Annie's Modified Italian Cannon

Chapter 0023: Annie's Modified Italian Cannon

Tony Stark was testing his Mark IV Iron Man Armor high in the sky. It was the fourth suit he'd developed since revealing that he was Iron Man. Compared to the Mark III, it had more features and was even more focused on combat.

"Sir, I've spotted that red Quinjet again!"

"Where? I don't see it!" At Jarvis's report, Tony Stark hurriedly stopped his suit and hovered in the sky. He looked around, but the accursed red aircraft was nowhere in sight.

Tony remembered that nightmare of a red Quinjet all too well. Anyone who'd been chased for half a day by a fighter jet like a hawk pursuing a chick would never forget it, right? He'd come out on top in the end, but only because he'd managed to exhaust the other aircraft's fuel. By that measure, his victory hadn't exactly been glorious.

Afterward, Tony had specially upgraded the Mark IV's engines and acceleration systems to make sure it could outrun a Quinjet. He'd also optimized its weapons in several ways, adding a small EMP missile specially designed for Quinjets. This compact electromagnetic-pulse bomb was nonlethal; its main purpose was to disable an aircraft's electronics and bring it down intact!

Tony had spent several days working overtime at home to build the Mark IV. He'd only dared to come out and test it after installing plenty of weapons! The red Quinjet had left such a huge shadow on his mind that he hadn't dared to go out without weapons tailored to counter it! He was afraid he might run into it again. He knew that red aircraft had been very active lately!

"Ten o'clock, sir! It's activated stealth mode and is closing in. It's less than twelve miles away!" As Jarvis reported, it marked the Quinjet's position on the radar display in Iron Man's HUD, using a small red circle to indicate the stealth aircraft.

Tony Stark considered the situation carefully, then adjusted his posture and turned, diving toward the ground! Even after the Mark IV's upgrades, he'd still be at a disadvantage against a fighter jet at high altitude, so for now, he could only retreat! It wasn't that he was afraid of that little girl! He was simply being a gentleman and not stooping to a child's level! That was it!

"Damn it! We've been spotted! And it still got away?"

Annie knew that the metal monster must have spotted them; otherwise, it wouldn't have suddenly sped off like that! It was heading toward the ground, and her plane was still invisible. At this distance, there was no way she could catch up. Reluctantly, she gave up and deactivated the Quinjet's stealth mode.

"Annie, you..." Melinda sighed in amusement, looking at Annie beside her and shaking her head.

"Huh? Aunt Melinda! What are those two things?" Annie had spent a few seconds regretting the loss of a fun toy when she suddenly noticed two green blips appear on the radar. They were racing toward them at high speed.

At Annie's warning, Melinda also looked at the radar in puzzlement. It showed two fighter jets! And according to their identification codes, they were both Quinjets belonging to S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Why were they now flying toward her aircraft at high speed? They were clearly in attack formation, too! What was going on? Before Melinda could open communications to ask, one of the Quinjets fired a missile at them! The radar warning was a glaring red, accompanied by the urgent sound of a lock-on alert!

"Not good! Missile! Evade!"

Melinda shouted and snatched control of the aircraft from Annie. She threw it into a sharp lateral roll, and the incoming missile barely grazed the underside of the fuselage. It detonated a dozen or so meters ahead, triggered by its proximity fuze. The shockwave rocked the red Princess Annie violently!

Fortunately, Melinda's flying skills were good enough to recover in time, and the aircraft didn't lose control from the close-range explosion! But it had definitely taken damage! She could already see shrapnel and bullet holes scattered across the wing!

"Whoa! We're under attack?" Annie stared at the huge fireball left by the exploding missile in the distance. Clearly, someone had attacked them! Judging by the blast, she knew this was absolutely, definitely no joke!

"This won't work! Annie, think of something! Do you have some kind of magic spell that can help us escape?!"

Melinda kept maneuvering the aircraft, trying to evade the two planes behind them. Who knew how many missiles they had left? The aircraft beneath her was completely defenseless! Its weapons and ammunition had long since been removed! At this rate, it was only a matter of time before they were shot down. Their attackers were two Quinjets of the same model as theirs! They couldn't outrun them, so all she could do was put her hope in Annie.

"Escape? Why should we run? They damaged my Princess Annie! I won't let them get away with it!" Annie paused for a moment, then got angry. The people in those two planes behind them had to be bad guys. As long as they were bad guys, Annie could burn them up!

"Aunt Melinda! Keep flying. I'll shoot them down!"

Annie excitedly opened the red weapons cover on the control stick. A targeting screen rose from the console in front of her, while a hatch opened in the underside of the plane. The Vulcan Cannon hidden inside extended from the fuselage. Its cold barrels spun rapidly and aimed at the two planes behind them.

