What should have been a flight of over an hour and nearly two hours was shortened by Stark by one-third.
From the moment of takeoff until landing at the incident site, counting it all up only 63 minutes had passed in between.
Speaking of fast, it was indeed fast enough.
But even so, he still didn't make it in time.
"Hey, you."
Standing among a group of police officers, Stark looked around and selected one who seemed more agreeable to him.
While stepping forward and lifting his faceplate, looking at the red-nosed officer whose expression mixed depression, anger, relief, and excitement, Stark asked seriously: "When you arrived, did you see a big guy over two meters tall? Very burly build, bald, East Asian..."
"Don't know if you're looking for the same person."
The white officer nodded: "There was indeed a big guy who was just taken away by the chief. If nothing unexpected happened, he should be at the police station by now."
"Thanks."
Nodding, Stark closed his faceplate preparing to take off.
Suddenly remembering something, he opened his faceplate again and pointed to the officer phone in his pocket: "Thanks for the intel."
Leaving behind this remark, Stark flew into the sky with a streak of flames disappearing from the sight of the police officers who were cleaning up the scene.
At the same time, the officer he had questioned suddenly received a text message from his bank on his phone.
It turned out that to thank him for providing information, Stark had instructed Jarvis to transfer twenty thousand dollars to his personal account.
"Wow, he's really generous."
"Paul, you're treating us when we get off work."
Because of this unexpected windfall, the frustration from being called out for overtime was alleviated and the anger generated from hearing about large-scale gunfights in their jurisdiction gradually subsided.
Looking at his colleagues gathering around, the officer named Paul smiled: "Alright, late-night snacks are on me. Guys, let's speed up and finish work early."
"You're the boss."
"No problem."
Not mentioning the officers whose enthusiasm had suddenly increased significantly, on the other side Stark had already flown over three blocks and arrived at the New York City Police Department.
Having Jarvis pull up the building structural diagram and immediately locate the chief office, Stark didn't hesitate at all.
He flew directly to the window of this room and raised his armored right hand to gently knock on the window.
Perhaps because wearing armor made it difficult to control his strength or perhaps because through the glass window, he saw a familiar face in the room that he hadn't expected at all causing him to lose control of his force...
"Bang!"
After just one knock, several pieces of glass on the window shattered into fragments.
"..."
Only now noticing Iron Man floating outside the window, Chief George Stacy frowned as he stood up and came to the window to open it: "Mr. Stark, next time you visit, please use the front door, OK?"
"Sorry."
Entering through the window, Stark opened his faceplate: "I'll cover the repair costs."
Although he felt somewhat apologetic, at this moment Stark really didn't have the mood to chat much with the police chief in front of him.
After entering the room, he directly turned his gaze to Shi Xiaolei sitting on the sofa: "Rock, are you alright?"
"Hi, Tony."
Thinking that Stark should be able to provide some help through his connections and influence, that's why he had instructed 2B to call him.
Honestly, Shi Xiaolei really hadn't expected Tony Stark to come personally.
After all, his body hadn't fully recovered yet and he was in Los Angeles, separated from New York on the East Coast by the entire continental United States.
At this moment seeing Stark appear before him, Shi Xiaolei was truly moved.
And also somewhat apologetic.
Looking at Stark, Shi Xiaolei smiled embarrassedly and asked with some concern: "I didn't expect you to come personally. Speaking of which, how's your body? Have you recovered enough?"
"About eighty to ninety percent."
After answering Shi Xiaolei inquiry, Stark nodded to the other two people nearby: "Long time no see, Coulson, May."
"Hello."
With his consistently gentle attitude and the same smile as when they last met, Coulson extended his hand: "Although the occasion isn't quite right... nice to see you, Mr. Stark."
May didn't speak, only nodded to Stark which counted as a greeting.
"So, who's going to explain to me what exactly the situation is now?"
With some doubt in his heart, Stark turned around and looked at George Stacy: "Chief 'Sir' can you explain why my friend was brought here? Since Coulson is here, I believe you must have gotten intelligence from him and should know that my friend isn't the responsible party."
"Because I need to know more."
Meeting Stark questioning gaze, Stacy gave his answer with a somewhat firm attitude.
The welcoming smile from earlier didn't mean that Stacy positioned himself as subordinate to Tony Stark.
Although American police salaries are allocated from tax revenue and they tend to be more respectful to the wealthy who provide those taxes, there are always exceptions.
For instance, George Stacy was that kind of good police officer with an extremely strong sense of justice who would ignore his own interests to uphold justice.
I don't care if you're a major taxpayer or not; what I need to do is fulfill my responsibility as police chief.
Sure enough, after giving Stark his answer Stacy looked at Shi Xiaolei again and continued his previous questioning: "Mr. Rock, do you really not know what those guys who suddenly appeared were all about?"
"Sorry, I really have no idea."
Shi Xiaolei face showed some frustration, and he scratched his head with visible irritation: "In fact, I'm not even entirely certain about the background of that first wave of soldiers. Initially, I didn't suspect they were impersonators, but after the gunfight broke out I couldn't help but have some doubts. I mean, if they really were active-duty soldiers with official identities... this is American soil and New York at that. I really don't understand why someone would choose to make their move here, especially against a group of on-duty military personnel executing a mission."
While Shi Xiaolei was responding to Stacy questions, May who had been standing quietly behind Coulson, suddenly raised her hand to cover her ear.
Receiving investigation results from logistics personnel through her earpiece, May lowered her arm and leaned close to Coulson ear to report very quietly.
"Are you certain?"
Coulson, who had been calm-faced until now, suddenly looked grave.
"According to the backend investigation, yes."
May also appeared very serious: "There was a surveillance camera installed by a voyeur near the scene, hidden very discreetly and not destroyed. Through the footage captured by this camera... although he was wearing a hood and didn't expose his face, by comparing other characteristics, we can basically confirm that he is Agent 47, who has already died in the line of duty."