Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1657 Kamar-Taj Country Residence

The drone moved silently through the narrow corridor, hovering in the air. Beneath its black fuselage, a sophisticated miniature lens and sound wave collector, guided by a program, precisely pointed towards the distant target being monitored. The drone's transmitted images and audio were sent to the vehicle's receiving system and several data boards thousands of miles away. These miniature drones, manufactured by the Immortal City, are renowned for their stealth and long endurance. Thermal imaging detects minimal heat sources, and infrared detection shows no bright spots. Everything blends perfectly with the dark environment and the forest. Even the defense system Tony Stark built for his country residence couldn't detect the drones released by the Guardians, nor could it alert the owner of the residence that he was being monitored.

The intelligence agents couldn't help but look away and steal glances at the golden-armored demigod at the farthest point.

The modified DAF heavy truck moved remarkably smoothly, carrying not only a ten-man action team's motorcycles and other weaponry, but also a golden anti-gravity hoverbike. The genetic code lock on this assault motorcycle, exclusively for the Guardians, could only be unlocked by Guardian Derrick. A few hours earlier, Derrick had been assigned to lead this lightly armored action team on this mission. Except for the heavy truck, which was relocated from a former S.H.I.E.L.D. base, all equipment and personnel were secretly transported to the US East Coast by supersonic transport aircraft.

This operation had to be completed as quickly as possible, before the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI could react, and before Tony Stark could board a helicopter to Houston. This was the most covert plan the Guardians had devised. Commander Constantine of the Guardians was eager to speak with Tony Stark, and it would be even better if he could obtain information about the Lovers spaceship. The Guardian's Derrick's initial objective with that action team was to get Tony Stark to sit down and share information.

No one believed that Tony Stark wouldn't have set up a defense system at this hideout, so the primary objective of this task force was the armor Tony Stark was hiding in the wooden warehouse. The plasma weapons they carried were intended to destroy any Stark equipment that might interfere with the mission, including the Aegis Sentry Gun.

There was a sharp bend in the highway, and at the inner corner was a grove of trees. Beyond the grove lay the residence of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. While Derrick had set off first, Pepper Potts had already flown back to New York. Therefore, in the typical American country house shrouded in the deep darkness, only Tony Stark was present, making it an ideal location to launch an attack.

The drone traversed the corridor and hovered a hundred meters from the window of Tony Stark's room, continuously providing information support to the action team. As the heavy truck rounded the bend, the cargo door slowly lowered under the action of the hydraulic mechanism. Derrick immediately got up, mounted the Morninghawk anti-gravity motorcycle, and sped off down the open cargo ramp. The ten-man action team of the First Classified Group followed closely behind, and the deafening engine noise instantly filled the quiet country road.

In the drone surveillance footage, Tony Stark looks up from his computer and listens intently.

He tensed up as the sudden engine noise hurtled towards him. Even with his poor military skills, he could tell the sound likely represented danger. He wanted to assess the situation further, but the rapidly approaching noise gave him no chance. The outermost alarms triggered in quick succession, and a blurry image from the outermost surveillance system immediately popped up on his computer screen. Although only a few frames were clear, it was enough for the AI ​​Friday to identify the intruder. After all, there was only one type of genetically modified warrior in the world (from the outside perspective), wearing power armor and as powerful as the Hulk. And coincidentally, the owner of these genetically modified warriors (Tony Stark vehemently disliked the term) had a motive against him, whether from a personal or national standpoint; that person had a reason to kill him.

He just didn't expect it to be today.

"Friday!"

"Target identified. Enemy type: Genetically modified warrior." A soft female voice came from the computer speakers. "Sir, would you like to activate your armor?"

"Activate. Get ready immediately. No need to activate the Hulkbuster armor; we're escaping, not fighting." Tony Stark immediately stood up from his chair. He hadn't forgotten the outcome of his battle against genetically modified soldiers in golden armor outside the UN headquarters in New York, where he was clad in the Hulkbuster armor. If it weren't for his good luck, a single bomb would have pierced his head. He had tried to improve metallurgy, but judging from the simplified structural model of the bomb warhead shown in the documents released by the Yugoslav Federation, he didn't believe the instantaneous high temperature generated by the miniature nuclear fusion warhead wouldn't destroy titanium alloy, nor did he think he could survive a bomb attack. "Can you estimate how much time I have?"

