"Karl Norman? We hadn't even gone looking for you yet, and you delivered yourself right to our doorstep."
Everett stood there with his hands on his hips, looking perfectly self-assured as he stared at Karl floating in midair. He didn't believe Karl would dare openly slaughter everyone here—unless he genuinely had a death wish.
Unfortunately for him, he vastly overestimated himself… or rather, the authority of the American government. Karl simply didn't care.
Completely ignoring everyone present, Karl descended from the sky and casually walked toward the building without even sparing Everett a glance.
Everett's face instantly darkened.
Karl's disregard felt like a brutal slap across the face. As the current leader of the Avengers, he absolutely could not tolerate anyone challenging his authority.
He immediately raised a hand.
Click-click-click—
A rapid chorus of weapons being cocked echoed through the area as all the surrounding agents stepped forward, surrounding Karl completely.
"Stand down!!"
At that moment, Tony, Natasha, Rhodey, and the others hurried out, Tony shouting for everyone to stop.
On the surface, it looked like he was trying to save Karl.
In reality, he was trying to save the agents surrounding him.
Their superior might have been a complete idiot, but those agents were only following orders. They didn't deserve to die.
Tony's shout caused everyone to hesitate, and they all turned toward Everett, waiting for his command.
"Tony Stark, I am the supreme leader of the Avengers now. You have no authority to command anyone. I hereby order the Avengers to immediately arrest Karl Norman!"
The moment he finished speaking, a snort of laughter sounded from behind Tony.
Natasha pressed a hand to her forehead with an awkward expression.
Everyone turned toward the source of the laugh.
Two men in black suits stood behind the crowd, watching the situation unfold with amused expressions. The one laughing was the man with braided hair—none other than Wakanda's prince, Erik.
That's right. The two who had walked over were T'Challa and Erik.
As king, T'Challa needed to maintain royal decorum at all times. Erik, however, didn't care. Though he was a prince, his behavior was entirely unconventional. He acted however he pleased.
"Tony, if the leader of your Avengers is really this brainless, then you'd better leave sooner rather than later. If you've got nowhere to go, you can come back to Wakanda with me."
Given T'Challa's status, nobody dared say anything in response.
After all, Wakanda held a seat in the United Nations, while the Avengers were nominally under UN jurisdiction.
Everett's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
His authority and dignity had been openly challenged, something he absolutely could not tolerate. As a member of the Ross family, he had perfectly inherited Ross's arrogance and self-importance.
At the same time, however, he realized something.
Though he technically held the highest authority over the Avengers, he couldn't command these heroes who had signed the Accords at all.
The only people who obeyed him were the agents and military personnel.
"Director Ross, do you really want to watch this entire base get flattened?"
Tony stood at the front of the crowd. With Steve gone, the Avengers had naturally begun centering around him.
"Flattened? Does he really think he can oppose the entire United States? Does he dare?!"
Everett sneered disdainfully.
In his understanding, no one dared challenge America—not even the Avengers. Weren't they all obediently controlled now?
"Let's head upstairs. No need to waste time on this idiot."
Karl completely ignored Everett and walked straight toward Tony and the others.
"Stop right there! Take one more step and it will be considered an attack on Avengers Headquarters! We are authorized to execute you on the spot!!"
Everett had completely lost his temper. He was practically ready to order everyone to open fire.
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, a green wind blade flashed through the air.
The next second, Everett was sliced cleanly in half, collapsing onto the ground like slaughtered livestock.
Splat.
Karl glanced back at the surrounding agents and soldiers, violet lightning flickering within his eyes.
"Anyone moves… dies."
His voice was calm, but it sounded like whispers rising from the depths of hell itself.
Everyone froze in place as though struck by paralysis.
No one had expected the previously arrogant Director Ross to be split in half in the blink of an eye.
They stared at Karl in terror, too frightened to move. Their hands and feet had gone cold, and some could barely even hold onto their guns anymore.
"Karl, you really caused trouble this time. He was connected to the Secretary of State."
Natasha didn't even glance at the corpse, speaking in a teasing tone instead.
"The Secretary of State? Ross? Does he dare come after me?"
Karl looked utterly unconcerned.
He hadn't even gone looking for Ross yet. Ross coming after him?
"Clean this up."
Tony sighed helplessly.
The UN had actually appointed an idiot like this to lead them. Tony was starting to regret signing the Accords in the first place.
He'd originally thought tighter regulation of superpowered individuals might reduce collateral damage and crime.
Who would've guessed the higher-ups would send over a complete pig?
Dead was probably for the best.
Now command of Avengers Headquarters had effectively fallen into his hands, and he could finally make the place function properly.
Meanwhile, Nick Fury had already slipped into the base in disguise and was currently handing Sharon a USB drive.
"These are the leads we found. There's someone behind Bucky. That person's goal is to tear the Avengers apart from within."
Sharon accepted the drive, but before she could respond, a report came through her earpiece.
Director Everett had been killed by Karl.
Cut cleanly in half.
Sharon's jaw nearly hit the floor.
She glanced at Fury, then immediately sprinted toward the command center.
This incident had definitely already reached the higher-ups. It was going to be difficult to contain.
Sure enough, by the time she arrived at the command room, everyone was already there—except for T'Challa, Erik, and Karl.
On the large screen, Ross was angrily questioning Tony and Sharon about why Karl had murdered the base director inside Avengers Headquarters and was still walking free.
"Mr. Secretary, do you honestly think we're capable of stopping Karl?"
Tony didn't hold back at all.
At this point, he had already become deeply disappointed with the new Avengers structure.
After hearing what happened, Ross's first reaction hadn't been damage control or handling the aftermath.
Instead, he immediately started interrogating and assigning blame without offering a single solution.
Hidden among the crowd, the disguised Nick Fury silently shook his head.
This situation absolutely could not be handled like this.
Karl hated people throwing authority around—especially government officials.
If Ross kept this up, things would only escalate further.
Karl might very well blow up another government building next.
Hell, he might even bomb the White House.
"Tony Stark, mind your position. You are no longer the reckless so-called superhero you once were. You belong to the state now. You will obey orders."
Nick Fury suddenly chuckled softly.
As expected of General Ross.
Always quick to hide behind the banner of "the nation" to pressure others.
That tactic might work on ordinary people.
It meant absolutely nothing to Tony Stark.
If Tony wanted to, he could personally drag the Secretary of State down from power and install another one in his place.
That was simply how politics worked in a capitalist country.
Capital controlled everything.
Even the nation itself.
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