◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones. or 500 Collections
◇ You can read 90 chapter ahead on P@treon of which 10 are free Chapters. if you're interested: patreon.com/Heroicverse
------------------------------------------------
Boom—
The dark night sky was instantly lit up, then quickly returned to darkness…
"Phew, sorry, it looks like I'm the one who won in the end."
Tony Stark let out a long breath, then glanced at the time on his watch, and turned to the surrounding Fire Lizard Warriors with a triumphant look, saying fearlessly:
"I'm sure you heard your boss say that as long as I could defeat him before the public execution time ended, he would let President Ellis go… All right, now you can do as he said."
Although this battle resulted in the loss of a Mark 43 Hunter Armor worth at least over 500 million U.S. dollars, Tony Stark didn't feel any heartache.
Because no matter how much money was spent, it couldn't compare to the long-term benefits of successfully rescuing the President!
As a successful top businessman, Tony Stark understood better than anyone how enormous the potential value was here.
The only thing that worried him now was whether these Fire Lizard Warriors would keep their promise and let him and the President leave.
Considering that the Mark 43 Hunter Armor was destroyed and Human Torch, that useless guy, was captured alive, Tony Stark could only silently pray in his heart that these people in front of him were all trustworthy…
However, the surrounding Fire Lizard Warriors all stood in place, unmoving, neither attacking him nor planning to let them go.
At this moment, Eric Savin, who was holding Human Torch and walking onto the bridge, chewed gum and looked at Tony Stark's back with a half-smile, saying:
"Boss, stop playing, the execution time is almost here!!"
"Boss? Are they calling me… Huh, wait a minute, could Killian… not be dead?!"
Tony Stark was instantly shocked and turned around incredulously to look behind him, only to see Aldrich Killian's figure, who had appeared behind him at some unknown point.
Completely different from his previous glamorous image, the explosion just now had clearly caused huge trauma to Aldrich Killian's body.
His exposed upper body was covered with shocking, hideous wounds and cracks on his skin. If these injuries were on any other ordinary person, they would have probably died on the spot.
However, even though Extremis had powerful self-healing abilities, it failed to completely heal these injuries on Aldrich Killian's body immediately.
After all, all Mark series armors after the Mark 6 New Energy Armor used the third-generation "new element" energy arc reactor, which, from a certain perspective, actually originated from the energy overflowing from the Space Stone.
It was precisely for this reason that during the Battle of New York, Loki, holding the mind stone, failed to transform Tony Stark through the power of the mind stone.
From this, one can see how terrifying the power of the explosion just now was!
However, Aldrich Killian, eager for "revenge," clearly didn't care about his injuries. As long as he didn't die, they would eventually heal slowly.
So he raised his hand and grabbed Tony Stark's neck, lifting him into the air, then grinned and said:
"Look, you finally have the guts to come out of that turtle shell, but unfortunately, the one who won this duel in the end… is me!!"
With that, he directly threw Tony Stark, like a dead dog, in front of Eric Savin on the opposite side, instructing:
"Tie him up with that Avengers member. They'll be publicly executed with President Ellis during the live broadcast later."
So a few minutes later, two more figures appeared in the live broadcast…
Tony Stark and the energy-depleted Human Torch were suspended, one on each side, of President Matthew Ellis.
The three of them looked at each other like brothers in distress, a scene that appeared both comical and amusing!
But the only one who couldn't smile was probably President Matthew Ellis.
He had originally thought he was saved this time.
Who would have thought that two more "cellmates" had arrived instead?
S.H.I.E.L.D. is all useless!
Since the battle between the two of them and Aldrich Killian's group had not been captured by the cameras, the onlookers in front of their televisions didn't know what had just happened.
Now, seeing Tony Stark and Human Torch also being hung up, everyone was first bewildered, and then fell into endless panic.
Because if even Iron Man and members of the Avengers couldn't rescue the President from the Ten Rings Gang terrorists, then who could?
… … … …
… …
At the same time.
On the Sky Carrier, which was returning at full speed.
When Nick Fury saw Tony Stark and Human Torch captured, his face immediately darkened. He slammed his fist on the table and couldn't help but curse loudly:
"Motherfucker, are those two useless? And isn't Human Torch's superpower controlling fire? Why was he caught by those fire-breathing terrorists… The Avengers' face is almost completely lost because of those two!!"
Blaming others first when encountering problems has almost become his standard operating procedure.
"Fury, they probably fell into the enemy's trap."
Captain America thought for a moment and said, "The top priority now is to quickly locate their position through the signal, and then notify the Military to send support…"
"Captain, I'm afraid there isn't enough time," Black Widow interrupted, looking at the time with a grim expression.
Everyone fell into a moment of silence upon hearing this.
"No, we can't just give up on Jonathan. There must still be a way, right?"
Seeing the anxious expression on her brother Jonathan's face on the screen, Susan Stone said to Nick Fury with a slight tremor in her voice, "Director, please, think of a way quickly?"
But who would have thought that Nick Fury would roar at her with a distorted face, "If there was a way, do you think I would just stand by and watch the President and those two be publicly executed? This is simply a slap in the face to me and S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
"But…"
Susan Stone's eyes immediately reddened, but she also knew that what he said was the truth.
However, for her brother, she was unwilling to give up, even if there was a one-in-ten-thousand chance, she was willing to try.
So she looked to the other members of the Avengers for help, hoping to get some assistance from them.
