POV Rio
After getting my wishes granted, it was just about time to go rescue Tony Stark, as it was April 29th, and I knew Tony would likely escape pretty soon, so it was best to rescue him now to avoid any risk to Yinsen. Thus, I teleported to Afghanistan, activated the tracking spell, and followed the magical trail it made for me to a cave system where I could see the Ten Rings had built up a sizable garrison and stronghold.
I wait for the perfect chance, and one comes when someone leaves their partner on watch to use the restroom. I sneak up behind the man who remains, and I use a garrote to strangle him. Then, when he dies, I quickly store his body and then shift my form to look like him and use the appropriate clothes to disguise myself. Then, when my partner comes back, I get an idea of how much longer we are on shift. I further control him with some spells to get some answers from him.
I don't get everything, but I get enough that I have a good grasp of the schedules and shifts that the stronghold has. Then I kill him, store his body, and wait 34 minutes for the change of guard. When they ask where my partner is, I tell them he's using the restroom. Then, when they turn their backs, I repeat the same tactic. Get what I can from them and then kill them before I systematically do the same at every guard post.
Thankfully, they didn't do regular check-ins as the language barrier makes things too complicated. Instead, they assume that if anyone attacks, they wouldn't be able to sneak around undetected or would go loud from the start. Regardless, I wasn't going to be upset about such a great boon.
When I got deeper into the stronghold, it was easy to avoid the cameras and start picking off men one by one. Thanks to the somewhat lax discipline within the camp and the fact that they didn't police what people did during their free time, I could walk around and kill with near impunity. If I couldn't store the corpses, I'm positive they would have discovered the attack. But thanks to my blood-sucking knife, I could kill rapidly and without leaving behind a mess, and more importantly, silently.
There are two places I didn't go into in the stronghold, the security room and Tony's prison. I also swapped out disguises every 4-5 kills to avoid suspicion, as there were a lot of people in the stronghold, I estimated around 143. Which, unfortunately, meant that by the time nightfall came, I was still busy killing them, but I had reduced them to only 17 members, and luckily for me, I didn't have to worry too much. They were busy threatening Tony, which left the other places devoid of defenders and groups. Such as the security room.
By the time they had threatened Tony and Yinsen, they had lost another 5 members. Though it was really close. I was literally strangling the last of that five as they started heading back to the security room. I had to hide in a small alcove to avoid being detected, but in the end I managed.
'That still leaves 12 enemies to kill.'
"You three take first shift, and has anyone seen Yousef?" Raza asked with an annoyed tone.
"No, I haven't seen him since this morning," says another guard.
"Wait... Now that you mention it, where is everyone?" Raza asks and starts cycling through the cameras.
Unfortunately for them, I had already hacked the cameras and had them playing an old recording from several days ago. Except for Tony's room, which they were always more focused on.
"Looks like they're playing games again. Should I go fetch him?" says the guard.
"Hmm, yes, you, you, and you, go to the cafeteria," Raza says while pointing out three men to go.
"What about us?" asks another guard.
"Take the night off. You did well in spotting their deception, but be ready for the first light shift," Raza orders.
Four men leave the room, which means that with the previous three men, only five were left in the security room. I quickly ran after the three, and since I didn't care about blood, I shot all three in the back of the head with a silenced pistol, dropping them to the ground, storing the bodies once I did. Then I did the same with the four that had also just left, before rushing back to the security room and confirming they still hadn't moved or detected anything.
I put on the disguise of one of the men who had just left and appeared at the door out of breath.
"Commander! There's a fight! I need help breaking it up!" I yell.
"Damn it! You three go help him!" Raza orders.
I take the three and lead them away, but as soon as we are out of range of Raza, I turn back and kill all three with headshots. They weren't carrying guns as they weren't needed to break up a fight. I dropped my disguise and snuck back towards the security room. Raza was undoubtedly suspicious, but it was too late.
