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Tony had no objections to the plan. Although Rhodey wanted to stay behind for the ambush and the ensuing fight, from a big-picture perspective, taking the Mandarin back first was indeed the better choice.
"Then prepare to head in, and remember to be extremely careful!"
Before they set off, Fini gave a final warning. Under normal circumstances, he couldn't tell the difference between someone who had been injected with Extremis and someone who hadn't, but it was unlikely the place would be completely devoid of Extremis soldiers.
The guards at the entrance were merely ordinary men. The trio made it inside the villa without much effort and headed straight for the Mandarin's location.
"What's going on?"
Hearing the commotion outside, the Mandarin inside the room looked curious, craning his neck to try and see out the door.
At that moment, the walkie-talkie sitting not far from him crackled with a guard's panicked report: "Intrusion! We have intruders! It's Iron Man and the Silver Knight!"
The bald man in the room turned serious. He glanced at the door, then turned to the Mandarin and ordered, "Hide!"
Soon, with a loud BOOM, the door was smashed open. Fini and the other two entered the room, setting eyes on the bald man whose face was already beginning to glow with a faint red light.
"If you don't mind, how about you leave him to me?"
Fini was the first to speak. He was currently desperate for experience, and he certainly didn't want to let a high-quality "EXP bag" like this go to waste.
"Fine, but I get the next one. And watch out—he might self-destruct!"
Tony looked at the bald man walking toward them with a savage grin. He took two steps back to observe, not forgetting to warn Fini to stay sharp.
The temperature at the epicenter of an Extremis explosion could reach up to 3,000°C. Although Tony had used super-heat-resistant materials for the outer layer of his new armor, the lethality of that temperature was still terrifying.
Meanwhile, the moment Rhodey entered the room, he headed straight for the Mandarin's position.
"I heard you're the strongest person in the world?"
The bald man's lips curled into a disdainful smile. He clenched his glowing red fists and asked, "Let me see just how strong you really are!"
"Don't worry, you're about to find out," Fini said calmly. It wasn't as if he hadn't faced enemies with incredible regenerative abilities before. When Blonsky was mutating, his self-healing probably wasn't much weaker than Extremis.
However, Extremis enhanced more than just recovery; it also granted the subject superhuman strength and speed.
With a powerful leap, the bald man lunged at Fini. His glowing palms looked as if magma were flowing beneath the skin as he reached for Fini's neck.
"Whew!"
Fini exhaled softly, activating his 'Breathing Technique'. His physical attributes were instantly and significantly bolstered.
Facing the attack, he unhurriedly took a half-step back, pivoted his body, and grabbed the extended arm, pulling the man into a clean shoulder throw.
CRASH!
The floor tiles shattered as the bald man slammed into the ground, leaving a deep crater. Fini didn't follow up immediately; instead, he watched the man stand up and beckoned with his finger in a provocative gesture.
The bald man's expression was now one of pure fury. Under the influence of Extremis, his injuries healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
If Fini wanted to end the fight instantly, it would actually be quite easy; he would only need to target vital spots like the heart or the head. However, what he wanted was experience. If he didn't use multiple skills and force this man to reveal his full power, he wouldn't be able to maximize the experience gain.
The bald man charged again with renewed vigor. Fini remained rooted to the spot, extended his palm, and whispered a single word:
"Explosion!"
A crimson 'Explosion Magic' blast flattened the bald man once more. However, perhaps because the Extremis virus provided a high resistance to heat, this time he suffered no real damage aside from his clothes being shredded.
Fini didn't mind. If one blast wasn't enough, he'd just use a few more. He could blow up a space cruiser; a mere Extremis soldier was nothing.
Supported by his 'Breathing Technique', Fini pelted the man with 'Explosion Magic'. The room was quickly reduced to a shambles. Eventually, the fight spilled out from the house into the courtyard.
As the battle raged, the Mandarin had already been seized by Rhodey and Tony and taken outside.
At this moment, the actor was watching the fight between Fini and the bald man with rapt attention. When things got intense, he couldn't help but cheer a few times, acting as if he weren't a captive at all.
"Is Fini too strong, or is this guy just too weak?" Rhodey couldn't help but ask Tony beside him.
"Probably a bit of both," Tony replied. He watched Fini toy with the bald man effortlessly, wondering how he would handle this guy if he were the one in the ring.
"Um... could I possibly go grab a bottle of beer?"
Just then, the Mandarin, held firmly by Rhodey, spoke up. He looked at Rhodey and Tony with a fawning expression. "That beer tastes really good, but there are only a few bottles left!"
"Is this guy really the one from the TV?" Rhodey stared at the man. Even though Fini had told them he was just an actor Killian put forward to draw attention, he never imagined the man's personality would be so different from his televised persona.
"It was acting! All acting! I'm an actor—Trevor, Trevor Slattery," the Mandarin—Trevor—quickly took the chance to explain. "They made me do it. I thought I was just playing a role, doing some poses, reading some lines. I don't know anything."
"When do they come to film you?" Tony aimed his repulsor at him for interrogation.
"I don't know. Every time we film, I'm just notified." Seeing the glowing repulsor, Trevor twisted his head in panic, looking for a place to hide, but Rhodey held his body firmly in place.
"Do you have a way to contact them?" Tony pressed.
"No!" Trevor shook his head, but then suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh! I remember now! They talked about some plan... the base seemed to be near the coast. There was a big ship, too."
"The Ro... Rox... something!"
"The Roxxon Norco!?" The well-informed Tony finished the sentence for him.
"Yes, yes! That's the one! The Roxxon Norco. I heard them mention it." Trevor nodded vigorously, even giving Tony a thumbs-up as if he were praising him.
"Seems like the plan needs to change!"
Tony's expression turned solemn. He said a few words to Rhodey before shouting to Fini, "Finish it up quickly! I think I found their base!"
In truth, even without Tony's shout, Fini was ready to end the fight.
The bald man's expression had become incredibly distorted, his entire body pulsing with a blinding red light as if he were about to blow at any second. Fini didn't want him to self-destruct; he remembered that when Whiplash self-destructed, he barely got any experience at all.
"I wonder just how much experience you're worth," Fini muttered to himself. He flew up into the air, preparing to finally finish off this man who had yet to be named and who was currently giving bald people a bad name.
(End of Chapter)