A dozen or so seconds later.
"Click, click."
All seven assault rifles clicked as their bolts locked back on empty magazines.
Clearly, they had run out of ammunition.
The deafening gunfire finally stopped.
The room was thick with the smell of gunpowder and gunsmoke.
The six beauties and Yinsen panted heavily and finally lowered their guns.
But before anyone could tell whether they had hit the guy,
a black blur suddenly flashed through the smoke.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"
A series of muffled blows rang out in the room.
Before the beauties and Yinsen could see their attacker's movements, they felt tremendous impacts against their stomachs or backs.
They all cried out in pain, their guns falling to the floor.
Then they clutched their stomachs and collapsed onto the carpet in agony.
It was John attacking them.
The instant the gunfire stopped, John had charged over at super speed and counterattacked.
But John's real target was Tony Stark, who was sitting behind them.
After knocking everyone down, John appeared directly in front of the sofa.
Seeing Tony sitting there with a wineglass in his hand, John's eyes filled with killing intent.
Furious beyond measure, John seized Tony by the collar and hauled him off the sofa.
"Damn you, Stark! How did you know about all this?! How did you know we were coming to assassinate you?!"
Whenever John thought of the missile in the hallway, the anger in his heart refused to subside.
"You actually installed a missile in the hallway ahead of time?!"
"Damn it! Are you insane?! This is a civilian hotel! We're in downtown Los Angeles, California! If you blow up the hotel, aren't you afraid the federal government and the military will send people to investigate you?!"
Though Tony had been roughly lifted by the collar, both feet dangling above the floor,
he wasn't the least bit flustered by the questioning. Instead, he shrugged and answered calmly.
"Oh, about that, I'm sorry. The federal government probably has no authority over this."
"Five hours ago, I bought the entire building, including this hotel."
"In other words, the floor you're standing on and the hallway you walked through are all my private property. If I want to put a missile in my hallway and listen to it go off, that's my freedom. The police can't do anything about it."
John: ???
The killing intent on John's face instantly gave way to utter bewilderment.
What does he mean, he bought it?!
Fuck! Is that something a human being would say?!
This is a five-star hotel in downtown Los Angeles!
The land and construction costs alone are astronomical!
So, to guard against one assassination attempt and legally put a missile in the hallway, you went and bought the whole hotel?!
Is this how the ultra-rich think?!
Can someone tell me why the world's richest man would go to such lengths to set up a nobody like me?!
Damn rich people!
Two teammates dead before I even saw the target. Does that make sense?!
John felt as if his entire worldview had been shaken.
The overwhelming force of capital left him feeling utterly powerless.
Humiliated and enraged, John shook Tony hard and continued questioning him.
"Cut the crap! How did you know we were coming? Who tipped you off?"
It was no surprise that John asked.
He was worried there might be a traitor within HYDRA who had exposed their operational plans.
But on second thought, John decided not to complicate matters any further.
No matter how Stark had found out, the mission would be complete as long as he killed them all tonight.
So he released Tony's collar, letting him fall onto the sofa.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, he swiftly drew a dagger from the strap on the outside of his thigh.
Without waiting for Tony to answer, John spoke cruelly.
"Forget it. None of that matters anymore."
"Stark, you got two of my teammates killed on this mission. So now I'll send you to hell to have a celebration party with your brother!"
With that, John raised the dagger above his head, ready to plunge it into Tony's heart.
Yinsen and several of the beauties lying on the floor turned pale at the sight and cried out anxiously.
But Tony wasn't flustered at all. He didn't even try to dodge.
"Is this all you've got, speed boy? All you can do is stab wildly with a lousy knife? Well, before you stab me to death, why don't you take a look behind you?"
At Tony's words, John's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The next second.
A broad, powerful hand silently landed on John's right shoulder.
The instant the hand appeared, a chill ran down John's spine.
He was a Mutant with super speed! His senses were far sharper than an ordinary person's.
Yet someone had managed to get behind him without his noticing!
John swallowed and stiffly turned his head.
Behind him,
a tall, upright young man stood quietly.
The man wore no shirt, revealing the powerful contours of his muscles.
He was extraordinarily handsome. John felt that if he were a woman, he wouldn't have been able to resist him.
But what frightened him was the dazzling blue-white light shining from the man's eyes.
The energy contained in that light seemed ready to fire at any moment and destroy everything.
And this man was none other than Luca Stark, who had just emerged from the bedroom.
John didn't dare hesitate.
His assassin's instincts told him he had no chance of winning against this man.
In an instant, he abandoned his plan to assassinate Tony and immediately unleashed his power to its fullest.
He swiftly became a black blur, his legs moving at top speed as he tried to flee toward the door.
The idea was lovely, but reality was cruel.
Luca had grown stronger in more ways than just his ability to control and fire energy.
His neural reaction speed, visual tracking ability, and physical attributes, for example, had all improved dramatically.
Luca tilted his head.
To his eyes, everything around him seemed to slow down.
John, for example, was so fast he was nothing but a blur, yet to Luca he seemed to be moving in slow motion.
He could clearly see every step John took.
Too slow.
Luca smiled faintly.
Then he vanished from where he stood in an instant.
That was what happened when speed reached its extreme.
The next second.
Luca appeared at the door.
John, who was sprinting with his head down, didn't notice the person who had appeared in front of him.
"Bang!"
John slammed hard into Luca's chest.
The force of the rebound was astonishing.
John felt like he had seen his great-grandmother as the tremendous force sent him flying backward.
After tumbling twice in midair, he crashed heavily to the floor.
The powerful impact forced John to become visible again, and he looked toward the door in disbelief.
He had no idea what had just happened.
Had his power stopped working?!
No, impossible!
Could it be...
"You... how can you be so fast?!"
John pointed at Luca, his voice trembling.
"Didn't the intel say you were ordinary people?!"
Luca slowly crouched down and looked at him with a smile.
"Buddy, who told you I was an ordinary person? I've never said I was an ordinary person in public."
Luca pointed at his own head and mocked him.
"As for your speed... sorry, I have to tell the truth. To me, you really are as slow as a turtle."
"Full of openings and unable to withstand a single blow."