"Hey, this is where I work. I need it bright. You'd better give me a skylight. Anyway, the lighting must be good." The empty cave was now full of busy figures. Tony directed these Terrorists, telling them to put the things he needed in designated places. He also drastically changed the environment here.
He really hadn't expected this group of Terrorists to have such energy, even managing to get all kinds of experimental equipment in just one night. Although they were all ordinary, or even incomplete, goods. But to get such things in this godforsaken place was no small feat.
However, even though everything he needed had been brought, Tony still maliciously messed with these Terrorists. For no other reason than to make himself happy.
"Put this thing in the corner, yes, right there. No, no, no, pile all the missiles to one side, do you want me to blow it up when I'm experimenting? Make the skylight a bit bigger, and move it a bit more to the side."
Tony relentlessly messed with these Terrorists, and Yin Sen also continuously helped him translate his demands.
The Bearded Man listened on the side, while instructing his subordinates. Although Tony spoke quickly and chaotically, and often contradicted himself, the Bearded Man's subordinates never complained. They faithfully carried out his orders.
So very quickly, Tony lost interest. He wanted to see these guys exasperated, and since he couldn't achieve his goal, he naturally chose to give up.
"Get me welding tools, acetylene, propane, whatever works. Also helmets, goggles, crucibles. How much energy can you get? Never mind, I'll do that myself. Get me two cleaning devices, don't give me these broken things anymore, you've already given me enough junk. I want above standard."
The Bearded Man dutifully wrote down what Tony needed, and when Tony closed his mouth, he asked worriedly.
"Is that enough? Do you need anything else? You'd better tell me everything at once."
"Once you've brought me everything, I need your people to stay far away from my laboratory. Damn it, among so many people, there isn't even one guy with an engineering degree!"
Listening to Yin Sen's translation, the Bearded Man's face twitched. It was the first time he had heard someone complain about their lack of education as Terrorists. But thinking about the role Tony could play, he still swallowed his anger.
The Terrorists acted very quickly, completing all of Tony's requested conditions in just one morning. After placing the two cleaning devices he specifically requested, the Bearded Man walked up to Tony, staring at him and saying.
"You can start working. As long as you complete what we want, we will give you your freedom."
Saying that, he extended his hand.
"He says he'll give you freedom, but honestly, I don't believe him," Yin Sen said to Tony with a smile. And Tony responded with a smile.
"I don't believe him either!" Saying this, Tony shook the Bearded Man's hand, giving it two solemn shakes.
A brilliant smile immediately spread across the Bearded Man's face. He didn't know what these two had said, but he had already filled their conversation with his own imaginings, and he was very satisfied with the imagined content.
Watching the Bearded Man decisively leave with his subordinates, and lock the door from the outside, Yin Sen rubbed his hands and asked.
"What do we do now?"
"Just do something, as long as you don't stop! Don't forget, aim at those cameras above. As for me, I'm going to see if the equipment that can help us escape is complete." Tony threw out this sentence and then burrowed into the pile of missiles.
He was a typical lone wolf, especially when it came to research and development. Many times, he preferred to work alone, or only rely on the mechanical equipment he developed. This might be because he was too much of a Genius in this area; ordinary researchers, even if they were just assisting him, would delay his progress. So he had developed this habit.
However, Yin Sen obviously couldn't accept Tony's arrangement, especially being left alone to face the surveillance cameras above, which made him feel at a loss.
"Hey, pal, I have no idea what to do, can you tell me how you usually work in the lab?"
Tony was currently trying to move a missile. Although he usually paid attention to exercise, moving this behemoth by himself was still a bit too much effort for him. So, upon hearing Yin Sen's plea for help, he sighed and said.
"Forget it, I guess you don't have that talent. Come help me, let's lift this thing onto the table. If we get back, be sure to remind me to make things smaller. Never mind, I probably won't make this kind of thing again."
It took the two of them a lot of effort to lift the missile onto the table. Tony then directly put a bag of tools into Yin Sen's arms, took out a screwdriver from it, and began to tinker with the missile in front of him.
His movements were very skilled, because all of Stark Industries' high-end weapons were invented by him, including the missile in front of him. Therefore, he knew its internal structure like the back of his hand, and he was also very clear about which part he needed and what he could use to deceive this group of generally under-educated Terrorists.
Yin Sen's eyelids twitched as he watched Tony dismantle the warhead, casually throwing it on the ground. He then pulled out a bunch of complex-looking machines from inside the missile. He couldn't help but ask curiously.
"What are you doing? You're not really going to help them make something, are you?"
