The sky remained clear.
Colonel Rhodes piloted his War Machine across the sky, searching for Lord Mandarin and the group of terrorists, until his radar indicated an anomaly in the area.
However, a thousand-meter-long blade surged up from the ground, piercing the War Machine and also impaling Rhodes through the abdomen, dragging him down from the sky!
A man with a fiery glow all over walked up to the War Machine, extending his high-temperature fingers onto Rhodes' Iron Man suit...
It was Kilian.
"I still don't quite understand."
Kilian glanced at Ichimaru Gin, who was withdrawing the long blade, and couldn't help but shake his head, saying, "This kind of power should be able to hijack Air Force One and kidnap the president easily, right?"
"Are you questioning the master's decision?"
Ichimaru Gin looked down at the War Machine, which had crashed into unconsciousness, then glanced at Kilian, squinting slightly as he smiled: "If we took care of everything, why let you live at all? If Mr. Kilian can't prove his worth, I can let Mr. Kilian die peacefully."
"..."
Why is there always a need to kill people?
Kilian shook his head wordlessly, motioning for his men to transport the War Machine to a safe location; he needed to start his next step plan.
"Force Colonel Rhodes out."
Kilian looked at the blade-pierced War Machine, waving his hand: "And repair this Iron Man suit, it's the vehicle we've prepared for the president's arrival."
"Also."
Ichimaru Gin looked down at Colonel Rhodes, curling his lips: "Put Colonel Rhodes in your original base, let Tony Stark find him… otherwise, who will lead that Iron Man to our stronghold?"
"..."
Kilian fell silent for a while, rubbing his hair: "You mean to attract people with Colonel Rhodes, and we have a fight with Tony Stark at the base?"
"Yeah..."
Ichimaru Gin glanced at Kilian, squinting his eyes as he smiled: "When you execute the president at the base, Mr. Iron Man should appear just in time...
Before the fate finally arrives, having a destined confrontation with your former idol, wouldn't Mr. Kilian want to try it?"
"Tsk..."
Kilian smacked his lips, touched his chin, and slowly nodded: "Then let's add some other stakes!
My subordinate Maya Hansen is with Stark Industries' CEO Pepper Potts, I'll bring her back, and she can be a trophy for the victor."
"Whatever."
Ichimaru Gin appeared indifferent.
Tony Stark's friend Colonel Rhodes had already been captured directly by Kilian, and his girlfriend Pepper Potts was about to fall into Kilian's grasp as well.
While Tony knows nothing about it.
Still believing he was hidden, Mr. Iron Man continued diligently investigating the source of those human bombs, Tony Stark even obtained Pioneer Technology information from a retired marine's family member.
Kilian had a batch of subordinates killed by Uehara Naraku, causing a shortage of manpower and preventing him from pursuing Tony Stark, instead allowing Tony to quickly advance in his pursuit of Pioneer Technology.
On Christmas Day.
Tony Stark finally discovered Lord Mandarin's whereabouts, but the mansion was already deserted, with only traces of charred corpses.
It's over.
The chase had completely stalled.
As Tony Stark searched the mansion with a sense of helplessness and despair, a noise from the basement finally caught his attention.
The person trapped in the basement…
It was his friend, Colonel Rhodes.
"Tony?"
James Rhodes was surprised to see Tony, then his face turned heavy: "Tony! Quickly inform Air Force One! They took my Iron Man suit! They want to use the suit to infiltrate Air Force One and kidnap the president!"
"???"
Tony Stark was filled with confusion.
But just a second later, Tony Stark understood what James Rhodes meant, quickly taking out his phone to try to contact the authorities.
However…
It was already too late.
The first thing Tony Stark saw when he looked at his phone was the news about Air Force One… and an email from someone.
The email contained only one video.
The video showed Pepper Potts bound to an experiment machine, someone beside her injecting the Extremis virus, causing high-temperature flames to sporadicly burst from her.
"Hi, Tony Stark, my idol."
A man's face appeared in the video, with a mischievous smile on his lips, as if he could see Tony's expression through the screen: "It's been a long time, I'm Aldrich Killian, remember me?"
The Kilian in the video rubbed a finger on his temple and spoke slowly: "I guess you might not remember me, should I remind you?
On Christmas in 1999, when you and Maya Hansen were having a wild time in bed, I stood on the rooftop wanting to jump and end my life…"
At this point, Kilian suddenly pointed his camera at a woman's corpse on the ground—Maya Hansen's corpse.
"This woman hasn't forgotten you."
Kilian turned the camera back to himself and continued: "When I wanted to take Miss Pepper away, she seemed to have some other thoughts, so I had to kill her… Huh, she used to be my most loyal partner!"
"..."
Tony Stark's scalp tingled slightly.
His brain whirred, memories of what happened during the 1999 Christmas began to resurface, and that's when he met Maya Hansen at the Christmas party.
It seems…
Tony Stark rubbed his forehead, trying to recall that he did promise a man named Aldrich Killian a meeting, but Maya Hansen's allure was too irresistible. On that night, he ended up standing Kilian up…
This was a fourteen-year-old revenge!
The man he once stood up returned with hatred and pain to exact revenge on him, the former no-show, pulling Pepper into it too!
"Tony, there was never any Lord Mandarin."
The Kilian in the video continued speaking, each word making Tony Stark feel like he was slipping into an ice cave, as if Kilian could guess Tony's expression, laughing joyfully in the video.
"There was never any Lord Mandarin."
"The Mandarin you saw, the world saw, was just an actor I grabbed from over in London, and I must say… his acting was quite good!"
"Everything was manipulated by me behind the scenes."
"Tony."
"Your every move is in my control."
"Let me check the time…"
Kilian looked at his wristwatch in the video, then suddenly raised his head, grinning: "Hahaha… It seems my time isn't important here; I'm just speculating on when you'll see my video."
"From the time you receive the video, you should be getting the news, right? The Air Force One news, as I just sent the video as soon as I succeeded."
"Air Force One should be in dire straits."
"Except for our president, nobody else survived."
"As for our president, if we're working with the time difference, by this time, he should more or less be under my control."
"Guess what I'm going to do to him?"
"Tony."
Kilian from the video slowly approached the camera, his eyes becoming increasingly dangerous: "Whether you want to save the president or Pepper, come here!
Don't bring too many people by the way, oh, you can bring Colonel Rhodes if you want, after all, without him, it wouldn't have been so easy to catch the president!"
"Tony."
"A grand Christmas party is waiting for you."
"Just like Christmas in 1999, this time, you're still the main character of the entire party, and all eyes will be on you."
"It's a very sincere Christmas party invitation from me!"
"I've prepared for you for exactly fourteen years, Tony, do you know how I've lived through these fourteen years?"
"..."
The video ends with Kilian deliberately stepping away from the camera, revealing Pepper Potts bound on the experimental steel frame, his smile exceptionally dangerous.
"Tony."
"I want to see…"
"If this time, you will stand me up again."