บท 9: Rescue
"I am humbled, Mr Waters. Going through eight PHDs I'm just a week is just...insane. Are you sure you are okay?" Jarvis asked, incredibly bamboozled by what had happened in that week.
Tristan just chuckled at Jarvis surprised voice, "I am feeling quite okay, Jarvis. It's just...a whole new world just opened to me. I feel like everything I know, see, hear, taste is just different. Say like at the moment, I just know how my brain neurons are firing up, how my nerves system is working, firing electrical impulses to my brain. I know the whole process...I can feel the whole process!"
"It seems you might have gotten an upgrade then," Jarvis said.
"It's more like I know how to use my powers effectively," Tristan said before looking at the screen Jarvis had projected.
"For now, let's start looking for Tony," Tristan said.
"Right. I have been going through Obadiah Stane's accounts. But something was off. His wealth does not amount to his spending. So, I looked around and found some offshore accounts that link to some... unsavory characters.
"Tracing the money brought me from Dubai to Pakistan. He has been sending Stark made weapons to criminal overlords, warlords and terrorist groups all over the world, wrangling himself two billion dollars," Jarvis informed him.
"Good job. Now we know who to look out for on our side. Now, did you find any cell that he is frequent business transaction with in Afhganistan?"
"Looking through the records, I think I got it. Two groups of them, one calling themselves the ten rings, recently got an order of Jericho missile launchers," Jarvis informed him. Tristan nodded at that information.
"Good, the ten rings. We need to know their area of activity. Show me the areas they mostly operate and we can start to triangulate their base of operation," Tristan said as he started floating in the air. He figured he might as well get the max level flying proficiency any way he could.
"Triangulating," Jarvis said as he started pulling up reports of the Ten Rings involvement in the political instability of Afghanistan. He kept checking till a minute later. By then, Tristan was doing loops in the limited space of the mansion. "Found it, putting it in the map." Tristan looked at it and smiled.
"One thing you can count on terrorists is being quite predictable if you know what you are looking for," Tristan said with a small chuckle.
Slowly by slowly, they started eliminating targets by calculating the ten rings area of activity's perimeter. They continued doing this for ten more minutes before finally they had a ping.
"It looks like a viable option. Good coverage, got nice plains on all sides to see any attacks coming. With the cave in the mountain, it will be the perfect place to store munitions and bulk in. Also, a perfect place to keep a hostage and make him work for them. Yeah, I think we got it," Tristan said with a smile.
"So, what happens next?" Jarvis asked.
"Now, I fly over and get our favourite billionaire back to the country," Tristan answered. "But first, I have a phone call to make." He took his phone and walked out of the house before calling Mandy. It rang thrice before she picked up.
"Ian, where are you? Are you okay?" Mandy asked, worriedly.
"I'm okay. I might be home by tonight or early tomorrow," Tristan answered her, before nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "How's everyone back home?"
"It's a mess. Everyone misses you, Chloe is always crying trying to run off and find you. Sue is being Sue, which means Zoe is just one sentence away from punching her. Zoe is burying herself in books," Mandy told him.
"What about you, Mandy? How're you holding up?" he asked her. He knew Mandy could be very absorbed in making sure the others don't crash and burn. It was reflex she adopted from long ago, knowing she was the step sister in the family made her very conscious of her place in the house. Thus, she took on the role of the protector and nurse, which might lead her to a burn out.
"I'm doing alright, just frustrated," Mandy answered, sighing deeply. "I think someone's been following us. Zoe noticed a car that's been parked down the street for three days. Guys in suits always watching out house." Tristan frowned in worry when he heard that.
"I'll take care of it once I get home," he assured her before hanging up then crushing the phone to powder. Men in suits watching him meant a most probable suspect, FBI. Thinking back, he was wondering why Mendez has not been active lately, it might be because he is burnt. The FBI must be on his case and thus, Ian's.
"This is getting more and more ridiculous!" he groaned in frustrations before walking into the mansion.
"Okay, we're doing this right now. I have an emergency back at home that needs to be done, quick," Tristan told Jarvis. "You have a phone I could use?"
