Chapter 3: Finding Tony Stark

A jeep sped along the roads within the Ten Rings' territory. Suddenly, a checkpoint appeared, forcing the jeep to a halt. Out stepped a young Asian man, none other than Edward, on a mission to find Tony Stark.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Shouted one of the terrorists at the checkpoint, raising his AK-47 and speaking in the local language.

Edward raised his hands, trying to appear non-threatening. "Does anyone here speak English?" He called out.

A terrorist wearing sunglasses and arrogantly smoking a cigarette stepped forward. "Kid, where are you from? Journalist? Spy? Diplomat?"

"No, I'm just here looking for someone on behalf of a client. Are you the only one here who speaks English?"

"That's right. I received a higher education, so of course, I speak English."

"Good enough," Edward responded. In the next instant, gunshots rang out. Edward fired with incredible speed, his bullets hitting their targets' eye sockets before exiting through the back of their heads. The terrorists fell to the ground, their bodies not even twitching.

The English-speaking terrorist was so terrified that his cigarette fell from his mouth. "Boss, I was wrong, I was wrong."

"Don't be afraid. Just answer a few questions for me, and I'll let you go, provided you don't lie to me," Edward said calmly.

"Please, please ask," the terrorist stammered, trembling.

Seeing his frightened state, Edward frowned. "You're not a real terrorist, are you?"

"I-I-I am, I am."

"I've never seen such a cowardly terrorist before. Fine, tell me where you're keeping Tony Stark."

"Who?"

"Tony Stark. Don't tell me you don't know who he is."

"I know, but I'm just a low-level grunt. I have no idea where the playboy was taken," the terrorist responded panic in his voice.

"So, keeping you alive is pretty useless then," Edward said with a smile, his hand slowly reaching for his gun.

"Wait, wait! My father, he's a high-ranking member of the Ten Rings. He definitely knows where Stark is," the man quickly blurted out.

"Oh, really? Can you contact your father?"

"Sure, I can do it."

"Starting now, you have one minute to tell me Tony Stark's location or my bullets won't discriminate," Edward said, pulling out his gun and aiming it at the terrorist's head.

The terrorist quickly pulled out his phone, tremblingly unlocked it, and found his father's contact. As soon as the call connected, Edward spoke, "Thirty seconds."

The terrorist shouted in the local language into the phone, and after a moment, he switched to English, "I know the location!"

"Just in time. Looks like you've saved your life."

"But I have a request."

"So you can make demands? Interesting. Speak."

"I want you to take me back to US, and I need an American citizen's identity," the terrorist said.

"On what grounds?"

"I can work for you. I hold PhDs in Engineering, Physics, and Computer Science from MIT. I can, I can..." The terrorist hesitated on how to continue.

"You're quite capable. But why did you return to terrorism?"

"Because of my father. He deceived me into returning, only to realize how dangerous it is here. He didn't want me in danger, so he's been trying to get me out. But this place is completely sealed off now, even smuggling out is impossible. He only disclosed the location after I mentioned you could take me to the US."

"Fair enough. Are you sure your degrees were earned through your own efforts, without cheating?"

"Yes, absolutely."

"Alright then. As long as you help me find Tony Stark, I promise to get you to the US." Edward extended his hand, and the terrorist sighed in relief, shaking it firmly as Edward pulled him up.

"By the way, I don't know your name yet. I'm Edward, but you can call me boss."

"Boss, I'm Hank Khwaja."

"Okay, Hank. Lead the way for me," Edward said with a smile.

Later, the two got into the jeep. Following Hank's directions, after over ten hours of travel, they finally arrived near a cave stronghold in the dark of night, parking the car about a kilometer away from the cave.

"Boss, that's where Tony Stark is being held," Hank said, pointing towards the glow of the fire.

Edward picked up binoculars, confirming that the environment around the cave indeed resembled where Tony Stark might be trapped. He turned to Hank and said, "You stay here and wait for my signal."

"What signal?"

"When you hear the gunshots stop, use the binoculars to look at me. If you see me waving, that's the signal for you to come over. Got it?"

Hank nodded repeatedly. Edward took a deep breath, retrieved bullets from the storage space, filled the empty slots in his gun, and then briskly headed towards the glow of the fire.

By the time the terrorists at the stronghold noticed Edward, they were just about to pick up their guns to resist, but it was too late. Edward swiftly drew his pistols, and his bullets seemed to have eyes as they accurately shot into their eyes.

Inside the cave, upon hearing the gunfire, terrorists rushed out with guns in hand. They were met with bodies strewn all over the ground. As they aimed their guns searching for Edward, he took a deep breath behind a pillar, then immediately stepped out and fired at the crowd. His bullets pierced through the first person's body and hit the second, and this continued until Edward had fired twelve rounds, after which he retreated behind the pillar.

However, this gave the terrorists time to react. They immediately aimed their guns at the pillar and started shooting. It was clear they lacked professional training, shooting all at once, and soon they needed to reload, even though not all of them did, only a small group continued firing.

Seizing this moment while they were reloading, Edward peeked around the pillar, assessed the surroundings, and then aimed at a rock at a strange angle, causing a bullet to ricochet and hit a terrorist.

"How is this possible!" shouted a bald terrorist.

Under the threat of death, their intelligence temporarily occupied the upper hand, and they actually understood how to use grenades. However, they seemed unaware that Edward was a sharpshooter, so Edward directly shot the grenade they had just pulled the pin on. As the grenade exploded, it directly killed the surrounding terrorists.

Finally, Edward ran out from behind cover and systematically took out the remaining terrorists.

After dealing with the last terrorist, he stood by the fire and waved towards Hank's position. Upon hearing the sound of an engine, Edward entered the cave. Quickly finding Tony Stark's room, he kicked down the door with his gun and shouted, "Tony Stark, you're free!"

"Who are you?" Asked a man in a white tank top, with a glowing circle on his chest.

"I'm here to rescue you on behalf of Happy Hogan. By the way, the reward this time is ten million dollars. From what I know of Happy Hogan, he shouldn't have that much money."

As they chatted, Hank rushed in and exclaimed, "Boss, there are a bunch of people outside now. What do we do?"

Edward frowned slightly, surprised at how quickly reinforcements had arrived. He then said, "You guys hide. I'll handle them."

With that, Edward walked confidently towards the outside. Tony Stark glanced at the other person inside the cave before they hastened their actions. Hank went over to see what they were doing, discovering they were uploading some kind of data. He joined in, knowing well that his three PhDs were not fake.