"As you can see, I'm dismantling the missile, finding things we can use inside. As for making something, I definitely will, but I can guarantee that what I make is absolutely not what they want. Or rather, it's what they least want."
Tony spoke while his hands worked non-stop. When he used tweezers to remove a small part from a complicated-looking machine, he threw the machine aside and, holding the tweezers in his hand, said to Yin Sen.
"This big chunk is useless now. See? This little thing is what we need."
"What is this?" Yin Sen looked at the tiny object. Its volume was even smaller than a chip, and he couldn't imagine what use it would have for their escape.
"This is palladium metal, 0.15 gram equivalent. We need 1.6 grams, so all those missiles inside have to be dismantled."
"Are you sure?" Looking at the stacked missiles, which were much larger than a car, Yin Sen's face showed a wry smile.
"Of course, get moving quickly. We're running out of time! I really don't want to stay in this godforsaken place a moment longer!"
"You say, what exactly are they doing? I don't understand it at all." Meanwhile, on the other side, two Terrorists staring at the monitor began to chat in Persian. Hearing his comrade's question, the other Terrorist curled his lip disdainfully and said.
"Idiot, if you could understand it, would you be here staring at this?"
"Then what should I be doing?" the questioner asked again.
"You could be going to the Base to make bombs, idiot."
"That sounds very reasonable."
The observers chatted idly, while the observed rushed against time. Tony's work was efficient and fast. Soon, they obtained the 1.6 grams of palladium they wanted, and with Yin Sen's help, this precious 1.6 grams of palladium metal was shaped into the form Tony desired.
This was, so far, one of the few things besides language that made Yin Sen proud. Years of surgical practice had given him a pair of steady hands that prevented him from wasting even 0.1 gram of Materials. Although, to this day, he still didn't know what Tony wanted this thing for.
And soon, he found out. As if the concept had already been completed in his mind, Tony's hands became more efficient than any instrument in the World. Copper wires, circuits, frameworks, everything assembled around that 1.6 grams of palladium.
As the day reached its final moments, a finished product finally emerged from Tony's hands.
A bright blue light bloomed from this small finished product, crystal clear, making the originally crude device look like a large blue gem, and one that glowed on its own. A cable extended from this small device, connecting to the electronic equipment in the cave, instantly bringing these formerly lifeless devices to life.
Looking at this fascinating little thing, Yin Sen couldn't help but exclaim.
"Wow, that's really beautiful, but I don't think that's a Jericho missile!"
"It's certainly not. This is a miniature arc reactor. You can think of it as a miniature, radiation-free nuclear reactor. This problem has plagued Stark Industries for thirty years, and now, in this godforsaken place, I have finally unraveled it."
"What's its power output?" Yin Sen continued to ask. He found it hard to imagine such a small thing being a nuclear reactor, and even harder to imagine what purpose it could serve.
"If I haven't miscalculated, which I usually don't, it should be three billion joules per second. Converted, that's the energy consumption of a large machine for fifteen minutes. You know what I mean by large machine, the really big kind!"
"I still don't understand, what's the point of making this thing? To provide free energy to these guys?"
"Look at my body, I've been hit by at least fifteen gun volleys, and anti-tank missile bombardment. Although it wasn't a direct hit on me, the result is the same: completely unharmed." Tony said, while forcefully drawing a small knife across his arm.
The blade grazed his skin, blocked by a layer of fine, electrically charged metal particles. Tony then said to the stunned Yin Sen.
"This is a product of a friend of mine, a nanometal suit. With it, I can be impervious to blades and bullets, but I can't do more. So I was thinking, if I had a larger, more advanced, more fully armed iron armor, could I break out of here? And to achieve that, the most important problem to solve is..."
"Energy!" Yin Sen answered for him. Tony had already done so much; if he couldn't guess now, it would be a matter of intelligence.
"Exactly, that's it. Let me show you what I made last night!"
Tony said, while pulling out a stack of messy-looking blueprints. Yin Sen glanced at them, and besides feeling confused, had no other thoughts.
"What is this?"
"Woah, be careful, don't break it!" Taking back the blueprints from Yin Sen's fumbling hands, Tony placed them on a backlit table. The thin, almost translucent blueprints, stacked together, finally formed a complete whole: a majestic and powerful iron armor.
Finally seeing its true form, Yin Sen couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
"Incredible, Tony. I can only say, you truly are a Genius!"
"I always have been, you don't need to confirm it again!"
Scrambling the blueprints, Tony once again began to work. Completing this big iron lump was no easy task.