Come and go as you please? Did anyone ask me?
Adam stood expressionless, surrounded by several Xenomorphs.
Originally, he could have quietly parasitized Abomination, built up his strength, and avoided revealing his power so soon.
But then Ikaris had shown up with hostile intentions.
"Since you're already here, you might as well stay."
If possible, Adam would have loved to add Ikaris to his growing collective.
A poor man's Superman Xenomorph would have been a massive boost to his forces.
Unfortunately, it was incredibly difficult. He didn't currently have the strength to defeat Ikaris, nor an easy opening to parasitize him.
Ikaris wouldn't be as straightforward a target as Abomination had been.
Rip!
Ikaris finally drew blood.
His opponent didn't just have fists and feet. It also possessed a powerful tail and the most terrifying weapon of all... the inner jaws that struck without warning.
The Xenomorph suddenly lashed out, its inner jaws tearing a chunk of flesh from Ikaris's face.
Ikaris's eyes widened. He touched his bloody cheek in disbelief, his gaze turning crimson.
Rage surged through him, but even stronger was an unfamiliar wave of anxiety.
He wasn't the Superman from the other universe. He could be injured. He could retreat. He could weigh whether a fight was worth the risk of exposing himself like this.
Most importantly, Ikaris had no idea where the Xenomorph's limits lay. The longer they fought, the stronger it got. It was maddening.
With a furious roar, Ikaris smashed his fist into the creature's face and unleashed a relentless barrage of punches at its head.
Both figures moved fast enough to shatter the sound barrier. The shockwaves they generated were like bombs, rippling visibly through the air.
Tanks opened fire. Armed helicopters launched missiles.
At this level of destruction, the military couldn't afford to stay on the sidelines any longer.
General Ross stood in a helicopter, staring blankly at the chaos unfolding before him.
If it had only been Abomination versus Hulk, there might have been a way to salvage the situation. Now? Forget it. He was headed straight for a court-martial.
"Who the hell is that flying guy?! Who is he fighting?!" Ross finally snapped. "Target both of them! Open fire!"
Ikaris took several shells and responded with a sweeping heat-vision beam that obliterated every helicopter in the formation, including Ross's.
The general was seconds away from death.
Iron Man swooped back in at the last moment, bracing the explosion with his back and grabbing Ross. He accelerated toward a nearby skyscraper.
"I don't like you, but you dying here would be a bad joke," Tony said.
"Tony Stark! You should have let those two monsters kill me."
"You're right. That would force the government to deal with them, and your super-soldier program could keep rolling." Tony dropped the words coldly and shot back into the sky, heading toward the battlefield.
Truthfully, he knew jumping into this fight with the Mark III was a terrible idea... the armor couldn't withstand those monsters' punches... but he had no choice.
At that moment, perhaps by chance, the Xenomorph took a brutal beating. Its head cracked open, spraying highly corrosive blood.
Ikaris's eyes lit up. He was about to finish it... that was how it should have gone. But the next second, corrosive fluid splashed across his face, and he let out a scream that barely sounded human.
Ikaris froze in horror as he felt his face literally melting.
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
He shrieked in agony, clutching his face. The motion only spread the blood to his hands, which began dissolving as well.
Deviants? No. This creature was a thousand times more terrifying than any Deviant. When injured, it only became more dangerous, inflicting even greater harm with its corrosive blood.
The Xenomorph went into a frenzy. Ignoring its rapidly healing wounds, it seized Ikaris in a crushing bear hug and hammered him downward.
Ikaris was driven through more than a dozen buildings. Though he still believed he would ultimately win if they continued, fighting an enemy that grew more lethal the closer it came to death was a losing proposition.
Weighing his options, Ikaris used the momentum to flee.
He fled with everything he had.
There was no point in fighting to the death against something that wasn't even a Deviant. Even if that human possessed unusual knowledge and hidden intelligence, those details no longer mattered.
In the end, Ikaris smashed upward through the penthouse of a skyscraper, turning the person in his path... General Ross... into a bizarre red mist that scattered in the wind.
He didn't slow down for even a second. Bathed in blood and gore, he streaked straight into the night sky and vanished from sight.
As for Ross? Sorry. No matter how powerful the man had been, Ikaris didn't care about ordinary humans. He only wanted to reach safety and rid himself of the acid eating down to the bone.
Tony Stark, who had been racing back toward the fight just seconds earlier, hovered silently in the air for a long moment before flying back down. He stared at the blood and wreckage on the rooftop.
"If I said Ross's death had nothing to do with me, that I didn't intentionally put him there, and it was purely an accident… Jarvis, do you think the judges would believe me?"
"Unlikely, sir. Based on the circumstances, the probability is low, but they lack concrete evidence."
"Good. Let's get our story straight, Jarvis. Don't slip up. If they ask whether it was deliberate or accidental..."
For the first time, Tony felt that being a superhero wasn't exactly easy.
A death was already complicated. When the deceased was someone as high-profile as Ross, and it happened because Tony had deliberately placed him in harm's way…
It was a nightmare.
Don't misunderstand... Tony wasn't mourning Ross. The man's shady dealings were an open secret. Even if Ross had survived tonight, his best outcome would have been life in prison.
No, Tony felt sorry for himself. He had barely started his career and was already dealing with this mess.
Tonight had been a harsh lesson. Abomination and Hulk were bad enough, but the two new powerhouses that followed fought with zero restraint. Their destructive power and the psychological impact on the public were on another level.
People were finally realizing that these superhumans lived among them, and when they stopped holding back, they could unleash catastrophe with ease.
Who could stop beings like that? The military's jets and artillery?
Not effectively. Heavy weapons couldn't be deployed everywhere, and even when they could, they might not work.
Tony turned his attention to the Xenomorph and quickly followed it, landing fifty meters in front of Adam.
The once-raging creature had calmed. Its massively swollen muscles were slowly contracting as it stood quietly beside Adam, showing none of its earlier ferocity.
"Impressive. It's almost like a well-behaved young lady. Though I'm guessing it doesn't have a gender."
Tony hovered in front of Adam, rapidly scanning the files Jarvis had compiled on him while speaking.
"Tony Stark. Nice to meet you under these circumstances," Adam said with a friendly smile.
"You're celebrating too early. A lot more trouble is about to come knocking." Tony replied. "Buddy, do you have any idea how much chaos those creatures of yours have caused around the world?"
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