Meanwhile.
Jack and the other two walked into the opulent elevator.
John pressed the button for the top floor.
The elevator doors slowly closed.
The elevator began to rise smoothly, the acceleration pressing noticeably against their backs.
Soft, soothing music played in the elevator.
But the atmosphere inside was rather gloomy.
The three stood together without a word.
As the elevator rose floor by floor, the numbers on the display kept changing.
Tenth floor... twentieth floor... thirtieth floor...
For some reason, a powerful sense of unease suddenly welled up inside John.
He had a feeling something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
As an agent, he didn't believe such absurd things would happen one after another.
But the facts told him they had.
Otherwise, who could explain why Stark's bodyguard was working at the front desk here?
Damn it, just look at his build. Shouldn't he have been working security?!
If he ever got the chance to be in charge, he would fire the recruiter.
This was a complete misuse of personnel!!
At last, John couldn't resist breaking the silence.
Glancing at his two teammates, he spoke with some concern.
"Guys, haven't you noticed anything strange?"
"Tonight's operation has gone too smoothly. Especially that Happy. Why did he show up here at this particular time? Even if he got fired, could it really be such a coincidence?"
Hearing his captain's question, the short-tempered Jack shrugged.
This was their first mission, and although things had gone a little too smoothly...
Wasn't that a good thing?!
Still, seeing the solemn looks on his teammates' faces, Jack thought for a moment and spoke up too.
"Captain, I feel like something's a little off too. After all, that fat guy talked too much. But either way, we're here to complete the mission, not to think about coincidences."
Jack paused and glanced at the other two, then clenched his fist and smiled confidently.
"Besides, we have superpowers!"
"I mean, look at how strong we are now. Why would we be afraid of two drunk rich kids? Even if they have bodyguards upstairs, I can blow their heads off with one punch!"
Mark nodded too, agreeing with Jack.
They had superpowers. Why would they be afraid of ordinary people?!
That was ridiculous!
"Maybe we want to complete the mission so badly that we've gotten a little strung out, Captain."
"According to the intelligence department's psychological profiles, the Stark brothers never had normal personalities to begin with."
"They're arrogant and do whatever comes to mind. Firing a longtime bodyguard on the spot over something trivial might be unthinkable for anyone else, but it's exactly the kind of absurd thing they'd do."
"Happy obviously holds a grudge, which is why he cooperated with us so readily."
After hearing his teammates' analysis, John fell silent for a while.
They had a point.
In the face of power, schemes and tricks were futile.
Perhaps he really was being too cautious.
What if all of this really was just a coincidence?!
The three didn't argue about it any further.
The elevator had reached the fourth floor from the top and would soon arrive at the top floor.
Seeing that the other two still looked serious, Jack grinned, a cruel smile spreading across his face.
"Don't worry, Captain. There's no way this mission can fail!"
"With my physical abilities, unless Tony Stark fires a missile at us, there's no way a few handguns can take us down!"
"But how could that happen? He'd have to be God to know we were coming and put a missile in the hotel hallway ahead of time to wait for us."
Hearing that, John and Mark both laughed.
True, it was absurd.
Who would put a missile in someone else's hotel hallway?
The atmosphere in the elevator lightened considerably.
Just as the laughter of the three men was still echoing through the elevator.
"Ding!!"
A crisp chime rang out.
The elevator had reached the top floor.
The number on the display stopped at the highest floor.
The elevator doors slowly slid open.
All three immediately stopped smiling, their eyes full of killing intent.
The mission had begun.
They were fully prepared, their bodies tense as they readied themselves to rush out as fast as possible and carry out the assassination.
But.
The instant they stepped out of the elevator.
All three froze in place, their eyes as wide as saucers.
Because.
In the hallway ahead of them, about ten meters from the elevator entrance.
There was a mount extending out of the wall.
And resting quietly on the mount was a miniature object that looked like a shell!
A Stark Industries designation was printed on it.
Without a doubt, it was a genuine miniature high-explosive missile!
At the front of the missile, a red indicator light was flashing.
At the very instant the three stepped out of the elevator and saw the missile.
The countdown above the missile reached its final second.
"5... 4, 3, 2... 1..."
Zero!
The next second.
A blinding flame erupted from the tail of the miniature missile.
"Whoosh!!!"
The missile left its mount with a deadly shriek and launched toward the three men!
The distance was about fifty meters, but there wasn't nearly enough time.
Jack was completely dumbfounded.
His scalp tingled, and the blood throughout his body seemed to flow backward.
"Damn it!! There really is a missile!!!"
What kind of lunatic was that damned Stark?!
He really had installed a missile in the hotel hallway!!
But at that moment, they had no time to hesitate, nor any time to think about what was going on.
Faced with the missile right in front of them, their survival instincts kicked in.
John, who had super speed, reacted the fastest.
"Whoosh!"
His figure vanished from where he stood, turning into a blurry black line as he raced toward the corner at the end of the hallway.
Mark wasn't slow to react either.
He turned straight into a large puddle of water and quickly seeped into the gaps and layers of the carpet.
Using their abilities, the two escaped the center of the blast at the very last moment.
As the saying went, when disaster struck, everyone fled for themselves.
The one who could run the fastest had left, and only the unlucky one remained.
Only a dumbstruck Jack was still standing at the elevator entrance.
His abilities were super strength and a tough body.
So he couldn't run that fast, much less turn into water.
Damn it!!
They abandoned me!!
In desperation, Jack's eyes turned bloodshot, and he let out a beast-like roar.
He put all his strength into a punch at the wall beside him.
Boom!
His punch left a huge crater in the hard wall.
Jack pried a large chunk out of the wall and held it in front of himself, hoping to use it as a shield to soften the impact.
The second after he put the piece of wall in front of himself.
The miniature missile slammed into it.
Bang!!!
A deafening blast erupted in the hallway!
The explosion went off in an instant!