The Mandarin?

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Tony and I make our way up the stairs as silently as possible until we get to a double door. This must be a main room.

Tony goes in first and holds his gun ready while I cover him from behind.

We make our way into the bedroom and Tony pulls the duvet off the bed, revealling two girls. Tony shushes them and then the toilet flushes. I point my gun to the door.

What was this place? I was ready to expect anything. It looked like a frat house but slightly abandoned.

We hide behind the head board and listen in.

"Well, I wouldn't go in there for 20 minutes. Now, which one of you is Vanessa?" The man who looks but doesn't sound like the Mandarin laughs. We keep our guard up.

"That's me." The brunette girl spoke up sitting up on the bed.
"Ah! Nessie. Did you know that fortune cookies aren't even Chinese?" The man chuckled.

Who the fuck was this guy? I thought, as I gave a look to Tony, who had the same expression on as me that clearly read "what the fuck".

"There's some people over here." Vanessa ratted us out. Luckily the guy ignored the girl.

"They're made by Americans, based on a Japanese recipe." He continues absolutely oblivious. This can't be the right guy.

Tony gives me a look and I nod agreeing. "3,2,1." I mouth and then we jump out of hiding with our guns raised.
"Hey!" Tony announces and the Mandarin raises his hands.

"Bloody hell. Bloody hell." He repeats looking towards the girls.
"Don't move." I warn him.

"I'm not moving. You want something? Take it. Although the guns are all fake because those wankers wouldn't trust me with the real ones." He tells us making me even more confused. Was this all an act? Made up by Killian to endure fear in the public and overthrow the president?

"What?" Tony and I ask together confused.

"Hey, do you fancy either of the birds? Although you've got a pretty one yourself there." He smirks.

"Heard enough. You're not him. The Mandarin, the real guy." Tony states to which I nod in agreement too.
"Where? Where's the Mandarin? Where is he?" I demand as I load my gun.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. He's here. He's here, but he's not here. He's here, but he's not here." He repeats till he almost goes blue in the face. He sits down and Tony and I crowd round him.

"What do you mean?" I ask.
"It's complicated. Hey, it's complicated."
"It is?" Tony asks sarcastically.
"It's complicated."
"Uncomplicate it. Ladies, out. Get out of the bed. Get into the bathroom. Sit." I command and they do as their told. The door closes and I see the guy crawling on the floor so I send a warning shot millimetres from his head. The women in the bathroom scream in fear.

"My name is Trevor. Trevor Slattery." The man spoke as he sat back in his chair.

"What are you? What are you, a decoy? You're a double, right?" Tony asks.

"What, you mean like an understudy? No, absolutely not." He snaps back making Tony point the gun at Trevor's face directly.
"Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor." He almost screams.

"You got a minute to live. Fill it with words." Tony tells him.
"It's just a role. "The Mandarin," see, it's not real."

Yeah I got that far.

"Then how did you get here, Trevor?" I press.

"Um. Well, I, um, had a little problem with, um, substances. And I ended up, um, doing things, no two ways about it, in the street, that a man shouldn't do." He told me as if I was stupid as he laid back, making me hold back an eye roll.

Please I dealt with the God of Mischief a couple months ago. I knew about drug dealers on the street.

"Next?" I sigh bored.

"Then, they approached me about the role and they knew about the drugs." He rambled making Tony and I share a look of despair.

"What did they say? They'd get you off them?" Tony asks.

"They said they'd give me more. They gave me things. They gave me this palace. They gave me plastic surgery. They gave me things." He trails off as he closes his eyes and then snores can be heard.

I give Tony an incredulous look. Are you fricken kidding me?

"Did he just nod off? Hey." I exclaim as I kick him. He wakes back up again, happy as Larry and continues right where he left off.

"No and a lovely speedboat. And the thing was, he needed someone to take credit for some accidental explosions." He says as he mimics an explosion.

What was this guy on?

""He"? Killian?" I ask as we finally lower our guns knowing this guy was as much of a threat as Thor when he sees Pop Tarts.
"Killian." Trevor confirms.
"He created you?" Tony asks.
"He created me."
"Custom-made terror threat."
"Yes. Yes. His think tank thinked it up. The pathology of a serial killer. The manipulation of Western iconography. Ready for another lesson? Blah, blah, blah. No. Of course, it was my performance that brought the Mandarin to life." He spoke as he stood back up and roamed the room.

Tony sat on the edge of the bed while I stood still with my gun in my hand ready for anything.

"Your performance? Where people died?" I raise my voice pissed off right now. There are so many better things I could be doing.

"No, they didn't. Look around you. The costumes, green screen. Honestly, I wasn't on location for half this stuff. And when I was, it was movie magic, love."

"I'm sorry, but I got a best friend who's in a coma and he might not wake up. So you're gonna have to answer for that. You're still going down, pal. You under..." As Tony talks we both feel a presence behind us and the look in Trevor's eyes confirm it. Tony whips around to strike while I hold my gun back up ready to shoot.

The bald guy from last night managed to punch Tony enough to knock him out and then he jumped to me. I shot him just above his heart but his skin practically repelled the bullet making me eyes widen. He kicked me in the chest making the wind knock out my lungs and I'm sent backwards. He then twists my arm around making me drop my gun and he picks it up and knocks me out with it.

All I can feel is pain as I drop down next to Tony and dose off.

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