"Boom!" Just as the temporary leader and his bodyguards were losing focus from prolonged concentration, a red monster suddenly crashed into the office. General Ross didn't even bother with the door—he simply smashed through the wall. After all, this was a drill, and the more realistic it was, the better, right?
Moreover, General Ross wasn't alone. There were others coming through the doors, windows, ceiling, and walls, surrounding the office in an instant, making the space feel rather cramped.
It was only then that the bodyguards snapped back to reality. Even though this was just a drill, they still needed to demonstrate their presence. So, they bravely charged at the superhumans. If this had been a real supernatural event, the bodyguards wouldn't have charged in so recklessly. At most, they would have protected the temporary leader and tried to escape because real supernatural events could be deadly. But this was just a drill, where no one was supposed to die...
"Thud!" Just as the bodyguards, with such thoughts in mind, rushed toward the superhumans, a sharp sound echoed through the room, and a bodyguard's corpse fell to the ground.
This sight immediately startled the other bodyguards. Their forward steps halted instantly, their eyes filled with confusion and fear.
Wasn't this supposed to be a drill? How did someone actually die?! Sure, they made decent money as bodyguards, but they weren't paid enough to risk their lives!
If it weren't for the fact that the attackers were the same people they had seen at the stadium earlier, the bodyguards would have believed they were facing a real supernatural event. But whether it was real or not no longer mattered. The bodyguards realized that these superhumans didn't value their lives at all.
Even though these superhumans probably wouldn't kill the temporary leader, there was nothing stopping them from killing the bodyguards. With that realization, the bodyguards no longer dared to intervene and scrambled to hide to the side in fear.
"Nick Fury! Was this your idea?" On the other side of the room, as soon as the bodyguard died, Steve's expression changed. He glared at Nick Fury and asked in a deep voice. The Avengers beside him also looked at Nick Fury with some hostility. They hadn't expected Fury to pull something like this.
"It wasn't me! I just told them to make the simulation as realistic as possible. I didn't tell them to kill anyone!" Nick Fury glanced at the superhuman who had killed the bodyguard, noticing that he wasn't from S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, or the Skrulls. Fury decisively threw the person under the bus.
"Really not your guy? Then we'll take him with us afterward. Don't regret it," Tony Stark said with a deep look at Fury.
The Avengers believed that this superhuman must have been arranged by Fury to make the drill more realistic, to scare the bodyguards and the temporary leader into panic, giving the superhumans a better chance to capture the leader.
But Fury continued to deny it and nonchalantly shrugged. "Sure, take him with you when the drill is over. Do whatever you want with him. After all, you Avengers have the authority to deal with it however you see fit."
"No, no! He's with our agency! Didn't we agree to make it more realistic?" a government official finally spoke up, shouting at Fury and the Avengers.
The Avengers' suspicions were correct. Everything was indeed hinted at by Fury. But Fury had only hinted and hadn't explicitly stated anything. And since the killer wasn't one of Fury's men, he had no obligation to help. Especially now that the situation in the office had reversed, Fury couldn't care less about the official's protests.
When the superhuman killed a bodyguard, the office did indeed descend into chaos. The temporary leader, whether genuinely frightened or following some agreement with the agency, became flustered. Instead of running towards the armored suit, he tried to hide under the desk.
Seeing this, Fury felt confident. If he had to protect such a useless ally, he would be desperate. But now they were on the offensive, and this useless ally of theirs was turning into Fury's ace in the hole!
Fury's thoughts were optimistic, especially when he saw the armored suit and the temporary leader's desk surrounded by superhumans. He became even more excited, as if he could already see the hope of breaking through the Avengers' defenses and taking control of the Avengers.
Unfortunately, Fury's fantasies were quickly shattered by the images coming from the office. The armored suit, initially blocking the superhumans, suddenly emitted a bright flash that enveloped the entire office. At the same time, a loud roar erupted from the footage, causing many spectators to cover their ears in discomfort.
"What? What happened?!" Fury snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the still-dark screen, then turned to Tony Stark in confusion.
But Tony Stark didn't bother answering. He just gave Fury a faint smile. Fury didn't notice that Martian Manhunter, standing nearby, was also smiling slyly.
"What happened? Can't you see for yourself?" Tony Stark finally spoke up when Fury's anxiety became apparent.
"What was that flashbang? How could it last so long? Did you damage the cameras?" Fury frowned and asked.
"Ha! Do I need to resort to that? I'm going to win this fight fair and square. No need for cheap tricks like you!" Tony Stark scoffed, looking at Fury with disdain.
