Chapter 4: Rescue
"System, locate Tony Stark," Leo commanded.
Successful. Target location identified.
Target environment is being displayed.
A virtual screen appeared in front of Leo, showing a picture of a cave where Tony Stark was being held.
Leo not only saw the cave but Tony Stark himself.
After being kidnapped for more than two months, Tony had almost become a wild man—his hair disheveled, his face covered in dirt and sweat.
However, Stark hadn't given up yet. He was pretending to be building a Jericho missile, but was actually building an armor, ready to escape.
It had been almost three months.
The gangsters of the Ten Rings were already out of patience. Led by a bald man, they rushed into the cave.
Leo looked at the scene in front of him and was a little surprised. "What a coincidence."
---
The bald man said angrily, "You let me down, Stark."
Yinsen replied nervously, "We are working hard."
"I spared your life. Is this how you repay me?" the bald man shouted.
Yinsen continued to argue, "The work is complicated. He has tried his best. It still takes time."
But the bald man didn't believe it. Someone directly held Yinsen down forcefully.
The bald man himself came to the stove and picked up a piece of hot coal with metal tongs.
"Do you think I am stupid? I want the truth!" he demanded.
Yinsen's life was hanging by a thread, but Yinsen was powerless to resist.
From the moment he was caught, he knew his death was his fate.
Yinsen was ready to see his dead family members soon.
"What do you need? A deadline? I'll get it done as soon as possible," Stark spoke up, trying to intervene.
Just as Stark made some movement, he was controlled by others. The muzzle of a gun was pointed at his head.
The bald man looked at Stark. Stark could only continue, "I need him."
"He is a good assistant. Without him, I can't complete the missile."
The bald man put down the coal and warned, "You better not play tricks. Tomorrow, I want to see the Jericho missile working."
After speaking, the bald man led his people away.
Stark was relieved to see them gone.
At the same time, Stark knew tomorrow was the deadline.
Before that, he had to complete the iron armor here. Otherwise, he would die in this cave.
Thinking of this, Stark motivated himself and worked harder than ever.
Boom..., boom! The sound of metal strikes came from the cave as Stark hammered away at his armor.
"System, turn off the video broadcast," Leo said.
Broadcast ended.
"It's time for me to rest. I'll go tomorrow morning," Leo decided.
---
Early the next morning, Leo finished his breakfast and was fully prepared.
Taking a deep breath, he visualized the cave and raised his hand. Golden sparks formed a circle, creating a portal leading to the cave in Afghanistan.
At that moment, Tony was wearing the iron armor, and Yinsen was helping him make final adjustments.
Both were extremely nervous. The next step was to activate it.
Suddenly, time slowed down and stopped in the cave and the surrounding area.
A golden sparkling portal opened, and Leo stepped through. The portal closed behind him.
With a few quick gestures, Leo formed energy weapons and destroyed the surveillance cameras in the cave. Then time began to flow normally here again.
Stark suddenly saw an extra person in the cave and was very surprised.
"Watch out, Yinsen!" Stark warned.
Yinsen noticed and was also surprised to see an unknown person in the cave.
"Relax. I am not here to kill you but to save you," Leo said calmly.
"You should activate this armor. I can't handle all of them by myself," Leo added.
After hearing this, both were relieved.
Leo silently commanded, "System, show me his character panel."
---
Name: Tony Stark
Age: 37
Strength: 80 kg
Speed: 4 m/s
Abilities: Super-Genius Intelligence (IQ of 265-275), Multitasking (Can do two or three tasks at the same time), Instantaneous Adaptation (Can quickly adapt to new situations and technologies), Rapid Invention (Can build complex machines even in harsh conditions), Master of Tech Fields (Master of mechanical engineering, physics, and AI programming), Strategic Mind (Can anticipate enemy moves, make foolproof strategies and plans), Master of Psychology (Can read people quickly, exploit their emotions, and win arguments)
Skills: Driving (High), Swimming (Mid), Hand-to-Hand Combat (High), Marksmanship (High), Hacking (Mastered), Multilingual: Can speak English, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, French, Korean, and Japanese (High)
---
"Copy all abilities and skills," Leo commanded mentally.
