Ace Among Aces

On the Malibu coast, Tony Stark was concentrating all his efforts on building his Iron Suit.

Although Saitama had rescued Tony this time, and the impact of Saitama's punch had been etched directly into his mind, seeing that kind of power only made Tony yearn for strength all the more.

The Iron Suit had originally been intended as an escape tool, something Tony wanted to build after he was captured. Saitama's arrival had ruined his escape plan, and he hadn't even managed to build the first Mark I, but he had already worked out the design.

So, after Tony returned, he threw himself into building the Iron Suit. It was the only thing that could make him feel safe.

To be honest, if he could, Tony would probably feel safer with Saitama as his bodyguard. But Saitama had already gotten his hundred million dollars, so there was no way he'd come work as Tony's bodyguard. Tony's lack of a sense of security would have to be remedied by the Iron Suit he built himself.

"Great, Jarvis. Take off." Both Tony's feet and arms were covered in machinery.

"Sir, they haven't been tested yet. I think you should take this one step at a time."

"Taking it one step at a time is for ordinary people. And who am I? Tony Stark. So while other people are trying to walk, I can skip straight to flying. Take off."

"Yes, sir."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Tony smashed through two walls and wrecked several cars before finally crashing to the ground, bruised and battered.

Bullseye, the man with a target painted on his forehead, had returned to Hell's Kitchen.

When he'd left, Bullseye had been carried away. Now he'd walked back on his own two feet.

Bullseye rolled his shoulders, felt how new his body seemed, and couldn't help grinning.

Originally, Bullseye had only needed his broken spine repaired. But after seeing how strong and durable Adamantium was, he thought back to how he'd had no chance to fight back against Translucent and had nearly been beaten to death, left crippled. So Bullseye had decided to go all in, demanding that every bone in his body be replaced with Adamantium.

That decision had undoubtedly increased Bullseye's chances of dying. But he was the kind of man who was ruthless to others and even more ruthless to himself. He didn't care whether the procedure would fail or whether he'd die if it did. All he wanted was power—power strong enough to take revenge.

In all his years as Bullseye, he'd never taken a hit like this. No, it was more accurate to say he'd never taken a hit at all.

His inborn talent let him turn anything into a deadly projectile. Before superheroes appeared, he'd been like a crab, strutting around without fear of anyone. Now he'd taken such a serious beating right from the start. It was easy to imagine how he felt.

He couldn't even bear to think about how he'd been bragging that Translucent was no match for him one moment, only to be beaten into a cripple by a single punch the next, before he'd even had time to react. The contrast was simply too great for Bullseye to accept.

So, to get revenge, Bullseye had risked a procedure with an extremely high mortality rate and replaced every bone in his body with Adamantium. He'd even replaced his entire skull, the most dangerous bone of all.

You could say that, aside from lacking Wolverine's powerful healing ability, Bullseye was practically a variant of Wolverine now.

"I'm back. Translucent, heh. I'll make you pay for everything you did to me, and then some. I'll crush every bone in your body, one by one." Bullseye clenched his fist. The tremendous strength his metal skeleton gave him made the muscles in his hand ache.

Bullseye frowned. Adamantium was too strong, and his muscles couldn't withstand it. In fact, his muscles had become a liability to the Adamantium.

If all the strength of the Adamantium were unleashed, the flesh on his hand would be crushed into pulp.

"Damn it. Why can they only modify bones, and not muscles? If my bones, muscles, and even skin could all be modified, I'd be that much stronger." Bullseye muttered, a little greedily.

Bullseye's return brought Kingpin's men back out of hiding. Their businesses—including drug and weapons deals—began operating again. Kingpin had even partnered with Madame Gao this time, and Hell's Kitchen was now in even worse shape than before.

Matt frowned as he listened to all the news around him. It wasn't just his extraordinary hearing, which let him clearly hear a man and woman in a building a thousand meters away engaged in some kind of exercise. Kingpin's men were acting recklessly, making no effort at all to hide what they were doing.

"Kingpin's men have suddenly become so brazen. Something must have happened. Damn Kingpin. Looks like I'll have to talk it over with Saitama before heading out again. But those people from that special department are still watching me, and they may have started watching Saitama too. That's a problem." Matt frowned, considering what to do next.

Matt even wondered if he should go out alone, so he wouldn't drag Saitama into this or let the special department discover him.

While Matt was thinking about how to avoid involving Saitama and considering going out alone, Saitama had already started running all over New York.

After all, Saitama was a hero, and his thinking was simple: he should do what a hero was supposed to do. He didn't even consider whether the special department might catch him in the act.

Phil Coulson frowned, his expression grave.

"Director, Saitama is definitely an extremely capable agent. I even suspect he may be an ace trained specifically by the Eastern Great Nation—an ace among aces. His ability to stay hidden is incredible. I've tried every method, but I can't track him at all. Every time, we only see him near his home. As soon as we try to follow him, he shakes us completely. I don't think even a Level Ten agent at S.H.I.E.L.D. could do that."

Nick Fury listened to Coulson's report, his brow furrowing. He interlaced his fingers beneath his chin, his expression growing more and more serious. "Saitama. What exactly is he trying to do? What orders is he carrying out?"