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"This is the consequence of trying to be clever."
Fury gritted his teeth, warding off Gravik's attacks while cursing in his mind: "Get out of my head!"
"Don't be so heartless."
Mephisto's voice was full of temptation.
"Look at your current situation. Being beaten like a dog by an alien half-breed."
"Do you want complete power?"
"Do you want to burn this ugly half-breed in front of you to ashes?"
"Come beg me."
"As long as you sign a real contract with me again."
"I'll make you a true Spirit of Vengeance immediately."
"...Hmph!"
Fury let out a cold snort.
"Go sign it with your mother!"
Fury suddenly looked up, the remaining flames in his eye sockets erupting in a surge like a final burst of strength.
"Boom!!"
This explosive force blasted Gravik, who had been enjoying the fight, over ten meters away.
Fury seized this opening and looked around.
He saw a small spinning airplane ride nearby.
"You're the one!"
Fury squeezed out the last trace of Hellfire in his body.
"Vroom—!!"
The originally dilapidated and rusty tin toy transformed under the shroud of flames.
The metal extended, wheels turning into burning serrated blades, wings into demonic bone wings, and the nose into a hideous skull-shaped ram.
A miniature Hell-plane was born out of thin air.
Fury jumped into the cockpit.
"Vroom—!"
The small plane took off on the spot, its nozzles spewing blue-red flames, carving a line of fire in the sky.
"Trying to run?!"
Gravik regained his senses and, seeing Fury ascending, became furious.
He powered up his legs and leaped forcefully like the Hulk, trying to grab the plane.
Unfazed, Fury pressed the red button on the control stick.
"Here's a parting gift for you!"
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two missiles condensed from Hellfire shot out from under the wings.
"Boom!!"
The missiles exploded on Gravik, the massive wave of fire blasting him away.
Taking the opportunity, Fury gained altitude, broke through the clouds, and fled into the distance.
Gravik emerged from the sea of fire in a sorry state, roaring in anger as he watched the black dot disappear on the horizon.
"Run, Fury!"
"You can run, but Earth can't!"
...Fury piloted the small plane, which looked like it could fall apart at any moment, weaving through the clouds.
The sunlight shining on him still made him feel weak.
Looking at the flames that were about to go out, Fury growled in anger.
"Dog-bred Skrullss... damn Mephisto..."
"I need to find a place to land..."
"And I need to find some help..."
Fury's gaze turned toward New York.
Though he was loath to admit it.
But now, only that man could save the day.
"Homelander..."
...Since the Rose Garden press conference at the White House ended, people were no longer obsessed with the fear of doomsday; it was as if the entire Earth had been injected with a potent dose of adrenaline.
It felt like the 1960s, on the eve of all humanity holding its breath as Armstrong stepped onto the moon, but this time, the stakes were higher and the stage was broader.
"Human Expeditionary Force," "Vought Deep Space Administration," "Interstellar Age of Exploration."
These terms occupied the top three trending spots on all online platforms like a virus.
Recruitment advertisements for the Vought Deep Space Exploration and Resource Development Administration played on a loop in countless households.
In bars, tattooed soccer hooligans and suited financial elites clinked glasses; they no longer argued over which team would win, but instead bet on which Planet humanity's second home would be built.
Even in the war-torn Middle East, militants who usually shot at each other with AK-47s would put down their guns in the evening and huddle around CRT TVs—some with poor reception—staring at that blonde man with an inexplicable fervor that transcended religion and race.
Humans are contradictory creatures. They fear the unknown yet long to conquer it.
And now, someone was turning that longing into reality.
Every child looking up at the stars, every adult who had once been immersed in science fiction, felt a shiver in their soul at this moment.
They would witness history... and the passage of the "Alien Disaster Labor Protection Act" caused a brief tremor in the stock market.
But with the introduction of the concept of "Interstellar Resource Development," stocks in the military-industrial, energy, and aerospace sectors shot up vertically like Rockets.
Greedy capitalists smelled a scent more enticing than gold or oil—interstellar plundering.
It was a blind, expansionist optimism... V.G.D. Headquarters Hangar.
The original Raider ship, cobbled together from space junk, had undergone a Earth-shattering transformation under the joint efforts of the two—or rather, one man and one raccoon.
The original mottled and rusty hull was completely stripped away and covered with a nano-Vibranium coating provided by Vought.
Now, the ship was no longer in that dusty, wasteland style.
It was a deep midnight blue all over, with sharp lines outlined in Stark's favorite hot-rod red on the edges of the wings and tail fins. A golden "V" logo was printed on the nose, shining brightly under the lights.
The streamlined fuselage was full of aerodynamic beauty; though this didn't matter in space, as Homelander said: "Looking cool is a lifelong endeavor."
Rocket jumped onto the wing, stroking the smooth, cold coating, his grin stretching from ear to ear.
"Oh... Mamma Mia..."
Rocket let out a heartfelt exclamation of admiration.
"Hey, you primitive tribe scientist... although your tech is a bit backward, your taste... is absolutely superb! This is how a spaceship should look! Ten thousand times better than that blue-skinned idiot Yondu's aesthetic!"
"Look at this luster, look at these lines... it's simply a work of art!"
Tony, with a haughty smirk, walked to the holographic design console, his fingers swiping through the air.
"Additionally, I've tried using your Quantum Engine as the main power source and my Arc Reactor as an independent power supply for the weapon systems..."
"...So we can keep all guns blazing while making a jump?" Rocket's eyes lit up instantly, the sparkle of finding a kindred spirit. "Hey! Your brain works pretty fast!"
"Of course, I'm Tony Stark, you cosmic hillbilly." Tony raised an eyebrow, looking proud.
"Clang, clang, clang—"
The hangar doors opened.
Homelander strode in, followed by Jessica Jones.
"It seems everyone is getting along quite well."
He looked around, his gaze finally landing on the drastically changed spaceship.
"This is our ride?"
Homelander stepped forward, his fingers trailing across the cold metal hull.
"Not bad." He nodded. "Looks much better than that thing picked up from a junk pile."
Tony walked over and handed Homelander a peculiarly shaped camera.
It was an "All-Sky Quantum Live Streamer" cobbled together by Rocket using various parts, shaped like a metal eyeball emitting a faint blue light.
"This is a communication camera based on the principle of quantum entanglement. Rocket provided the core technology, and I did the packaging. No matter where you are in the Universe, as long as you haven't flown out of the Milky Way, the signal delay won't exceed 0.01 seconds."
"Good job, Tony." Homelander took the device and handed it to Jessica.
"It's up to you to show off your skills, sweetheart."