Annie's Italian Modified Cannon

Chapter 0023: Annie's Italian Magical Cannon

Tony Stark was testing his Mark IV Iron Man armor at high altitude. This was the fourth suit he had developed since revealing himself as Iron Man, boasting more functions than the Mark III with a greater focus on combat capabilities.

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

"Where? I don't see it!" Hearing Jarvis's report, Tony Stark hurriedly halted his armor and emergency-hovered in midair. But he looked around, and it seemed there was no sign of that detestable red aircraft in his line of sight.

That nightmare of a red Quinjet was etched deep in Tony's memory. After all, who could forget being chased by a fighter jet like an eagle chasing a chick for half a day? Even though he'd ultimately won, it was only by running it out of fuel! From that perspective, his victory wasn't exactly glorious.

Afterward, Tony had specifically upgraded the Mark IV's engine and acceleration systems, all to ensure he could outpace the Quinjet in speed. He'd also made numerous optimizations to the weapons, adding a small EMP missile tailored for the Quinjet. This compact electromagnetic pulse bomb was a non-lethal weapon, designed mainly to paralyze the fighter's electronics, allowing him to shoot it down without damage!

Tony had worked overtime at home for days to build the Mark IV, and only dared to come out for armor testing after installing enough weapons! The shadow that red Quinjet had cast over his psyche was just too massive. Without countermeasures against it, he wouldn't even step outside! He was afraid of running into it again—he knew that red fighter had been very active lately.

"At ten o'clock, sir! It's in stealth mode, approaching, less than twelve miles away!" Jarvis reported, marking the Quinjet's position on the Iron Man HUD's radar interface with a small red circle to indicate the invisible craft.

Tony Stark thought it over seriously, then finally adjusted his posture and dove toward the ground! Because even with the Mark IV's optimizations, going head-to-head with a fighter at high altitude still put the armor at a disadvantage. So, for now, he'd just have to dodge! He definitely wasn't going to admit he was scared of that little girl! He was just maintaining gentlemanly decorum, not stooping to a kid's level! Yeah, that was it!

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

Annie knew that iron monster must have detected them, or it wouldn't have bolted so suddenly! And it was heading straight for the ground, while her plane was still in stealth and too far away. There was no way she could catch it now. Regretfully, she gave up and reluctantly disengaged the Quinjet's stealth mode.

"Annie, you..." Melinda sighed in amusement, shaking her head as she looked at Annie beside her.

"Hey? Aunt Melinda! What are those two things?" Annie had only been lamenting the lost fun toy for a few seconds when she suddenly spotted two green dots on the fighter's radar, rapidly approaching them.

At Annie's reminder, Melinda looked at the radar with some confusion. It showed two fighter jets! And based on their identification codes, they were two Quinjets belonging to S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Why were they flying toward her plane at high speed, and clearly in a combat formation? What was going on? Before Melinda could open a channel to ask, one of the Quinjets actually fired missiles at them! The radar alarm blazed with harsh red! And a frantic lock-on warning sounded!

"Damn! Missiles! Evade!"

Melinda shouted urgently! She grabbed the controls from Annie, rolling the plane sharply sideways. The incoming missiles scraped perilously past the belly, detonating a dozen meters ahead as proximity fuses triggered them. The shockwave rattled the red Princess Annie violently!

But luckily, Melinda's piloting skills were solid enough. She adjusted in time, and the fighter didn't spin out from the close-range explosion! Still, damage was unavoidable! She could already see shrapnel and holes peppering the wing.

"Whoa! We're being attacked?" Annie stared at the massive fireball from the exploding missile. Clearly! Someone was attacking them! From the blast's power, she knew this was absolutely not a joke!

"We can't keep this up! Annie! Think of something! Do you have any escape magic?!"

Melinda maneuvered the plane through various evasive actions, hoping to shake the two fighters behind them. Who knew how many missiles they had left? And her plane had zero offensive capability! All the weapons and ammo had been stripped long ago! Under these circumstances, being shot down was only a matter of time. They were up against two Quinjets of the same model! They couldn't outrun them. For now, she could only pin her hopes on Annie.

"Escape? Why run? They damaged my Princess Annie! I won't let them off!" Annie froze for a moment, then got angry. Those two planes behind her must belong to bad guys. And if they were bad guys, Annie could burn them!

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

Annie excitedly opened the red weapon cover on the control stick. A targeting screen rose from the console in front of her, while a hatch opened in the plane's belly. The Vulcan Cannon's barrel extended out from within, its multi-barreled maw spinning up rapidly, aiming at the two planes behind.

