Once Luca and the others made their decision, intelligence about the Skrulls was leaked to the public.
These online revelations immediately caused an uproar.
Almost overnight, a global "Blood Test Challenge" trended everywhere.
Of course, this wasn't without chaos. But it was effective—a huge number of Skrulls were dragged out from the populace.
Correspondingly, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reputation plummeted into the gutter. Many countries put Skrulls on their most-wanted lists while simultaneously labeling S.H.I.E.L.D. a prohibited terrorist organization.
In reality, Luca had more efficient ways to detect Skrulls.
Whether it was the detection rings he made earlier or the Skrull-scanning module from the Psychic Beacon, releasing this tech would have accelerated the Skrulls' demise.
But Luca didn't follow through on his bluff about a global detection network. Even Natasha and the others didn't suggest he do it.
Part of it was Luca not wanting to expose his tech for free.
But fundamentally, exterminating the Skrulls was something humanity had to do for itself.
Even with better detection methods, those with ulterior motives could still hide the Skrulls they found for their own use. Conversely, if a country really wanted to clean house, a simple blood test was enough.
However, Luca wasn't just going to sit back and let the surviving Skrulls reintegrate into human society.
In fact, after Tony woke up, Luca planned to work with him to install the Psychic Beacon's Skrull-detection algorithm into satellites, scanning the globe for any remaining green-skins.
Once they had that data, all they had to do was expose a few nations trying to use Skrulls for dirty work. The public outcry from people living in fear—or from high-ranking officials who had been replaced—would be enough to give those scheming governments a massive headache.
By the way, with the help of the medical team, all the rescued human captives recovered after being removed from the stasis pods.
Steve and Tony both firmly supported dismantling S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury, after learning the full story, simply left in silence.
As for where the one-eyed director—now wanted by multiple countries—had run off to, no one knew. Even at the World Security Council hearing regarding S.H.I.E.L.D., Maria Hill, the former Deputy Director, had to show up in his place.
In short, S.H.I.E.L.D. was toast.
Even the superpowered villains Luca had captured were handed over to the Council to deal with—after Luca plucked a hair from each of them for his collection, of course.
With the immediate crisis over, Luca stayed in New York for a while to help Tony with the satellite project.
...
"Hey! Tony! Don't tell me you didn't sleep again last night?!"
Early in the morning, Luca walked into the lab carrying a bag of steamed buns. He saw Tony Stark with sunken eyes and messy hair that hadn't been washed in days. He looked sloppy, nothing like his old self.
Tony didn't even look up. He just mumbled a perfunctory reply.
"I slept."
He continued tapping on the screen in front of him, though it was unclear if he was actually doing anything useful.
Seeing this, Luca looked up at the ceiling.
"Jarvis..."
"Mr. Aurantius. Mr. Stark did indeed sleep for one continuous hour at 2:00 AM."
Luca was speechless. He tossed the bag of buns onto the table and groaned at the AI.
"One hour in three days, and you sound proud of him?"
"Apologies. I cannot forcibly interfere with Mr. Stark's decisions."
Jarvis sounded almost helpless and aggrieved.
Luca looked at Tony, who appeared focused but whose eyes were empty and glazed over. He shook his head again.
He knew Tony had been like this for a while.
Ever since he was rescued from the Skrulls—no, ever since New York was destroyed by the Hell Dimension invasion—Tony had shown signs of this.
Back then, despite the guilt and immense pressure, Tony had thrown himself into rebuilding the city, so his emotional state wasn't as obvious.
Luca suspected that it was precisely because Tony was off his game on every level that the Skrulls managed to capture him so easily.
And now that he was free, his self-destructive tendencies had only gotten worse.
The arrogant, sharp-tongued Tony Stark who could out-talk Spider-Man had become silent and withdrawn.
This silence wasn't anxiety born of responsibility or worry for the future. It was the numbness of someone who had given up.
If Luca hadn't dragged him into this satellite project, Tony probably would have found a hole somewhere to quietly wait for death.
"Eat something first."
Luca pushed the buns toward him.
Tony didn't refuse. Like a simple robot following a command, he mechanically grabbed a bun and started eating.
"Pepper says you haven't been answering her calls?"
Tony paused mid-chew, his body stiffening slightly. But he quickly returned to his lethargic state, mumbling vaguely.
"Yeah, been busy... she's busy too..."
Seeing Tony like this was exhausting.
Sure, Pepper was incredibly busy right now, but you, Tony? You don't look "busy" at all.
And the only reason Pepper was swamped was because she was cleaning up the mess at Stark Industries.
During the invasion, Pepper had been implicated because of Tony. To control the massive conglomerate, the Skrulls who took Tony naturally didn't spare Pepper, the actual CEO.
Since their rescue, Stark Industries had been in chaos.
With Tony in this zombie-like state and refusing to manage anything, Pepper was running herself ragged trying to save the company and the livelihoods of thousands of employees.
Watching Tony numbly chewing on a bun, Luca hesitated for a moment. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said angrily:
"Come here! I'm showing you a video!"