"Oh, no!" Seeing the large number of soldiers arriving, Reed showed no joy at all. Instead, he had the feeling that his luck had hit rock bottom.
Were they reinforcements?
After seeing Doom's current form and sensing his power, he no longer dared to hope for much. They had some understanding of psionics and some means of resisting it, and Doom seemed more interested in tormenting and toying with them than defeating them in an instant. But ordinary soldiers would likely find it difficult to withstand Doom's methods.
The best reinforcements Reed could think of now were Harry Osborn, the man he had gotten along with so well. In Reed's view, Harry's understanding and research into psionics ran deeper than his own. Perhaps he would have a better way to deal with Doom.
Threatening voices boomed through loudspeakers, ordering Reed, Doom, and the others beneath the searchlights to surrender. At the same time, armed weapons aimed downward. In an instant, they could blanket the entire area below and wipe out everyone present. The kind of annihilation that would leave not even an intact limb behind.
"You want to save them?"
Doom once again saw through Reed's thoughts. A strange smile spread beneath his mask, and with a curl of his fingers, the Armed Helicopters in the sky lost control one after another, spinning down toward the ground amid the terrified screams of the soldiers inside.
The tanks and War Chariots closing in from the surrounding darkness also stalled and shut down at once. Their fire-control systems were inexplicably locked down. Their communications equipment suffered intense interference as well, cutting them off from the outside.
The soldiers, left with only rifles, rocket launchers, and other individual weapons, jumped down from transport vehicles and War Chariots. Some went to rescue their companions