Annie had wanted to do this for a long time, but never had the chance! She'd encountered plenty of aircraft in the sky these past few days, even huge passenger jets, but those weren't for shooting. Annie was a good kid! Even that iron monster was only fun to chase around. Nothing compared to having real targets she could freely fire at!

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

Melinda was frantic. S.H.I.E.L.D. planes were attacking them! And now they were in hot pursuit? She refused to believe this was a friendly fire incident! Her plane's paint job was distinctive, and it had friendly IFF codes. How could this be a mistake? Something was seriously wrong inside S.H.I.E.L.D.! Who was behind this? Who wanted them dead?

"There's no ammo, yeah. But I made a little modification a few days ago. It doesn't need ammo!" Annie squinted and grinned slyly.

Earlier, after learning S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't install any weapons or ammo on her Princess Annie, she'd snuck out at night and magically modified the only multi-barreled Vulcan Cannon in the plane's belly!

She'd secretly carved an Explosive Flame Magic Array and an Acceleration Array onto it. As long as Annie activated them and fed them enough magic power, she could fire! Annie had been secretly proud of this genius idea for ages. Even dragons could breathe fire, so why couldn't her Princess Annie have weapons?

"Modification? What modification?" Melinda refused to believe an alien little girl could modify a fighter jet. What kind of time was this for jokes?!

Before Melinda could react, Annie pressed the red firing button. The multi-barreled Vulcan Cannon in the belly spun up rapidly. As a red magic array lit up at the cannon's base, dozens of compressed fireballs were accelerated by the Acceleration Array and shot toward the two fighters still in hot pursuit!

Faced with dozens of basin-sized fireballs hurtling toward them, one Quinjet was caught off guard. A fireball struck its cockpit instantly. The next moment, the entire nose of the fighter melted into molten iron, as if some monster had taken a huge bite out of it. Losing power, the uncontrolled plane spun, trailing smoke, flames, and glowing molten metal, and plunged straight toward the ground!

"Oh! Bastard! Damn it!" The pilot of the other fighter was luckier. He quickly adjusted his course, narrowly dodging the dozen or so fireballs that followed.

Both he and the downed pilot were Hydra sleeper agents embedded in S.H.I.E.L.D. They'd been lying low until today, when they suddenly received orders from above. Of course, these orders didn't come through S.H.I.E.L.D. channels, but through Hydra's internal network! The mission: destroy the red Quinjet in front of them, leaving no survivors.

Though they didn't understand why command would issue such an order during their sleeper phase, they didn't ask questions. The intel said it was an unarmed, empty shell of a fighter. They were confident they could handle it easily.

But now, he really wanted to grab the bastard who gave the order and ask: Is this what you call unarmed? Unarmed my ass! One shot and half a fighter was melted! This was unarmed? This was clearly the latest weaponry! It was way more powerful than armor-piercing incendiary rounds. It might even be a new type of energy weapon!

"Nice shot, Annie!"

Melinda was surprised, but she didn't dwell on little Annie's unauthorized weapon mods. Right now, someone was trying to kill them. Her nickname was Iron Rider! She wasn't going to just take a beating! She didn't know what was wrong with S.H.I.E.L.D., but taking out the remaining fighter first couldn't be wrong. If someone wanted to go after Melinda, they'd better be ready to be taken out!

"Annie, watch out! Get ready to fire!" Melinda shouted to Annie. The best defense was offense!

Now it was one-on-one. Knowing they had weapons too, Melinda seized the moment of the enemy fighter's panic. She yanked the control stick hard. The red fighter executed a high-speed Cobra maneuver, breaking out of the tailing position and moving above the remaining fighter.

"Got it! I see it!"

Annie responded, swiveling the Vulcan Cannon. The targeting screen's crosshairs locked onto the back of the fighter passing below. The enemy pilot seemed to realize his peril and tried to roll sideways, but he was just a little too late.

As the crosshairs aligned, Annie slammed the red firing button. In an instant, another dozen fireballs shot out, all slamming into the back of the Quinjet! With so many hits, the searing heat instantly melted it into a scattered pile of molten steel fragments...

"God! Jarvis? Am I seeing this right?! S.H.I.E.L.D. infighting? Now that's big news!" Watching the red fighter shoot down the two attacking Quinjets, Tony Stark was a bit stunned.

Actually, Tony hadn't gone far. He was just hiding beneath a cloud layer, planning to wait until the red Quinjet left before resuming his Mark IV testing. But who would have thought he'd witness such a scene!

"Sir, you are not mistaken. Both planes have been destroyed. Based on observations, at least two casualties! The weapon used by the red Quinjet has no record in any database. Extremely dangerous! I recommend you leave immediately!"