Feint East, Strike West

"You’ve already met him, and you even made him wait for you on the rooftop all night."

Hearing Tony’s words, Sai Wen sneered. "Iron Man, you personally released a demon. Now, that demon has come to thank you."

With that, Sai Wen wasted no more time. Leading his subordinates, he beat his wings and charged rapidly toward Iron Man and the others.

"Demon? Hmph, it’s not like I’ve never killed demons before."

Tony snorted and led the others and the Drone Armor in a frenzied barrage. Dense streams of bullets flew toward Sai Wen’s group, quickly punching through several Terrorists.

But to everyone’s surprise, the Terrorists who had been shot through did not die. They continued charging, while a red glow representing extreme heat lit up across their bodies. Their wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In mere moments, those Terrorists had fully recovered!

Realizing something, Tony’s expression changed. He shouted, "Careful! These people can explode. Don’t let them get close."

"Even though I don’t want them getting close either, that doesn’t seem very possible."

War Machine raised his hand and fired a Micro Missile at one of the High-Temperature People. With a boom, half of the man’s body was blown away, and the remains dropped straight into the sea.

Before War Machine could celebrate, an enemy rushed to his side. His red-glowing, high-temperature right hand turned into a blade and chopped downward. War Machine hurriedly dodged while aiming his Gatling gun at the enemy.

The High-Temperature People slashed backhandedly, severing the Gatling gun’s barrels as easily as tofu.

"Is that a hand or some kind of high-tech weapon?"

War Machine was shocked. At that moment, another enemy rushed up behind him and pressed both high-temperature hands against his armor. The suit immediately began to melt.

War Machine hastily fired a Micro Missile, blasting the enemy away, then shot high into the air and began maneuvering around the High-Temperature People.

At the same time, the others also engaged the High-Temperature People. Not only were these people incredibly hot, but they could regenerate as well. Even the Super Heroes found the fight extremely difficult.

"I hate these guys."

Human Torch could not help cursing. His flames could not hurt the High-Temperature People at all. He could only fight them in the air, but frustratingly, he could not beat them and was pummeled repeatedly.

These High-Temperature People were either Terrorists or soldiers. An amateur like Human Torch was naturally no match for them.

"I hate people who use fire. Yes, that includes you, Human Torch."

Wind Demon was also feeling stifled. He did not dare get close to the High-Temperature People and could only maneuver around them while firing his gun.

"Your weakness is way too obvious. Watch me!"

Electro snorted and created an electric net that enveloped three High-Temperature People. Their bodies immediately convulsed from the electricity, but after only a moment, they recovered, tore through the electric net, and flew furiously toward Electro.

While dodging a High-Temperature People’s fist, Human Torch scoffed, "Looks like you’re not much better."

"Then I have no choice but to use my ultimate move."

Seeing that ordinary electricity was useless, Electro immediately flicked out a coin. An orange flash streaked past, and one High-Temperature People’s head vanished outright.

As he fought Tony, Sai Wen shouted, "Hold Electro back! His Electromagnetic Railgun needs time to prepare!"

"High temperatures, regeneration… I think I remember something."

Tony fired at Sai Wen while frowning. He seemed to have seen similar research somewhere, in a hotel room.

"Tony Stark, accept my boss’s wrath."

Sai Wen suddenly opened his mouth and spewed a blast of flame toward Iron Man. Warnings flooded Iron Man’s display, and he hurriedly fled the area covered by the fire.

Sai Wen immediately chased after him. A Drone Armor came to assist, firing wildly at Sai Wen.

Sai Wen agilely dodged the bullets, then pounced onto the Drone Armor. His high-temperature hands tightly gripped its head, which immediately began to melt. At the same time, its entire system malfunctioned, leaving it unable to fight.

In just a few seconds, Sai Wen destroyed the Drone Armor, which crashed into the sea with a splash.

Tony was furious and shouted over the comm channel, "Watch out, I’m using my big move."

Everyone flew upward. Red light lit up on the backs of Tony’s hands, and then two laser beams shot out. As he spun, they sliced all the surrounding High-Temperature People in half, including Sai Wen.

"This is my wrath. Did you receive it?"

Tony snorted. At that moment, Sai Wen grabbed his own lower half. The red light over his body flickered violently, and his severed body rapidly fused back together.

"That works too?"

Everyone stared in disbelief. It turned out that it really did work. Not only Sai Wen, but the other High-Temperature People healed the same way. Only one of them, whose head had been cut halfway off, could not recover and fell straight into the sea.

"Tony Stark!"

