Maya began to tell us everything truthfully. She revealed that both the Mandarin and the Ten Rings were fakes, and that AIM was pulling the strings from behind. When asked why they used the Ten Rings name, she said she chose it because it was the most secretive and notorious terrorist organization.
"I see. So they're not the real Ten Rings. But you've made a mistake. The real Ten Rings isn't a pushover. I don't know the details myself, but I understand they're a large, long-standing criminal group specializing in mercenaries and assassination. Dr. Hansen, you'll be hunted by the Ten Rings for the rest of your life."
"That's..."
It was true. The Ten Rings wouldn't just let someone impersonate them slide. In the original story, you could see they tracked down the actor 'Trevor Slattery' who played the Mandarin and took him away. In a way, it felt like she was getting her just deserts for joining a terrorist group. She wouldn't be able to go out freely and would have to live in fear forever.
"Sigh... It can't be helped. Dr. Hansen, I'll hire you, so work for our company. If you want to live, it's better to stay close to us, so there's no choice."
"Ah... I understand."
With that, we secured Maya Hansen. We moved to Gundam Island to resupply and rested for a day. I asked Vulture if it was okay since Christmas was coming up.
"Toomes, is this alright? Your daughter won't like it, will she?"
"Boss, it's fine. I've already talked to my family, and it's my first job, plus I want to finish it with my own hands. But after this, I'll need to make it up to my daughter, so I'll ask for some vacation time."
"Alright."
Honestly, I felt sorry for Toomes' family, as I ended up being the bad boss. I thought I should give something to his daughter, Liz, later.
The next day, after everyone prepared, we moved to the Mandarin's hideout. We also informed Deadpool of this.
"Whoa~ Cassian, you're moving really fast!"
"How's Tony?"
"We had a close call with those guys who had nightclubs in their bodies, but he's alive."
"Then let's meet at the enemy hideout. The address is..."
"Great! A bloody brawl and some camaraderie are waiting for me."
We had the Odyssey hover nearby in stealth mode and prepared for a surprise attack. The plan was simple: since there were no hostages to rescue, we just had to go in, fight, and take over.
As we were getting ready and waiting, a Thalaria crashed into the roof of the enemy hideout mansion, and Deadpool came out, slicing through the guards. Tony emerged slowly behind him, frowning and rubbing his head. Seeing this, Captain said anxiously,
"... Let's go too."
"Y-yeah..."
We also launched from the Odyssey and stormed the hideout, helping Deadpool deal with the guards. I went over to Tony to check if he was okay.
"Tony, are you alright?"
Tony advised me with a serious expression.
"Cassian, listen up. You're all good, but... one problem is you might need to be more selective about the friends you make."
"..."
I could tell how much Tony had been tormented by Deadpool to say something like that. Honestly, I wanted to say it too. That it wasn't what I wanted.
Anyway, Tony and I joined in and started fighting the guards. Tony was fighting pretty well with makeshift weapons from tools. I took out my staff-sword and knocked out enemies by hitting them with the staff to subdue them.
Bam! Thud! Crack!
"Ugh!" "Agh!" "Guh!"
We dealt with the guards outside and entered the mansion's interior. On the second floor, there was 'Trevor Slattery' playing the Mandarin and some women, and in the basement was Dr. Maya Hansen's lab. Killian and his men injected with Extremis weren't visible. Tony and I went to the lab first to see if there was any useful data.
I took all the research materials, and Tony was checking the computer, looking into AIM's activities. The problem was that among the targeted individuals were Pepper and the President. Tony, worried about Pepper, urgently asked me,
"Cassian! Where's Pepper now?"
"She's safe on the Odyssey."
"Odyssey? What's that?"
"It's a base and ship I made. It's nearby, so I'll show you later."
"Anyway, Pepper's safe, right?"
"Yeah, it's obvious since I was with her."
"That's true. Anyway, look at this."
Tony turned the monitor to show me the target list.
"These lunatics have lost their minds."
"Tell me about it."
I threw a headset to Tony and said,
"Tony, inform Rhodey of this. I need to quickly tell the other members and SHIELD too."
"Got it."
I alerted the members via earpiece.
"Everyone, the President is among AIM's targets. Captain, inform the SHIELD director of this quickly."
Hearing that, Natasha said, doubting her ears,
"What? Did I hear that right? The President?"
"Yeah."
Toomes also said in surprise,
"Boss, the scale of this is getting bigger and bigger, isn't it?"
Then, Captain, having finished contacting SHIELD, told us,
"SHIELD said they'll handle the cleanup here. We need to go to Washington quickly to protect the President."
"Alright."
We restrained the knocked-out guards and Trevor Slattery, then rode the Thalarias back to the Odyssey. Tony and Deadpool seemed very surprised when they saw the Odyssey.
"Wow... When did you make this?"
"Remember the missing luxury yacht from the hearing?"
"Ah... So that's it."
Then Pepper ran over and hugged Tony.
"Tony, do you know how worried I was?"
Tony patted Pepper's back to reassure her. We immediately moved to Washington D.C. While we were resting in the living room, Tony said,
"I've tried several times, but I can't reach Rhodey. Something might have already happened."
Hearing that, Natasha said,
"This is insane. Are these guys really going all out? Does anyone know the President's contact or where he is now?"
Then Captain answered,
"SHIELD probably already contacted him. But just in case, let's go check it out."
During the move, Tony examined Vulture's equipment. He was discussing various opinions with Tinkerer. True to being an engineer, Tony was very interested in this stuff.
As we were almost there, Captain said,
"As you all know, such a large ship can't enter Washington D.C., so let's move with the Thalarias. Vulture, it's better to stand by nearby. I'll request support if things get dangerous."
