The desert stretched endlessly beneath the Afghan sun—but one section of it had been completely erased.
Where a heavily armed militant camp once stood, only a handful of survivors remained.
Smoke and dust still hung in the air, slowly settling over a landscape that looked like it had been shelled by artillery. Deep trenches carved through the sand in jagged lines, each several meters wide. Fragments of weapons, supplies… and bodies were scattered everywhere.
It was less a battlefield and more a massacre site.
At the center of it all, Noah Vale stood in silence.
He glanced down at his clothes, torn apart from the stress of supersonic movement. Without a word, he pulled a fresh set from his storage space and changed on the spot.
The cleanup had taken only seconds.
Now, his attention shifted to the cave ahead.
With a single step, the ground cracked beneath his feet as he launched forward, landing smoothly at the cave entrance before walking inside.
He had deliberately held back near this area—too much force might have collapsed the structure. As a result, some of the guards inside were still alive.
Not for long.
The moment they heard the explosion outside, several armed men rushed out of the cave, tense and panicked.
Noah didn't slow down.
He flicked his fingers.
The air itself compressed and detonated forward—shaped and accelerated into invisible projectiles moving faster than sound.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Each impact hit like a cannon shot.
Bodies were torn apart instantly, shredded before they could even register what had happened. Some never even saw their attacker.
Blood and debris splashed outward—
—but none of it touched Noah.
An unseen force field, generated by the energy flowing through him, repelled everything effortlessly.
He continued walking.
Unhurried. Unstoppable.
Like he was strolling through an empty hallway instead of a slaughterhouse.
Moments later, he stopped in front of a reinforced metal door.
He knocked lightly.
"Dr. Yinsen," Noah said calmly. "You can stop the operation."
Inside, Ho Yinsen froze.
The surgical team had already lost focus—several assistants stood trembling, staring past him at the bodies collapsing just outside the doorway.
Yinsen turned slowly.
The moment he saw Noah's face, recognition flashed in his eyes.
"You're… Noah Vale?" he said, stunned. "You came to save him? How do you even know who we are? I'm in the middle of surgery—Mr. Stark is in critical condition. I need more time."
"You don't," Noah replied, stepping forward. "You've done enough. I'll take it from here."
Yinsen frowned. "Do you even understand his injuries? Shrapnel is embedded in his chest. If we don't—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
Noah had already placed a hand on Tony Stark's shoulder.
A faint violet current flowed from his palm into Tony's body.
In an instant, Noah mapped every fragment lodged inside him.
Then—
A surge of power.
A series of sharp metallic sounds echoed through the room.
One by one, every shard of shrapnel shot out of Tony's chest, arcing cleanly through the air before clattering onto the ground.
Yinsen's eyes widened.
"…That's… incredible."
He instinctively stepped forward. "We still need to stop the bleeding—"
Again, he stopped.
Right before his eyes, the wounds began to close.
Blood flow slowed, then ceased entirely. Damaged tissue knitted itself back together at a visible rate, leaving behind only faint traces of injury.
Yinsen stared, speechless.
"I don't understand," he muttered. "The techniques people practice—they're not supposed to do this."
"They don't," Noah said simply. "What I use isn't the same."
That was all the explanation he gave.
Under his control, Tony's condition stabilized completely. Color returned to his face. His breathing evened out.
Within moments, the man who had been on the brink of death looked… normal.
Just unconscious.
The medical team stood frozen, struggling to process what they had just witnessed.
If this kind of healing became widespread, entire industries would collapse overnight.
Noah glanced down at Tony, then inwardly at the silent chatroom interface.
Still no response.
That alone confirmed most of his suspicions.
"Sir," Yinsen said carefully, "what should we do now?"
Noah turned toward him. "The militants outside are gone. Find a vehicle that still works and head for the nearest U.S. airbase."
He gestured toward Tony. "Take a couple of people, put him on a stretcher, and bring him along."
Without waiting for a reply, he turned and walked out.
Yinsen quickly followed.
The path back through the cave was soaked in the aftermath of what had happened—blood, wreckage, bodies.
When they finally stepped into the sunlight, Yinsen had to squint against the glare.
Then he saw the full extent of it.
The desert looked like it had been hit by both a tornado and an airstrike at the same time.
For a moment, he wondered if any vehicles had survived at all.
But a few hundred meters away, several trucks remained intact.
Relief washed over him.
Fifteen minutes later, two vehicles sped across the desert toward the nearest U.S. airbase.
No resistance.
No pursuit.
Just silence.
When they arrived, a line of soldiers stood waiting.
At the front was James Rhodes.
"Thank you for bringing him back," Rhodes said, stepping forward. "General Ross briefed me on the situation. You're welcome to rest inside."
Noah stepped out of the vehicle and gave a small nod.
"Stark's stable," he said. "He should wake up soon. I'll need to speak with him when he does."
Half an hour later—
Tony Stark's eyes opened.
His mind felt… clear.
Too clear.
The pain was gone.
The weakness too.
For a moment, he wondered if everything had been a dream.
"You're awake."
The voice came from beside him.
Tony flinched slightly and turned his head.
Standing there was a man he recognized immediately.
Noah Vale.
Before Tony could speak, Noah continued, his tone calm but unmistakably firm.
"Don't move."
Tony blinked. "Excuse me?"
"No sudden actions. No experiments. And don't touch anything unusual you might be seeing right now."
Noah's gaze sharpened.
"If I notice anything out of place—anything at all—your heart stops. Instantly."
The room fell silent.