Annie had wanted to play like this for ages, but she'd never had the chance! She'd run into plenty of fighter jets in the sky over the last few days, as well as those really, really big passenger planes, but she couldn't shoot those. Annie was a good girl! Even the metal monster had only been something to chase for fun. How could any of that compare to a target she could fire at without holding back?

"Annie! Stop messing around! I don't remember our plane having any ammunition!"

Melinda was about to lose her mind. S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft had attacked them, and they were still in hot pursuit! She wasn't going to believe this was friendly fire! The paint scheme on her aircraft was unmistakable, and it had a friendly identification code. How could they have mistaken it for an enemy? Something serious had gone wrong inside S.H.I.E.L.D.! Who was behind this? Who was trying to kill them?

"It doesn't have any ammunition, but I made a little modification the other day. It doesn't need ammunition!" Annie narrowed her eyes and gave a sly grin.

After learning that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't install any weapons or ammunition on her Princess Annie, she'd secretly modified the only Vulcan Cannon in the fuselage one night!

Annie had secretly etched an Explosive Flame Magic Array and an Acceleration Array onto it. Once she activated them and supplied enough magic power, she could fire! She'd been secretly proud of this genius idea for ages. Dragons could breathe fire, so how could her Princess Annie be left without a weapon?

"Modification? What modification?" Melinda couldn't believe that an alien little girl could modify an aircraft. How could she joke about something like this at a time like this?

Before Melinda could react, Annie pressed the Red Button to fire. The Vulcan Cannon in the fuselage immediately spun faster. A red magic array lit up on its base, and dozens of compressed fireballs were accelerated by the Acceleration Array before streaking toward the two planes still hot on their heels!

One of the Quinjets was caught off guard by the dozens of basin-sized fireballs hurtling straight at it. In an instant, one of them struck its cockpit. The next moment, the entire nose of the aircraft melted into molten iron, as though some monster had taken a huge bite out of it. With its controls gone and its engines dead, the plane spun out of control, trailing smoke, flames, and glowing molten metal as it plunged straight toward the ground!

"Oh, hell! Damn it!" The pilot of the other aircraft was luckier. He hastily changed course and narrowly dodged the dozen or so fireballs that followed.

In fact, both he and the pilot of the aircraft that had just gone down were Hydra operatives who'd infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. They'd been lying low until they suddenly received orders from their superiors that day. Of course, the orders hadn't come through S.H.I.E.L.D., but through Hydra's internal channel! Their mission was to destroy the red Quinjet in front of them and leave no survivors!

They hadn't understood why their superiors would issue such an order during their infiltration, but they hadn't asked questions. The intelligence said it was an unarmed shell of an aircraft, and they'd been confident they could complete the mission easily.

But now, he wished he could catch the bastard who'd issued the order and demand an explanation. This was what they called unarmed? Unarmed, my ass! One shot had melted half a fighter jet! How was that unarmed? This was obviously some kind of new weapon! It was even more powerful than armor-piercing incendiary rounds. Maybe it was some kind of advanced energy weapon!

"Nice work, Annie!"

Melinda was surprised, but she didn't dwell on Annie's unauthorized weapon modification. Someone was trying to kill her, and she was known as Iron Rider! She wasn't going to sit back and take it! She didn't know what had gone wrong at S.H.I.E.L.D., but taking out the remaining aircraft was the right thing to do. If anyone wanted to come after her, Melinda, they'd better be prepared to get taken down!

"Annie, get ready! Aim!"

Melinda called out to Annie. The best defense was a good offense!

Now it was one-on-one. Knowing that they had a weapon of their own, Melinda yanked the control stick while the enemy aircraft was thrown into disarray. The red plane performed a high-speed Cobra maneuver, slipping out of the pursuing aircraft's firing line and moving above the last remaining jet.

"Got it! I see it!"

Annie replied and swung the Vulcan Cannon around. The targeting reticle settled on the back of the fighter jet below as it passed them. The enemy had apparently realized how dangerous its situation was and hurriedly tried to perform a lateral roll, but it was just a little too late.

As soon as the reticle was on target, Annie slammed the red firing button. More than a dozen fireballs burst out in an instant, all striking the back of the Quinjet! With so many hits, the high-temperature flames melted it into scattered fragments of molten steel...

"God! Jarvis, am I seeing this right? Is S.H.I.E.L.D. having a Civil War? This is big news!" Watching the red aircraft shoot down the two attacking Quinjets, Tony Stark stared in astonishment.

Tony hadn't gone far. He'd just hidden carefully beneath a cloud. He'd planned to wait for the red Quinjet to leave before coming out to continue testing his Mark IV, but he hadn't expected to witness something like this!

"Sir, you saw correctly! Both aircraft were indeed destroyed. Based on our observations, there were at least two fatalities! The weapons used by the red Quinjet have no known records. They are extremely dangerous! I recommend that you leave immediately!"