Attacked

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Tony looked at her and asked, "You're not the Mandarin, are you?"

The man looked at Tony and said, "Sure enough, you don't remember me. Why am I not surprised?"

"Don't take it personally, I don't even remember what I had for breakfast."

Jarvis followed up on Tony's words, "Gluten-free waffles, sir."

The man then said, "Well, I want to talk to you alone, not here, this is an important matter."

Hearing this, Tony started talking nonsense again: "Oh, I usually wouldn't refuse such a thing, but now, I have an official girlfriend..."

Before he finished his words, Pepper threw down two large packages from upstairs, almost hitting Tony, and then Tony said, "That's her."

Pepper asked from upstairs, "Tony, are there any guests coming?"

Tony came out of his battle suit and answered, "Yes, that's right, it's Maya Hansen." Then he gestured for Maya to find a place to sit down.

Maya was surprised when she heard Tony say her name, then started laughing. Tony continued explaining to Pepper, "She's just a botanist friend. We're not that familiar."

At this time, Pepper came down the stairs but was blocked by a huge rabbit doll. Tony took the opportunity to get close to Maya and said, "Don't tell me there's a twelve-year-old kid I've never seen waiting for me in the car."

"Pfft!" Kai, who was sitting on the sofa, heard Tony's words and accidentally spit out the water he had just drunk.

Then Maya noticed Kai's presence, and Pepper walked over to the side. Tony quickly introduced them: "This is Kai, my friend."

Then Tony turned and hugged Pepper. "This is Pepper, my girlfriend."

After greeting the two, Maya said, "Okay, Tony, I need your help."

Tony asked, "What kind of help? Why now?"

"Because I read the papers, and frankly, I don't think you'll survive the week."

Hearing this, Pepper immediately became worried. "What's going on? Why do you say Tony will be in danger this week?"

Before Maya could answer, Pepper turned to Tony. "We need to leave and hide."

"What?" Tony objected. "I said no."

"We're leaving right now. No room for negotiation." Pepper was firm. "It just so happens that Kai has a place for us. We can stay at the manor for a while."

Hearing Pepper mention him, Kai quickly followed her lead. "Yeah, there are plenty of rooms at the manor. You can stay there."

Tony looked at Kai in disbelief. Kai shrugged, signaling that reasoning with Pepper was pointless—better to just go along with it.

Maya nodded. "That's a good idea. Let's go. I'll grab the bags." She picked up the packages.

Just as Tony was about to continue arguing, Kai used his spatial abilities to transport everyone and their belongings directly to the manor.

Upon arrival, the living room TV was showing live footage of Tony's villa. Reporters had gathered outside, taking pictures.

Tony, who had been arguing with Pepper, suddenly found himself in the manor's living room.

"Kai!" Tony turned to glare at Kai but was interrupted by two screams from the TV.

"Oh no!"

"My God!"

Tony looked at the screen just in time to see a missile trailing white smoke arc toward his villa.

The next moment, an explosion rocked the villa, shattering the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Tony couldn't believe what he was seeing. The Mandarin had actually launched an attack on his home in the United States.

More helicopters appeared in the footage, launching a relentless assault. Missiles, machine gun fire—everything was directed at the villa. The structure eventually gave way, collapsing off the cliff into the ocean.

Only after the villa had been completely destroyed did the helicopters turn to leave.

Tony clenched his fists. "Pepper, stay here. Don't go anywhere. I'll be back soon."

Then he turned to Kai. "Kai, I'm going after them. I'm not just going to sit back and take this. You in?"

"Of course." Kai nodded. Ignoring Pepper's protests, he teleported Tony back to the ruins of the villa. They went to the basement, found a battle suit that wasn't too damaged, and had Tony put it on.

Standing amidst the debris, Kai said, "Are you ready? Let's go!"

With that, he teleported them toward the departing helicopters.

Kai's spatial movement was incredibly fast. It didn't take long to catch up.

As soon as he spotted them, Tony attacked.

He raised his right hand and fired a repulsor blast at one of the helicopters.

The pilot, thinking the mission had been easy, was caught off guard. The blast hit the fuel tank, sending the chopper spinning out of control before crashing.

The remaining helicopters turned to engage their attackers, but they were no match for Tony's agility and Kai's speed.

Within minutes, Tony and Kai took down the rest.

Tony hovered in the air, watching the wreckage, ensuring no one could escape. Satisfied, he signaled Kai to leave.

However, more than ten minutes after they were gone, a figure shakily emerged from one of the wrecks.

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