Chapter 533

"Where do things stand?"

Now that Evenson had arrived, and most of the miscellaneous business he had been dealing with was out of the way, there was no reason not to ask about the operation.

Dottie glanced down at the town below and opened the tactical display on her visor.

"Right now? Tony Stark has reached the blast site with that kid leading the way. He seems to think there’s something seriously wrong with the official story."

Tony had barely arrived when the first thing he noticed was the collection of wreaths, crosses, and other memorials scattered around the ruins.

Then he noticed something far stranger.

Human silhouettes were burned into the remaining walls and debris.

The sight reminded him of photographs from Hiroshima, where people caught in the flash of the atomic bomb had been reduced to shadows etched permanently into the surfaces around them.

Tony counted them once.

Then twice.

Five.

There were only five shadows.

According to the reports, six people had died.

The kid’s explanation was exactly the sort of local superstition Tony had no patience for. The town’s rumor was that the shadows belonged to the people who had gone to Heaven.

Chad Davis, supposedly responsible for the bombing, had gone to Hell.

Naturally, he had left no shadow behind.

Tony Stark was many things, but superstitious wasn’t one of them. He knew perfectly well that the silhouettes had been caused by intense heat and radiation. Heaven and Hell had nothing to do with it.

Which led him to a much more disturbing possibility.

What if the thing that exploded hadn’t been a bomb?

What if it had been Chad Davis himself?

Unfortunately, the kid beside him had apparently decided that Tony’s already frayed nerves needed additional stress testing.

The boy kept firing questions at him about the Battle of New York, the wormhole, the nuclear missile, and every other subject Tony would have preferred never to discuss again.

Tony’s nerves, which had just begun to settle, snapped taut.

He scooped up several handfuls of snow and rubbed them over his face.

Cold.

Very cold.

Eventually, he managed to pull himself back together.

From a distance, Evenson watched the entire spectacle with increasing satisfaction.

"Looks like my treatment didn’t get rid of the root of the problem."

His smile widened.

"I’ll have to continue the treatment."

How could he not be pleased?

Tony Stark was paying him by the day.

The longer the treatment lasted, the better.

Meanwhile, Harley proved himself to be every bit the troublesome kid he appeared to be. He also demonstrated that his occasional old-man routine was surprisingly effective.

He produced another lead for Tony.

The mother of the soldier who had supposedly caused the explosion.

Mrs. Davis.

A mother knew her own child better than anyone. Mrs. Davis simply couldn’t believe that her son, an active-duty soldier, had built a bomb in his own home and carried out a terrorist attack.

She also knew that her son had recently volunteered for some kind of new military experiment.

Someone willing to offer himself up in service to his country didn’t exactly fit the profile of a terrorist.

And Mrs. Davis had the volunteer agreement he had signed.

She intended to use it to clear her son’s name.

By the time Tony learned where she was, Mrs. Davis had already been waiting at the Walker Bar for quite some time.

Someone had called her and promised that if she handed over the documents, they would help her with her son’s case.

She had chosen to believe them.

It was hard to blame her.

As the mother of a man publicly branded a terrorist, she had endured enough stares, whispers, and outright discrimination from the town to make any offer of help look like a lifeline.

Tony immediately suspected a trap.

Someone was trying to destroy the evidence.

He hurried toward the Walker Bar, hoping to secure the documents before whoever had made the call could get to them.

On the way, he collided with a woman.

Brown hair. Attractive enough, if not for the burn scar covering the left side of her face.

Tony, operating almost entirely on instinct, gave her a once-over.

"Nice hairstyle. Suits you."

The woman politely wished him a good time.

Then they went their separate ways.

Dottie’s tactical visor snapped shut.

Something was wrong.

"Evenson."

Her voice sharpened.

"That woman who just bumped into Tony. There’s something seriously strange about her. Her energy readings are extremely high."

She looked around.

"And..."

Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the town.

"There are several others here with similar readings."

"They’re the targets."

Evenson pinched the bridge of his nose.

"That is the primary objective of your mission. Capture those people and bring them back as experimental subjects."

"That might be difficult."

Dottie continued watching the streets through her tactical visor.

"The energy inside them is wildly unstable. It looks like they’re on the verge of exploding at any moment."

"Then be careful."

Evenson shrugged.

"Try not to get yourselves blown up."

He suddenly turned toward Farrell.

"Looks like your weapons test is going to have to wait a little longer. Even I can guess that anything Gnos designed is going to have..."

His mouth twisted.

"...considerable stopping power."

Farrell tilted her head.

She was becoming increasingly uncertain about Evenson’s position within the company.

The mercenaries involved in the operation were noticeably respectful toward him. Yet whenever he mentioned Gnos, the company’s chief scientist, there wasn’t even a hint of deference in his voice.

If anything, his tone was almost flippant.

Either Evenson was an arrogant fool who simply didn’t understand who he was dealing with, or his position within the company was far more significant than it appeared.

Farrell remained composed.

"Lord Gnos’s weapons are indeed highly destructive. But..."

She raised her left arm.

A panel in the armor opened, revealing a small projectile resembling a miniature missile.

"...that doesn’t mean we lack nonlethal options."

"The woman moved!"

Dottie’s sudden shout cut through the conversation.

Through the multi-function tactical visor, she watched as the scarred woman who had collided with Tony returned to the Walker Bar.

And began putting her plan into motion.

Tony entered the bar and quickly found Mrs. Davis sitting alone in a secluded corner, looking exhausted by everything that had happened.

He approached her and pretended to be the person who had called.

After casually flipping through the documents, however, Tony quickly realized something was wrong.

"Your son isn’t the killer," he said. "Someone is using him as a scapegoat."

Before he could say more, the scarred woman appeared.

She moved with startling speed, slammed Tony down, and snapped handcuffs onto his wrists.

When the local sheriff demanded to know who she was, she produced a National Security Agency badge.

For some reason, however, the sheriff wasn’t impressed.

He insisted on reporting the incident to his superiors and demanded that the details of the operation be investigated.

The woman’s right hand began radiating intense heat.

It punched straight through the sheriff’s chest.

She withdrew it, drew her pistol, and gunned down the remaining officers.

Tony saw his opening.

His sense of justice surged.

His eyes widened.

His blood boiled.

And then, with all the heroic determination of Iron Man in the face of danger...

he jumped through a window and ran.

Dottie stared.

Evenson sighed.

"Split up."

His voice turned cold as he addressed the others.

"That woman is our first target. Don’t let anyone realize we know each other."

The operation had officially begun.