Washington D.C., S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, The Triskelion...
Or what used to be the Triskelion.
Now, there were no buildings left. The terrifying nuclear blast had vaporized everything here, even melting the earth into glass.
Further out, the shockwave had leveled most structures.
The Lincoln Memorial, Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, the White House, the Pentagon.
The former two were completely destroyed. The latter two, being further away, were mostly collapsed.
These once-iconic D.C. landmarks could only be vaguely identified by their wreckage.
Everywhere one looked, there were ruins.
The air was filled with a pungent mix of odors: the fishy smell of ionized ozone, the charred scent of vaporized plastics and rubber, the metallic tang of molten rust, and a faint, sweet smell of blood.
In this blast zone, aside from the occasional creak of collapsing structures or the snap of weak flames under the rubble, there was no other sound.
Above, the sky was a grayish-yellow mix of radioactive dust and smoke, reflecting the silhouette of the sunken city below.
At this moment, three red-and-gold figures sped over the ruins, heading southwest from Washington.
About 15 kilometers away, in the western part of Arlington County, a temporary evacuation zone had been set up over the last 12 hours. The original residents had been moved to further cities, and all schools, office buildings, and large malls were cleared and converted into temporary aid stations.
Many D.C. residents, once high-and-mighty in suits and ties, now gathered here with ashen faces, receiving checks and treatment from medical staff in protective suits.
In the temporary command center within Arlington County.
Most of the Avengers were gathered here, their faces grim. The room was heavy with low pressure.
What exactly did we save?
This thought lingered in everyone's mind.
Saved America? Saved the world?
Yes, they destroyed the Helicarriers, thwarted Hydra's plan for world domination, and saved thousands of innocent people targeted by Project Insight.
But if they had been more cautious, would Hydra have chosen to detonate the nuke in desperation?
Looking at the numb faces of the refugees outside and thinking of the innocent citizens who died in the blast, no one had an answer.
In the corner of the room, in front of a row of computer monitors, Tony Stark took off his remote-control headset. He stared blankly at the data on the screens.
The three remote-controlled Iron Man suits sent to search the radiation zone had returned and were being decontaminated in a specialized isolation area.
Tony, usually decisive and proactive, didn't know what to do next after putting down the headset.
In fact, over the past 12 hours, Tony had done more than anyone.
With the White House strafed by Helicarriers and D.C. nuked, plus Hydra uprisings across the country...
America's leadership was decimated, and the government paralyzed.
The hastily organized temporary command couldn't focus on saving D.C.; most of their energy went into maintaining stability in other states.
This temporary evacuation zone was built by Stark Industries and surviving SHIELD agents working together.
But after all that, besides repeatedly sending drone suits to search the radiation zone, Tony didn't know what else he could do. He just stared blankly at the screen.
Finally, Steve Rogers, who had been leaning silently against the wall with his head down, broke the silence.
"Still no sign of Metal... Luca...?"
Steve almost said "Metal Knight" out of habit, but at this point, pretending not to know his identity seemed pointless.
After he spoke, most people in the room didn't react, just quietly looking at Tony.
Only Harry Osborn's eyes flickered with shock upon hearing Luca's name, but he bit his lip and remained silent.
Actually, Steve knew his question was pointless.
But in this situation, even he didn't know what to say to break the atmosphere.
Tony looked up slightly, his eyes dull.
"No. JARVIS detected humidity changes over Washington... Nuclear blast... radioactive black rain will fall soon... Search and rescue must be delayed for half an hour..."
Although his tone was heavy, Tony finished the sentence completely.
Originally, Tony was one of the most confident people regarding Luca's survival.
As soon as the electromagnetic interference from the radiation weakened, he dispatched redeployed Iron Man suits deep into the blast zone to find Luca.
Especially after finding no wreckage of the [Boxer Mech], his confidence grew.
Knowing the strength of E-Carbon armor, he knew that even at ground zero, the [Boxer Mech] wouldn't be completely vaporized without a trace.
But as time passed, even the strongest confidence eroded.
Now, only a vague belief kept Tony searching.
That kid has so many crazy inventions. He wouldn't die in a place like this!
However, compared to Tony, the others clearly didn't share his "blind" faith.
Hearing this, silence fell again.
But just then, JARVIS's mechanical voice rang out from the computer.
"Sir, Mr. Aurantius's AI just contacted me. The drone mechs it dispatched have entered the radiation zone."
Hearing this, the light returned to Tony's eyes. Ignoring the confused looks from the others, he turned back to the console and put on the remote-control headset again.
Meanwhile.
Washington Nuclear Blast Zone.
Thick, black rain mixed with radioactive dust began to fall slowly from the sky.
With the first drop, a dense hissing sound started spreading outward from the blast center.
Gray-black rainwater flowed into the cracks of the ruins.
About 10 kilometers from ground zero.
On the trunk of a snapped sycamore tree, a thumb-sized pale blue cube was stuck tightly in a crack in the bark.
A faint glow surrounded the blue energy cube, looking completely out of place in the dark, desolate environment.
It was unknown when a raindrop would fall precisely on this long-awaited energy cube.