Donny Azoff was running, trying desperately to escape from the terrifying lizard-men. These brutish half-human, half-reptilian creatures were like beasts crawling straight out of hell. Being around them made his skin crawl, and he constantly felt on edge.
Unlike the deeply embittered veterans who had been turned into lizard-men, Donny had lived a very different life before being taken by Oscorp and imprisoned in their secret lab. He had been a stockbroker, living a life of excess and luxury, earning a salary and commissions that most people could only dream of. He owned a massive apartment in a high-end neighborhood and had married his boss’s daughter, seemingly reaching the peak of success.
But his good fortune didn’t last long. The subprime mortgage crisis hit, and his father-in-law’s brokerage firm quickly collapsed under crushing debt. His father-in-law committed suicide by jumping from the top of the company building, leaving Donny unemployed and penniless.
His wife left him, taking the house and their children with her. The courts granted her custody, while all Donny was left with were some worthless stocks. His years of hard work amounted to nothing, and he ended up on the streets as a homeless man.
While imprisoned in Oscorp’s lab, Donny had considered suicide many times, but the thought of seeing his daughter again kept him alive. Even after he was granted a twisted kind of freedom due to the chaos caused by the lizard-men, revenge against humanity was the last thing on his mind. He only wanted to see his daughter one last time.
The genetic modifications that Oscorp performed on him had been a failure. He was fused with vulture DNA, but his body was clumsy, and his wings were too weak to support proper flight.
His grotesque wings flapped frantically as he gasped for air, his chest heaving like a leaky bellows. He craned his snake-like neck, trying to get his bearings and locate home. After being imprisoned for so long, New York City had become an unfamiliar place.
“There’s got to be a way… I know the way home… St. Patrick’s Cathedral… yes… St. Patrick’s Cathedral! My house is near there! Paige! Daddy’s coming to find you!”
Donny’s body was beginning to break down from the genetic instability. Blood oozed from his eyes, casting a red tint over his vision. His lungs felt like they were tearing apart, each breath accompanied by searing pain.
As he continued flying, feathers were yanked from his wings by centrifugal force, scattering through the air.
His movements became more erratic due to the pain, but he kept pushing forward, and finally, he spotted the distinctive spires of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
At that moment, a shadow appeared in the sky, a blurry object speeding toward him at an incredible velocity.
Boom!
The object stopped abruptly a hundred meters in front of Donny, and only after a moment did the deafening sonic boom reach his ears.
The object resembled a human figure, over two meters tall, with a sleek, streamlined body covered in strange gray-black armor. The armor seemed to be composed of countless tiny metallic particles held together by some unseen force. In its chest was a circular device, likely a power source, and plasma propulsion jets fired from its feet, allowing it to hover steadily in the air.
This was something far beyond human technology!
Donny stared in terror at the flying figure before him, unable to speak before it fired a scorching beam of light.
Boom!
In an instant, Donny Azoff was reduced to nothing but ash, disintegrating in the air without leaving a trace.
“Jarvis, did you get that on record?”
Tony Stark’s voice rang out, casual and lighthearted.
“Yes, Mr. Stark. It’s recorded,” Jarvis responded.
“Good, make sure to post that on my social media later.”
The MK-II hovered for a brief moment before it shot off toward the battlefield where the lizard-men were wreaking havoc.
Below, New York City was gripped by a massive traffic jam as panicked citizens tried to flee after watching the live coverage on CNN. This was also why reinforcements from the NYPD and National Guard had been slow to arrive. Amidst the chaos, a black feather floated down gently through the air, caught by a small, chubby hand reaching out from a car window.
The hand belonged to a ten-year-old girl with baby fat still on her cheeks, her bright green eyes filled with curiosity as she examined the feather.
“That feather’s filthy, Paige! It’s covered in germs, throw it away!” her mother scolded sharply, trying to calm her younger son, George, who was sitting in her lap crying loudly. George, who was Paige’s half-brother, was only five years old and bawling at the top of his lungs.
Her stepfather, sitting in the driver’s seat, impatiently honked the car’s horn, joining the cacophony of honks all around as the city descended into chaos.
Paige didn’t throw the feather away. Instead, she quietly tucked it into her cute little backpack.
Their car was just another drop in the vast ocean of vehicles stuck in traffic.
Bob Eagle’s condition was worsening. His wounds were healing slower and slower, and he was growing weaker by the minute. A deep gash across his chest exposed his bones, and through it, you could see his organs writhing beneath.
Right now, Colonel Johnson had him pinned to the ground. His claw, like a piece of iron, had pierced through Bob’s scales and muscle, digging into his skull. Bob couldn’t break free.
“This is what happens when you betray me, Bob. I’m going to rip your head off!” Colonel Johnson hissed, his forked tongue slithering out and brushing against Bob’s face. His grip tightened, and Bob screamed in agony.
Bang!
Suddenly, a police car roared forward, smashing into Johnson and pinning him against a wall with the engine revving loudly.
“Run! Take the kid and get out of here!” George Stacy shouted from behind the wheel. Nearly all the officers he had brought were dead, and he had already resolved to sacrifice himself to stop Johnson.
“Why do you weak, miserable worms keep getting in my way? Why can’t you just stand still and let me devour you?”
Colonel Johnson snarled, ripping the engine out of the police car with his bare hands. He then wrapped his arms around the entire vehicle, crushing it like a tin can.
“You dared to stand against me? Then become scrap metal along with this car!”
Peter Parker, lying on the ground, struggled to lift his hand but was too weak to move. His injuries were too severe, and he had lost the ability to even stand.
Bob Eagle tried to get up, but other lizard-men held him down firmly.
“Watch closely, Bob. Watch as this brave police captain is crushed into a pile of bloody pulp. This is the price of betraying your comrades!”
The lizard-men grinned cruelly, forcing Bob to watch as George Stacy’s fate unfolded.
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