Just as Thor was fighting with the Hulk and Sinthea, two blocks away…
A steel battle suit painted in red and gold rushed back to Manhattan in time.
“Oh my God! What’s going on here?”
Tony Stark looked at the street under his feet, feeling terrified, and his hair stood on end.
It was too quiet.
Compared with the sensational explosion over there, there was silence here, and even a needle falling to the ground could be heard.
There are no living people in the streets, only lifelike stone carvings standing everywhere.
On their faces, there were clearly visible signs of panic and fear.
What kind of monster or terrible sight did they see?
“Jarvis, scan the entire street and connect the surrounding monitoring.”
Tony Stark subconsciously lowered his voice.
In an extremely quiet environment, the atmosphere suddenly became overwhelming.
“I don’t know what’s going on over at S.H.I.E.L.D. Those damn bastards have turned the world into a war zone, spreading chaos and generating fear.”
Iron Man had just finished dealing with the turmoil that happened in London.
A Worthy attacked the Prime Minister’s residence.
That guy could create a weather phenomenon, triggering tornadoes, lightning, and thunderstorms. It was a tough supervillain.
Iron Man, Hawkeye, and the second-generation Ant-Man spent a lot of effort, only barely repelling the other party.
After receiving a request for help from S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony Stark left the job of cleaning up the battlefield to Hawkeye.
He quickly returned to North America and flew to Manhattan.
“Sir, 300 meters from here, we found a survivor.”
Jarvis accessed all the surveillance cameras in Manhattan and found a middle-aged man hiding nearby.
He hid in a dark alley and curled up behind a trash can.
“A bizarre catastrophe suddenly swept through and turned everyone into this?”
Tony Stark made a preliminary judgment. With these years of experience with the Avengers, dealing with a variety of super villains, his psychological preparedness and endurance had greatly improved.
Aliens, foreign gods, even mysterious masters, and so on…
Iron Man had met them all.
He scanned his surroundings and kept an eye out for enemies;
While approaching the alley, he was ready to get more information from the other party.
“Hello, I’m an Avenger, Iron Man … I think you should have seen me on TV or on the news, right?”
Tony, who introduced himself, as always, was trying to relieve the pressure with humor.
“Do you need medical help, or …”
The middle-aged man huddled in the corner, waving his hand vigorously, lowered his voice and said, “Shh! Don’t say a word!”
“You can’t do anything, it’s a monster!”
Iron Man could see the deep fear in the middle-aged man’s eyes. He was like a terrified child, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
“Heh, I’m an Avenger, I can …”
Boom!
A huge figure fell to the ground.
It interrupted Iron Man’s words of comfort.
“Tony Stark …”
The voice was coarse and rough, like rusty metal grinding against each other.
Iron Man clearly saw the uninvited guest through his helmet.
As the middle-aged man said, he was a monster.
Close to 3 meters high, his whole body was glowing with a steel-like shiny black luster.
He looked like a ‘swamp thing’ that had absorbed a large amount of metal and bonded it together.
His eyes glowed dark yellow, and he held a conspicuous square hammer in his right hand.
“Destroy!”
The steel monster shouted, and the hammer emitted a ring of dark green flames.
Like a flame, it soared up with the wind and filled the alley.
Iron Man saw the situation and set up an iron shield to defend against the attack.
But the greenish flame didn’t touch him but passed through the red and gold steel armor.
Crack.
Iron Man suddenly turned his head and saw the middle-aged man turn into a stone statue.
On his face, there was a deep look of fear.
“You’re the one who did this.”
Iron Man’s tone was full of anger.
He raised two mechanical arms, and his palm cannon blasted out a beam of light, sending the monster wielding the hammer flying.
“Sir, I searched the database in S.H.I.E.L.D.”
Jarvis gave him timely information to facilitate the battle later on.
“His name is Carl Creel. He used to be a boxer and later worked for Hydra.”
“Code name ‘Absorbing Man.’ He’s able to change the molecular structure of his body and imitate any material he touches.”
