Iron Fortress

"I will let you go, because you'll soon become one of my kind."

Faced with Tony's provocation, Magneto smiled faintly. Then he turned to Mystique and said, "Raven."

Mystique spread her hands, and under Magneto's control, the suit rapidly equipped itself onto her. Tony looked miserable. Why did he suddenly feel like he'd been cuckolded by a Minotaur?

A moment later, the Mark Suit was fully equipped. Mystique was rather excited and quickly familiarized herself with its functions—the Mark Suit had a Smart System, so it was not difficult to operate.

"The first step is complete. Now, the second step begins."

What was Magneto's second step? It was controlling the Statue of Liberty. He raised both hands, and cracking sounds came from the statue's base. Then, the Statue of Liberty slowly rose into the sky.

That was right, the Statue of Liberty flew. Tony stared in disbelief. Though he had seen plenty in his life, he had never imagined that one day, the Statue of Liberty would truly become free.

The Statue of Liberty weighed 225 tons. To Magneto, that kind of weight was nothing. In Final Destination, he had controlled yachts, soccer fields, nuclear submarines, and the Iron Bridge.

The Mutants below the Statue of Liberty gazed at Magneto with worship in their eyes. Such power was truly godlike.

Tony could not help asking, "Magneto, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"I want to turn you into us."

Magneto gave his right hand a light shake. Countless rivets spun out of the Statue of Liberty, causing it to disassemble, yet under the force of magnetism, it did not fall.

Next, Magneto transformed the statue into a small Iron Fortress. At the center of the fortress stood a metal tower over a hundred meters tall. A torch stood atop the tower, and inside that torch was the Mutant Conversion Instrument.

The Mutant Conversion Instrument was circular in appearance, consisting of a core control unit, silver supports, and a rotating metal ring.

Tony, hanging midway up the metal tower, watched this "miracle" and could not help swallowing. He said, "The Statue of Liberty has turned into Magneto's shape."

"I like your optimism."

Magneto glanced at Tony, then shouted down below, "Enter the fortress and set up defenses. After tonight, this world will belong to us Mutants."

"Long live Magneto!"

The Brotherhood members cheered and entered the makeshift fortress with their prepared weapons to set up defenses.

Magneto did not waste time. He controlled the small fortress and sent it soaring into the sky, crossing the sea toward Manhattan. The Mutants would rule the world tonight.

"Looks like something big is going to happen tonight."

Tony muttered to himself. Thinking of his own predicament, he could not help giving a Bitter Smile. Whether something big happened tonight or not, he was definitely doomed.

Such a massive Iron Fortress could not possibly remain hidden. S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly received the news. Coulson looked at the flying object on the screen and immediately notified the other agents and the X-Men to rush to Manhattan.

Then Coulson called the Air Force. "Do not send any aircraft over. Any aircraft is a toy in front of Magneto. Send troops into Manhattan."

After receiving an affirmative response from the military, Coulson called Director George. "Evacuate Manhattan's civilians as quickly as possible. Magneto is definitely planning something huge this time."

"Alright."

Director George nodded, his expression extremely grim. What was going on with New York this year? Why had disasters been coming one after another?

Although Director George immediately arranged for the police to evacuate the public, it was of little use. On one hand, the civilians would not cooperate. On the other, the Brotherhood had prepared in advance. They successively detonated cars and shops, throwing traffic into utter chaos.

This time, Magneto had come prepared.

Professor Charles led the X-Men aboard a jet fighter toward Manhattan, his brow tightly furrowed. Although he did not know what Magneto intended to do, he knew that after this, the situation for Mutants would surely become even worse.

Professor Charles, who had devoted his entire life to Mutants, felt deeply exhausted. After all his years of effort, the future of Mutants had not improved; it had only grown worse and worse.

Near Times Square, Roxanne, the well-endowed female reporter from the Daily Bugle, was livestreaming. She signaled for cameraman Peter Parker to point the camera at the police directing traffic as she said, "The police have suddenly started evacuating the crowd. I wonder if it has something to do with Magneto..."

Roxanne was Ghost Rider Johnny's ex-girlfriend. After Andrew acquired the Daily Bugle, he lured her from Texas to New York with a high salary. To Tell the Truth, Roxanne was very satisfied with the job. On one hand, the pay was high. On the other, New York never lacked major stories.

Why was Peter working here as a cameraman? Of course, because he was poor. If he were not poor, who would work overtime?

Roxanne was about to interview a police officer when Peter sensed something and abruptly raised his head, letting out a cry of alarm.

Roxanne instinctively looked toward the sky, and her mouth immediately fell open. A huge, ferocious Iron Fortress was rapidly flying toward them through the sky, blocking even the moonlight in its path.

The civilians who had been ordering the police around moments ago now wished their parents had given them two extra legs as they frantically fled outward.

Roxanne shouted, "God, Peter, point the camera at the sky! Magneto must be here."

Peter blinked and asked, "Huh, Roxanne, shouldn't we be running away right now?"

Roxanne shouted, "Run away? Are you kidding me? This is huge news! Even if my legs get crippled, I can't run. Whether I can establish myself in New York depends on this."

"So this is a professional journalist?"

Peter stared in astonishment. He hesitated for a moment, then decided to wait and see.

Very soon, the Iron Fortress arrived above Times Square. Magneto did not waste any words and controlled the Iron Fortress as it descended. The people hiding in the shops were so Scared that they hurriedly ran outside.

Boom! The Iron Fortress crashed heavily into Times Square. The entire ground shook violently as if an Earth Dragon had turned over. Immediately afterward, huge amounts of glass and screens shattered, while some poorly built structures collapsed with loud crashes.

The prosperous Times Square turned into Hell in an instant, with countless people screaming and wailing.

"Bring those Traitors inside."

Magneto gave the order coldly. Toad and Sabretooth immediately led a group of Mutants toward the Epsilon-class Mutants hiding nearby.

Wolverine, Jean, and Cyclops hurried over to stop them, and the two sides began fighting fiercely.

Wolverine's group was powerful, but there were too few of them. They could not stop the Brotherhood at all. Large numbers of failed Mutants were captured and brought into the fortress. They would become Magneto's "batteries."

Magneto rarely harmed Mutants, but those Traitors did not count as Mutants.

Because of the tremors, Roxanne nearly fell over. Fortunately, Peter steadied her. She nodded at him and immediately began reporting while Peter held up the camera and filmed.

At that moment, Peter's sharp eyes noticed someone seemingly hanging from the metal tower. He hurriedly zoomed in and locked onto the figure. A moment later, he shouted in shock, "Mr. Stark?"

"Tony Stark?"

Roxanne's eyes lit up. She immediately leaned in to look at the camera and discovered that Tony Stark truly was hanging up there.