After stowing all the magical items into the “Fortress of Solitude” within her internal subspace, Kara stood up and let out a soft yawn.
Today’s harvest was quite bountiful; it was time to return to Manhattan—she still had to make some preparations for heading to Afghanistan to rescue that playboy Tony Stark, and see if she could gain some benefits from it.
Back at her Manhattan apartment, Kara took a comfortable hot bath, then lay down on her bed and drifted into sleep.
In her dreams, she seemed to return once more to that Planet both strange and familiar—Krypton.
Unfortunately, all the scenes were blurry and indistinct; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see them clearly.
Early the next morning, Kara got up and sent a text to the Daily Bugle saying she was “out reporting on a story,” then finished washing up and hurried out the door.
Today’s goal was Afghanistan—the morning news had already reported that the playboy from Stark Industries had been kidnapped.
Kara had to rush there as quickly as possible; if Tony Stark really died, her losses would be immense.
The best opportunity to directly understand the connection between the U.S.
government and superhuman organizations might fall through as a result.
Ever since personally experiencing the dangers of the magic World yesterday, Kara had become increasingly curious about the secrets of the federal government.
Given the U.S.
government’s style of operation, there were bound to be many secrets hidden behind the scenes.
After becoming a Kryptonian, her curiosity about the “other side” of this World had become exceptionally strong.
After all, danger and opportunity often coexist.
Kara never believed that possessing the powerful strength of a Kryptonian meant being invincible—just that bald woman who tore through space with her bare hands yesterday was likely much stronger than she was now.
Having died once, Kara cherished life more than anyone.
Now that she had come into contact with a more hidden World, she decided to take the initiative and personally brush aside the fog shrouding it.
Only in this way would she not be unprepared when real danger arrived.
Kara soared into the air, breaking through the atmosphere in an instant.
She looked toward the Middle East and continuously accelerated, the distance spanning half the Earth rapidly shortening beneath her feet.
The Middle East, in the sky above a certain desert.
Kara looked down at the boundless sea of sand below, her Super Hearing fully deployed.
However, a moment later, she frowned slightly—logically, she should have locked onto Stark’s location long ago, but after searching for a long time, she had no leads.
This situation could only mean that the place where Stark was held had some sort of magic-like concealment method; otherwise, it would be impossible to escape her perception.
Since Super Hearing was ineffective, Kara turned to the most primitive method: sweeping over every corner of the desert repeatedly at Super Speed, using her eyes to carefully search for any suspicious clues.
For several days in a row, she combed through almost the entire area, yet still found nothing.
It wasn’t until the fifth day that a hidden cave caught her attention.
From the outside, it looked utterly desolate, but a few hours ago, a convoy had appeared out of thin air from the cliff face—this was highly unusual.
Having read the records in the magic house, Kara immediately recognized this as a barrier.
A large-scale barrier set up with powerful incantations or artifacts could completely hide the internal space, and the caster would have strong control over the interior.
Mr.
Stark was likely imprisoned inside, his life or death unknown.
However, based on the calls between Obadiah in New York and the Terrorists she had intercepted over the past few days, the kidnappers seemed to be forcing Stark to build the “Jericho” missile for them.
Thus, he was likely still alive.
She couldn’t just barge in.
Kara knew that forcing her way through the barrier would definitely be noticed by the caster.
The depth of that spellcaster’s strength was unknown; acting rashly would likely alert the enemy and lead them to kill the hostage.
She quickly thought of a safer plan: since a frontal breakthrough was difficult, why not find a way to sneak in?
At the very least, she could gather some key intelligence first.
Soon, an opportunity arrived.
A convoy was heading toward the cave, looking like it was about to enter the barrier.
Kara seized the moment, silently taking out one of the members with Super Speed.
Then, she took out the disguise glasses from her subspace, disguised herself as that terrorist, and sat in the vehicle.
The convoy continued forward, passing through a magic barrier nearly invisible to the naked eye before driving into a wide cave entrance.
The people on the trucks got out to move supplies, and Kara followed suit, picking up a few bags of resources and heading deeper into the cave with her head down.
The moment she stepped into the barrier, she finally perceived Tony Stark’s location—though his presence was very weak, and she didn’t know what he had been through.
Kara’s disguise was flawless; no one even questioned her along the way.
Only a few people coming from the opposite direction nodded to her, all of whom she passed by naturally with a smile.
Before long, she found the place where Stark was held.
It was a cell sealed by a heavy iron door, but under Kara’s X-ray vision, the internal situation was clear: besides a haggard Tony Stark, there was also a balding middle-aged man who seemed to be treating his wounds.
Just then, a terrorist carrying food walked toward the cell.
Kara immediately stepped forward, activating the glasses’ voice-changing and translation functions—before setting out, she had already downloaded various language packs for the Middle East.
