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Smith Doyle summoned Fox to his office and said,
"This is the contact information for Pepper Potts, the executive assistant to the chairman of Stark Industries. Next, based on Bulma's shopping list, prepare a procurement list of hard-to-obtain equipment and materials worth one hundred million dollars and hand it over to her."
Fox asked in confusion,
"Are you buying through their channels?"
Smith shook his head.
"No. They want me to rescue someone. One of the conditions is to provide one hundred million dollars' worth of equipment and materials."
Fox was shocked when she heard the price. The Assassin Brotherhood was never short of money, and over the years they had given her millions of dollars—but one hundred million was no small sum. How could rescuing a single person cost that much?
"Who's worth one hundred million dollars?" she asked.
Smith Doyle replied slowly,
"Tony Stark."
Hearing the name, Fox immediately said,
"He's certainly worth that much… but did something happen to him?"
Seeing that Fox showed no particular concern about Tony's disappearance, Smith smiled.
"He was kidnapped in Afghanistan."
"There's one more thing," Smith continued. "The stock price of Stark Industries will keep falling. You can use the Assassin Brotherhood's funds to short Stark Industries without causing any noticeable impact."
Bulma's research laboratory consumed enormous amounts of money. She needed to raise funds from outside to acquire equipment, and she absolutely could not miss the opportunity created by fluctuations in Stark Industries' stock price.
Fox asked, puzzled,
"If they want to rescue him, why would their evaluation of the company drop?"
Smith did not explain the reason. He simply said,
"Follow my instructions. I'll tell you when to short and when to go long."
Fox nodded. Though confused, she still obeyed the order.
"Do we need to send people to Afghanistan to rescue Tony Stark?" she asked.
"There aren't many operatives stationed there, so they probably won't be much help."
Smith Doyle shook his head. Even if a large force were dispatched, rescuing Tony might still fail. Otherwise, the military wouldn't have been unable to locate him and forced to rely on him escaping on his own.
Besides, this was a matter of calling in favors. It would be more appropriate for him to handle it personally.
"The situation over there is extremely complicated," Smith said calmly. "I'll go rescue Tony Stark myself."
"At that price, it's worth the trip."
Fox raised no further objections. Given Smith Doyle's power and influence, she wasn't worried about his safety.
The next day.
Smith Doyle arrived in Afghanistan. As soon as he stepped out of the airport, he felt the hurried pace of the people around him and the lingering smell of gunpowder in the air.
In this war-ravaged country, the Assassin Brotherhood had a presence, but it was more like a small enclave. Smith Doyle boarded a pickup truck arranged by the Brotherhood and headed toward the site of Tony Stark's ambush.
Elsewhere.
In a hidden cave somewhere in the Afghan desert, Tony Stark had just finished building a miniature arc reactor. He wanted to replace the bulky battery embedded in his chest—it was so large that he even had to carry it with him when using the bathroom.
Yinsen, standing nearby, looked at the device Tony had made and asked,
"That doesn't look like a Jericho missile."
Tony stared at the reactor without lifting his head.
"That's because it's a miniature arc reactor."
"I have a large generator at home that powers my factory. This should be enough to stop the shrapnel."
Yinsen looked at it curiously.
"How much power does it generate?"
Tony replied bluntly,
"If I remember correctly—well, usually I do—it should be about three billion joules per second."
Hearing the numbers, Yinsen looked at Tony and said,
"That's enough to keep your heart beating for thousands of years."
Tony nodded.
"Yes. It's enough to power a large appliance for about fifteen minutes."
Tony then took out a blueprint and said,
"This is our escape plan."
Yinsen picked it up and glanced at it, but he couldn't make sense of it.
"What is this?"
Tony repositioned the blueprint.
"Look at it from another angle."
A suit of steel armor appeared before their eyes.
Yinsen gasped.
"My God…"
"Very impressive."
At that moment, Yinsen couldn't help but marvel at Tony Stark's genius. What kind of talent did it take to design such powerful equipment under such desperate circumstances?
A military armored vehicle sped along the road, kicking up clouds of sand before quickly arriving at its destination.
Smith Doyle rested with his eyes closed inside the vehicle. He opened them, stepped out, and surveyed his surroundings.
This was the road where Tony Stark had been ambushed. More than two months had passed, and the area was no longer under lockdown. There were no useful clues left.
Smith looked at the driver and said,
"You can head back. If I need a vehicle, I'll contact you via satellite phone."
The driver nodded.
"Yes, leader."
After the armored vehicle left, Smith glanced at the desert on both sides of the road. He activated his combat effectiveness detector, selected a direction, and dashed forward.
Once inside the desert and certain no one was nearby, Smith used aerial footwork to fly low through the air. Relying on the life-detection function of the combat detector, he searched for the cave where Tony was being held.
Smith's flying speed wasn't fast, and he stayed low over uninhabited areas, so he wouldn't attract attention. Even if someone spotted him, as long as he dealt with them properly, he could remain perfectly concealed.
As for this war-torn desert region—there were no good people here anyway.
Meanwhile.
Inside the cave, Tony slowly sat up and looked down at the reactor embedded in his chest. At last, he was free from the humiliation of carrying a battery with him even when going to the bathroom.
"Yinsen, thank you for helping me replace the arc reactor," Tony said sincerely.
"I couldn't have performed the operation alone."
Tony extended his hand, and Yinsen reached out to shake it.
"You're our hope of escape," Yinsen replied. "How could I not help you?"
Tony smiled. It was the first time he had smiled since being kidnapped and brought to the cave. With the reactor installed in his chest, the upcoming escape was filled with hope.
As long as he finished building the combat suit, he could take Yinsen with him—and make those who kidnapped him regret ever being born.
Tony put on his clothes, took out a board game, and began playing with Yinsen. Even as a captive, Tony needed moments of leisure between work. After all, survival was now within reach.