However, everyone turned their heads away, no one daring to meet her gaze directly.
It wasn't that they didn't want to help her, but that they were powerless in this matter.
Leaving aside the newly joined members of the Avengers.
If there really was a way, just Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Bruce Banner, these veteran members, would never stand by and watch Tony Stark die there.
"Fury, perhaps that man has a way to save Tony and the others, as long as he is willing to open a portal…"
Captain America mustered his courage and looked at Nick Fury, while Maria Hill and Black Widow beside him cast worried glances at him.
Because the man he was talking about was clearly Karl!
However, Karl's name had always been regarded as a taboo within S.H.I.E.L.D., and no one dared to mention it in front of Nick Fury.
"Captain, what do you mean?!"
As expected, Captain America's words were not finished before he was rudely interrupted by a furious Nick Fury, who hysterically questioned:
"Are you asking me to seek help from the culprit who directly led to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s decline?!!"
"I know there's a deep grudge between you…"
Captain America stood up, arguing without backing down, "But the situation is critical right now. We can't just stand by and watch Tony and the President be executed, can we?"
"Do you think I want this?"
Nick Fury's pupils constricted sharply when he saw the other party dare to openly contradict him, the Commander, and he roared:
"But the problem is, how can you be sure that there isn't that guy's covert manipulation behind this matter?"
"Ah, this…" Before Captain America could argue, Nick Fury continued to roar:
"If you think this is just my malicious speculation, then how do you explain The Daily Bugle issuing a relevant warning before Dr. Curt Connors, who transformed into a Lizard Man, released the 'Lizard Virus'?!"
"…" Captain America's sturdy figure trembled upon hearing this.
Although he was an old-fashioned person, during this period of gathering intelligence, he had gained some understanding of the rapidly rising The Daily Bugle.
There was no other way; The Daily Bugle's revelations in recent times had simply been too accurate and ahead of their time!
In fact, most of the time, their news was far more informed than S.H.I.E.L.D.'s.
So much so that many S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents now, before investigating clues, would secretly log onto The Daily Bugle's official website to search for relevant information, behind Nick Fury's back…
If one or two times could be brushed off as a "source" leaking information, then when this pattern became commonplace, it was clearly quite unusual!
Unless someone on The Daily Bugle's staff possessed the superpower to foresee major future events.
Otherwise, the most likely scenario was that The Daily Bugle was more or less involved in these major events…
Or rather, the man hidden behind The Daily Bugle—Karl Merks—was involved in it!!
However, since S.H.I.E.L.D. had never been able to find any useful clues, they had always been unable to confirm this point.
But now that Nick Fury himself had said it, even Captain America couldn't refute it.
For a moment, the Bridge again fell silent.
Susan Stone slumped in her chair, her face filled with despair, staring at the large screen, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.
The others also felt bad; on one hand, they were powerless to rescue their former close comrades-in-arms, only able to watch them be burned alive in a few minutes.
On the other hand, they were agitated by Nick Fury's words just now.
Because, perhaps apart from the deeply resentful Nick Fury himself, no one else was willing to be an enemy of Karl Merks!
After all, the power of that man and Hyperspace Group was evident to all.
Leaving aside everything else, just Symbiote Kong alone, perhaps no one else besides Thor could confront him head-on.
That's right, not even Hulk!
Because ever since he was almost roasted by Godzilla's Atomic Breath last time, Hulk developed an almost instinctive resistance to massive Titans.
It could also be called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD for short!
So much so that no matter how much Bruce Banner was stimulated, Hulk was unwilling to appear and fight those "big monsters."
This was also the fundamental reason why S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't send Hulk to confront the Kaiju when one appeared in Manila last time, right until the end.
"Don't worry, I will definitely avenge Tony and Jonathan in the future…"
Nick Fury was very satisfied with the reactions shown by the crowd. It was no exaggeration to say that even if he were to explode on the spot now, he would not be willing to ask Karl for help.
This was his bottom line and his resolve!
But just as he was about to say something to shift the blame, to make everyone attribute the deaths of Tony Stark and Human Torch in a few minutes to Karl, he heard his assistant, Maria Hill, suddenly point at the large screen and exclaim:
"Officer, look! The President seems to have been rescued…"
"What?!!"
Nick Fury abruptly looked up at the large screen, only to see President Matthew Ellis, who was originally suspended between Tony Stark and Human Torch, mysteriously float up and then fly towards a certain spot outside the camera.
Σ(⊙▽⊙"a???
WTF???
… … … …
… …
A few minutes ago.
At the dock where the abandoned oil tanker was located.
Following the opening of a portal, 5 figures stepped out from it, none other than the "Presidential Special Rescue Squad" led by Frank.
The other four members were Wolverine, Little Wolf Girl x-23, Pietro, who called himself Quicksilver, and Polaris Lorna Dane.
"Wow, Sister Lorna, that beautiful big sister just now really was a magic-user, wasn't she? She just waved her hand in the air, and a portal really appeared!"
Little Wolf Girl said excitedly, clenching her small fists.
Since coming to Sokovia and settling down with Logan and Professor X, successfully escaping the pursuit, Little Wolf Girl quickly opened up, regaining the liveliness and cheerfulness appropriate for a child her age, and experienced many new things she had never encountered before with Lorna Dane.
Logan and Professor X were very relieved by this, and in their hearts, they were immensely grateful to Karl for being willing to take them in and provide them with a home that could shelter them from the wind and rain!