While striking up a conversation with the man and complaining about how tiring the hauling work was, she casually handed him the bags she had just taken from the truck, asking him to help deliver them to the warehouse, while she “kindly” offered to deliver the meal to the cell for him.
As she took the tray, Kara couldn’t help but frown—the mush on the plate was dull in color and smelled foul; no wonder Stark was so weak.
She smiled naturally at the guard, who opened the cell door.
Kara stepped inside to see a man with a haggard face and a messy beard, showing almost none of his former playboy flair.
The man glanced at Kara and then closed his eyes in disgust, whether at the food or at her, the “terrorist.” Setting down the tray, Kara instantly entered her Super Speed State and cut the cave’s main power supply.
Exiting Super Speed, she pulled out a flashlight she had brought, turned on the light, and whispered to the two people in the cell: “Mr.
Stark, I’ve come from the United States to rescue you.” Stark remained expressionless, a hint of mockery even flashing in his eyes.
He didn’t believe it at all—this was likely just another trick by the terrorist organization to test if he was truly being honest about building the missile.
After all, he had just finished the prototype of that armor; there was no guarantee they hadn’t seen something suspicious through the surveillance.
Instead, the man who looked like a Doctor spoke first: “Tell your boss that Mr.
Stark will fully assist in manufacturing the missile; there’s no need to use these kinds of tactics to test us.” Kara was speechless for a moment.
Had these two developed PTSD from the persecution?
They didn’t even believe the person coming to save them.
She turned the flashlight to its brightest setting, took off her disguise glasses, and revealed her original face, saying helplessly, “You should believe me now, gentlemen?” Stark’s eyes widened.
He never would have imagined that in this terrifying cave completely isolated from the civilized World, such a refined white girl with a temperament totally out of place with her surroundings would appear.
In that moment, he felt as if he saw the light of the civilized World shining into this dark cage through her.
However, the hope only lasted for an instant.
Was the federal government crazy?
Sending such a young girl to rescue him?
This was practically like thinking it wasn’t enough for him to be trapped alone, so they had to throw in another person.
Kara saw his doubts and said in a calm tone, “I can help you escape.
If you need anything, you can tell me.” Stark pondered for a moment.
There didn’t seem to be a better choice at the moment—he didn’t know when that armor would be completely finished, and eating that “slop” every day, he probably wouldn’t last until then.
“Fine, I believe you,” he finally said.
“As long as you can bring me some decent food every day.
If I eat that stuff for a few more days, I don’t think I’ll make it.” “Simple.” Kara took out the sweet bread, canned food, and drinks she had grabbed from the truck earlier and handed them over.
“Hide them well.
If you’re caught, I won’t be able to save you either.” Stark stared at the food, his eyes instantly lighting up.
He grabbed a can and began to devour it ravenously.
Kara estimated the time.
The power outside should be restored soon—though power outages were common in the cave, a large-scale outage like this was still unusual.
She had to leave quickly to avoid alerting that mysterious magician.
“You two eat first; I have to go.
The power is about to come back on,” she said, her speech quickening.
“Be careful,” the Doctor beside him whispered a reminder.
Kara nodded and quickly exited the cell.
Using the last of the darkness, she had to deal with the actual food deliverer to clear the obstacles for what was to come.
This was easy for Kara.
A moment later, she had disguised herself as that food deliverer and appeared in the cave passage with a normal expression.
For the next two months or so, Kara delivered meals to Stark every day “on orders.” Before entering the cell each time, she would first sneak into the surveillance room and replace the footage with a loop of old images.
She also managed to skillfully smuggle in some supplies—Stark’s mental state had clearly improved significantly.
But on Kara’s end, she still hadn’t found any trace of that magician.
The other party seemed extremely low-key and never showed their face easily.
Stark’s progress, however, was much smoother.
His armor was only a few steps away from completion—thanks to the various precision parts Kara frequently smuggled in, it would have been impossible to finish so quickly otherwise.
In the cell, Kara curiously looked over the crude armor known as “Mark 1.” Stark introduced it with full confidence: “Our hope of escaping depends entirely on this.
My masterpiece.” Kara resisted the urge to dampen his spirits—there was still a magician hidden here; could this pile of scrap metal really withstand spells?
“As long as you’re happy,” she said with a wave of her hand.
“You don’t believe me?
Miss Kara, although this armor looks simple, its technology is definitely ahead of any country, especially its power core…” Stark began to explain volubly.
“Right, there’s one thing I forgot to mention,” Kara suddenly interrupted him, her voice calm but cold.
“The day after tomorrow is the final deadline they gave you.
If you don’t hand over the missile, they’ll kill the hostage.” Stark fell silent for a moment, his gaze darkening.
“Then we leave tomorrow.”