"This is what happens when you try to be clever."
Fury clenched his teeth as he resisted Gravik's relentless assault, cursing furiously in his mind.
"Get out of my head!"
"Don't be so heartless."
Mephisto's voice dripped with temptation.
"Look at the state you're in."
"Being beaten like a dog by some alien mongrel."
"Do you want the full power?"
"Do you want to burn that ugly bastard in front of you into ash?"
"Then beg me."
"All you have to do is sign a real contract with me."
"And I'll make you the true Spirit of Vengeance."
"…Hmph."
Fury snorted coldly.
"Go sign it with your mother."
Fury suddenly raised his head.
The fading flames in his eye sockets burst in a final flare of defiance.
BOOM!!
The explosive surge blasted Gravik backward more than ten meters.
Fury seized the opening and glanced around quickly.
Then he saw it—
A broken carousel airplane ride nearby.
"That'll do."
He squeezed out the last trace of Hellfire from his body.
WHOOOM—!!
The rusted metal toy began to warp and twist under the flames.
Steel stretched.
The wheels transformed into burning serrated blades.
The wings twisted into demonic bone wings.
The nose elongated into a grinning skull-shaped ram.
Within seconds—
A Hellplane was born.
Fury jumped into the cockpit.
ROOOAR—!
The aircraft shot into the air instantly.
Blue-red hellfire erupted from its thrusters, leaving a blazing streak across the sky.
"Running away?!"
Gravik regained his footing and saw Fury rising into the air.
His rage exploded.
He crouched and leapt like the Hulk, trying to grab the plane.
Fury calmly pressed a red button on the control stick.
"Here's a farewell gift!"
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Two Hellfire missiles launched from beneath the wings.
BOOOOM!!!
The missiles exploded directly against Gravik's body.
The inferno blasted him back into the ground.
Using the opportunity, Fury pulled up sharply, piercing through the clouds and fleeing into the distance.
Gravik stumbled out of the burning crater, battered and furious.
He stared at the shrinking black dot in the sky.
"Run, Fury!"
"You can run…"
"But Earth can't!"
…
Fury piloted the barely stable Hellplane through the clouds.
Sunlight poured over him.
Even now, it weakened him.
He stared at the dying flames on his body and growled in fury.
"Damn Skrull scum…"
"Damn Mephisto…"
"Need to find somewhere to land…"
"…and someone to help."
His gaze turned toward New York.
Though he hated to admit it—
Right now…
Only one person could save the situation.
"Homelander…"
….
Since the White House Rose Garden conference, humanity had changed.
The fear of the apocalypse no longer dominated the planet.
Instead—
It felt as if someone had injected the entire world with a shot of pure adrenaline.
The atmosphere was eerily similar to the 1960s, when humanity held its breath watching Neil Armstrong step onto the Moon.
But this time—
The stakes were far greater.
And the stage far larger.
"Human Expeditionary Force."
"Vought Deep Space Administration."
"The Age of Interstellar Exploration."
These phrases spread across the internet like a virus, dominating the top trending topics everywhere.
Every television screen displayed recruitment advertisements from the Vought Deep Space Exploration and Resource Development Bureau.
In bars, tattooed football hooligans clinked glasses with Wall Street bankers in tailored suits.
They no longer argued about sports teams.
Instead they bet on which planet would become humanity's second home.
Even in war-torn regions of the Middle East—
Militants who normally fired AK-47s at each other would lower their weapons at sunset.
They gathered around flickering CRT televisions.
Watching the blond man on the screen.
Their eyes filled with a strange fanaticism that transcended religion and race.
Humans were contradictory creatures.
They feared the unknown.
But they also longed to conquer it.
And now—
Someone was about to turn that dream into reality.
Every child who had ever gazed at the stars…
Every adult who had once lost themselves in science-fiction novels…
Felt their souls tremble.
They were about to witness history.
…
The passage of the Alien Disaster Worker Protection Act briefly shook the stock market.
But when the concept of interstellar resource development appeared—
The military, energy, and aerospace sectors surged vertically like rockets.
Greedy capitalists smelled something more valuable than oil or gold.
Interstellar plunder.
It was blind optimism—
Fueled by expansion and greed.
-----
V.G.D. Headquarters – Hangar Bay
The Ravager ship that had once been assembled from space junk had undergone a complete transformation.
Thanks to the joint effort of one genius billionaire…
…and one genius raccoon.
The rusted exterior had been stripped away.
Now the hull was coated in Vought's nano-vibranium plating.
The ship no longer looked like a scrapyard relic.
Its body gleamed in deep midnight blue.
Along the wings and tail ran sharp crimson lines—Stark's signature hot-rod red.
At the nose gleamed a golden "V" emblem.
Under the lights, it shimmered brilliantly.
The streamlined fuselage possessed an aerodynamic beauty.
Even though—
In space—
Aerodynamics meant absolutely nothing.
But as Homelander always said:
"Looking cool is a lifelong commitment."
Rocket jumped onto the wing and stroked the polished metal lovingly.
His grin stretched ear to ear.
"Oh… mama…"
He sighed in genuine admiration.
"Hey, primitive-tribe scientist."
"Your tech might be a little outdated…"
"But your taste?"
He whistled.
"Absolutely perfect!"
"This is what a spaceship should look like!"
"It's ten thousand times better than that blue idiot Yondu's junk!"
"Look at this shine! Look at these lines!"
"This is a masterpiece!"
Tony Stark smirked proudly as he manipulated the holographic design console.
"I tried integrating your quantum engine as the main propulsion system…"
"Then used my Arc Reactor as an independent power supply for the weapons."
Rocket's eyes lit up.
"So we can maintain full firepower even during jumps?"
"Hey!"
He pointed excitedly.
"You're not stupid after all!"
"Of course not," Tony said smugly.
"I'm Tony Stark."
"You cosmic hillbilly."
CLANG—!
The hangar doors opened.
Homelander strode in.
Behind him walked Jessica Jones.
"Looks like everyone's getting along."
His gaze swept the room before landing on the newly transformed ship.
"So this is our ride?"
He walked up and ran a finger across the cold metal hull.
"Not bad."
He nodded approvingly.
"Looks a lot better than the junkyard pile we had before."
Tony approached and handed him a strange device.
Rocket's cobbled-together invention.
A spherical camera resembling a metallic floating eyeball, glowing faint blue.
"The Omni-Domain Quantum Broadcast System," Tony explained.
"Based on quantum entanglement communication."
"Rocket provided the core technology. I just packaged it."
"No matter where you are in the universe—as long as you're still inside the Milky Way—the signal delay won't exceed 0.01 seconds."
"Nice work, Tony."
Homelander handed the device to Jessica.
"You're the star of the show now, sweetheart."
--------------
T/N:
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