"Have you lost your mind, man? Or did Ultron hit you in the head during that fight?"
"That shouldn't be possible either. Your helmet isn't even damaged, so how are you saying something this ridiculous?"
Iron Man was about to explain, but for a moment, he didn't even know where to begin.
After all, this kind of material really was extraordinarily rare.
"But you were trapped inside that cage. There was no way you should've been able to get out that quickly!"
"How exactly did you do it?"
"Tothwanwell must be losing his mind right now. Come on, tell us!"
They didn't understand much about specialized materials, metals, or any of the technical terminology involved.
What they were extremely interested in was how Karl had escaped.
"It was very simple!"
"He thought that cage could suppress the Law of Time, but it couldn't block access to the temporal dimension."
Karl pulled out the belt that originally belonged to Eric O'Grady.
Before they had set out, Eric had felt that keeping the belt on himself was too risky, so he had handed it over to Karl.
Neither of them had expected that decision to give Karl exactly what he needed to escape from the cage.
"Beautiful!"
"I knew leaving that belt with you would eventually come in handy!"
"Tothwanwell must be absolutely furious right now. He probably still has no idea what happened!"
"I bet he wants to tear us to pieces! Hahaha!"
Everyone enthusiastically discussed the battle they had just fought.
Meanwhile, the superheroes trapped inside the starship were already grinding their teeth in frustration.
"Hey! Could you get us out first before discussing every fascinating detail of your adventure?"
"We're suffocating in here!"
Everyone had become so excited while discussing what happened that they had gone into every detail and completely forgotten about the people still trapped inside.
Karl slapped his forehead.
Only then did he remember that they were still locked in there.
Captain America's shield should be able to solve a large part of the problem.
Captain America even seemed capable of sensing his shield from inside the starship.
Karl knew that was a good sign.
More importantly, it was an encouraging omen.
"Come on. Do it!"
Karl focused his attention.
When Captain America's shield collided with the starship's incredibly tough hull, it actually tore open a gash!
Sparks scattered everywhere.
Everyone instinctively raised their hands to shield themselves.
None of them had expected it to work that violently.
"Now that's impressive."
Unfortunately, simply tearing open a single gash wasn't enough.
Although the superheroes inside possessed tremendous strength, the material used to construct the starship was exceptionally hard.
Trying to tear it apart by hand with the weapons available to them would be nearly impossible.
"Don't waste your strength. This thing looks incredibly difficult to break…"
"Even when you hit it with a laser, it seems to absorb the energy completely, almost like some kind of bottomless reservoir."
"This is bad. Could this whole thing have been bait?"
With the starship refusing to open, the people both inside and outside became increasingly anxious.
Eric was particularly frustrated.
Had they gone through all that danger to recover Captain America's shield only to discover that it was still useless?
All it had managed to do was cut a narrow opening.
At least they could communicate normally with the people inside now.
So their efforts hadn't been completely wasted.
"Calm down. Some things take time to figure out."
"We've only just started. Why does everyone already look so defeated?"
"Trust me. We can solve this."
His words restored much of their confidence.
Karl lightly tapped his fingers against the cage beside him.
This was definitely a promising way forward.
"Then hurry up and think of something! I'm going crazy here. We can't just stand around waiting forever!"
The shield had already cut across several different sections of the starship.
Only the area near the center seemed slightly weaker, which was why it had managed to create that narrow opening.
Karl merely smiled.
Eric couldn't understand what that smile meant.
Then Iron Man noticed the cage Karl had been resting his hand against.
He understood immediately.
"That's clever."
"If we use something this hard against the starship itself, maybe we can force this damned thing open."
Iron Man studied the cage and immediately understood Karl's idea.
But there was still one major problem.
How were they supposed to use the cage against the starship?
"Don't worry. We've only just started."
"The good part is still coming!"
Karl waved his hand.
In an instant, both he and the cage disappeared once again.
Eric could only stand there in the open, staring blankly at the empty space.
He possessed a unique belt of his own.
That belt allowed its user to travel continuously through different points in space-time.
It was practically a divine artifact in its own right.
Even so, Eric hadn't expected the situation to develop in such an unusual direction.
It was far beyond what he had imagined.
"This really is incredible."
Although he still had plenty of questions, he could barely contain his curiosity.
At that moment, Iron Man quietly muttered a few words.
Eric immediately became even more agitated.
What did he mean by that?
What exactly had Tony figured out?
What else was going on that Eric didn't know or understand?
Everyone seemed to be hiding some enormous secret.
And none of them seemed willing to explain even the slightest part of it.
"You guys are always being mysterious!"
"Can somebody just tell me what the hidden trick is?"
"You keep standing around muttering things and refusing to explain anything. You're driving me crazy!"
Karl had already disappeared.
A short while later, he suddenly flashed back into view directly in front of them.
The massive cage now firmly surrounded the starship.
"This thing really is incredible. The metal is even tougher than I expected."
Eric knew perfectly well that Iron Man was capable of tearing ordinary steel apart with his bare hands.
Yet even the laser weapons at Tony's disposal hadn't made the slightest impression on this starship.
Because of that, Eric still had some doubts about Karl's plan.
"I heard that armor of yours is pretty impressive."
"It can track targets, and your missiles can even intercept incoming missiles."
Eric still couldn't figure out what Karl was planning.
Instead, he leaned closer to Iron Man with a grin, curiously examining all the equipment built into his armor.
"It's all just technology and hard work."
"You're pretty impressive too."
Eric awkwardly rolled his shoulders.
He knew Tony was deliberately taking a jab at him.
Unlike Tony, he didn't have an arsenal of sophisticated equipment.
He relied heavily on the belt he carried just to use his abilities freely.
It was difficult not to feel a little embarrassed.
Eric muttered helplessly to himself for a moment, then wisely shut his mouth.
At that moment, Karl suddenly appeared a short distance away.
The cage surrounding the starship began to shrink.
"What are you doing?!"
"Wait—you can't be serious!"
"You're going to crush everyone inside!"
Under Karl's control, the enormous cage continued contracting around the starship, becoming smaller and smaller.
(End of Chapter)
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