The Qualities of a Hero

To become a superhero, one must possess one essential quality: the courage to step forward.

This is why, even with Kryptonian abilities, Henry didn't believe he could become the next Superman. Because when faced with a situation, his first thought was to protect himself.

Although nearly twenty years after his transmigration were like a blank, spent either being kept in captivity or suffering constant torment, he had lived for thirty or forty years before the transmigration and had long lost the vigor and spirit of youth.

But Tony Stark truly deserves to be called a future superhero.

Many people may think he is just a hero hidden behind Iron Man armor, but they never thought that he was born out of the enemy's encirclement, and created his first simple suit for self-defense.

Even while the Mark XLII was still charging, he still dared to carry weapons cobbled together from a hardware store and venture alone into enemy territory to hunt down the culprit.

The Iron Man armor is merely a manifestation of his wealth; even without the suit, he is not lacking in courage.

But to be honest, Henry felt that this teenage Tony Stark was just reckless and fearless, like a newborn calf eager to prove something, easily disregarding life and death.

As this man ran towards the source of the gunfire again, Henry seriously considered whether shooting him in the foot would quiet him down.

But Henry eventually followed, guarding Tony's escape route.

The Kryptonian now have all their senses activated, like human-shaped radar, keeping an eye on anything that might be a threat.

This action made Henry realize a slight incongruity from the enemy.

There is no doubt that they came with a purpose, and that their goal was this banquet.

But with so many people attacking, there was no central command. Despite some tactical coordination, it seemed more like a spur-of-the-moment decision.

The evidence is that the encirclement was not perfect; as long as you find the right direction and run as fast as you can, you still have a chance to escape.

Their search of the house was simply to avoid interfering with each other, but there were always some unintentional oversights.

This reminded Henry of the Gold Coin he had just pulled from the fallen gunman while scavenging for replacement pistols.

He had seen the same Gold Coin with Tom, a broker and human resources agent in Alaska.

When he found the Gold Coin, he pocketed it as a trophy. Henry wasn't sure if Tony had noticed.

Perhaps a single Gold Coin is nothing to someone with his wealth. Besides, it was found on a gunman, so Tony didn't care much.

Looking back now, it's not surprising that a high-risk world like the Marvel Universe has assassin organizations. And it's also quite normal that this assassin organization has a world-class scale and system.

For example, Continental Hotel that use Gold Coin as trading chips...

One characteristic of the bounty system in Continental Hotel is that it does not prohibit multiple assassins from hunting the same target. The person who can provide proof of the kill receives the entire bounty.

Therefore, it's permissible for assassins to cooperate and split the bounty, or for them to double-cross each other, take all the kills, or steal each other's heads—all of these are allowed under the rules.

Once inside the Continental Hotel, the assassins are strictly forbidden from killing each other – this is an ironclad rule.

Generally speaking, targets that are too difficult to handle or have too low a bounty will not attract much interest from assassins.

But What If...? today's situation really is the Continental Hotel's assassin organization behind it, then it can only mean that the bounty on the target is quite high, which is why so many people have come.

What If...? the above conjectures are true, then the only consolation is that the quality of the assassins at the Continental Hotel varies greatly. Not everyone has the skills of Baba Yaga, also known as the killer John Wick.

Like those two gunmen in the forecourt. Even when they were practically within arm's reach, they still dared to casually move their guns away. It was practically an invitation to fight back; a seasoned assassin would never do something so foolish.

The same goes for the six men who were just taken down. Despite firing rifles, they managed to empty their magazines and reload at roughly the same time, giving Tony Stark an opening to rush out.

These people may not lack the courage to kill, but if they had any more experience, they wouldn't have been so easily defeated by Tony Stark, this reckless young man.

Henry thought to himself, hoping the next enemy would be just as easy to deal with, as he fired a shot into the window of the unlit room next to him!

"Walter!" Tony immediately moved to the wall for cover and asked from behind.

"Yeah, I just saw a dark figure, so I fired. But nothing happened, maybe I was just imagining things," Henry said.

In fact, there was an unlucky guy who had just climbed out of the window when Henry shot him in the hand holding the window, causing him to fall down.

Yes, his heart is still beating; he's not dead.

Tony said with displeasure, "Be careful, don't expose us."

"Yes, sir."

Tony Stark had just turned his head and taken two steps forward when Henry grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him back sharply as he passed a room door!

At the same time, a volley of bullets came from the doorway. Tony Stark was narrowly escaped being riddled with bullets.

Henry didn't explain, and with that pull, he and Tony both fell to the ground. At the same time, the bullets swept towards the wall they were originally against, piercing through the wooden partition wall.

The two of them fell to the ground, which is how they escaped unharmed.

Tony rolled to the side, no longer pressing down on Henry. He asked, "What is this room?"

"Smoking room."

"A smoking room? Something doesn't smell right."

"You know, that kind of 'cigarette' that's really strong and addictive."

Tony understood, but didn't criticize. Instead, he quickly turned himself upside down, lay on the ground, and said to Henry, "Push me out!"

Henry understood what he meant, grabbed Tony Stark's shins with both hands and pushed him forward.

Tony appeared from below the doorway, brandishing his rifle and firing a burst at the people standing inside the room with guns, instantly silencing the gunfire.

Just as Tony Stark was about to get up, Henry slipped through the doorway and fired two more shots at the gunman who had just jumped out from behind the sofa.

In reality, the first shot knocked the man down; the second shot was just for show.

Seeing this, Tony, who had gone from lying down to squatting or kneeling, didn't say "thank you" aloud, but at least he didn't continue his sarcastic remarks.

Tony got up, went into the room and walked around. He found that the people in the room were either too high to breathe or had been shot in the head and would never wake up again.

However, the gunshots coming from elsewhere didn't keep Tony in the room for long. He dashed out towards the direction of the gunfire.

Henry, following behind, could only sigh, "Is this the difference between a nobody and a hero?"