Standing in the lab, Stark looked at the police officer outside the door in shock: "What? Uncle Obadiah was murdered?!!! What on earth happened?!!"
The cop pushed the door open and rushed in and said to Stark, "About thirty minutes ago, Obadiah was found dead in his own home by his driver, his throat slit. Footprints of an outsider were found in the yard outside his door. The murderer killed and fled, and is untraceable at the moment."
Stark was dumbfounded.
At this time, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Coulson stormed in one after the other. The FBI agent spoke first: "The wound on the neck of the corpse was caused by an energy weapon. The assailant isn't a common killer. S.H.I.E.L.D. has taken over the case."
Coulson squeezed through the crowd, leaned towards Stark's ear, and whispered in a low voice: "Thermal dagger, absolutely."
Stark drew a sharp breath. Everyone knew that miniature weapons and thermal weapons were synonymous with Wakanda.
Thinking about what Erik had told him before, that the person who kidnapped him was Obadiah, and Erik's obvious anxiousness when he expressed disbelief - did Erik kill Obadiah?
The situation was escalating, and Stark could no longer stay in the lab to work on his Mecha. He hurriedly pulled Coulson aside to an office and asked, "Are there any traces of the killer? Do you know where he went? Can our plan still proceed?"
"Nick's idea is to go on as planned. The plane is ready. You must go to Eastern Europe to eliminate Hydra. We'll take care of the rest."
At this juncture, Stark had no choice but to trust Nick. He closed the face mask of his Battle Armor, turned to Coulson and said, "There's no need for a plane. Send me the coordinates directly. Trust me, you guys are dealing with a big problem. Don't go easy on it. Also, I'll take care of the Hydra in S.H.I.E.L.D."
Coulson nodded, and Stark activated his Battle Armor and flew out. Following the coordinates on his Armour, he flew at top speed to a small town in the Baltic States.
Iron Man hovered mid-air, extending his hand to scan the battle traces on the ground. Soon, his not fully operational Battle Armor's AI system showed him the scan results.
There were no signs of life here, but there had been an armed conflict. It looked like a dozen special agents had faced off against three times their number. However, the enemies were low on firepower; only about half of them managed to extract from this location.
Iron Man flew to the next clue point and quickly discovered more Hydra secret bases. Their traces of activity were not confined to the Baltic States; they were spreading towards Germany.
Eventually, Iron Man landed in a valley in the Berlin area. The signal reaction suggested that there was likely a massive underground base here, and telltale signs indicated this place was one of Little Mustache's legacies.
Seeing that symbol infuriated Stark. After the Iron Armor was fully charged, a missile shot out from the back, blowing up the gate directly.
The alarm went off immediately. A swarm of heavily armed Hydra agents rushed out from the base, but these ordinary agents were no match for Iron Man. Controlling his Battle Armor with agility, Iron Man zipped around the mountains. Utilizing his air superiority and the precise firepower of his hand cannon, he floored the opposition within minutes.
Just then, a tall figure emerged from the darkness of the base entrance. A burly bald man appeared in Iron Man's field of vision; he was dressed in a black robe, holding a strange weapon that looked like a cannon.
Just as Stark was about to scan his weapon, the man aimed his dark muzzle at him. A bomb shot out. Stark moved swiftly to dodge, but the moment the bomb exploded on the ground, a black cloud of smoke rose, and the Battle Armor began to sound an alarm.
"Warning, warning, unknown gas infiltrating the oxygen cycle, activating filtration system…"
"Corrosive substance detected, possible damage to the Battle Armor surface, please avoid in time, damage level 9%…"
"Warning, air quality rapidly deteriorating, please immediately evacuate to an open area to avoid asphyxiation dangers…"
Stark took off without looking back, covering several hundred meters before the alarms in his Battle Armor finally stopped. He looked back at the place where the bomb had landed, it had corroded into a patch of black.
He was starting to feel dizzy. Clearly, the Battle Armor's air-tight system had been breached in that instant, and something had been inhaled into his lungs with his breath.
Only then did Stark get a clear look at the man. The documentation Coulson had given him about Hydra mentioned that the man was called Baron Strucker. He used to be Little Mustache's favorite and was a sworn enemy of Nick.
But Nick's file said that man was confirmed dead. The killer was Nick Fury himself, yet here he was. Stark knew something was up.
He checked the state of his Armor. That one hit had caused surface damage and in order to avoid inhaling the toxic gas, he had to keep the oxygen filtration system running constantly, which significantly drained his Armor's energy.
As Stark strategized his next move, more bombs were hurled at him. The Baron on the opposite side laughed maniacally as more and more black spores whirled into the air, making it impossible for Stark to approach.