The next day, a Quinjet quietly arrived in the airspace above the Middle East.
Inside the cabin, a middle-aged man pointed at the desert outside the window, his voice low and serious. "The area below is the last confirmed location of Tony Stark before he went missing. The complex political climate restricts us from launching a large-scale search operation. We can only investigate in secret, so this mission must be kept strictly low-profile."
Dean nodded. "Relax, Village Chief. I'm famous for keeping a low profile."
"Let me reiterate—I am Coulson, not a 'Village Chief.'"
"Drop the act. You're the Starter Village Chief. I can literally see the title floating right above your head."
"..."
Coulson subconsciously glanced up at the empty space above his head, his face the picture of absolute resignation.
He had read Dean's file and was intimately familiar with the guy's operational style and track record.
Dean, an outstanding graduate of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. Ever since he joined the agency two months ago, he had demonstrated incredibly overpowered individual combat skills and execution capabilities.
No matter how insanely difficult the mission was, he always managed to solo it. Furthermore, he never devised an extraction plan, and he never asked for backup.
In just two short months, he had completed forty-eight missions with a staggering one hundred percent success rate!
Such terrifying efficiency left even Coulson—widely regarded as S.H.I.E.L.D's ultimate workaholic—eating his dust. Because of this, Dean received an exceptional promotion to Level 5 Agent, setting the record for the fastest rank-up in S.H.I.E.L.D. history.
However, Dean possessed a borderline psychotic obsession with completing his objectives, going as far as to use absolutely any means necessary.
During one classified infiltration mission, he completely slaughtered nearly a hundred soldiers stationed at the target facility. Not a single soul survived—he didn't even spare the two guard dogs at the front gate!
The moment the incident occurred, Nick Fury instantly locked down the intel.
Nearly a hundred dead soldiers! The scale of the casualties was practically on par with a small-scale military conflict!
They were S.H.I.E.L.D, not fucking HYDRA!
When facing Fury's furious interrogation afterward, Dean's response was completely unapologetic.
There were no witnesses left alive, and no alarms were ever triggered. Wasn't that the definition of a perfectly executed stealth infiltration?
Yeah, perfectly logical!
A psychological evaluation report from S.H.I.E.L.D. shrinks indicated that Dean was suffering from severe delusions.
To him, the entire world was just one massive virtual reality game.
Every single person was an NPC.
And he was the sole Gamer!
Normally, an extremely dangerous and uncontrollable wildcard like him should have been immediately slapped onto S.H.I.E.L.D.'s highest-alert blacklist and placed under maximum security lock-and-key.
But Nick Fury didn't do that.
After all, what kind of boss would fire an employee who was single-handedly carrying the entire company's KPIs?
Regarding Dean's operational methods, Nick Fury ultimately chose to turn a blind eye.
Granted, he only had the one eye to turn anyway.
With his boss setting the precedent, Coulson—as the loyal company man—naturally kept his mouth shut.
"If you have no issues with the op-plan, I'll notify the pilot to find a safe drop zone."
Coulson said, preparing to contact the cockpit.
"No need to make things complicated."
Dean waved him off.
Before Coulson could even react, he casually smashed the button to open the ramp.
Coulson paled in horror. "Wait! We're thousands of feet in the air! You don't have a parachute—"
"Woohoo, let's fly!"
Before Coulson could finish his sentence, Dean let out a battle cry, spread his arms wide, and threw himself out of the open ramp.
Leaving a thoroughly dumbfounded Coulson standing alone in the cabin.
——————————
Yellow sand whipped violently through the air.
Dean plummeting rapidly from thousands of feet up. The turbulent air currents violently tore at his clothes, leaving only the deafening shriek of the wind in his ears.
The ground zoomed closer in his vision, the jagged rocks and rolling dunes becoming crystal clear.
Not a single trace of panic crossed Dean's face. He suddenly twisted his body mid-air, flipping onto his back. He spread his arms wide before instantly crossing them tightly over his chest.
Right at the exact split second he was about to splatter against the earth—
Whump!
A massive, impossibly fluffy pile of hay materialized out of thin air directly beneath him. Dean smashed into the haystack with pinpoint accuracy, kicking up a massive cloud of dry straw.
A second later, he effortlessly vaulted out of the hay, completely unharmed without a scratch on him.
