Warning! Warning!

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

When those dozen or so missiles had all flown past him at once, even he, clad in the Iron Man Armor, couldn't help feeling a chill run down his spine.

Fortunately, after hitting the enemy, the missiles hadn't exploded. Instead, they'd burst into blobs of goo that trapped their targets, and only then had he let out a small sigh of relief.

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

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

Hearing the hesitation in Tony Stark's probing question,

Jarvis, his intelligent butler, immediately understood what Tony wanted to ask. The database held extensive records of his master's behavioral habits, after all.

Inside the Iron Man Armor's helmet, a virtual reticle immediately locked onto the "pencil case" in Luca's hand, and a mass of data appeared beside it.

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

"Sir, there is no match for the weapon's origin in the database. The system's analysis indicates a miniature handheld missile launcher. It has an intelligent targeting function, and its missiles are filled with a sticky polymer that is highly effective at trapping enemies."

"However, the missiles travel slowly. At medium range or farther, the Mark Armor has a 98.4% chance of intercepting all of them. Overall, it poses little threat to you."

Tony Stark had just gotten back to his feet. He felt that his earlier startled reaction had been rather undignified, and was still a little dazed.

"Then just now..."

What Tony Stark meant was that the first time he'd fallen in front of the mother and son, that "miniature missile launcher" had been pointed right at his face. That couldn't exactly be called medium range.

Besides, the Mark Armor's scanning function had some penetrating capability. It could have analyzed the "pencil case" before it even unfolded.

So why hadn't Jarvis warned him that he was in danger?

But before he could finish the question, Jarvis anticipated what he was about to ask and answered directly.

"Sir, your decision to open the faceplate just now interrupted the system analysis."

"..."

Tony Stark blushed at that. So, in the end, it had been his own mistake that made him look like a fool.

Even so, Tony Stark still refused to admit it.

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

"Understood, sir!"

After getting Jarvis's confirmation, Tony Stark had planned to remind the mother and son to be careful, then leave as quickly as possible.

After all, the battle outside was still raging.

Compared to his own bruised pride, resolving the crisis and saving more civilians was the most important thing right now.

But before he could say anything,

the boy in front of him, who had just put away the "pencil case," suddenly accelerated. He raced past Tony at an unbelievable speed, heading for the hole in the wall.

The boy moved incredibly fast, but still nowhere near fast enough to exceed the Iron Man Armor's visual scanning limit.

Tony Stark turned around and immediately noticed that when the boy reached a soccer ball beside the hole, he suddenly slammed on the brakes and stopped.

At the same time, he raised his right leg high behind him, his whole body stretching out like an eagle as he stared intently into the distance.

In the direction the boy was watching, a hundred-meter-long Leviathan alien ship was gliding through the air, its enormous body approaching the building where they were at what looked like a "slow" pace.

Along the way, Chitauri soldiers kept leaping from the Leviathan warship, speeding down toward the ground one after another.

"What's he planning to—?!"

"Beep, beep, beep! Warning! Warning! High-energy response!"

"Scan results: unknown electrical energy module! Memory-alloy metal, muscle-like fibers! Magnetorheological fluid shock-absorbing layer! Carbon nanotube fibers..."

Data flashed rapidly across the faceplate, while warning after warning from Jarvis sounded in Tony's ear.

But at that moment, Tony Stark's attention was entirely fixed on the boy with his leg raised high.

A burst of electric sparks erupted around the boy's right foot. Faint, multicolored light flickered across his shoe.

The next instant,

Luca whipped his right foot forward and blasted the soccer ball.

In the Mark Armor's slow-motion view, the ball distorted, its shape changing completely.

The air around it compressed with a tremendous boom.

As all that terrifying force was unleashed, the ball shot out like a blazing meteor.

A powerful wave of air swept up chunks of debris and sent them tumbling forward.

The ball's surface glowed orange-red from friction with the air, trailing a comet-like tail of fire.

A succession of sonic booms burst along its path.

The exterior windows of the high-rises near the ball's trajectory all shattered from the shock waves.

"BOOM—"

Amid the tremendous explosion, the soccer ball slammed squarely into the Leviathan warship.

The living warship immediately let out a pained wail.

Under the impact of that incomparable force, a large section of the metal armor at the point of impact burst apart.

The entire warship staggered backward through the air, completely out of control.

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

Jarvis's analysis continued.

But for now, Tony Stark could only stand there, dumbfounded, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed.

"Holy shit!"

"ROAR—"

The roar snapped Tony Stark out of his daze.

Luca's spectacularly flashy, brutal soccer kick looked ferocious, and... well, it really was powerful.

But compared to the Leviathan warship's enormous size, it still wasn't quite enough.

The Leviathan had regained its balance, and instead charged straight toward the building at an even greater speed than before.

There was no time to think. Tony Stark immediately activated the Mark Armor and shot out like a meteor.

Fortunately, Luca's earlier strike had blasted away part of the Leviathan's armor, saving Stark the trouble of breaking through its defenses.

A missile shot from his wrist and struck the exposed muscle tissue of the living warship.

"BOOM—"

Another violent explosion rang out.

A huge hole instantly opened in the Leviathan's body.

It wobbled as it fell with a mournful cry, finally dying only after crashing through two more buildings.

"Whew! It actually worked?"

Hovering in midair, Tony Stark excitedly whistled.

He hadn't expected that, with the soccer kid's help, an alien warship that had given him such a headache earlier could be taken down so easily.

"But what kind of family is that, anyway? Equipping a child with a weapon like that?"