"You're looking at roughly two hundred armed Ten Rings operatives," Nick Fury said. "They're equipped with advanced Stark Industries weaponry. Some locations even have heavy armor, including main battle tanks."
The Ten Rings hadn't established themselves in Afghanistan through luck alone.
A constant flow of Stark Industries weapons had allowed them to entrench themselves, drive off hostile factions, and eventually become one of the dominant underground powers in the region.
Phil Coulson wanted very badly to refuse the assignment.
Everything about it sounded suicidal.
Fortunately, Fury had one final piece of information.
"Because the Ten Rings may have ties to Eastern martial artists and other unusual assets, we've requested support from the Human Supernatural Strategic Defense, Attack, and Logistics Bureau."
That immediately improved Coulson's mood.
The Bureau was the organization that had taken down Magneto and dismantled the Brotherhood.
Having them involved inspired far more confidence than any military briefing.
Fury continued.
"The map contains every Ten Rings base our sources have identified. Tony Stark is likely being held at one of them."
The temptation to simply unleash the U.S. military on every suspected location was strong.
Unfortunately, that would come with a steep cost in casualties.
And Afghanistan was already becoming a nightmare.
The American military presence in Afghanistan was in turmoil.
Tony Stark.
The famous billionaire playboy.
CEO of Stark Industries.
One of the most recognizable men in the world.
He had been kidnapped on their watch.
The scandal had exploded across the United States.
The pressure landed squarely on the shoulders of Lieutenant General John Scott, commander of American forces in Afghanistan.
Scott was no ordinary officer.
A graduate of West Point, former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and former NATO ground forces commander, he possessed extensive military and political connections.
Even so, the pressure coming from the Pentagon was enough to make anyone sweat.
In response, he launched Operation Forest Python.
Nearly one-third of all American troops stationed in Afghanistan had been mobilized.
The 2nd Battalion of the 160th Aviation Regiment.
The 1st Brigade, 87th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division.
The 187th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division.
SEAL teams.
Delta Force operators.
They were all participating in the operation.
At the same time, Scott activated political contacts within the Afghan government, attempting to establish communication channels with the Ten Rings.
The relationship between the U.S. military and the Ten Rings was complicated.
Both sides shared common enemies.
They had occasionally cooperated against Taliban forces.
American personnel had even trained some Ten Rings fighters.
As a result, the military possessed unusually detailed intelligence regarding their capabilities.
Scott slammed a hand onto the table.
"Increase the search efforts."
His voice was cold.
"Tony Stark cannot die."
He scanned the room.
"Otherwise, every one of us can look forward to spending the rest of our careers planting potatoes in Alaska."
Nobody laughed.
Tony Stark's value extended far beyond his title as chairman of Stark Industries.
A third of America's active military arsenal came directly from Stark Industries production lines.
Another quarter had been developed with Tony's involvement.
A significant portion had been personally designed by him.
If a mind like that fell into enemy hands, the consequences would be disastrous.
Technical specifications.
Weapons systems.
Defense protocols.
The damage could be immense.
There was even the possibility that Tony had embedded hidden access points into military hardware.
The risks were endless.
Meanwhile, Drex Valen walked alone through the Afghan wilderness.
The landscape stretched endlessly around him.
Dust-colored mountains rose and fell like the spine of some ancient beast.
Under the blazing sun, the barren terrain possessed a harsh beauty.
This was a place where life struggled to survive.
No settlements.
No roads.
No signs of civilization.
Only wilderness.
Decades earlier, during the Soviet-Afghan conflict, millions of landmines had been buried throughout the region.
More were planted during the withdrawal.
Over the years, countless shepherds had been killed or maimed.
Eventually, people stopped bringing livestock into these areas altogether.
Humans retreated.
Wildlife flourished.
The Panjwai region had become one of the strangest ecosystems in Afghanistan.
Drex wasn't here for the scenery.
He was here for Tony Stark.
During the rainy season, the terrain became even worse.
Dry riverbeds transformed into natural barriers.
The maze-like geography had frustrated invading armies for centuries.
The British had struggled here.
The Russians had struggled here.
The Americans were struggling here.
After crossing a series of rugged ridgelines, Drex finally located what he was searching for.
A Ten Rings base.
A large one.
Most Ten Rings compounds housed two to four hundred fighters.
This particular installation contained over seven hundred.
Several armored fighting vehicles sat parked in the open.
More than twenty military transport trucks occupied the surrounding area.
A battery of M777 howitzers had been positioned nearby.
The amount of equipment on display was staggering.
There was no way opium fields and human trafficking alone could have funded all of it.
Drex activated his communicator.
"Blonsky. Cain."
His enhanced senses had already pinpointed Tony Stark's location.
Since the target was found, there was no reason for him to personally clean up the trash.
"You can come over now."
The moment he finished speaking, two figures appeared beside him.
Teleportation.
Their transport had been provided by a recent recruit.
Azazel.
The former Brotherhood member.
Drex had taken a liking to his abilities.
Rather than forcing the mutant cure on him, he had offered recruitment instead.
Azazel had wisely accepted.
Especially after Drex demonstrated that escaping was pointless by tracking him down almost instantly every time he tried.
"Director."
Azazel nodded respectfully.
Drex pointed toward the base.
"Kill everyone in there."
He paused.
"Except Tony Stark and a man named Yinsen."
The order couldn't have been clearer.
"Everyone else is expendable."
Cain Marko grinned.
Now that sounded like a mission.
"I like this one."
Blonsky looked equally pleased.
Few things appealed to him more than an opportunity to demonstrate overwhelming power.
The two transformed simultaneously.
Muscles expanded.
Bones cracked.
Skin changed.
Moments later, Abomination and Hulk-Juggernaut stood towering over the landscape.
Then both monsters launched themselves toward the compound.
Azazel watched them go.
A hint of sympathy crossed his face.
He had seen what Hulks could do.
Sending those creatures against ordinary soldiers felt less like a battle and more like using a sledgehammer to crush insects.
Unlike Cain, who charged directly toward the compound, Blonsky chose a more calculated approach.
Abomination landed atop an armored fighting vehicle.
The impact shook the entire machine violently.
Dust exploded into the air.
Before anyone could react, he grabbed the turret.
Metal shrieked.
With raw brute force, he ripped the entire turret assembly free from the vehicle.
Turret.
Autoloader.
Internal mounting systems.
Everything.
He hurled it away casually.
The massive chunk of metal crashed into a military truck, reducing it to scrap.
Then Abomination jumped down.
His hands seized one of the vehicle's road wheels.
Muscles bulged.
With a roar, he lifted.
A twenty-ton armored vehicle flipped completely over.
The machine rolled across the ground and crushed a nearby transport truck into twisted metal.
In less than ten seconds, Abomination had eliminated the only armored vehicles capable of posing even a minor threat to him.
The slaughter had begun.