Copying...
Successfully Copied.
Integration in Process...
Integrating Abilities...
Super-Genius Intelligence Integrated.
Leo's mind expanded dramatically. Complex equations, engineering principles, programming languages—all of it flooded into his consciousness. His IQ skyrocketed, his thinking speed accelerated, and suddenly he could see solutions to problems he'd never considered before.
Multitasking Integrated.
His brain now operated on multiple tracks simultaneously. He could think about several complex problems at once without losing focus on any of them.
Instantaneous Adaptation Integrated.
Rapid Invention Integrated.
Master of Tech Fields Integrated.
Knowledge of mechanical engineering, physics, quantum mechanics, AI programming, and countless other technical fields settled into his mind like he'd studied them for decades.
Strategic Mind Integrated.
His ability to plan, predict, and strategize sharpened to an incredible degree.
Master of Psychology Integrated.
He could now read micro-expressions, understand human behavior patterns, and anticipate emotional responses with remarkable accuracy.
Integrating Skills...
Driving (High) Upgraded to (High+) - little improvement.
Swimming (Mid) Integrated.
Hand-to-Hand Combat (High) Upgraded to (High+) - Little Improvement.
Marksmanship (High) Integrated.
Hacking (Mastered) Integrated.
Multilingual (High) Integrated.
Leo suddenly understood seven languages fluently—English, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, French, Korean, and Japanese.
All Integration Complete.
Leo blinked, feeling his mind work in entirely new ways. He was still himself, but now he thought like Tony Stark—brilliant, strategic, and incredibly confident in his intellectual abilities.
---
Tony began to test him. "Who are you?"
"Who sent you here?"
"You just appeared here suddenly. How did you do it?"
"My name is Leo. I have a special ability. I can teleport," Leo replied simply.
Leo wasn't worried about Tony leaking his secret because he knew Stark was a smart person who wouldn't do something so foolish.
"Leo? What a good name," Tony said, his mind already racing.
Stark suddenly thought of a possibility. "Are you a mutant?"
There wasn't much public news about mutants—mostly rumors.
But Stark was a super genius. From a scientific point of view, mutants could definitely exist.
"Mutant? Maybe," Leo said with a slight smile, neither confirming nor denying.
Stark thought of an idea. "You said you can teleport. Can you take us away from here right now?"
"My ability is still too weak. I can't teleport with two people at once and accuracy is not guaranteed," Leo lied smoothly.
Outside, the terrorists found that the monitoring cameras had been destroyed. They acted immediately.
Two terrorists opened the viewing window and looked inside the cave.
The moment they saw Leo, two fiery energy blades passed through their heads.
The two terrorists were instantly killed.
"Prepare yourselves. I'll block them for you," Leo said calmly.
Leo quickly rushed out of the cave.
Stark was shocked by Leo's methods.
Now wasn't the time to think about this. The armor was being activated. It would take a few more minutes.
---
Soon, Leo reached a group of terrorists in the dark cave entrance.
His hands formed knives made of golden magical energy.
An energy shield covered his entire body.
He began to harvest lives in the dark cave entrance.
To these terrorists, Leo showed no mercy.
Inside, Yinsen asked anxiously, "In this intense gunfire, is he alright?"
However, soon the gunfire began to lessen, then almost disappeared completely.
It wasn't possible to dodge gunfire in such a confined cave.
In other words, he had other ways to stop the bullets.
Outside the entrance of the cave, many terrorists pointed their guns at Leo.
"Damn, this gunfire is too fierce. If it wasn't for my abilities and my physique, I couldn't defend completely against such heavy gunfire," Leo thought.
Leo slowed down, ready to wait for Tony.
But then he saw many people with bazookas carried on their shoulders.
