["What happened? It's very interesting! Before Werner von Braun built rockets for the Nazis, he was an idealist!"]
[In a hotel room, Maya Hansen sits talking to Pepper Potts, who is sitting opposite her, propping her face up with her hands and listening quietly.]
["He fantasized about space travel! He loved looking up at the stars! When the first V2 rocket hit London, do you know what he said? 'The rocket worked perfectly! It just landed on the wrong planet!'"]
[Then Maya laughed at herself bitterly. "We were all so naive at the beginning! Pure science! Then our arrogance started to play tricks on us and we became obsessed! When we look back, we've already come a long way!"]
[Pepper reached out to comfort her. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Maya! You just handed your research over to a think tank!"]
["Yeah! But Killian built that think tank with the help of military contracts!" Maya still felt guilty about her research results being weaponized.]
["We've all made mistakes before! So don't blame yourself!"]
[Maya leaned against the headboard, looked at Pepper gratefully and said, "Thank you, Pepper! I really appreciate it!"]
[At that moment, someone knocked on the door, and Pepper got up to answer it. "Hi! Good evening! Please come in!"]
[A waiter was about to enter with a food cart when someone suddenly appeared behind him and twisted his neck with a sickening crack.]
[Pepper was horrified at the sight. The person who appeared was Killian. Pepper yelled, "Maya! Run!"]
[Killian grabbed Pepper and pinned her against the wall by her throat. She stared at him in terror.]
[Killian looked at her calmly. "Hello, Pepper!"]
[Then he turned to Maya and asked, "Are you going to tell me why you were at Stark's place last night?"]
[Maya looked at him and explained, "I just wanted to fix this! How was I supposed to know that you and the Mandarin would blow up his house?"]
[Killian tilted his head back. "Oh! I see! So you wanted to save Stark! Even though he threatens us!"]
["I told you, Killian! We can use him!" Maya looked at him with frustration.]
[Pepper stretched out her hand, struggling to break free from Killian's grip. Killian turned his head and looked at her with exasperation, shouting, "Pepper! Pepper!"]
[Maya continued trying to convince Killian. "If we want to launch new products next year, I need Stark! He just lacks suitable motivation, and now he has it!"]
"Killian! No body is left intact!" Tony, wearing his armor, kicked away a stone at his feet. He'd seen the footage of Pepper being captured by Killian, but unfortunately, Killian had now been reduced to ashes.
"Be careful, check if there are any remaining Extremis soldiers!" Steve Rogers held his shield defensively as he scanned their surroundings.
Rhodes flew around the entire house and, finding no enemies, landed again.
"Hey! Look who I found?" Captain Marvel emerged from the house, dragging someone along—it was the Mandarin!
"Don't kill me, don't kill me!" Trevor Slattery begged for mercy, terror evident on his face. He had been in the bathroom when the shock wave hit. He'd hidden there until the commotion outside subsided before venturing out.
Carol had discovered him while checking the house and promptly arrested him.
"The Mandarin?" Tony narrowed his eyes as he studied the frightened Trevor. He didn't believe for a second that this pathetic specimen could be the real Mandarin.
[Meanwhile, Rhodes was flying through the sky when he received a communication: "This is Blue Zero from the support team! I'm sending you coordinates for a suspected transmission origin point from the Mandarin!"]
["Got it!" Rhodes checked the coordinates and immediately changed course.]
[With a sound of gathering energy, Rhodes blasted an iron door away with one shot. The women sewing clothes inside jumped in alarm.]
["Don't move!!!" Rhodes pointed his weapons at the people inside and shouted, only to realize they were all unarmed women.]
[He lowered his weapon and began to complain: "Ah! Volunteer Team Blue Zero! Unless the Mandarin plans to attack the United States with cheap sportswear next time, I think you've made another mistake!"]
[The women excitedly stepped forward to shake hands with Rhodes, who nodded politely: "Yes! You're free! If you weren't free before!"]
["Of course... Yes! Ma'am! The Iron Patriot is on a mission, and I'm happy to help! No need to thank me, it's my honor!"]
[The last woman approached and gripped Rhodes' hand tightly. The next second, her palm began emitting an orange glow, and Rhodes' armor immediately malfunctioned.]
[He collapsed to the side. Seeing that she had successfully neutralized Rhodes, the woman removed her veil, revealing her beautiful face.]
[She took out her cell phone. "Savin, I've acquired the Iron Patriot armor!"]
[Upon hearing this, Rhodes replied calmly: "You want this suit? Then you'll have to kill me first and pry me out of it!"]
[The woman wasn't angered by this. She smiled at Rhodes, who lay immobilized on the ground: "That's the plan, Colonel!"]
"Hahaha! Rhodes, you really capsized in the gutter!" Tony laughed at Rhodes' predicament.
"Hey! Who knew there was an Extremis soldier hiding among them? The same would have happened to you!" Rhodes retorted, his face reddening with embarrassment.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Is that why you were so easily taken down by a woman?" Tony continued his merciless teasing.
Rhodes opened his mouth to respond but found himself speechless. He could only cry silently in his heart.
By this point, they had almost cleared the battlefield. Except for one or two lucky Extremis soldiers who had managed to survive, all others were dead, including the woman shown in the sky broadcast.
After some intimidation, Trevor revealed everything, and everyone realized he was just a puppet Killian had positioned as a front.
He was merely an actor, chosen by Killian to take the blame because of his unique theatrical temperament.
Steve Rogers and the others were disappointed but also relieved that there were no additional terrorist cells. All the Extremis soldiers had been gathered here. As for whether there were any undercover agents elsewhere, they would need to take the information back for further investigation.
Tony had already copied substantial amounts of crucial data through Jarvis and uploaded it to his personal server.
He had also notified Nick Fury to send a team to secure the remaining evidence and handle the aftermath. The rest of the cleanup would be left to S.H.I.E.L.D.
[The screen faded to black, then showed Rhodes being extracted from his armor as the Extremis woman and her team prepared to use it for their next phase of the plan—a crisis that the Avengers would soon have to face.]
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