The guns in those mercenaries' hands split cleanly in two as well, just like their bodies, the cut surfaces smooth as polished glass.
Once the Dark Knight joined the battlefield, the fight ended quickly.
The only trouble was cleaning up afterward.
War Machine units sealed off the scene. Reporters who rushed over after hearing the news were stopped outside. Joking aside, there was no way anyone would be allowed to broadcast a scene like this.
And seeing how the military and police were acting completely differently from usual, the reporters also lacked a reckless hothead willing to "die for freedom of the press," so there was no chaos.
Over at S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury received the video and intel Black Widow sent back at the first possible moment, footage of Zod Heaths' new "War Machine," along with combat data.
After watching it, Fury fell into deep thought. This War Machine called the Dark Knight was far stronger than the others, the kind of thing that might be able to fight a hundred on its own. Fury was not surprised that Zod Heaths could build something this terrifying, but he found its purpose strange.
So strange that Fury began to doubt Zod Heaths' intentions.
Even so, protecting Zod Heaths still mattered most right now. The mercenary attack had left the United States furious. They already knew the Inner World had issued a bounty on Zod Heaths, but how did this group pass through security? Their firepower was ridiculously heavy, and most of their weapons were American-made. That made one thing obvious: someone on the inside had supported them.
Not long after, the United States identified the officers who had secretly aided the mercenaries. Then those officers "committed suicide." The ones who did not, died in "accidents."
One died from an electric shock after a bathroom leak while sitting on the toilet. Another missed a step and fell to his death down the stairs.
Normally, these things could happen. But at a time like this, nothing about it felt normal.
Through the Black Queen, Zod learned these internal secrets and immediately guessed who had made a move against him.
Hydra. But why had Hydra in North America not sent him any signal?
After all, the hundred War Machines Zod had sent to "Champion" Bucky through the Inner World fighting tournament had all been activated and put into use by Hydra. That had exposed quite a few Hydra bases and hideouts across North America. Using that information, Blade Technology Industries had gone straight to those locations, captured the exposed Hydra agents, and brought them back for Zod to brainwash.
Could it be that the Hydra making this move was not the North American branch?
Zod knew Hydra had many heads. There was Madame Viper in the island nation, a Baron in Great Britain, and in North America, the head was Alexander Pierce.
If some other Hydra head had set its sights on Zod, that was not surprising. Zod Heaths' influence was impossible to ignore. It was only natural for Hydra to have ideas about him.
As for this attack, Blade Technology Industries did not hide anything. They held a press conference instead.
"I'm deeply concerned about America's security situation. This is the very center of Washington, D.C., and yet a group of thugs could openly fire Barretts, 7.627.62 automatic rifles, and even RPGs. We waited a full ten minutes before police and military support arrived. On behalf of American citizens, I condemn this response time. We pay so much tax every year, and yet you still haven't trained elites capable of protecting American civilians…"
At the press conference, Zod Heaths spoke with righteous anger. Even if the upper levels of the United States and Congress did not truly care about public opinion, once he said this, most capitalists would probably start reconsidering whether it was worth paying that much tax to the IRS.
America might not need to consider public opinion, but capitalists did. In response, the United States held its own press conference, offering apologies for the terrorist attack and agreeing to compensate Blade Technology Industries for all losses. They also promised to further strengthen security measures, for example by sending more police patrols into wealthy districts.
They even planned to set up boundary lines around rich neighborhoods, to keep "inferior races" from entering.
After receiving the compensation, Zod stopped paying attention to the matter. Clinging to it had no real meaning. To soothe the dissatisfaction of a genius like Zod Heaths, the United States paid an enormous "reassurance fee," and also promised to form an investigative task force focused on the bounty against him, to find the person who issued it.
But they were also very interested in the Dark Knight.
That black bald egg at S.H.I.E.L.D. even tried to appear in front of Zod Heaths without anyone noticing, planning to stare him down and question him about the Dark Knight. He was stopped at the door.
Beastmen soldiers had taken over Blade Technology Industries' security work. They did not recognize IDs, and they did not recognize people. Fury could not get in even if he tried pretending to be FBI.
As for the Dark Knight, Zod made it clear: it was not for sale. It was a personally modified War Machine meant for his own use. Only if he retired it would he consider selling it.
No matter how high a price America offered, Zod had no interest. He already had enough money to do what Tony Stark did, casually buy an entire building and tear it down for fun.
Still, news of the terrorist attack on Zod spread quickly to other countries. One after another, they extended olive branches, claiming their nations were absolutely safe and that Zod Heaths would never need to worry about security there.
Zod understood what those countries were really like, so he ignored them. Right now, he was busy with something he genuinely cared about.
From samples taken from some Inner World fighters, Zod discovered a special gene that resembled the mutant Gene X.
As everyone knew, Earth in the Marvel world had suffered one disaster after another. The Kree had come to Earth even before humanity was born, conducting experiments in an attempt to create powerful biological weapons. There were also the Celestials' experiments, and countless other messy projects. So Zod suspected this set of special genes was very likely the Inhuman gene.
Millions of years ago by Earth time, the Kree and the Skrulls, two great cosmic races, went to war. For strategic reasons, the Kree came to the Solar System and established a station on Uranus.
Soon, they grew interested in the genetic potential of Earth's life. They then carried out a series of experiments on the Homo sapiens of that era. These experiments clearly served two purposes: first, to study and prevent any stagnation that might appear in the Kree's own evolution, and second, to create powerful mutant soldiers for the battlefield. However, after successfully creating a group of humanoids with extraordinary abilities, for reasons unknown, the Kree abandoned the products of their experiments.
That population, the Inhumans, began to develop on their own in the years that followed. They formed their own social system. Their isolated way of life allowed them to develop advanced technology beyond humanity. Through Terrigen Mist, they gained all kinds of superpowers, but it also caused genetic damage and deformities.
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