"My physical fitness can't withstand the direct power of rockets," Leo realized.
As they raised the rocket launchers and fired—
Leo immediately slowed time in the range of group of terrorists, almost stopping them completely. The rockets stopped in mid-air.
Leo quickly moved into the group and resumed time as the rockets exploded behind him. But he was already among the terrorists, killing them one by one with precision strikes.
The terrorists were all terrified, but Leo showed no mercy and killed them all.
---
Tony's armor was finally activated, and he came to the entrance.
The scene before him made him feel strange.
"Where are all the people?" Stark wondered aloud.
Stark remembered there must have been a hundred people out here. Now there wasn't a single person alive. All dead men lying on the ground.
"Did that person kill them all by himself?" Stark thought in amazement.
"What is the use of this armor if he already cleared everyone out?"
Stark started to search again, thinking maybe he'd find someone still alive.
---
Leo continued moving forward. There were only a few people left around the bald leader.
The bald man threw a grenade at Leo.
Leo dodged it easily, and the grenade landed on explosive materials nearby.
Leo grabbed the bald man and threw him into the flames of the explosion.
The explosion triggered a chain reaction throughout the weapons storage area.
"It's time to leave," Leo decided.
Leo quickly ran toward Tony as Tony also noticed the explosions in the distance.
"You fly away quickly! I'll take Yinsen out," Leo shouted.
Stark saw Leo had already entered the cave. Stark was ready to take off.
"At least my armor will be used to save my life and take me away from this place," Stark thought.
Thinking of the past few months, he felt angry.
"These are weapons made by me, but they're also being used against me and innocent people."
Perhaps it wasn't only the weapons that were the problem, but the company itself. The weapons department should be completely closed.
Thinking of this, Stark activated his flamethrower.
His metal hands threw out high flames, and the flames swallowed the pile of Stark Industries weapons.
---
Leo came inside the cave and found Yinsen.
"Hey, Yinsen, come with me."
"Where is Tony?" Yinsen asked worriedly.
"He left outside. He's fine."
Yinsen came out of the cave, led by Leo.
Tony hadn't left yet.
"Hey, Tony, where are you going?" Leo called out.
"You fly out first. I'll estimate your landing position and meet you there."
"Okay. You better come fast," Stark replied.
Stark started the armor thrusters.
The armor lifted from the ground, rising into the air.
Leo and Yinsen watched Tony's trajectory carefully.
Leo already calculated Tony's landing position. He stopped time in an area of a few kilometers, opened a portal, and carried Yinsen to the other side where Tony was about to land. Then he lifted the time stop.
Yinsen was shocked to see they were suddenly in a completely different location.
But he understood—it must be this person's ability to teleport.
---
While in the sky, Tony's armor began to fail.
"Damn it! This armor is too rough for sustained flight!" Tony cursed.
Tony eventually fell toward the ground, but the impact was almost completely absorbed by the armor's design and desert's sandy ground.
The armor broke into pieces. Tony crawled out, laughing. "Hahaha.... I really survived!"
He looked at Leo and Yinsen. "Thank you, Leo."
"You're welcome," Leo replied.
Leo had already completed his task. He didn't want to stay here anymore.
"Wait here. Your good friend is coming to save you soon," Leo said, referring to Rhodey.
"Don't disclose my existence to anyone," Leo added seriously.
"Okay. I understand," Tony agreed.
"Remember to find me later. We should talk," Leo said.
"I will," Tony promised.
Leo once again slowed time around himself, opened a portal, and stepped through—returning directly to his home. The portal closed behind him.
---
Back in his living room, Leo sat down on the sofa.
Leo smiled.
"Now I have Tony Stark's genius intellect. Combined with my other abilities, I'm becoming truly formidable," he thought.
His mind was already racing with new ideas—designs for technology, strategies for the future, ways to improve his abilities.
"But for now, I should rest. Tonight is my date with Mary Jane," Leo reminded himself.
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