Reed covered his forehead and said, "This designer is truly a genius, these two anti-gravity stabilizers are actually in series..."
"What should we do now?" Deadpool wasn't too worried, after all, this airplane was full of superhuman beings.
"Why don't we just fly ourselves?" Wanda said impatiently.
"No way, there are still ordinary people here. It's best not to take them with us," Peter glanced at the flight attendants, then said, "This is probably another unscrupulous company, knowing the plane's quality is unreliable, yet still forcefully flying it. If it wasn't us onboard today, there could've been big trouble."
"Then find someone to carry the plane and fly?" Susan suggested, "We have so many superpower users, we can take turns, it shouldn't be too tiring."
The proposal received approval from most of the people. So they began scheduling. Wanda had just taken a nap and was wide awake now, so she took the first shift. Then it was Franklin, Shiller, Polaris...
Believe it or not, after being powered by people, the plane actually flew more steadily and faster. Everyone understood that the longer this dragged on, the more problems could arise, so they just held up the plane and ran for it.
However, the fragility of this plane exceeded everyone's expectations. They hadn't been flying for long when they heard Wanda's voice: "Um, I wasn't great at physics, but I think something seems to be falling apart."
Jarvis came down from his seat, knelt on one knee, touched the floor, and said, "It seems to be the grid position below, some component's quality isn't up to standard, causing a bit of slack in the lower body of the plane. Wanda, just squeeze the loose part together, it's nothing important, shouldn't matter too much."
Wanda followed Jarvis's advice and squeezed the loose panel below, managing to make it wobble less, but then air started leaking from above.
"I'm really fed up," Peter said, "The boss of this company should be thrown into the Sun. What kind of ghost thing did they make?!"
"This technology may indeed be a bit difficult," Susan was still trying to save face, saying, "After all, traditional airplanes have been developed for so many years, and they weren't that safe in the beginning either. We still need to give emerging companies a chance."
But soon, she couldn't say anymore. Because someone hurriedly burst out from the cockpit, shouting: "Is there anyone who can fly a plane?! We need someone strong, a control lever can't be moved!"
Shiller almost couldn't bear to watch. Steve quickly stood up and said, "I can fly, but are you sure this new plane's control panel is the same as a regular passenger plane's?"
"Not much of a difference." The man waved his hand and said, "Quick, come with me."
The two entered the cockpit, and three seconds later, there was a "crack" sound, and everyone closed their eyes. Steve came out holding a control lever, sighed deeply.
"You guys are right," Susan said, "But don't throw it into the Sun, the Sun might not be happy. If it really doesn't work, throw it into a black hole."
"9323, 9323. Can you hear me?"
Jarvis suddenly heard a voice, saying someone was making a radio call. "What's 9323?"
"It's the number of this plane," the flight attendant said, "We're flight 9323."
"Okay, this is 9323." Jarvis pressed his ear and then said, "Where are you? What's going on?"
"Has your plane encountered a problem? Why is the tail smoking?"
"Ah, there's a bit of a small problem, but we can handle it. Thanks for the reminder, but how did you see it?"
"We just fell from twenty thousand meters, our plane has a problem too. We're organizing passengers to parachute..."
"Wait, don't parachute yet," Jarvis shouted, "We're heading to your signal source to rescue you. Repeat, don't parachute yet, we'll send someone over to save you, our plane is full of superheroes!"
"Oh, fantastic! We have a few kids here, the parachutes are too big for them, but the adults can't hold onto them..."
Jarvis quickly shouted toward the cabin: "Polaris, fly east quickly, there's a crashed plane not far from our right rear, go save them."
Polaris immediately flew over. Jarvis comforted through the channel, "Our people will be there soon, hold on a little longer."
"Oh, it's okay, if you're busy, we can parachute ourselves. Anyway, it's all sea below, shouldn't die from the fall."
Although this optimistic attitude is good, everyone was still worried. However, this optimism on the other side wasn't unfounded, mainly because now the human body's physical quality has greatly improved, most people now possess the physical quality that special forces used to have. High-altitude skydiving isn't too big of a deal.
This is exactly why the best way to deal with air crashes now is to stock up on parachutes and life vests. Whenever something goes wrong, just jump down. Even if you lose contact with the main group, as long as you didn't fall right in the middle of a desert, usually, people could walk out themselves. No one has been injured or killed so far.
However, the problem is, there are kids on that plane, and kids aren't very controllable. Even if they are superpower kids, their first reaction in an emergency is also to scream, so if they can avoid jumping, they should avoid it.
Soon, Polaris's voice came through: "I've got the plane under control, but why does this plane seem like it's falling apart too? I've done my best to squeeze the bottom, but it's still not very solid, can't fly for too long, may have to make an emergency landing."