"You want to turn me into a glorified GPS?" Jarvis asked, clearly upset. "If that's not an epitome of frustration, I don't know what is." He told Tristan where to find one of Tony's phones and opened it for him.
"Thanks, Jarvis," he said as he took it and opened the maps. "Alright, one hour to reach there, five minutes of trashing them all and getting Tony to the nearest base for a medical check up. Seems easy, hope it stays like that."
He fired himself up before walking out of the mansion. Resolving himself, he let out a sigh followed by a crackle of lightning that started spreading all over his body till his entire body was covered by it. He rose up to the sky slowly as a storm started converging all over him.
Then, with a flash that disappeared into the distance. He was travelling at mach three, covered with lightning to not get any drag and cause some irreproachable damage to the surroundings. Once in the open seas, he picked up speed to mach five, appearing only as a streak in the sky, disappearing before anyone could even take a good look.
An hour later, he finally reached the mountain and couldn't help but smirk at this. Then, he flashed to the ground, landing with a resounding thud that shook the entire area. Lightning flashed off of him, hitting and oxidizing the ground around him, before getting up from his superhero landing. All around him, the terrorists had their guns aimed at him, trembling in fear at what just happened.
"Thought I missed the place for a second there," he said, wiping dirt off his hoodie.
One of them started shouting, "تاسې څوک یاست؟"
"I'm just someone very much interested in a prisoner you have here," Tristan answered.
An order was barked out before they all started firing at him. Tristan scoffed as everything in his perception started crawling to a stop. Looking around, it appeared time had stopped, but he was moving so fast everything just seemed to have stopped. He grinned before pulling his hands back then brought them together as a shockwave of destruction emanated from it, crashing towards the terrorists.
Getting out of his hyper time, the shockwave destroyed everything in its way from the tents erected to the vehicles that were sent flying away, bodies of some of the humans in the way of the shockwave mixed in too. He let out a savage grin before his figure blurred.
The remaining terrorists only saw was a blur that seemed to be crashing into their buddies, leaving only pink mists behind it. Fifty seven terrorists dead in seconds! Tristan shook off the blood from his fists before walking towards the cave entrance, not minding the trip wire at the entrance. The claymore exploded, barely shaking him as he walked out of the dust cloud, his clothes not even missing its seams. A bald man walked out of a hiding spot holding a grenade launcher in his hands.
"Who sent you here?" he asked Tristan who was not even bothered by the weapon in his hands. He kept walking towards the man who fired a round at him. Tristan dodged the round in a burst of speed, arriving in front of the man, the grenade launcher already snatched off his hands.
"You like spreading fear and helplessness, don't you? Let me help you with that," Tristan said as he got hold of him by the side of his face before gently smashing the other side to the uneven cave wall. Then, he started walking to the area Stark and Yinsen were being kept.
The bald man screamt bloody murder, trying to claw his way out of the clutches only for his fingernails to break and start bleeding. So, he tried punching him, his knuckles broke but he didn't give up, till half his head was gone, scrapped off by the uneven wall, leaving a trail of hair, blood, skin, skull fragments and brain matter. By then, they had already arrived at the iron sheet gate. He dropped the body before ripping the gates off the hinges and walked in to see Tony Stark aiming a large gauntlet with a flame thrower attached to it.
"Tony Stark?" he asked, making the man hesitate and look at him with a frown.
"Who are you? What happened out there?" Tony asked with caution. Both him and Yinsen heard a crash that shook the entire mountain. Then, they heard shooting which was drowned by a sound that seemed to come out of an explosion. More shootings followed only for everything to become silent seconds later. Another explosion came after followed by screams that seemed to just come out of a pig being slaughtered! The most concerning thing was that wherever that was, was actually coming to them! This prompted them to work fast, Yinsen helped Tony arm the complete gauntlet and using structural support due to its weight, aimed towards the gate. His breath hitched in nervousness when the gate was ripped off and a giant man walked in, his face obscured by a hoodie. Tristan didn't answer Tony but threw him the phone Jarvis had given him.
"You'll be safe for now. I made a bunch of noise so the military will be on its way. Or you can call your contacts for a rescue. Jarvis will inform you of my fee, I'll be taking it tomorrow. Good day!" Tony's eyes widened in shock when his figure just disappeared.
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