Bang
A single bullet is fired, and the man with Raza has his head blown to bits. Raza tries to grab a gun, but I shoot it out of his hand, and he screams in pain.
"I told you I would find you," I say.
"Y-You! I-Impossible! How did you find us? No, how did you get this far!" Raza says with dawning horror.
"Don't bother stalling. Every soldier in this stronghold is already dead," I threaten.
"Y-You lie! That's not possible!" Raza says with fear.
"You mistake me for your own weak flesh. I. Do Not. End," I say before shooting Raza in the head, ending his life.
'Always wanted to say that.'
Like with the rest of the bodies, I store the corpses to avoid any risks. Then I move to start collecting anything of slight value. I could let Tony destroy them, but I would let him destroy some of the stuff so he feels better. After all, you never know when this stuff could be useful. But I at least only stuck to taking Non-Stark items. It was the least I could do. Then, once I had taken anything I felt might be useful, except for the explosives placed throughout the cave system, which were meant to prevent anyone from taking the base without severe losses, I moved to the prison chamber, but I paused.
I paused for several reasons. The first was to check for an explosive device, as I knew they had placed an IED on the door in the original story. The second was that I got an idea to mess with Tony, and the other was that I had just finished assimilating Arcade.
[Arcade Israel Gannon: 100%]
[Getting New Template]
[New Template Found ---> Gregor]
[Gregor: 23%]
'Oh?'
I quickly figured out who it was when I saw the equipment. I got a full set of Mark III Katarn-Class Commando Armor, a DC-17m Blaster, a Vibrodagger, a Bacta Shot for Emergency Healing, and 3 Thermal Detonators.
The armor was an impressive work of art. It was highly resistant to impacts and could even take damage from light laser cannons, not blasters, cannons! It was tough enough to jump onto many kinds of explosives with no damage. Then, to make things worse for the enemy, it has a deflector shield that could take a lot of punishment, and even if it fails, it can recharge if you stay out of fire for a few seconds. And it's immune to EMPs on the level that you would see in the Star Wars universe.
The blaster was a great addition as it could be a Sniper, Shotgun, Grenade Launcher, Pistol, or just an ordinary blaster. And it has unlimited ammo due to the uniqueness of the ammo. The Vibrodagger is fine. It's a dagger that rapidly vibrates to help clean through materials it otherwise couldn't cut through. The Thermal Detonators were similar to the Plasma Grenades I already had, except much more powerful. They created a ball of plasma 6 meters in diameter, vaporizing anything caught in that radius. They did this by creating a small thermonuclear fusion reaction, so yeah, really dangerous. I would likely save them for research.
I would do the same with the Bacta Shot. Bacta was similar to Stimpaks in its ability to heal wounds, but Bacta could supposedly be used for far more uses. I wouldn't be certain until I start studying the stuff. And if all else fails, it should inform me on how they heal things. Bacta is, after all, a bacteria-based healing supplement with several other materials mixed in, but it has great research potential.
But the last reason I stopped was that I had unlocked a system feature.
[Perfect Transform]
[Any Character You Have Fully Assimilated Can Be Transformed Into. Transformation Will Be Perfect In Every Conceivable Way And Impossible To See Through. Will Not Harm The User. ]
The new system ability was fine. Nothing too grand, just neat. I could already do so with my Changeling Template, but I suppose this was better?
'Well, I guess I will use it whenever I want to appear as an assimilated person. It could be fun, I guess. But for other things, I'll stick with the Changeling.'
Anyway, I had stalled long enough, so I decided to do what I was planning on doing to give Tony a visual of what real Power Armor looks like. And with this new perk, I decided to try it out. So I equipped the X-02 Tesla Power Armor and chose to become Arcade. Then I did one last double check that they hadn't rigged the door to explode yet.
"FBI OPEN UP!" I yell before the door blasts off its hinges.
BOOM
Tony and Yinsen panic and scramble around while reaching for a weapon, but they don't really have anything to use. But eventually, after the dust had settled and I walked in, Tony looked at me like he was a boy on Christmas opening up a Nintendo 64.
