Stark had been missing for almost a week. U.S. forces in Afghanistan deployed all non-combat personnel, planes, cars, and even brought in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and PJ Pararescue teams from the homeland. Even PMC companies in Afghanistan were hired to search for Tony Stark.
Even Fisher, far away in America, received a call from the military, hoping he could send more personnel from Iraq, and it would be even better if they had aircraft and drones. Fisher initially wanted to refuse, but the military stated that all expenses would be covered, overtime would be triple pay, and losses would be compensated fivefold.
"I really didn't want to agree at first, but the price they offered was simply too high!" - by Fisher Jingze
So, with the attitude of 'nothing to lose, everything to gain,' Fisher again dispatched a group of personnel and a Y32 Xian VTOL transport aircraft (from ArmA 3's Guangzhou Pact Strategic Alliance faction), originally intended to support the CIA's Black Ops, from the Gigas base in Iraq.
The Y32 looks very similar to the Quinjet equipped by S.H.I.E.L.D., but it doesn't have as many black technologies as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Quinjet. The reason Fisher had the R&D department build this was mainly to try and 'piggyback' on S.H.I.E.L.D., to see if they could get some copyright fees. Although the Y32 is called a transport aircraft, it can carry a 30mm cannon, air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, anti-radiation missiles, and can also mount rocket launcher pods with 192 rounds. At the same time, it can transport 20 fully armed soldiers or carry two MD-type armed mobile gun turrets.
Although reinforcements arrived, the search operation still yielded no clues. Afghanistan has too many mountains, with mountains connected to ravines. Thousands of search personnel scattered across the land were like salt dissolving in the ocean, disappearing in an instant. Poor Tony Stark could only shiver in a cave, trying to find a way to escape.
Unlike the pitiful Stark, Obadiah was ecstatic. With Stark missing, the board of directors had become his personal domain. He could sell weapons to whomever he pleased: African warlords, European gangs, Latin American drug dealers—he refused no one. As long as you had the money, Stark Industries would serve you. Although Obadiah didn't sell too many of the highly destructive big weapons, ordinary cruise missiles and drones were available in unlimited quantities. Thanks to his efforts, Stark Industries' stock even rose instead of falling.
Obadiah was happy, but the ordinary people in various war-torn regions were unlucky. The ethnic cleansing among African warlords became more efficient, and these 'black uncles' who only knew how to run and shoot AKs even dared to attack peacekeeping forces.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, South America, the Military Police (BOPE), responsible for eradicating drug dealers, initially thought that with their Gigas urban combat-specialized armored vehicles, they would have an absolute advantage. However, the overwhelming barrage of rockets that flew at them taught them what 'quantity over quality' meant, and the ordinary civilians living in the favelas also suffered heavy casualties.
The most tragic situation was in the small Eastern European country of Sokovia. In this world, there was no Sokovia of Doctor Doom. Already struggling due to a lack of resources, the Chechens, who made up a third of the country's population, felt that their inability to get rich was due to government incompetence. After acquiring funds through drug trafficking and human trafficking, they ordered massive amounts of weapons from Stark and launched a coup, attempting to overthrow Sokovia's existing government and enslave and sell civilians of other ethnic groups. Overnight, war engulfed the entire nation.
Countless bloodshed and deaths did not awaken Obadiah's conscience; in fact, they only stimulated him further. To produce enough goods, Obadiah even built two new production lines within a month.
"Under my leadership, Stark Industries will become number one in the world! Not some Tony Stark. Without me, neither he nor his father could have achieved what they have today!"
Having ambition is not wrong, but Obadiah underestimated Tony Stark's role. The R&D projects originally handled by Tony Stark himself were taken over by Obadiah's R&D team after his disappearance. However, while Tony Stark could complete one percent of the progress in three days, Obadiah's researchers hadn't even grasped the blueprints and models in three days, let alone started operating. And before leaving, Tony Stark cunningly hid a pile of blueprints and archives in his basement, a place even Pepper didn't know about, which made Obadiah feel as uncomfortable as eating a cake filled with dog poop.
But as soon as he thought about how much the plans Tony Stark left behind would help his business empire, Obadiah became invigorated, coercing and enticing his subordinates, saying, "As long as you produce results, there will be plenty of money!"
As the saying goes, 'heavy rewards attract brave men.' Faced with the boss's blatant monetary offensive, a group of scientists all made solemn vows, declaring that from then on, the laboratory was their home, the instruments were their wives, and they would never leave until they produced results.
Indeed, with the incentive, research progress immediately accelerated significantly. The impulse engine Tony Stark had been researching was still just a blueprint when he left, but now, those scientists had already manually put together a prototype.
"Very good, very good. I'll give you bonuses and three days off to spend with your families, and then come back and finish all the remaining work!" After learning that the wind tunnel test had been successful, Obadiah's old face looked twenty years younger as he cheerfully encouraged his scientists.
"Thank you, boss!"
Smiling, he watched the scientists leave for their vacation. Obadiah was also planning to go have a drink and relax when his phone suddenly rang.
"This is Obadiah! What? Say that again!"
"Boss, Tony Stark isn't dead. He's alive, and he's already been taken to the U.S. military base by the mercenaries who found him!"
"How is that possible, he..." Obadiah's words trailed off. He had never expected that those terrorists would dare to lie to him.
"I understand. You guys take good care of him over there, keep him stable, and remember, don't give yourselves away!"
"Yes!"
On the other end of the phone was Obadiah's confidant in the Middle East, responsible for subtly delivering the weapons Obadiah sold into the hands of terrorist buyers. That's right, through various 'accidents,' he was practically the Taliban's transport captain. Although he didn't know Obadiah wanted to kill Tony Stark, he knew that if his involvement was investigated, he would be finished. Tony Stark would definitely use his connections to send him to Guantanamo Bay to 'pick up soap.'
However, since his boss had spoken, he could only pretend to be incredibly excited and enthusiastic, rushing to Stark's bedside, who was lying in the hospital bed, to pledge his loyalty, sending over all the good nutritional supplements he had saved up.