The green-skinned fish sank into the East River and disappeared without a trace.
Tony hovered above the river, the sonar map constantly updating.
The underwater pipes were interconnected, and the heat source disappeared in the blink of an eye as it flowed through the drainage hub.
"Sir, the target heat source has completely disappeared; the success rate of tracking it is zero."
"Zero? JARVIS, can't you utter a single nice word?"
Enraged, Tony landed and popped off his mask. After searching with his naked eye to no avail, he punched the bridge pier railing.
How much energy does the armor have left?
"Eleven percent. Sir, I strongly recommend that you retain the power reserve to return to Malibu or Stark Tower."
"Let's go back to main street and clean up the mess."
The faceplate closed, and the golden-red armored warrior turned and charged towards the main battlefield.
Amidst the ruins, Vi's Hextech Gauntlets compressed blue light to their limit, and white vapor spewed from the vents on her arms.
"Hey big guy, go wash up and go to bed!"
A punch landed squarely on the back of the Abomination's neck.
The Abomination that he could not escape was dealt a heavy blow; his cloudy eyes immediately lost focus, and he fainted.
Wei straightened up, grinned, and said, "See that? That's what you call professional!"
A crimson shadow fell, Homelander stepped on the head of the Abomination being with one foot, his tattered cloak fluttering in the wind.
He raised his arms high, flashing a sunny smile at the helicopter circling overhead, showing no sign of the disheveled state he had been in after being slammed to the ground.
Wei glanced at his behavior and snorted.
"It's my fault for knocking you down, but you're the one who gets to stomp on your head and pose for a photo?"
"What the camera needs is a photo that can be printed on tomorrow's front page; that's called teamwork."
The smiles of the Homelander remain unchanged.
"By the way, you lost the bet on counting parts earlier. Remember you owe me a cup of hand-drip coffee."
Wei rolled her eyes, too lazy to pay him any attention.
Footsteps came from the street corner, and General Ross and dozens of fully armed special forces soldiers rushed into the ruins and surrounded the two men.
"This is a military operational area! Everyone back up! Immediately!"
Vi laughed, took a step forward to face the gun barrel, and her Hextech Gauntlets clicked loudly.
He raised his hand and placed it against the chest of the nearest captain.
"Back off? Soldier, your gun barrel is practically poking my face! Who gave you the guts?"
The captain's palms were sweaty as he held the gun, and he didn't dare to move an inch.
The gold and red armor lay to one side, revealing Tony's smug face.
" Thaddeus Ross, take my advice. Next time you take the team out for a stroll, spend two dollars at a used bookstore and buy a tactical marching manual."
"Besides tearing down prime downtown shops in Brooklyn to scrap metal and emptying the armory of nearly expired Rocket, what else did your men accomplish?"
"Oh right, they also contributed scrapped tank frames."
Thaddeus Ross's face turned purple with embarrassment. " Stark! This is military property!!!"
"And you, Vought! Who gave you the right to seize national weapons?"
Homelander stood up with his hands behind his back, floated all the way to Thaddeus Ross, and looked down at the furious old man.
"General, let me correct two minor errors."
"First, this 'national property' you created almost cost half of New York its life."
"Secondly, it was Vought and Stark Industries that saved these taxpayers; billions of eyes around the world saw it clearly in the satellite broadcast."
A large group of reporters rushed in from outside the police line, dozens of them pointing their cameras and microphones directly at Thaddeus Ross's face.
"General! May I ask if this giant yellow beast originated from illegal biological experiments conducted by the military?"
What exactly is the relationship between the military and the Giant fled into the East River? Is taxpayer money being used to bomb Manhattan's business district?
Thaddeus Ross was blinded by the Flash and raised his arm to shield his eyes, but more microphones were pushed in from under his arm.
"There are rumors that you personally signed the consent form for the enhancement injection. Please answer this directly!"
The old general's face turned from red to white, and the guards couldn't stop him no matter what they did; the scene descended into complete chaos.
Tony, watching the spectacle from the sidelines, clicked his tongue in amazement. " JARVIS, write this down. Tomorrow's headline will be 'The General and His Pet'."
"The memo has been updated, sir. I would like to remind you that this kind of bad taste is not in line with Stark Industries ' public relations image."
The sound of tire tracks rolling could be heard from the end of the street.
Vought International's heavily armed logistics mech force entered the neighborhood, and two mechs blocked the road at the intersection.
Motoko Kusanagi's movements were clean and efficient, with no unnecessary gaps between them.
An explosion-proof cargo container was unloaded from the transport plane, and a robotic arm reached out, grabbed the unconscious Abomination, and quickly tied it up and stuffed it into the container.
Thaddeus Ross's eyes turned red, and he drew his sidearm from his waist.
Before the gun was even raised, it had vanished from his hand.
Wei clenched his fist, and the pistol given to him by the president turned into a lump of metal.
"General, please put this thing away properly; it's easy for it to misfire."
Wei casually tossed the metal sheet into the muddy puddle, clapped his hands, and laughed, "It's dark and the roads are slippery. Take your men back to the Pentagon for coffee."
The soldiers around them looked at each other, none of them daring to utter a sound.
Our own general had a gun pointed at him right in front of him...
This scene is still being broadcast live...
Who dares to make a move?
Whoever makes the first move is the culprit who instigated the war between the military and Vought.
Thaddeus Ross wouldn't dare either.
He could only put on a show to maintain his authority as a general.
But now, his authority has vanished.
From the moment Nero parachuted in to join the battle, to the Homelander's arrival, and then to the logistics mechs blocking the road and loading cargo, the entire process took less than five minutes, and every step was so smooth it was almost unbelievable.
They even accounted for the military's humiliating act of rushing in.
"Sir, your blood pressure and heart rate are rising," JARVIS's helpful voice announced.
"I'm just scared now."
Surrounded by countless Flash, the Homelander soared into the air, leaving a dazzling silhouette in the sky, while cheers from the ground rose in waves.
"Sir, a high-priority encryption alert has been detected."
JARVIS's voice suddenly broke in.
"Speak."
Tony's unease hadn't dissipated; his gaze remained fixed on the transport plane.
"Thirty seconds ago, an anonymous server pushed a data packet one-way to the global public network. The source encryption level exceeded my cracking limit."
What about the content?
"The logbook of underground live human experiments conducted by super soldiers starting in the 1990s, codenamed Zero, and Lieutenant Colonel Blonsky's informed consent form for injections."
JARVIS paused for a rare half-second.
"Sir, at the very bottom of the signature page of the document is Thaddeus Ross's signature. More than three hundred news organizations across the United States have confirmed receiving the attachment."
Tony hung in mid-air, remaining silent for a long time.
The fierce battle raged on until the very end, and the military's decades-long, meticulously maintained black ledger was torn to shreds in the street, becoming a stepping stone for another legendary live broadcast by Vought International.
He suddenly dared not think further about the magnitude of the scheme Vought had laid out.