The High-Temperature People were furious and charged together at Iron Man. The others hurriedly moved to intercept them.

Seeing that things were going badly, Electro hurriedly shouted, "Careful, I’m using my big move too."

Human Torch asked in confusion, "Isn’t the Electromagnetic Railgun your ultimate move?"

"I also have the Ultra Electromagnetic Railgun. After I use it, I’ll need to recharge for a while. You’ll have to watch yourselves then."

Electro scattered thirteen coins, and electricity surged wildly from his body, crackling around him. All thirteen coins stopped in midair.

Next, Electro activated the Chip inside his body to help calculate the trajectories of the Electromagnetic Railguns.

Once the calculations were complete, all thirteen coins shot out at once, leaving thirteen orange streaks in the air—and thirteen headless High-Temperature People!

"Cool."

Although he did not get along with Electro, Human Torch could not help cheering. The others were equally amazed. The situation had completely turned around.

Electro shrugged and turned into electricity, retreating to one side to recharge! There was an Arc Reactor in Electro’s chest, so he normally would not run out of power. But that ultimate move had drained all the electricity in his body. Even with the Arc Reactor, he needed time to recover his combat strength.

"You used a computer to help calculate the Electromagnetic Railgun? Electro, you implanted an electronic Chip in your body?"

Tony asked in surprise. Electro nodded. "Yes, a Chip similar to an electronic brain. Dr. Banner helped me develop it."

"Damn it, every single one of them is improving so fast. Do you know how much pressure that puts on me?"

Tony cursed inwardly, then turned and chased Sai Wen while firing. Electro had taken out so many enemies, while he had not even taken out one Sai Wen. That was far too embarrassing, wasn’t it? He was Iron Man, the first Super Hero, the centerpiece.

"Now the situation’s stable."

Steve knocked a High-Temperature People away with his shield and let out a huge sigh of relief. At that moment, a rocket suddenly flew up from below and struck his Glider with a boom.

Steve cursed, lowered his shield, and fell into the sea with the Glider.

Everyone turned and saw that a group of people had appeared below at some point, firing Rocket Launchers upward.

"Must be Hydra. They really did come."

Tony snorted and shouted, "Barton, it’s your turn."

"I’ve been waiting for this."

Barton immediately flew out from Back Mountain in a Quinjet. Without wasting a word, he activated the machine guns and rained fire on the people below.

The group was led by a Masked Iron Arm Man. Seeing the Quinjet appear, he pushed both hands forward. An Ice Wall appeared out of thin air, blocking every incoming bullet.

"What the hell? Magic?"

Barton stared in disbelief. At that moment, several people popped out from behind the Ice Wall and fired rockets at the Quinjet. Hawkeye hurriedly dodged, but the aircraft was still hit by one rocket and began falling with black smoke pouring from it.

"Damn it."

Barton cursed. Rather than escaping immediately, he first fired all the missiles on the plane at those bastards. Only after doing that did he press the button and eject from the aircraft.

Boom, boom… The area around the Ice Wall instantly became a sea of flames, but not a single one of those people died. They had all transformed into Lizardmen and escaped, their wounds healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Lizardmen? No wonder we could never find Lizard Doctor."

Tony cursed loudly. Lizard Doctor had joined Hydra. This was going to be troublesome—they had to reassess Hydra’s combat strength.

Hydra’s leader, the Winter Soldier, had also transformed into a Lizardmen. But unlike the others, he was a white, iron-armed ice Lizardmen.

The Winter Soldier did not waste time. He ordered three Lizardmen to deal with Hawkeye, then led the remaining Lizardmen in activating the jet devices on their backs and flying into the sky.

At that moment, a shield flew over and accurately struck the Winter Soldier’s back-mounted jet device. The Winter Soldier crashed into the sea with a splash.

As Steve swam toward the Winter Soldier, he said, "Now we’re even."

Seeing this, the Winter Soldier immediately drew the grenade launcher at his waist and fired at Steve. Steve hurriedly raised his shield. With a boom, he was blasted away, but he was not seriously injured and quickly surfaced again.

Seeing that the Winter Soldier was about to fire again, Steve immediately pulled out the Rotating Flying Knife at his waist and threw it at him.

The Rotating Flying Knife automatically unfolded in midair, spinning furiously as it flew toward the Winter Soldier. The Winter Soldier dodged several times, then raised his head and exhaled a breath of ice at it. The Rotating Flying Knife instantly turned into a block of ice and fell into the sea.

"Even if people call me an old fossil, I still have to say it—I really miss my era."

