Marvel: I am Iron Man

Tony: "Jarvis, rescan for heat sources and locate vital signs."

The Mark VI armored vehicle moved slowly through the dilapidated metal tunnels. The entire base's passageway was covered with charred burn marks and broken traces, and the exposed wires all around resembled severed tendons, occasionally punctuated by a few blue sparks.

Jarvis: "Scan complete. Area cleared. Enemy eliminated."

Those gamma monsters that were lively and energetic just a minute ago are now corpses.

Tony was just walking past the forelimbs of a mutated monster that resembled a rhinoceros. The behemoth's head had almost disappeared, replaced by a molten hole that went straight to its chest. That was the work of his Arc Pulse Cannon.

The path was littered with broken limbs and remains. Several twisted bodies were piled together, almost indistinguishable from one another. One of their spines arched like an overstretched spring, piercing through the thick, grayish-green skin on its back.

The other body had its chest cavity completely ruptured, with its ribs protruding outwards like deformed flower petals.

The ground was soaked with various bodily fluids, bits of flesh, and remnants of tissue, mixing into a dark mud. The heavy alloy combat boots of the Mark VI creaked painfully underfoot.

All threats were eliminated. With no obstacles in his way, Iron Man arrived directly at the deepest part of the base, at the location of the culprit that caused the disaster—the gamma reactor.

Tony had, of course, prepared a countermeasure before he arrived. He had stolen Dr. Banner's formula and replicated Banner's "resonance canceller".

He installed the device on the reactor and waited about ten seconds. Jarvis scanned again to confirm the reactor's status and then quickly provided feedback.

"The counteractor is working properly, and the gamma radiation is receding," Jarvis said. "Within thirty minutes, the radiation levels within the gamma shield will drop to safe levels."

Tony was satisfied: "Great, then our primary objective has been achieved."

While the neutralizer only temporarily eliminated the radiation and did not completely shut down the runaway reactor, the radiation threat was temporarily removed. Dr. Banner and the engineers from SHIELD could then enter the area without threat. They could then proceed to dismantle the reactor and resolve the problem completely.

Tony doesn't need to worry about the rest.

Tony said, "Then download the data from this base. I want all their research materials, as well as all the secrets related to the AIM organization."

"Yes, sir."

Tony connected the armor to the base's servers, and Jarvis began working. The contents of the downloaded data flashed rapidly on the armor's built-in HUD, along with a progress bar that was climbing at an astounding pace.

A few seconds later, Jarvis said, "Sir, an unidentified signal has been detected."

Tony raised an eyebrow: "Unidentified signal?"

Jarvis said, "Yes. It looks like some covert surveillance systems in this base are still operational, and signals are being sent out. Maybe someone is still remotely monitoring the situation here."

Do you need me to block the signal source and cut off data transmission?

"No, no need," Tony said. "Just give me the signal tracking and location."

He said this with a slight smile.

"Take it easy, Jia. The surveillance footage from this base must be being sent to other AIM executives. Maybe we can catch a big fish."

...

...

Caleb Warlock, the principal investigator of the AIM Gamma project, feels he is going crazy.

This is the normal reaction of anyone who directly witnessed what just happened at the Gamma Base—a suit of armor, a humanoid exoskeleton, single-handedly slaughtering the entire base of Gamma mutant warriors as if cutting melons and vegetables.

Yes, a massacre. This is a wording that is not an exaggeration whatsoever.

What happened at the Gamma Base was a disaster for Caleb, the head of the AIM Gamma Project. He knew perfectly well that even within an organization as ruthless as AIM, he would eventually have to pay the price for the mess he had made.

So he was quite anxious when it first happened.

He covered up the reactor malfunction by not reporting it to the organization immediately, but instead secretly dispatched a team of engineers wearing radiation protection suits to infiltrate the base in an attempt to repair the reactor.

Unfortunately, the engineer squad encountered mutated gamma warriors within the base. Apart from one member who also mutated and joined the enemy ranks, the rest of the squad were torn to pieces.

For a moment, Caleb genuinely thought it was all over. He truly believed the mess he'd made was beyond repair—heavy bombardment would only hasten the reactor's detonation, but sending infiltrating the base to attempt repairs would only result in encounters with those invincible gamma monsters.

As a fanatic who had devoted most of his life to gamma research, Caleb firmly believed that gamma evolution could make organisms so powerful that they were omnipotent. This was why he thought no single soldier could break through the gamma monsters' defenses in that base.

But today, his faith in research has crumbled.

What did he see?

He firmly believed that those invincible gamma-mutated creatures were as vulnerable as Abe in front of a troll when faced with a set of man-made armor and technological power.

What on earth is that red and gold thing? Is this some kind of technological creation?

Has our Earth's technology become this advanced?

Suddenly, he felt that the word "Pioneer" in their name, AIM, seemed like a joke.

Until just now, he was still praying that some great being would suddenly appear to clean up the mess he had created but was powerless to handle.

But now that this great god has actually stepped forward and cleaned up his mess with power that he couldn't even comprehend, Caleb found himself neither happy nor relieved.

Rather, I felt... my feelings were complicated.

Okay, at least on the bright side, the mess he made has been cleaned up. The Earth won't be destroyed for now, and he might not be held accountable by the organization's higher-ups...

However, just as Caleb was trying to be optimistic, one of his men brought him a message of despair.

"Our signal is being tracked!" a subordinate hurriedly reported to him.

Caleb was taken aback.

The signal is being tracked? Who is it?

The surveillance at the Gamma base was extremely well-concealed, yet some people possessed technology advanced enough to reverse-track their AIM...

The thought had just crossed his mind when Caleb suddenly shuddered as if he had been electrocuted, as if he had realized something.

The technology is so advanced that it can track AIM...

That armor!

There's no mistake, it must be. That crimson-gold armor, like a god of death, instantly wiped out all the gamma creatures in the gamma base, and therefore must have captured the surveillance signal...

"Cut off the signal! Cut it off!" Caleb shouted urgently.

"We've already done it, but... but it might be too late," the subordinate said. "It seems we've been targeted..."

Just then, another communications officer reported: "The outpost has just lost contact. Something seems to have instantly destroyed the outpost, possibly coming from the direction of the Gamma Base!"

Someone nearby exclaimed in surprise, "What is that? Why isn't the radar reacting?"

"I don't know. Maybe the enemy's radar cross-section is too small, or perhaps it's a drone, or stealth equipment..."

Caleb, the base's top official, felt his heart race and a chill run down his spine.

It's like knowing that you've been targeted by Death.

No doubt about it, it's the same thing that was just in the Gamma base.

The red and gold armor that he saw through the surveillance cameras, like that of a war god.

The gamma monsters at that base were as weak as paper in front of this armor, so of course they couldn't possibly defeat it either.

Judging from the other side's performance, their armor was so advanced it was like that of an alien, while Caleb felt that his side was like primitive people wielding pitchforks.

Unable to reach, unable to resist, and with nowhere to escape. They were locked in, powerless except to wait for their deaths here.

At that very moment, that thing was probably streaking across the sky with a magnificent trail of flames, exploding with a sonic boom, and swooping down toward the base.

The subordinate, reporting nervously, asked, "Sir! What do we do?"

What should I do?

Caleb snapped out of his daze when questioned by his subordinates.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened his eyes again, a look of determination and resolve flashed in them.

"I had no choice; he forced me to. I didn't want to resort to this tactic so easily..."

Caleb said somberly.

"We'll use our trump card."