After extracting the list of contacts from the Skrull disguised as Rick Davis, Tony Stark turned to Steve.
"What do we do now?"
After a brief pause, Steve folded his arms. "Capture them... Now that we know the Skrulls' secret and their ambitions, we can't let them move unchecked."
"We finally have a lead. We need to follow it."
"What about him?" Tony pointed at the bound Skrull and shrugged. "We can't just—"
Before he could finish, Jarvis's alarm blared sharply.
"Everyone, a missile is rapidly approaching!"
"What?"
The moment he heard the alert, Tony reached out to summon his armor.
As soon as it arrived, he instinctively directed it onto Pepper instead of himself.
Almost at the same time, the missile slammed into Tony's cliffside villa with tremendous force.
Boom!
The explosion tore apart half the villa, and the shockwave sent everyone flying.
At the moment of impact, Steve raised his shield, covering Tony—who wasn't wearing his armor—beside him.
Lynn summoned a row of skeleton warriors, placing them between himself and Natasha.
A second missile hit.
Then a third.
Each blast shook the cliffside foundation until most of the villa collapsed straight into the sea.
Steve slammed into a wall from the force. Tony, caught by the blast, was thrown off the collapsing structure and plunged into the ocean.
With the foundation gone, what remained of the villa sank after him.
Lynn and Steve quickly moved Natasha and Pepper to safety.
Outside, three armed helicopters hovered in formation.
As soon as they confirmed Stark's villa was destroyed, they circled to retreat.
But a moment later, two blazing beams of heat vision shot out from the ruins below, striking one of the helicopters directly.
Boom!
The helicopter exploded the instant the heat beams struck it, the spinning rotor breaking off and slicing into a second helicopter's cockpit, impaling the unlucky pilot.
The remaining helicopter panicked and immediately tried to flee.
But the two heat rays swept across the sky like a scythe, slicing the last aircraft cleanly in half.
Watching all three helicopters go down, Lynn felt a faint twinge of regret.
A shame he couldn't fly.
If he could, he really would look like Superman—heat vision blazing as he floated in midair. Instead, he had to stand on solid ground and aim upward.
Natasha already knew about his abilities, but Steve Rogers stared in surprise. "The guy in Europe—that was you?"
Nearby, Pepper staggered to the cliff edge, shouting Tony's name.
"TONY!! NOOO! TONY!"
The armor on her peeled away in segments, shooting into the ocean to search the seabed.
"To.. ny…"
Kneeling at the edge, Pepper's eyes were red, tears streaming down her face.
Lynn stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. Tony will be fine."
"I knew it… I knew that after Tony announced his home address to the media, Mandarin and his people would strike back. I wanted to warn him, but…"
"Pepper, calm down. Tony won't be in danger."
Natasha moved beside her, crouching down to comfort her. "Tony carried a nuclear bomb into a wormhole and came back alive. I'm sure he'll be fine after something like this."
As she spoke, bubbles suddenly broke the ocean surface. A moment later, a Mark armor burst out of the water and shot into the sky.
"Look!"
Steve, who'd been staring at the sea, pointed upward with relief. "Tony's flying away in his armor. I knew he'd be okay!"
"Thank goodness."
Pepper let out a long, shaking breath and sat down on the ground—only to freeze a moment later. "But if he's fine, and Lynn already dealt with the helicopters…"
"Where is he going in the armor?"
Natasha and the others could only shake their heads.
Lynn thought for a moment, then said gently, "He's probably heading off to get revenge on whoever orchestrated this."
In his memory of the story, Tony should still be unconscious at this point.
But he ultimately relied on his ingenuity to defeat Killian.
Hmm, Extremis… It seems the "white suit Iron Man" Natasha mentioned should be coming soon.
Of course, if Tony chose not to study Extremis after dealing with Killian, then that version of Iron Man would never appear.
And since there are no mutants in this world—at least for now—the Axis event probably won't happen either.
"I've already contacted S.H.I.E.L.D."
Steve walked over to the three of them. "Someone needs to come clean up the mess. Since Tony's safe, we can relax."
"And Lynn, I need your help. Help me find that Skrull—see if he's still alive."
"Alright."
Lynn agreed with a nod.
They headed down toward the ruins. A large pile of debris blocked the way.
Steve took the lead, lifting stones and clearing space.
Lynn stepped forward to help.
When Steve saw Lynn casually lift a chunk of rubble that had to weigh over three hundred pounds, he spoke up. "I knew it. Your body's definitely been enhanced somehow."
"I just didn't expect the masked man from the HYDRA base in Europe to be you."
Casually tossing the stone aside, Lynn shrugged. "I'm not looking for trouble. I only stepped in this time because Pepper arranged a place for me to stay, so I temporarily acted as her bodyguard."
"Steve, from the moment you were injected with the super-soldier serum seventy years ago to fighting in the Battle of New York seventy years later... you, of all people, should understand this."
"The value of someone with extraordinary abilities who still wants to live an ordinary life."
Steve nodded at Lynn's slightly self-congratulatory words. "Yes. Having power yet refusing to abuse it… being able to restrain the darker impulses inside yourself… that really is a rare quality."
"But sometimes, life doesn't give us the luxury of choosing."
Lynn lifted a two-fifty-pound stone and casually tossed it into the sea. "You're not trying to recruit me into the Avengers, are you?"
"I am."
Steve looked at him with complete sincerity. "Your abilities and your character—both qualify you as an Avenger. Even Natasha said—"
"Stop."
Lynn cut him off, pushing aside the last stone and revealing the stairway beneath. "I prefer my life the way it is... oh?"
As he finished speaking, Lynn saw the Skrull's soul floating right in front of him.
_______
(づ￣ 3￣)づ
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