Iron Man nodded his head. No wonder this guy was covered in metal.
Like the hard shell of a turtle, he had excellent defensive power.
“What about the hammer that can petrify people? Can you analyze any useful information?”
The iron battle suit flew into the air and temporarily left the battlefield.
“It is impossible to scan, let alone detect.”
Javits reluctantly replied.
“Well, it looks like I’m going to have to fight him alone.”
Iron Man grimaced. He hated things that couldn’t be explained or measured by science.
For example, magic.
Roar!
“Destroy!”
Holding the Hammer of Greithoth, the Absorbing Man roared and rushed up into the air.
With his powerful jump, he smashed into Iron Man’s face like a cannonball.
The hammer was swung, sending up a strong wind. It seemed like the atmosphere was blown away!
Bang!
The nano-material steel battle suit instantly formed an alloy square shield.
However, Tony Stark seemed to underestimate Worthy’s true strength. The heavy force shattered the solid shield that was strong enough to withstand a cannon.
The iron battle suit was suddenly hit hard. Like a discharged bullet, it spun with great speed and smashed heavily into the ground.
“30% damage. The repair process is underway.”
“A broken rib and a large muscle contusion were detected. Medical procedures are being initiated.”
“…”
The alarm rang through the helmet and kept ringing in Tony Stark’s ear.
‘It’s like being hit by a car–‘
This idea came up in his mind.
“Destroy!”
It seemed that this was the only sentence that the strange man could say.
He landed firmly on the ground and walked towards Iron Man.
With every step, the street shook.
Extremely powerful!
“Do you want to know why I talk a lot on the battlefield?”
Iron Man, who had a slight concussion, finally regained awareness.
He struggled to get up despite the pain all over his body
The words traveled far and wide through his speakers.
“Sometimes, I also ask myself, why would I act like the pajama-wearing spider baby? I can’t stop talking and saying stupid things when I meet an enemy…”
Iron Man’s hands joined together, and parts of the robot arm clicked together, forming a huge barrel.
The arc reactor on his chest kept charging up, causing nearly a dozen gun barrels to light up with a white glow.
“– Because we’re scared because we’re afraid.”
Iron Man gripped the ground with both legs. Like a pile driver, he dug deep into the concrete pavement to prevent himself from being knocked away by the terrifying recoil.
“Yes, superheroes are afraid of death, injury and loss…”
“Some people are scared out of their wits by fear, but some people … can turn fear into strength!”
Boom!
The high temperature that could melt everything erupted!
The Absorbing Man raised the Hammer of Greithoth. The God of Fear’s power rippled out in a circle, blocking the terrifying energy blast like a force field.
“By the way, I named it the ‘Gustav Cannon.’ It can flatten half a city!”
Tony Stark still wouldn’t shut up.
He tried to keep his feet steady but with little success.
The full release of the energy cannon pushed the iron battle suit, and it kept moving backward.
The ground was ravaged with a deep groove as if it had been plowed.
The Absorbing Man also had a hard time.
His ‘metal shell’ slowly melted like ice cream under the high temperature.
As they confronted each other, a vortex appeared in the void.
Thor, who was carrying Mjolnir, and Loki…
They appeared and rushed to the battlefield.
“Looks like you’re having a little trouble, Stark!”
Thor jokingly said so, carrying Loki down to the ground.
“Not dead yet — unless you plan to stand on the sidelines and watch the show.”
Iron Man tried to squeeze this sentence out of his mouth.
“Don’t worry, the Earth is saved! I have brought with me — the armies of the Nine Realms!”
Thor said happily.
He glanced at Worthy with a hint of disgust in his eyes.
The minion of the Serpent was an enemy of Asgard!
“Let me take care of this guy.”
Thor raised his hand and threw Mjolnir.
The thunder hammer pierced the atmosphere and radiated electricity, hitting the Absorbing Man, who was struggling to hold on.
“Thor, don’t let him … touch your hammer!”
Iron Man seemed to realize something and urgently yelled.
However, it was too late.