To be honest, this airplane is incredibly fast. They took off from the East Coast, and in just a while, they've already flown to the Pacific Ocean. The safety of an emergency landing on the sea is relatively high, but if we can hold on a little longer, we might just reach Hawaii, where there is an airport.
"Forget it," Steve said, "Let's not take that risk, make the emergency landing now, we'll get down and swap transportation, let's ditch this broken airplane."
Everyone's pretty ticked off, now they can really empathize with the conservatives. Although old planes were slower, had small cabins, and were far from comfortable, they were relatively safe after so many years of honing. Just look at this new airplane; out of three test flights, two have crashed...
"Wait," Shiller suddenly spoke, "There are three new airplanes, where's the other one?"
He turned to look at the flight attendant, who said nervously, "They're flying on the Atlantic route..."
"Quick... hurry..." Steve was so angry he was incoherent.
"Let's go," Billy raised his hand and said, "Let me search the emotions... oh, found it, we're off."
They can traverse any emotions as long as they detect emotional fluctuations in any creature with emotions; they can directly appear in front of them through an emotional channel. As a result, at this moment, a plane wobbling in an Atlantic storm was supported by the two boys.
Meanwhile, the two airplanes over the Pacific slowly descended and eventually landed smoothly on the water. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After the inflatable escape slides were deployed, Iceman spread a large ice surface on the water, connecting the two planes. People slid down from the escape passages and stood on the ice surface.
Everyone looked speechlessly at each other. Stark glanced at the people across and found no familiar faces; they must be regular people from the other plane. Moreover, the model of their plane seemed different from his, designed more as a passenger aircraft, while his was a charter flight.
But whichever plane it was, their quality was "stable" — the other plane also lost two stabilizers, and both were on the same side. This proved that the other side made the same structural mistake.
Once off the plane, several scientists began a thorough inspection. After the inspection, they concluded it wasn't sabotage, just pure incompetence.
"This company's development strategy has issues," Stark said, "They think surpassing traditional airplanes requires major speed boosts, so they ramped up the speed crazily. They're making wings light and thin, simplifying circuits as much as possible, and selecting light but fragile materials, which is structurally problematic."
"You think it's a speed issue, but I believe this company wanted more interior space to address cramped traditional planes limiting movement, so they chose light materials and seemingly overtrusted the anti-gravity system, lacking redundant safety modules, resulting in this situation."
"Which country is this company from?" Peter couldn't help asking.
"Russia."
"Uh... it's understandable," Gwen said, "People over there probably aren't afraid of this."
"There's bad news," JARVIS suddenly said, "A tropical storm is coming. Let's find a place to hide. I've detected an unfinished artificial island nearby; let's take the regular folks there to shelter from the rain."
"I say, let's take them to Hawaii anyway," Wanda said with hands on hips, "It's not too far away from Hawaii."
"Well, our destination isn't Hawaii..." someone raised a hand, "We're going to Singapore, and some are heading to Thailand..."
Wanda rubbed her forehead and said: "We're not keeping you in Hawaii indefinitely, just temporarily..."
"Better not," JARVIS said softly, "Going to Hawaii would mean safe arrival. The Hawaii air routes are busy, rescue planes may slow down, and the island consumption isn't cheap. Plus, if we don't make matters worse, insurance might not cover."
Wanda realized, she's not particularly wealthy, so she understands the intricacies. If they easily transport people to Hawaii, it would lead to disputes.
Logically, the parent company of this airplane should rescue us, but it's far away in Russia, and seeing their behavior, they're probably unreliable.
Going through humanitarian rescue processes, other airlines must step in, but Hawaii's routes are precious, it's a tourism destination to some extent, airlines would be unwilling to sacrifice routes for rescue, even if they come, they'd be slow.
The most troublesome issue is insurance. If they're rescued by superheroes, insurers have plenty of reasons to deny claims. Whether these people need the money or not, Wanda needs the insurance companies to lose it.
The passengers on the other plane apparently thought the same, saying: "Let's not go to Hawaii. If we do, they definitely won't send planes, I have important business in Singapore, can't afford delays."
"Yeah, let's take refuge on that island and wait for others to rescue."
"Correct, air accident insurance should pay a lot. I don't care about the money, but we mustn't let insurance companies take advantage!"
The final sentence resonated with most people, including superheroes — because even superheroes have ironically been denied insurance claims.
Hence, everyone worked together, assisted by Wanda and Iceman, heading to the unfinished artificial island. Once there, they realized it didn't look incomplete, the entire island was lush with greenery, white sandy beaches, and jade seas.
Standing on the island, Stark stroked his chin and said: "I suppose vacationing here isn't bad, what do you think?"