#455 - M.O.D.O.K.

Although Falcon temporarily had the upper hand, Howard wasn't relieved. He kept urging the staff to organize an evacuation. Just as he was about to call Tony to ask about the students, he realized his phone wasn't on him.

He looked around and finally found his phone in front of a fallen dining table. It must have been knocked away when Peter saved him earlier. After that, he forgot about it due to the red-clad man's threat. He didn't expect it to fly so far.

"Ah!"

Just as Howard was about to pick up his phone, he heard a commotion from the crowd behind him. He subconsciously turned around to see what was happening and saw a streak of purple, scorching light flash before his eyes.

"Bang!"

Because Howard tilted his head, the purple light missed its original target and struck Howard's phone on the ground. The moment they touched, an explosion occurred, and Howard's phone turned into a pile of fragments.

"You're really lucky, aren't you, Howard Stark?"

Beads of sweat dripped from Howard's forehead. The feeling of narrowly escaping death was both good and bad. He stiffly turned to look at the person who had spoken and attacked him.

Could that even be called a person? Despite having limbs of roughly normal length, they were connected to an enormous head. That huge head was sitting in something like a helmet or a chair, which made him float in the air.

"You're always so lucky!"

The big-headed monster said through gritted teeth, the sound almost squeezed out from his teeth, which were about the size of a normal person's forehead. There was a band on his forehead with a purple gem embedded in it, which was emitting puffs of white smoke. It seemed the light was coming from there.

"What are you?" Howard took a step back, subtly placing his hands on his pants and slowly moving them towards his back.

"What am I! What am I!" The big-headed monster seemed stimulated, and his already unstable mind became even more manic. Ignoring the fearful ordinary people around him, he controlled the chair to float into the auditorium. Howard then saw a fully armed team behind him.

Their attire was familiar, similar to the group that had attacked and tried to kidnap Tony. However, the previous group wore composite material suits, while this group wore full battle armor, an upgraded version. If the style wasn't similar, Howard might not have recognized them.

"I'm the pathetic wretch who was completely overshadowed by you and then abandoned by the military!"

Competition? Military? Abandoned? These keywords swirled in Howard's mind, and he quickly retrieved the important information.

"You're George?" Howard looked at the big-headed monster in shock. Although the person was vastly different from his original appearance, Howard could still find some similarities in that huge face based on his memory.

"I didn't expect the great Howard Stark to remember this little person's name. But I have a new name now: MODOK!"

MODOK cracked a wide mouth, revealing his huge white teeth. Although he was smiling, no one thought he was genuinely happy. Instead, everyone could feel his anger from his ferocious face.

It was a forced, angry laugh.

"It's all because of you that I've become like this." MODOK was so emotional that his aircraft began to shake violently under his intense movements.

"I want you and those who transformed me to go to hell together!"

MODOK waved his hand, and the soldiers beside him raised their guns, all aimed at Howard. Facing dozens of dark muzzles, Howard didn't panic at all, which made MODOK, who was watching the execution, very unhappy, and a trace of unease appeared in his heart.

"Fire!" MODOK shouted. The soldiers pulled the trigger, and purple energy burst from the muzzles, shooting towards Howard.

Seeing the tragedy about to happen, the remaining people either closed their eyes or screamed. Only Peter glared, trying to squeeze through the crowd to stop it, but he was also knocked to the ground by the soldiers guarding them.

"Swoosh! Boom!"

With a loud bang, something pierced through the ceiling of the auditorium and crashed straight in front of Howard. It was something like a rocket, but much smaller, only about three meters tall, requiring about two people to hug it.

The object that fell from the sky blocked the bullets coming head-on for Howard. It unfolded its surface armor, and then a thick smoke was released from it, instantly covering the entire auditorium.

"What are you waiting for! Keep firing!" MODOK, seeing that he had failed to kill Howard, shouted at his subordinates in a fit of rage. Under the threat of MODOK, the others had no choice but to risk firing in this low-visibility situation.

In the pitch-black smoke, a purple flash lit up, and the roar of guns was endless. Soon, an A.I.M. soldier emptied his magazine. He subconsciously reached for his waist to take out a magazine to reload when a sudden change occurred.

An arm wrapped in dark blue armor appeared in front of him through the smoke. The A.I.M. soldier could even clearly see the light shining in the center of the other party's palm.

"Bang!"

After a muffled sound, the A.I.M. soldier flew out, crashed into a piece of decoration, and fell to the ground unconscious, even the armor on his body was shattered to pieces.

It was like a starting gun. Under the cover of heavy smoke, A.I.M. soldiers kept screaming, accompanied by gunshots and unknown mechanical sounds.

The smoke was not replenished and soon dissipated. Almost all the A.I.M. soldiers were lying on the ground unconscious, and only a figure in blue battle armor stood in place.

Howard, wearing the battle armor, raised his hands and aimed the two attack beam cannons at MODOK, who was floating in the air. Howard's voice was played through the armor's loudspeakers.

"Now the situation is reversed. Surrender, George."

"You're always so arrogant, Howard." MODOK grinded his teeth, making a creaking sound. "Do you think you have it all figured out, that you've got me beat?"

"At least it looks that way on the surface." Howard tilted his head. Then, more weapons emerged from under the armor. Instantly, dozens of infrared sights were aimed at MODOK in the sky.

"You think you've won just by taking care of a few ants. You're still as arrogant as ever."

MODOK revealed a cruel smile and continued, "Why don't you look at the window, the great Howard Stark."

Although Howard felt that MODOK was bluffing, with the assistance of intelligent AI, Howard was not afraid of the other party playing tricks. The weapons remained aimed at MODOK, but the view shifted towards the window to see what tricks he was playing.

Howard's pupils shrank suddenly as he looked out the window. He saw the strong man in red armor crossing the window, trying to return to the auditorium. As for Falcon, who should have stopped him, was being dragged by the head by the man.

That hunched figure, if the other party wasn't wearing Falcon's battle suit, Howard would never have recognized him.