"You!" Fury's eyes narrowed as he glared at Stark. If the circumstances were different, and if there weren't so many Avengers around, he would have revealed his true form, turned into Tony Stark, and figured out what was going on in Stark's mind!
"Well, the office isn't far. We could just go check it out ourselves..." A government official, sensing the rising tension, cautiously suggested.
"Buzz!" Before the official could finish speaking, they heard a faint humming sound. Stark's armored suit flew in, landing beside Tony, who didn't seem surprised at all and simply smiled.
"Tony Stark! What's the meaning of this?" Fury's heart sank when he saw the suit, realizing there was no movement outside. He looked at Stark with a grim expression.
With a click, the suit opened, revealing the pale-faced but unharmed temporary leader inside.
"Ugh!" The temporary leader immediately started vomiting, as if he had just experienced severe motion sickness.
This was because the leader had indeed gone through a dizzying ordeal. On Stark's instructions, when Jarvis realized that the superhumans weren't much of a threat, he had made the suit do a 720-degree spin while flying wildly. And it wasn't just one spin.
Even though the suit was equipped with excellent shock absorption and other advanced technologies, the temporary leader was an untrained ordinary person. In fact, his physical condition was below average. So after Stark's maneuvers, the leader was in terrible shape.
But Stark had already gone easy on him. If not for the fact that harming the leader too much could give Fury and the others an excuse to claim he was injured, Stark wouldn't have let him off so easily.
Of course, this was just a drill. With the suit staying close to the leader, Stark could always surprise him later.
"Where are they?" Fury asked Stark after seeing the leader slowly regain his composure.
"Relax, I'm not as bloodthirsty as you. General Ross is one of our country's pillars. Why would I kill them? They're just knocked out..." Stark said with a smile, shaking his head.
"Impossible! General Ross was there too. How could your suit be so powerful?!" Fury was in disbelief. If one of the Avengers had done this, he could accept their strength. But the suit's power didn't seem strong enough to achieve this.
As a Skrull in disguise, Fury had some understanding of such technological products. He knew the suit was fast, but its combat strength shouldn't be this overwhelming...
Fury strongly suspected that Stark had used some underhanded trick. The bright flash and loud noise had just been a cover for Stark's deceit!
But despite Fury's suspicions, they were in the challenger's position and had no shame to lose. The problem was, Fury had no evidence at all.
And even if they wanted to challenge the Avengers again, who would fight? Fury knew he wasn't up for it, and with General Ross and the others already unconscious, Fury couldn't think of a good solution...
"Hmph, you clearly have no experience, yet you dare doubt the strength of my suit? How ignorant!" Stark scoffed at Fury's questioning.
"Mr. Leader, what exactly happened?" Fury ignored Stark's scorn and asked the recovering leader.
"Um... to be honest, I'm not really sure..." The leader looked confused. Ross and the others had stormed in so quickly that even though he was prepared, the leader had been startled.
When the leader snapped out of it, he saw a bodyguard get killed. At that moment, the leader didn't care if it was a drill or not, nor did he consider that the agency wouldn't actually harm him. He just wanted to escape...
So, he hid under the desk, but before he could process what was happening, he was sucked into the suit. The next thing he knew, the suit's doors were shut, and he experienced a dizzying spin before ending up here.
"Want to know? I also want to know if you have the ability to continue the challenge," Stark said with a smirk, noticing the leader's bewildered expression. He turned to Fury and asked with a smile.
"You..." Fury wanted to say they could still fight, but he finally understood why the original Fury had felt so powerless. Even though he knew many
secrets about Earth, those secrets couldn't directly translate into combat power.
Now Fury realized the true meaning of the saying "you can't make bricks without straw." And this was with Clark and Robert not even getting involved. The agency was already struggling...
"No, wait! The agency previously targeted the Avengers together, and they performed well even before the Saiyans stepped in. Not all agencies participated then, but this time, it wasn't even an Avenger who fought, just a suit!" Fury recalled a deeply buried memory, which only made him more confused.
"If you're not going to speak, then let's consider this matter settled. From now on, my suit will protect our leader," Stark said with a victorious smile, looking around at everyone as he spoke.
"Oh, and don't even think about dismantling this suit! Not only will it attack anyone other than the leader, but it will also self-destruct if it's tampered with. And I'll choose where it explodes..."
Seeing Stark's pointed gaze, the officials averted their eyes, while the temporary leader opened his mouth but ultimately sighed helplessly and said nothing.
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