——————————
[Ability: Leap of Faith]
[Effect: When plummeting from extreme heights, a haystack will inherently spawn below to catch you. Grants complete immunity to all fall damage.]
[Description: Nothing is true, everything is permitted.]
——————————
This was an ability Dean had unlocked after completing a certain quest. Putting its obvious utility aside, the main point was that it looked incredibly badass.
To the point where nowadays, anytime he stood somewhere with a little bit of elevation, he felt an overwhelming urge to jump off.
"Where the hell did I drop?"
Dean looked around. As far as the eye could see, it was nothing but a monotonous sea of sand dunes. The harsh environment made it practically impossible to get his bearings, let alone find a specific person.
However, that wasn't an issue for him.
"System, track the quest objective."
——————————
[Quest Objective "Tony Stark" has been marked on your map.]
——————————
As the system chimed in, a glaring gold waypoint instantly popped up on his mini-map.
"Not bad, pretty close," Dean muttered, breaking into a sprint toward the glowing marker.
Several dozen minutes later.
Following the quest marker, Dean arrived at the edge of a valley surrounded by colossal, rocky mountains.
He crouched low and peered down into the basin. A crude, small-scale encampment was hidden right at the bottom of the valley.
The perimeter was heavily fortified with sandbag bunkers and coils of barbed wire. Inside, crates stamped with the Stark Industries logo were stacked high alongside scattered fragments of dismantled missile components.
Down in the camp, a squad of heavily armed insurgents was actively patrolling the grounds. There had to be at least forty of them.
And the glowing gold quest marker was pinging from deep inside a pitch-black cave at the very back of the compound.
Scanning the layout, Dean noticed that the sole entrance to the cave was heavily guarded. A stealth infiltration was going to be an insanely high-difficulty task.
Normally, he would have just gone in guns blazing for the thrill of the fight.
But this quest was actually important.
It was probably best not to alert the mob aggro until he had visually confirmed the objective.
"Looks like the front door is a no-go. Time to find an alternate route."
——————————
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
The sharp sound of hammer striking steel echoed throughout the cavern.
Under the dim, flickering lights, a lone figure was frantically forging metal.
Make no mistake, this wasn't some random blacksmith grinding his crafting skill—this was the man of iron himself, Tony Stark!
Ever since he was kidnapped by terrorists three months ago, he had been locked away in this isolated cave. He had endured endless threats and torment, all because his captors wanted to force him to build a brand new Jericho missile.
But who was Tony Stark?
A rebel since day one. You tell him to go east, he's guaranteed to go west!
So, under the guise of building their missile, he secured a massive supply of materials and tools. Then, with the help of his fellow captive, the physicist Dr. Ho Yinsen, he began secretly designing and forging a suit of iron armor tough enough to let them blast their way out.
Tony used a pair of heavy tongs to clamp down an iron faceplate on his workbench. Yinsen, who was buried in his own tasks, looked up at the sound.
"The core components are practically finished. All that's left is the final assembly and booting up the power systems."
Tony's voice was low and raspy, tinged with an exhaustion he tried hard to hide.
"Yinsen, we're running out of time. These guys are getting suspicious. We have to move fast!"
"Leave the rest to me," Yinsen replied, giving a serious nod.
"Alright. When the time comes, you stay hidden right here. Once I clear out the trash outside and confirm it's safe, then you follow me."
Tony's eyes were filled with absolute resolve.
The hell he had endured over these past few months had forged the billionaire playboy into someone entirely different—someone hardened and grounded.
He swore a silent oath to himself.
If he managed to make it back alive, he, Tony Stark, would swear off hitting the craps tables forever!
Next, with Yinsen's help, Tony began strapping the heavy armor plates onto his body, piece by piece.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud...
Right as the two of them were working frantically, a muffled, bizarre digging noise suddenly echoed from beneath the rocky floor right at their feet.
"What is that sound?"
Tony and Yinsen instantly froze, exchanging a bewildered look.
However, before they could even process what was happening, something completely absurd occurred!
Less than six feet from where they stood, the solid bedrock floor practically vanished into thin air, as if deleted by an invisible eraser!
In its place was a perfectly uniform, square hole, roughly three feet across!
Suddenly, a head popped straight out of the hole like a groundhog.
Unblinking eyes stared directly at Tony.
"Found you!"
...
Drop some powerstones~