"ROSS!!!" Tony Stark erupted from the Dark Elf Mothership in a blaze of fury, breaking the air with a sonic boom that carried his towering rage. A sonic skirt formed below his waist as he streaked through the sky in a white arc toward General Ross.
Tony Stark swung his limbs forward and came to an abrupt stop before General Ross. The gust he brought with him blasted at Ross, wrinkling the general's gaunt face into folds.
"What are you and your Red Unit doing, Ross?!" Tony Stark landed on the deck from the sky. The nano-mechanical helmet scattered away like ants, revealing his furious face.
"We are eliminating the Dark Elves who intended to attack Earth." General Ross's face remained icy as he stared straight at the Dark Elf Mothership and replied without emotion.
"Were the Dark Elves here to attack Earth?" Tony Stark glared at General Ross, fury blazing in his eyes.
"Yes, Iron Man. You have already protected Earth's safety and fulfilled your mission as a superhero. Go home." General Ross remained expressionless, his emotionless voice carrying a faint trace of mockery. "We will handle the rest, as we always have. Isn't that right?"
General Ross had already made ample preparations to deal with the Dark Elves. He had never needed Tony Stark's help; he could have wiped out the Dark Elves entirely on his own.
Tony Stark's arrival had instead become an unforeseen nuisance for General Ross.
The duties and missions of superheroes were not exactly in conflict with those of General Ross and the military. At most, both sides sought to protect Earth.
However, superheroes tended to get tangled up in flashy philosophical questions of justice, salvation, humanitarianism, and the like. Questions of whether to kill or sacrifice others deeply affected their choices.
In the