"Stay still! Sir! Stay still! Sir! Stay still! Sir!"
"This isn't a joke, sir!"
Jarvis's alarmed voice rang out.
Stark was startled—he rarely heard Jarvis sound so panicked.
At the same time, Colonel Rhodes also received the same warning.
Neither of them dared to delay and immediately froze in place.
They saw a black shadow streak into the sky.
The fleeing machines suddenly responded to some unknown signal, all flocking toward the dark figure.
In an instant—dense, countless Ultron drones followed behind it.
"What the—?!"
Stark swallowed hard. When Jarvis's scans locked onto the shadow, his expression became complicated.
Saturday Sale!
Saitama's super artificial intelligence!
But this time, Saturday Sale appeared in human form—a flawless figure cloaked in black armor, as if she were death itself stalking the skies.
"It's Lady Saturday Sale!"
Jarvis's voice was full of respect and even admiration.
Saturday Sale's lips curved into a playful smile, and from them rose twin railgun turrets.
"I just picked up some of Ultron's data and mimicked a signal. Didn't think it'd work this well. Now, be good and let big sis take care of you~ fufufu~~"
The black figure halted in the air.
The false Ultron signal vanished.
The drones suddenly realized they'd been tricked and began to scatter.
But—
Zzap!
Zzap zap zap!
Blazing blue beams erupted from Saturday Sale's turrets.
Countless lances of light, forming a vast net, engulfed the machines.
High in the sky, with no obstacles to block her fire, Saturday Sale unleashed devastation with ease.
In just a few breaths—
Stark, Rhodes, and the others below watched as the sky lit up repeatedly, awash in blue light.
Then, shattered steel rained down in pieces.
Ultron's drones—this plague that never seemed to end—had just been annihilated in an instant.
Iron Man Stark: "..."
Colonel Rhodes: "...I'm starting to think she's the real war machine."
"They're all gone... just like that?"
Natasha stepped from the ruins, stunned.
"What just happened?"
Steve Rogers stood dumbfounded.
The refugees, who moments earlier had been fleeing slaughter, now looked up to see their tormentors obliterated, falling as broken scrap.
"We won!"
"We did it!"
"...But... Sokovia..."
Their faces lit with relief, only to darken again with dread.
Steve's eyes lingered on the rising city. As a hero, it stung to feel so powerless.
"Maybe... for a superhero, ending it here wouldn't be so bad."
Natasha suddenly smiled bitterly, as if resigned to tragedy.
"Jarvis, can we destroy Sokovia?"
Above, Stark had already taken flight, glaring at the ascending city.
"Sir, Sokovia's core is vibranium. We don't have the energy to destroy it!"
Jarvis reported grimly.
Stark didn't hesitate. He still flew upward. He wasn't the man he once was—his body was stronger now.
But Steve Rogers remained the same man he'd always been: unshakable.
Just as Stark broke into the upper air, his eyes widened.
On Sokovia's vast rising platform, a lone figure stood.
"S-Saitama?!" Stark shouted.
"Oh? Stark, you're here too? This place is dangerous—you'd better stay back."
Saitama glanced his way, face blank as always.
Stark: "..."
He hesitated, then couldn't hold back.
"If we find the vibranium core, we could destroy it from inside! Let me handle it!"
"That's a decent plan, but... no need to make it so troublesome."
Saitama replied casually.
"But... the power of those vibranium engines is too—"
Before Stark could finish, Saitama moved.
Now that Sokovia was rising, all that was needed... was to push it back down.
Suddenly, impossibly fast, even Stark's eyes couldn't keep up.
Below—
Thor stood at the core engine, waiting to act.
"Stark, when do we—"
But before he could finish, a figure approached.
"Oh. Saitama."
That was all Thor could manage as his jaw went slack.
Saitama flew straight toward a massive S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier—completely empty at the moment—and hauled it along like a wooden board.
He dragged the colossal craft above Sokovia, then dropped it dead center.
The deafening crash shook the earth.
Thor swallowed hard, Mjolnir trembling in his grip.
This... this bald guy was the real brute here.
"...My... my helicarrier~~~"
In the distance, Nick Fury's face twisted in agony.
He'd brought several secret helicarriers to rescue civilians, hoping to show off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s might in front of the Avengers, to prove they were indispensable.
But now?
His grand entrance was reduced to rubble before it even began.
The mighty helicarrier lay bent and broken, nothing but scrap.
Saitama braced his glowing feet, pressing down on the twisted deck like a colossal engine.
The "iron plate" absorbed the strain as Sokovia resisted his power.
Without it, Saitama feared he'd simply punch straight through the city, shattering it.
He didn't want that.
So he'd gone to the trouble of dragging this giant slab of steel here.
With a thunderous roar, Sokovia's engines groaned.
The upward thrust slowed.
The city stopped rising.
Then, gradually—it began to fall.
"...A monster..."
"Terrifying..."
"He held back an entire city?"
"Not just a city—an entire vibranium-powered city!"
"Saitama!!"
On Sokovia, Natasha, Steve, Stark, Thor—all of them stared wide-eyed. Fury, Hill, and the others were speechless.
All eyes fixed on the miracle above.
The floating city was sinking.
It had dropped about a hundred meters when—
BOOM!!
An explosion shook Sokovia from within.
"No!!"
Stark's face went pale as he shot forward.
(End of Chapter)
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