"Got it, Cap."
Captain and Vulture had become somewhat close from working together. For me, it was a good thing. If a villain turns into a hero and gains recognition because of me, there's nothing more satisfying.
We moved to Washington D.C. in the Thalarias. Of course, we didn't fly. On the way, we saw smoke coming from the White House direction.
"No way! Are we too late?"
We hurried into the White House, but several people were injured and lying down, with paramedics moving them and armed soldiers guarding the White House. Captain quickly went to the soldiers, heard the situation, and came back to explain to us.
"They said Rhodey betrayed them and kidnapped the President."
Hearing that, Tony angrily said,
"That can't be. Rhodey must have been kidnapped too."
I calmed Tony down and said,
"Tony, don't worry. Everyone here knows that. Probably someone in the War Machine suit did this."
"Sigh... That must be it... Now that I think about it, I heard Rhodey had the War Machine modified by AIM. These bastards!"
"That means they've been preparing for a long time."
It had changed significantly from the original story. With their hideout hit, they seemed to have gotten impatient and kidnapped the President directly from the White House instead of the presidential plane.
"Let's ask Dr. Hansen if there's another location."
We moved back to the Odyssey and asked Dr. Hansen. She racked her memory and told us they were experimenting on soldiers at some harbor. But she didn't seem to know the exact harbor location.
As everyone was pondering, I stepped forward to track it.
"Leave that to me. I'll track AIM's assets to find the harbor."
Hearing that, Captain said to the members,
"Then let's look at TV or the internet. Since AIM kidnapped the President, they might try to take action through the media, like last time."
I immediately had Minerva track AIM's assets. Then one harbor they owned came up, and I informed the members. Hearing the harbor location, Captain said,
"Good, let's move to the harbor immediately. And everyone, finish battle prep within 10 minutes."
Tony, apparently very angry about this, grimaced and contacted JARVIS.
"JARVIS, execute the 'House Party Protocol.'"
Hearing that, Deadpool excitedly tapped my shoulder and said,
"Oh my god! Cassian! Did you hear? Tony's gonna do it. I'm gonna lose it."
"Yeah, yeah."
The Odyssey moved to the harbor owned by AIM, and we each started preparing for battle. Deadpool, for some reason excited, kept chattering next to Tony. Captain saw that and asked me,
"That friend, he seems to have some mental issues, doesn't he?"
"He does. Cancer cells spread all over his body, so to survive, he participated in a strange experiment. He gained regenerative abilities then, but the cancer cells and regeneration are fighting each other. His mind is no exception. In a way, he's a pitiful friend. It might be annoying, but please understand."
"I see..."
Tony was getting angry at Deadpool for chattering beside him. Captain looked at Deadpool with a very pitying expression. Seeing Captain looking at Deadpool with sympathetic eyes, I wanted to say something, but it seemed fine, so I left it.
Thus, we arrived at the harbor where Killian and his men were. The sun had set and it was dark, but the harbor was bright with various lights to prevent intruders. We observed the harbor from a distance with the Odyssey, and we could see the President in the War Machine suit, suspended by wires between high crane towers transporting containers.
Tony confirmed the President and asked me,
"We found the President, but where's Rhodey?"
"He must be inside the harbor building. Odyssey! Heat sensors."
[Understood, Master.]
When I requested heat sensors, the Odyssey showed the entire harbor in thermal imaging. We could see several people inside the harbor crane control tower, and one man tied up seemed to be Rhodey.
"This tied-up one might be Rhodey, don't you think?"
"I see."
Then Captain, who was watching from the side, explained the plan.
"Then, let's split into two teams. The first team causes a disturbance while rescuing the President, and the second team sneaks in to rescue Rhodey. First team: Vulture, Cassian, Deadpool, me. Second team: Natasha, Tony."
"Got it." "Alright, Captain." "Okay, Cap."
We prepared for the operation. Tony said goodbye to Pepper.
"I'll be back."
"Be careful."
Once ready, we approached the harbor stealthily from all sides. Seeing far more of Killian's men than in the original story, it seemed they had staked everything on this, gathering all Extremis soldiers who had been terrorizing nationwide.
"Let's begin."
At Captain's signal, Vulture emerged and fired several small missiles, taking out soldiers near the President with a preemptive attack.
Boom! Bang!
"Now's the time!"
I also went out and started dealing with soldiers by throwing cards infused with explosive energy, but these guys regenerated immediately even if their arms or legs blew up, so we had to aim for the body or head. Deadpool was struggling similarly; even with his adamantium swords, they regenerated quickly, making it very frustrating.
Moreover, the Extremis soldiers weren't just fighting bare-handed but were armed with guns, so it wasn't easy to get close to the President. Vulture and I, with our firepower, were slowly making a path.
"Boss! There are too many of them!"
"Killian must have bet everything on this."
Looking to the side, Captain seemed busy fighting Killian's right-hand man, 'Savin', trading blows.
"This won't do. Vulture! First, rescue the President and take him to a safe place. I'll cut the wire."
"Got it! Boss."
I used containers as stepping stones to jump and accurately threw a card to cut the wire binding the President. Then Vulture extended eagle-claw-like equipment from his feet, quickly grabbed the President, and started leaving the harbor.
"Boss! I'll be back fast. Cover the rear!"
"Alright."
I said alright, but after Vulture left, many Extremis soldiers swarmed towards us, starting to encircle us.
"Cassian, this is dangerous!"
Hearing Captain's urgent voice, I pondered whether to use other abilities here or not.
Then Tony's voice came through.
"Been waiting? Get ready for this!"
As Tony finished speaking, numerous Iron Man armors began flying in from the sky.
"Merry Christmas, friends!"