force—became Chen Mo's direct subordinates.

But his true, hidden identity was that of a Hydra spy planted within the Homeland Division; of course, at this time, he still had no knowledge of Chen Mo's real identity.

In other words, aside from a select few at the ultra-secret Norwegian base, no one in the outside world knew the identity of the Hydra mastermind known as Chen Mo.