"Thirty seconds, sir," Friday said unhurriedly, but Tony Stark had already dashed out of the room and run towards the newly replaced wooden staircase. The AI ​​spoke in the headset in an unbiased tone, "Based on your recent aerobics results, thirty seconds is not enough for you to reach the warehouse."

"Activate the armor's self-defense system." Tony Stark leaped down the overly polished wooden stairs, his sneakers clicking crisply on the old wooden floor. He caught his breath, flung open the flimsy wooden door, and stepped onto the grassy area leading to the warehouse. "Activate the sentry turret."

"First...shengshengsheng——"

The sudden electrical noise caused Tony Stark to slip on the wet grass and almost fall.

He had to grab the earphones and throw them away, later even noticing the skin on his ears scratched by his fingernails. However, with his adrenaline surging, he felt nothing. Tony Stark knew what had happened without even taking out his phone. His glasses were constantly displaying red triangles surrounded by black exclamation marks, along with a bunch of error codes. This meant that the firewall of the residence had been breached, and even the AI ​​Friday had been forced offline due to a virus attack. A genetically modified soldier, coupled with the ability to breach his firewall—the two characteristics pointed far too clearly. While cursing the person in his mind—whose name and face he couldn't recall but whose every interaction he remembered—Tony Stark pondered why he had been attacked.

When he was less than ten meters from the warehouse door, he gave up thinking. Thinking wouldn't help him escape the danger. He didn't know why the man had attacked him, nor why he had suddenly decided to set the lawn watering time to late at night, resulting in his leather shoes getting filled with grass clippings and muddy water.

"Friday!" he shouted.

Half a second later, a red and gold armor piece crashed through the warehouse window and rushed toward him.

The Warframe also contained an AI Friday. In fact, both the Friday in the residence and the Friday in the Warframe were subroutines of the main Friday in Stark Tower. When the Friday in the residence was breached, the Friday in the Warframe automatically disconnected and ran independently. At this moment, the AI ​​Friday in the Warframe was not affected by the virus and could continue to run, but the sentry gun turret that should have been activated remained silent.

At this moment, the blinding light of the motorcycle headlights was already flashing before his eyes, the hot exhaust fumes from the engine almost filled his nostrils, and mud and grass clippings kicked up by the motorcycle tires splattered all over him. But he had no time to complain, because the armor was right in front of him. He could even feel the signal transmitter implanted under the skin of his arm getting hot—the signal transmitter he had voluntarily implanted last time was outdated. The current signal transmitter had a much higher power and required a more sophisticated surgery, rather than simply driving it under the skin with a nail gun. The golden-armored demigod riding the anti-gravity motorcycle crashed past him, its three-meter-long battle axe slicing through the air and shattering the modular armor into pieces. The shredded metal flew towards Tony Stark, burning a small patch of skin on his outstretched arm. Just as he closed his eyes, several motorcycles surrounded him, along with several dark gun barrels and a plasma weapon emitting a glowing blue light.

Tony Stark watched as a soldier in bulletproof armor fired a shot at the warehouse door lock. Behind him, another soldier wielding a plasma weapon fired a shot into the dark warehouse. With the burst of plasma, Tony Stark saw the blazing plasma accurately hit other armor modules in the armor display case. Molten metal dripped onto the ground, and the bright miniature reactors flickered for a few seconds before going out completely.

He raised his hands.

"What does your master want from me?" Tony Stark looked at the armored guards who had dismounted from their motorcycles. "The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI will be quick to react, and it will be too late for you to do whatever you want."

“We know, Stark.” Derrick first shut off the power to the Spear of the Guard, the flickering deep blue electricity immediately extinguishing. It was hard to imagine someone being able to cut through a titanium alloy armor shell with a melee weapon, but it had happened before his eyes, and more than once, leaving Tony Stark no choice but to believe it. “My master wants to talk to you about the New Territory and Project Pegasus. You’ve seen the data on Project Pegasus, Tony Stark, but that’s not all. The Guardians advise you to stay away from the rescue mission on the Couple, and if you care about Colonel Rhodes, you should also dissuade him from participating in the rescue operation.”

(End of this chapter)