"W-Wow, that's not bad. Who are you?" Tony asks.
"Hmm, I won't tell you yet. Sorry, but it's for the best. I'm here to rescue both of you," I reply.
"Both?" Yinsen comments.
"Yes, no man left behind. But we aren't in a rush. Everyone in this stronghold has been dealt with. I can transport anything you want to take with you, just say the word. Though I would like to discuss if Mr Stark here is interested in saving Gulmira," I reply.
"W-What, yes of course, but how do you expect me to help? My suit's not ready yet," Tony replies.
"They're not safe here in Afghanistan. Word will reach that both of you escaped, and while Mr Stark will be untouchable on the other side of the world, Mr Yinsen and his town will not be so fortunate," I reply.
"I-I never thought of it like that... What can I do?" Tony says with determination.
"I can't be publicly or secretly known that I was here. As such, I can't get them into the US legally. But you, Mr Stark, you are one of the richest people on the planet. With connections all over the world. You should have the influence to get official identities for the 1228 residents of Gulmira who agreed to leave," I reply.
"I... I can do that. I can definitely do that," Tony replies.
"Only 1228 people? There should be nearly 100 more," Yinsen asked.
"The 63 remaining people of the village refused to leave. The others... Were dead before I got to them. I'm sorry for your loss," I say with a subdued voice.
"I... I see. Of course. When do we leave?" Yinsen asks.
"Anytime you want. We have probably eight days before the Ten Rings sends any reinforcements here. And that's assuming I don't continue to deceive them into believing Raza is still alive. So you can finish your suit of armor if you like. Though I suggest you leave by car. I can transport the suit and all the schematics back to the US. Or you can risk the military getting their hands on this tech and misplacing the suit and or schematics. I will say now they are not staying here. The Ten Rings can and will find anything you leave behind and reconstruct it," I say firmly.
"We should only need another 24 hours to make sure the suit works. Probably less. And how will you transport the things?" Tony asks.
I walk over to a table and store it. Tony's eyes go wide, and he comes and inspects around me and where the table was.
"Fascniating. Was it some sort of spatial storage tech?" Tony asks.
"Magic actually. But we will have time to talk about that later. For now, focus on finishing your work. The longer we wait, the higher the odds something bad happens," I reply.
Tony looks like he wants to refute, but thinks better of it.
"You're right. In fact... Take the armor and everything in this room. I can finish it later. The first priority should be getting Yinsen and his family out of this country," Tony says with a better understanding of others' feelings.
"Good. I can transport them to the US without detection if that would help. You would just have to shelter them and make sure that the US Government doesn't deport them in the meantime," I reply.
"Let me guess, magic," Tony says mockingly.
He may not be able to see my face, but he could likely get the sense I am giving him a blank stare.
"Yeah, I know, please do so. Can you send them to this address?" Tony says while grabbing a piece of paper and writing down an address.
I take the paper and then store it.
"No problem. Now start pointing to what you want and also when you want it back," I say.
"Can I get some contact info? So I can set up a pickup date, or do you do delivery?" Tony says with a smirk.
"Either one works. And don't worry, I'll contact you after you get back to the US. Likely the day you get back, or if not, then the day after. Oh, and I know you likely won't believe this, but I interrogated the men of this base and confirmed that they were hired by Obidiah Stane to kill you. Not kidnap you. They only kidnapped you when they learned that you could build them weapons," I warn.
Tony looks unconvinced, but I could tell he was thinking about math in his head about whether what I am saying could be true. It would at least bury the seed of doubt whether he nurtured it wasn't my problem.
"I'll look into it. But forgive me if I don't take a complete stranger's word that my father's business partner tried to kill me," Tony says with a calculated tone.
He and Yinsen point out various items and objects they want me to transport for them. Then once that was done, I let them out of the cave and gave them a truck. Stark used an RPG to detonate the various Stark Industries weapons the Ten Rings had gathered, and I sent them on their way.