[The Empire State Building]
In the corridor, Starlight was grabbed by the throat with a strong hand. She was lifted into the air and pinned against the wall.
Inside the "Titan" armor, Colonel Yuri was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. Starlight's eyes were already rolling back, yet he still could not regain control of the suit.
Just then, a voice came through.
["Colonel Yuri, this is Engineering. We've cleared the malfunction. Your armor is back to normal."]
'Back to normal?'
Colonel Yuri quickly let go. Starlight, who had been hanging against the wall, slid down to the floor at once, clutching her neck and coughing repeatedly.
The colonel opened his faceplate and crouched down, ["Miss Starlight, are you alright?"]
Starlight finally caught her breath. She shook her head to show she was fine, then pushed herself up against the wall and looked at him.
"Your armor?"
Colonel Yuri hurriedly tapped his chest. The armor opened up piece by piece. He jumped out, still shaken.
["Engineering says it's back to normal. But damn it, I swear I'll never put that thing on again."]
Starlight walked to the window and looked outside. She saw Manhattan after surviving the disaster and covered her mouth gently, "Oh my God."
Colonel Yuri walked over too. Looking at the heavily damaged island, he shook his head, "This is truly tragic."
Suddenly, he spotted Homelander below, and Jeff lying motionless.
The old colonel's face reddened, "Looks like Homelander stepped in and solved the problem after all. I even spoke rudely to him earlier. I'm ashamed."
Starlight stared at the man on the street, her eyes full of admiration, "I knew it. He wouldn't just stand by."
"Could it be that everything he did before was to draw out the mastermind?"
"So he had already planned this from the start!"
But then she remembered what Homelander had done earlier in the lobby.
The excitement she had just felt sank again.
On the street, Alex looked up and waved with a smile toward Starlight and Yuri above, then flew toward Maeve.
Lines of information appeared across his retina.
[Event complete.]
[You perfectly resolved this event.]
[Disaster level evaluation: D+]
["Perfect" rating rewards:
1. Proficiency Essence ×29
2. Intelligent Battle Armor "Tyrant"
3. Multivariate Chest (Random) ×3]
[New items have been added to your shop.]
'Very good. Rewards secured.'
Alex smiled in satisfaction.
In the distance, Maeve had not fully recovered yet.
She still could not believe that the armor which had completely suppressed her was defeated so easily by Alex.
Suddenly her vision darkened. A hand lifted her chin, making her look up at the face that entered her sight.
Alex smiled, "That was pretty rough, darling."
Feeling the overwhelming strength in that arm, and the forceful presence radiating from the face so close to hers, perhaps because she was injured, Maeve felt unusually vulnerable. She threw him a charming look.
"I can't move. Can you carry me?"
Alex chuckled, "Aren't you worried?"
Maeve laughed softly in return, "Worried about what?"
Alex leaned close to her ear, "Aren't you worried that since you can't move, I might do whatever I want to you?"
His breath made her skin tingle. Her body felt weak all over. Her voice carried a faint nasal tone, "What's there to be afraid of?"
A major event completed. Rich rewards in hand. And on top of that, big prizes from the Department of Defense and Vought.
At a time like this, of course there should be women and wine.
Maeve froze for a second, then had no time to speak anymore.
———
[Department of Defense Building]
In a room, on the big screen, Homelander was seen carrying Maeve away.
The screen went dark.
Secretary of Defense Wilson looked at the faces in the room.
His expression was grave.
"Forget dealing with Homelander."
"We don't even have the ability to deal with a single intelligent armor unit like Mr. Z."
"Does anyone here have something to say?"
Everyone in the room lowered their eyes.
Wilson looked toward a man in the corner, "Dr. Kyle, how is the research on the mutated residents from Sylvester Town going?"
In the corner, a brown haired man lifted his head. One of his eyes was electronic, and a red light flickered inside it.
As ships and helicopters entered Manhattan Island, rescue operations officially began.
At the same time, media outlets and reporters, after leaving the Empire State Building, rushed across the island for interviews.
A well known host from AAB television returned to the Empire State Building to interview the soldiers who had been hijacked by the armor.
While interviewing Colonel Yuri, a soldier shouted, "Colonel, Levin is badly injured."
"His spine suffered severe trauma. The doctor says he must be sent to the hospital immediately."
"But even then, he may never be able to stand on his own again."
On camera, Colonel Yuri's face changed. He hurried back into the building.
The host and his team quickly followed, continuing the live coverage.
Meanwhile, on Manhattan Island, the sound of ambulances never stopped.
The consequences of the disaster were gradually revealing themselves.
———
The next day—
Alex ate breakfast while studying the information on his retina.
[Tyrant: Intelligent battle armor. Built in AI "Nu" with learning and growth capability. Able to analyze and formulate counter strategies, provide strategic information and real time armor status reports.]
[Armor specifications: Special memory alloy outer shell, composite energy generator, anti gravity levitation device, special flexible armored cape, shockwave energy cannon, molecular cutting chain blade, mini auto tracking missiles, particle cluster chest cannon, etc.]
After reading the armor's details, Alex nodded slightly.
This armor was very strong. Clearly several levels above the one Jeff wore last night.
But to Alex, it was still just a big toy.
However, he liked the name of the armor.
"Tyrant. Though sometimes it'd be fun to take it out and cosplay Kamen Rider."
Alex opened his inventory again. He now had 30 Proficiency Essences. He used 10 first to exchange for the [Designated Talent Capsule: Absolute Hit] that he had wanted before.
He swallowed the capsule at once, generating the corresponding gene fragment.
With "Absolute Hit," all his long range attacks from now on would truly never miss.
"Twenty Proficiency Essences left."
"That's 400 proficiency points."
"At least enough to raise Bio Field by one level."
Alex opened his status panel.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Name: John (Homelander)]
[Life Level: Level 5 (Transcendent)]
[Status: Normal]
[Talents:
Heat Vision (78/200)
Flight +2 (62/100)
Super-Human Speed +2 (46/100)
Bio Field (24/200)
Super-Human Strength +2 (89/100)
Regeneration +1 (21/30)
Insight +1 (26/30)
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
After reviewing his status, Alex decided to level up "Heat Vision" and "Bio Field" first.
The former would pair perfectly with "Absolute Hit."
The latter was his guarantee for standing still and dealing damage.
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