Warning! Warning!

Following a series of airship explosions downstairs, Tony Stark immediately snapped back to his senses.

Even with the Mark Armor on, he couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle as those dozen or so missiles had whistled past his face all at once.

Fortunately, upon hitting the enemies, the missiles didn't detonate but instead burst into globs of slime that locked the targets in place; only then did he breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Even so, his shock hadn't diminished in the slightest.

"Jarvis... what was that just now?!"

Hearing Tony Stark's hesitant inquiry, Jarvis, as an intelligent butler whose database contained extensive behavioral models of his master, understood exactly what Tony wanted to ask.

Inside the mask of the Mark Armor, a virtual reticle immediately locked onto the "pencil case" in Luca's hand, and a massive amount of data began to scroll past.

At the same time, Jarvis's voice system provided the answer.

"Sir, the database does not currently have a match for the weapon's origin. The system analysis identifies it as a micro-handheld missile launcher. It possesses an intelligent locking function, and the missiles are filled with a high-viscosity polymer, which is highly effective for immobilizing targets."

"However, the flight speed of the missiles is relatively slow. At any distance beyond close range, the Mark Armor has a 98.4% probability of intercepting them all. Comprehensive analysis suggests the threat level to you is low."

Tony Stark stood back up, feeling a bit dazed as he realized how uncomposed he must have looked just a moment ago.

"Then just now..."

Tony wanted to say that when he had first fallen in front of this mother and son, he had clearly been staring down the barrel of that "micro-missile launcher," which certainly didn't count as mid-range.

Moreover, the Mark Armor's scanning function had a certain degree of penetration; it could have easily analyzed the device before the "pencil case" was even deployed.

So why hadn't Jarvis warned him of the danger?

Before he could even finish his sentence, Jarvis anticipated his question and provided a direct reminder.

"Sir, your decision to manually retract your faceplate interrupted the system analysis."

"..."

Tony Stark's face flushed red at the news. It turned out his own blunder was the reason for his embarrassment.

Even so, Tony remained stubborn.

"Minor issue! Jarvis, remind me later to add an external obstacle-clearing function to the armor's self-cleaning system!"

"Understood, sir!"

After receiving Jarvis's confirmation, Tony originally intended to quickly leave after reminding the mother and son to stay safe.

After all, the massive battle outside was still raging intensely.

Compared to his own bruised ego, resolving the immediate crisis and saving more citizens was the most important thing right now.

However, before he could even speak, the boy who had just put away the "pencil case" suddenly accelerated, moving with incredible speed as he dashed past him toward the hole in the wall.

The boy's sprinting speed was extremely fast, but it was nowhere near the limit of the Mark Armor's visual scanning.

Tony Stark turned to look and immediately noticed that when the boy reached a soccer ball near the hole, he suddenly slammed on the "brakes" and came to a halt.

He raised his right leg high behind him, his entire body stretching out like a soaring eagle, his gaze locked firmly on the distance.

In the direction the boy was staring, a hundred-meter-long Leviathan alien warship was cruising, its massive body slowly approaching the building where they were located.

Along the way, Chitauri soldiers were continuously leaping from the Leviathan, hurtling toward the ground.

"What is he doing?!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Warning! Warning! High-energy reaction detected!"

"Scan results! Unknown electrical energy module! Memory-polymer metal synthetic muscle fibers! Magnetorheological fluid shock-absorption layer! Carbon nanotube fiber..."

Lines of data flashed rapidly before the faceplate, and Jarvis's warning alerts filled his ears.

Yet, at this moment, Tony Stark's attention was entirely captured by the boy with his leg raised high.

He saw a massive burst of electrical arcs erupt from the boy's right foot, with faint, iridescent light flickering across the surface of his shoe.

The next moment, Luca unleashed a violent, explosive kick into the soccer ball.

In the Mark Armor's slow-motion view, the entire ball distorted and changed shape.

The air surrounding the sphere was compressed, creating a deafening sonic boom.

As this terrifying force was fully unleashed, the soccer ball shot forward like a flaming meteor.

The powerful shockwave kicked up a massive cloud of building debris as it surged forward.

The surface of the ball rubbed against the air, creating an orange-red halo and trailing a comet-like tail of fire.

A series of sonic boom clouds detonated one after another along the ball's trajectory.

The outer glass walls of the high-rise buildings near the ball's path were shattered instantly.

"BOOM--"

Amidst a thunderous explosion, the soccer ball that had streaked across the sky slammed solidly into the Leviathan warship.

The bio-warship immediately let out a pained wail from its maw.

Under the impact of the incomparable force, the metal armor on the exterior of the warship shattered in a massive blast at the point of contact.

The entire warship even lurched backward in the air, completely out of control.

"...Unknown external material reinforcement technology, unknown locking system, unknown..."

Jarvis's analytical report continued.

But for the moment, Tony Stark simply stood frozen in place, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard.

"Holy—!"

"ROAR—"

The roar shattered Tony Stark's stupor.

Luca's flashy, violent soccer ball strike looked fierce, and in reality... it was indeed quite powerful.

However, compared to the massive size of the Leviathan warship, it was ultimately still lacking.

Now having readjusted its posture, the Leviathan behemoth charged straight toward the building at an even faster speed than before.

With no time to think, Tony Stark immediately propelled his Mark Armor, turning into a meteor himself as he shot forward.

Fortunately, Luca's previous strike had already blown away a portion of the Leviathan warship's armor, saving Stark the trouble of breaking through its defenses.

A wrist-mounted missile fired rapidly, striking the exposed muscle tissue of the bio-warship directly.

"BOOM—"

Another violent explosion rang out.

A gaping hole was instantly blown into the body of the Leviathan behemoth.

It then wobbled while wailing, crashing into the ground and only finally dying completely after smashing through two more buildings.

"Whew~ It actually worked~?"

Hovering in mid-air, Tony Stark whistled in excitement.

He hadn't expected that with the cooperation of that soccer kid, the alien warship that had given him such a headache could be dealt with so easily.

"But what kind of family is that? To actually equip a child with this kind of... weapon?"