This had all been a trap—a net cast precisely to capture Tony Stark.
But ever since Rook Tanner had barged in and wiped out two waves of enemies in succession, the area had gone completely silent.
By the time Rook drifted back down in ill-fitting pants and a shirt he'd borrowed, still barefoot, Tony and the others were much more well-behaved than before.
After witnessing him catch a live rocket and tank gunfire without a scratch, even shooting golden beams from his eyes, it was clear that if Rook had been hostile, none of them would still be alive.
Forget about fighting back or running. Both were pointless.
Their only hope now was that he truly meant them no harm. There was nothing to do but play along and not make any sudden moves.
"So… what now?" Tony asked cautiously. "You said there are landmines all around here. Should we just... go back the way we came?"
"No need for that," Rook shook his head and stepped over to the armored vehicle.
Everyone inside stared at him, uncertain of what he was about to do.
Then they saw him casually reach down and lift the entire armored vehicle off the ground like it weighed nothing.
"What are you doing?!"
Panic swept through the vehicle.
But Rook didn't respond. He simply floated into the air, holding the vehicle effortlessly above his head, and began flying directly over the minefield.
It was crude, sure, but foolproof.
Not that anyone else could've pulled it off.
To Rook, an armored car was nothing. He could lift fighter jets if he wanted. Strength was only one part of it. Members of Superman's bloodline also possessed a biological energy field.
Put simply, raw strength alone couldn't lift a jet cleanly. It would be like trying to support tofu with a nail—you'd just punch right through.
But the biological energy field allowed that strength to distribute evenly across the object, enabling him to lift it as a whole without it breaking apart.
This was why Superman could fly while carrying people. Why Lois Lane hadn't been torn in half the first time he held her mid-air.
Now, Rook did the same. With ease, he carried the armored vehicle and its passengers over the trap-filled zone like it was a cardboard box.
He could've used X-ray vision to detect and avoid the mines one by one, since in this world, no one knew Kryptonian vision couldn't penetrate lead.
But it wasn't necessary. The road had been laid out by a military convoy. It was no longer worth traveling.
On a safer path some distance away, Rook gently set the vehicle down.
He tapped on the window. "Alright. You can keep driving from here."
Inside the car, everyone looked at each other.
The female soldier behind the wheel hesitated, then said, "You fly a lot faster than we drive…"
She wasn't wrong. The vehicle's weight didn't slow Rook down in the slightest, and his flight speed easily eclipsed anything with wheels.
But Rook just laughed. "If I'm flying everyone around, what's the point of having a vehicle?"
That was the entire point of a transport. He wasn't a shuttle bus.
Sure, he could lift a plane if needed. But if he were expected to carry planes around regularly, then what were planes even for?
Besides, he had already sensed something up ahead.
"Not far from here, there's another convoy headed this way. They must've picked up on the fighting earlier. Looks like they're here to retrieve you," Rook said calmly.
He had already noticed a line of military vehicles racing in from a distance.
Truth be told, the soldiers inside the car didn't matter much. But Tony Stark did. The higher-ups couldn't afford to let anything happen to him.
This man was one of the smartest minds on Earth. His weapons could arm an entire military and line the pockets of certain countries along the way.
Stark Industries' stock was one of the highest in the country. Nearly every major player had invested in it at some point.
So it was no surprise that the military moved quickly.
Sure enough, after driving a bit further, a rescue convoy appeared in the distance and quickly closed in.
"Tony! You alright?" a black man in military fatigues ran over, concern etched across his face.
His name was James Rhodes, better known as Colonel Rhodes.
He was more than just a decorated officer. He was one of the few people Tony Stark truly trusted, and had even once donned an Iron Man suit himself.
Although Rhodes was a soldier, his armor wasn't called Iron Man. It was dubbed the Patriot, or more commonly, War Machine.
Technically, the name was always War Machine, but after a temporary paint job, it had been called the Iron Patriot for a while.
You get the idea. Just like how Captain America's shield has gone through a few paint jobs of its own.
Colonel Rhodes served as Tony's military liaison, managing Stark Industries' partnership with the government.
He was also the guy who'd step in and tell Tony what he could and couldn't do, especially when it came to selling weapons to shady buyers.
Sure, the government did that too, but they didn't like it when a civilian did it so openly. Gotta keep up appearances, after all.
Still, there was no question that Tony and Rhodes were genuinely close friends.
Tony, visibly emotional, embraced Rhodes tightly. What he'd just gone through really had been a brush with death.
And that wasn't an exaggeration. Without Rook's intervention, everyone knew what would've happened next.
Tony would've been critically wounded by his own company's bomb. Shrapnel would've entered his bloodstream and traveled toward his heart. He'd have undergone emergency surgery and been forced to install the arc reactor in his chest just to stay alive.
Then he would've been captured and locked in a cave by terrorists. Forced to build the first Iron Man suit—Mark I—to escape.
And thus, the Iron Man legend would begin.
But with Rook's interference… who knew?
Tony was saved. There would be no grave injury, no cave, no three months of trauma and soul-searching. Not even the iconic sound of hammering metal.
From this moment on, the Marvel universe itself might begin to shift in unexpected ways.
Rook Tanner didn't think twice about any of that.
But suddenly, everyone turned to look at him.
"Who's that?" someone asked.
Rook was wearing the clothes he'd stripped from one of the enemy soldiers. To everyone else, he was a complete stranger, and that made people nervous.
"Wait, he's the one who saved us!" Tony quickly stepped forward and stood in front of Rook.
But the others still looked wary. There was a strong undercurrent of suspicion. What if this was all a setup? What if he was a spy, using this attack as a cover to infiltrate the military?
Only Tony and the three soldiers with him knew the truth.
That couldn't be further from reality.
Because Rook Tanner wasn't from this world at all.
He wasn't part of any government, military, or faction.
He was an alien.
There was no way he could be anyone's spy.
"Anyway, I'll vouch for him," Tony said, stepping up again. "If anything happens, you can come straight to me."
He was keeping his promise from earlier, even going as far as to put his own reputation on the line to protect Rook.
But the truth was, Tony also knew...
If a fight broke out here, with Rook's power?
No one here would survive.