The group had been out of Osborn Citadel for less than three hours. Tony was definitely still studying the alien corpse.
So there was no doubt that the person standing in the middle of the street was not Tony Stark himself. He was one hundred percent a Skrull.
The Synthetic police officers had already begun quietly surrounding the street, while the public was being guided away by ctOS. Once the target was sufficiently out of public view, bullets would pierce his body right on schedule.
Steve could see all of this. He had been listening in on the channel all along—come to think of it, Osborn had indeed arranged everything quite thoroughly. Even if Steve wanted to criticize the operation for being too aggressive and failing to consider ordinary people, he could not find any fault.
But Fury's urgent message left him bewildered:
"Save Tony Stark in downtown New York City. Osborn Group is lying!"
Harry had also provided an earpiece with a holographic screen. The anti-Skrull tips projected by the earpiece were now glaringly visible before him:
"When you discover that the same person has appeared in two different places, immediately seek help from the nearest police station. Do not make contact with either individual.
If you discover that Synthetic police officers are taking law-enforcement action against one of them, leave immediately and trust the officers' judgment.
But if someone close to you tells you to trust one side, do not believe them—there is currently no method available to civilians for distinguishing Skrulls from ordinary people, so their judgment is unreliable; moreover, their motives may be impure."
The tips were easy enough to understand. Steve was no idiot, but he did not understand what Fury was trying to say.
"What are you talking about? I just saw Tony. He's