Tony returned to the house and found his MK42. It looked like these kidnappers had been using his armor as a ball.
"Doesn't look very sturdy. So, what is this suit for?" Rhodes asked, helping pick up the armor.
"It has a remote deployment program. Ideally, it should allow me to put this thing on anywhere in the world," Tony said while detaching a component from the arm.
"Doesn't seem to be performing very well."
Actually, the armor's overall performance wasn't bad. In the original story, Tony was ambushed at home, so the MK42 was just a prototype, and the software hadn't even been fully installed.
Now, he was wearing the complete MK42 and got ambushed on someone else's turf. The armor's functions were basically complete, but the opposition was overwhelming.
If anything, this suit was indeed a bit loose; there was probably an issue with the connections between the components.
Looking at the broken armor, Tony's breathing slowed down—
"Hey, what are you doing?" Rhodes said. "We still have a bomb to deal with. Don't tell me that, like me, you need a full set of armor to be effective?"
Tony snapped out of it, let out a long breath, and his expression stiffened slightly.
Rhodes was confused too. "Are you okay, Tony? You're the smartest person here. Pull yourself together. Don't you like inventing gadgets? Now is the time to use them!"
Tony shook his head and said: "I know, I just... never mind. Give me that helmet."
Rhodes placed the helmet in front of Tony: "Great. Do you mind explaining the principle to me? I could learn a thing or two."
"Sure." Tony glanced at Rhodes. "I need the helmet's scanning module to determine the type and structure of the detonator. Done."
Removing the faceplate, Tony detached a component from it and put it on his head.
"Well hidden. On the surface, it's an electronic delay bomb, but inside, it's actually a mechanical delay chemical igniter. Both detonators can trigger the explosives. Your bomb squad made the right choice; if they had tried to dismantle it rashly, the bomb would have detonated immediately."
"General Ross? I need you to go to these positions and destroy the mechanical structure of the detonators. It's an old-fashioned design."
After saying that, Tony detached a device from the armor's arm.
"Then I'll use this thing here to control the crystal oscillator, then do this, and then do that so that when you destroy the mechanical devices, it won't trigger an explosion."
"Did you get that?"
Rhodes nodded, and under Tony's skeptical gaze, he said:
"I got it, really. It's just using your scanner to beep-beep-scan, then dismantle here and there, and then remove the timer."
Tony nodded mechanically: "Close enough—after we get back, I'll upgrade the War Machine's bomb disposal software."
The bomb was easily defused, and Trevor and these individuals of unknown origin were all detained by General Ross.
As for who they were, they could be anyone, depending on what their boss behind the scenes did. If they were willing to compromise, then Norman could still leave them a fig leaf.
After searching the building up and down several times, General Ross found a woman there: Maya Hansen.
This woman was the developer of Extremis. When she was discovered, she was tied up in a secret room. After finding her, General Ross immediately covered her with a large sack.
Seeing these people being loaded into armored vehicles, Tony suddenly asked:
"By the way, what about AIM?"
"Their database exploded, and nothing is left, but most of the people have already been captured," General Ross said.
"Is the Military starting to operate domestically now?"
General Ross smiled: "Usually not, but these are classified operations. You saw those Super Soldiers, didn't you?"
Strictly speaking, this behavior is not compliant with procedure, and maybe in a few days, other departments will protest.
However, procedural illegality is actually commonplace in many things. Whether it will be used to attack you just depends on who you are and what the outcome is.
Not much data on Extremis was saved, but they now had live samples, and stable ones at that.
And Maya Hansen.
"In the entire attack, a total of 111 citizens unfortunately lost their lives, and 459 citizens were injured."
"The scene was extremely tragic. It is reported that a high-yield bomb was detonated that day, but it was thrown into the high altitude by a heavily armored monster that looked very similar to the Hulk, avoiding a tragedy."
"How on earth did he do it? Sending these heavily armed soldiers into the country, into the audience of the next President's speech, and even deploying a bomb?"
"According to reliable sources, those involved have already been arrested. Let us look forward to the day when the truth comes to light."
The site had long since become a ruin. Although the nitrate bomb didn't explode on the ground, the heavy firepower was no joke, and the scene looked like some battlefield abroad.
"We will make them pay the price," Norman said, resting his hands on the table.
"We will," Harry said. "All the witnesses have been captured. That little guy who played The Mandarin has confessed everything. Killian and his Super Soldiers are in prison, along with some armed soldiers who popped up from who knows where."
It was no surprise that Trevor was the first to confess; the rest would soon succumb to General Ross's interrogation tactics.
Although the law explicitly forbids torture, Terrorists are the exception, and now all involved personnel will be classified as Terrorists.
Moreover, what they found wasn't just witness testimony; there was all kinds of physical evidence, like the equipment, sets, and firearms they used for filming, and so on.
Many forces were involved, starting with the Roxxon Corporation.
In fact, even in the original story, they had a hand in it. The Roxxon Corporation accountant who was executed on TV in the movie didn't actually die—though he should be dead now, after all, if he were found, Roxxon wouldn't be able to escape responsibility.
It wasn't just this accountant; for this assassination operation, Roxxon had bribed a large number of officials, police officers, and politicians. The number was just too high, mainly in Texas.
After this incident, a large number of people died at the hands of gangs, making it hard to trace anything—even many of the gang members who did the deed died as well.
Then there was the AIM company, which was pushed to the forefront; they were basically wiped out, with conclusive evidence. Investors avoided the organization like a plague, and now this institution is dead as can be.
HYDRA went into hiding again—in fact, very few of the people who could be investigated knew they were working for HYDRA; they are experts in compartmentalized management.
If they just investigated like this, the Roxxon Corporation wouldn't be able to be convicted in court due to insufficient evidence, and as for HYDRA, no one would even think of them.
But they left behind the most fatal piece of evidence:
The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, had been captured.
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