Steve sighed and rushed in front of the Winter Soldier, engaging him in a fierce brawl.

The Winter Soldier had not only been enhanced, but had also turned into a Lizardmen. Steve should not have been his match, but who told Steve to have such a good wife? He had high-tech devices all over his body, such as the Electric Shock Spider developed for Spider-Man.

With the help of those high-tech devices, Steve barely managed to fight the Winter Soldier to a standstill.

At the same time, the Lizardmen who had flown into the sky began attacking the Super Heroes. Seeing this, Sai Wen immediately chose to team up with them. After all, everyone’s goal was to kill these Super Heroes.

"I can’t burn High-Temperature People to death, but can’t I burn you stinking lizards to death?"

Human Torch immediately switched targets, grabbing a Lizardmen and burning it wildly in the air. The Lizardmen let out a miserable scream and was quickly burned into a charred corpse.

"Now that’s satisfying! This time, the MVP should be me. I, Human Torch, am the coolest and strongest Super Hero."

Human Torch laughed loudly and charged toward the other Lizardmen. Tony’s face darkened a little. If you were the coolest and strongest, then what did that make your boss?

Just as the battle grew increasingly intense, five fighter jets and five Drone Armors—older-model Drone Armors sold by Osborn Corporation to the military—flew rapidly toward them. At the same time, a voice came over Tony and the others’ channel. "The Air Force has come under the president’s orders to support you."

"You’re really going to be this helpful?"

Tony asked suspiciously. Ever since Iron Man’s birth, the relationship between Stark Industries and the military had never been very good. It could even be called terrible.

"We aren’t here for you. We’re here for America. America doesn’t need a Terrorist teaching us lessons."

A general said coldly, "Now, let’s eliminate these monsters together."

Tony smiled. "I like that."

Seeing the Air Force arrive as reinforcements, Sai Wen snorted and led the remaining dozen or so High-Temperature People away. Seeing this, the Winter Soldier also gave the order to retreat.

Naturally, Tony and the others would not let them go. They pursued them relentlessly, but then the general suddenly ordered, "Everyone, stop. Do not continue the pursuit."

Tony asked in confusion, "Why?"

The general’s expression was grim. "Air Force One has disappeared over California. The president is suspected of having been captured."

"What?"

Everyone present changed expression dramatically. This had to be a joke. The president of America had been captured? On American soil? The general shouted, "Tony Stark, immediately take your equipment to California and search for Air Force One."

"Alright!"

Tony nodded. Looking at the villa that had become ruins, he could not help sighing. This time, he had suffered a huge loss. Not only had he failed to deal with Mandarin, he had also lost his base. The only thing worth being thankful for was that Pepper had not been inside.

Tony suddenly thought of something, and his expression changed. "Wait, could this have something to do with Mandarin? Was this a feint east, strike west?"

The facts proved Tony right. Half an hour later, America’s broadcast signals were once again hijacked by Mandarin.

"Do you remember the first lesson I taught you? Super Heroes cannot protect you."

As Mandarin spoke, footage of the Malibu villa being bombed into ruins appeared on the screen. Then Mandarin continued, "Now I will teach you the second lesson. Your president cannot protect you either."

The image switched to the inside of Air Force One. President Ellis, Senator Stern, and the others were being escorted off the plane by several masked men.

The viewers erupted in uproar. Was this a joke? The president of America had been captured by Terrorists? Was today April Fool’s Day?

"I know what you’re thinking, but unfortunately, today is not April Fool’s Day. Your president really has been captured by me."

Mandarin said with a smile, "Tomorrow at noon, we will publicly execute the president at New York Harbor. After that, I will teach you the third lesson—the final lesson."

With that, the television broadcast returned to normal. After their shock and anger, the viewers fell into deep fear. Even the president was about to be publicly executed. What about ordinary citizens like them?

Countless people called the police and the government, demanding that they deal with that damned Terrorist immediately. The Super Heroes’ Twitter feeds were also flooded with messages telling them to deal with Mandarin.

They only wanted Mandarin taken care of. As for whether the president lived or died, the public did not care. In fact, even the officials did not care much. A captured president was destined to step down.

The White House press secretary quickly held a press conference, stating that they would definitely deal with Mandarin and rescue the president, asking the public not to worry.

Meanwhile, under Mayor George’s command, New York residents evacuated the harbor district. The residents were close to breaking down. Why was it New York again? Couldn’t they pick somewhere else? Lizardmen came, aliens came, Hell Demons came, and now even Terrorists had come? What had New York ever done to them?

No matter what, the eyes of the entire world were once again focused on New York.