46: Chapter 46 The Nuclear Weapons of the World Security Council

S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Command Center.

Although the Helicarrier was severely damaged, it had barely managed to stabilize its altitude.

Nick Fury stood before the main screen, watching the satellite feed transmitted back from Manhattan, New York. His only remaining eye was filled with incredulous shock.

He saw that dark red magic dragon speeding through the streets at supersonic speeds, and saw the hundred-meter-long interstellar behemoth being torn in half with bare hands.

"Director, encrypted communication from the Council," an Agent reported.

The screen switched, and five holographic shadows appeared before Fury.

"Director Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. has lost control of the situation. The Avengers are effectively defunct," the lead Council member said coldly.

"We are buying time! The alien army on the ground is being rapidly eliminated!" Fury retorted loudly.

"Eliminated by whom? By that Lynn, whom you S.H.I.E.L.D. defined as an Omega-level threat?"

The Council member's tone was filled with deep fear and murderous intent. "Our satellites saw it. He can turn into a monster and tear apart warships; he even cut off our detection signals to the Chitauri mothership. What does this mean? It means he has already mastered alien technology!"

Fury's heart sank. The thing he feared most had happened.

"A gangster tyrant who is not bound by any national laws and possesses god-like power. Now, he also has the technological foundation of an alien fleet."

The Council member's voice was unquestionable. "Once this war ends, there will be no power on Earth that can keep him in check. He will become the dictator of all humanity!"

"So what do you want to do?" Fury asked through gritted teeth.

"The Council has authorized the final solution. A fighter jet carrying a three-megaton nuclear warhead has already taken off from the Helicarrier's deck. Target: Midtown Manhattan."

"What?!"

Fury abruptly drew his sidearm and rushed out of the command center.

He grabbed a Rocket launcher, rushed onto the deck, and aimed at the fighter jet that had just taken off.

"Bang!" The Rocket fired, trailing flames, but the fighter had already accelerated; the Rocket grazed the wing and failed to stop it.

The fighter zoomed toward New York.

Fury threw down the launcher in despair and pressed the all-band communication button.

"Stark! Can you hear me? A nuclear missile is flying toward New York. The countdown to detonation is less than three minutes! It will completely wipe out all of Manhattan, including you!"

Manhattan, over Fifth Avenue.

Iron Man Tony Stark had just used his repulsor blasts to shoot down two aircraft. Upon hearing Fury's voice on the comms, his movements suddenly stiffened.

"A nuclear missile?"

Tony turned his head to look at the distant skyline, where a white trail was approaching at extremely high speed.

"Jarvis, analyze the yield and impact point of that missile."

"Sir, it is a three-megaton nuclear warhead. The impact point is Stark Tower. Once detonated, Manhattan and the surrounding five boroughs will be completely destroyed. Millions of people will die."

The complexion under Tony's mask turned instantly pale.

At this critical juncture, the World's leadership not only failed to send reinforcements, but instead decided to wipe out them—those fighting desperately on the front lines—along with millions of civilians.

"What a bunch of sons of bitches politicians," Tony cursed through gritted teeth.

He glanced at the devastated streets, then looked up at the deep cosmic wormhole at the top of Stark Tower.

"Jarvis, divert all remaining energy to the thrusters."

"Sir, if you intend to intercept that nuclear missile and change its trajectory, the armor's energy will not be able to support your return. This will be a one-way trip." There seemed to be a hint of tragedy in Jarvis's mechanical voice.

"I know. Call Pepper."

The call failed to connect.

Tony took a deep breath, his eyes becoming incomparably firm. He abruptly climbed in altitude, flying straight toward the nuclear missile that represented humanity's greatest destructive power.

"Bang!"

Tony precisely grabbed the body of the nuclear missile in mid-air. The immense inertia pushed him sliding backward.

"Argh!" Tony roared, his back and foot thrusters firing at overload, bursting with blinding light.

He forcibly changed the trajectory of the nuclear missile, carrying this lethal weapon, and flew almost vertically toward the portal at the top of Stark Tower.

"He's going to send the nuclear missile into the wormhole..." Natasha, hiding in the ruins, saw this scene, her eyes slightly red.

This was almost certainly a death sentence. Even if Tony could pass through the wormhole before the explosion, he would be left in that cold, oxygen-deprived depth of the Universe.

Tony, holding the nuclear missile, got closer and closer to the top floor of the tower.

The blue light of the portal was already reflecting on his mask. He could even see the massive Chitauri mothership on the other side of the wormhole.

"Goodbye, New York." Tony closed his eyes.

However.

Just at the final moment when Tony was about to charge into the portal with the nuclear missile.

"Bang—!!!"

An extremely terrifying, brutal, and immense force kicked the side of Tony's iron armor without any warning!

"Crack!"

The armor on the side of the suit instantly buckled over a large area. Tony felt as if he had been hit head-on by a high-speed train; his whole brain was dizzy, and his hands involuntarily let go of the nuclear missile.

Tony, along with his suit, spun like a kicked soccer ball, falling hard from the top floor of the tower, smashing through the glass curtain walls of the two floors below, and crashing onto a desk covered in broken glass.

"Cough, cough... What happened?"

Tony painfully coughed up a mouthful of blood and struggled to lift his head.

The rooftop of Stark Tower.

Lynn maintained his side-kick posture with his right leg raised high, slowly retracting his leg. His left hand was still holding the Tesseract, which was emitting blue light.

Not far away, the heavy nuclear warhead, which had lost Tony's control and was several meters long, was quietly hovering in mid-air.

Lynn used the spatial power of the Tesseract to easily freeze it in place.

Lynn glanced at Tony Stark, who hadn't yet recovered in the building below, and the corners of his mouth curled into an icy, mocking sneer.

"This is my dinner party."

Lynn looked at the Chitauri mothership outside the wormhole, for which he had already seized the highest authority, and then glanced at the stationary nuclear missile in front of him.

"Who gave you permission to use this piece of junk to bomb my kitchen?"

The three-megaton heavy nuclear missile, under the confinement of the Tesseract's spatial power, quietly hovered in mid-air less than two meters away from Lynn. The thrusters at the rear of the missile were still frantically spewing flames, yet it could not advance even a millimeter.