"What are those things!?"
Chen Ying, somewhat panicked, pulled out her pistol, disengaged the safety, loaded a round, and was ready to empty the magazine at any moment.
"They don't look like creatures from Earth."
Cindy, usually timid, was unexpectedly calm at this moment.
She set down her backpack and pulled out the new combat suit Ye Li had given her. "I can't let them run wild."
The suit was the same type as Gwen's. After much pushing from Ye Li, Tony had finally finished it before the battle in New York.
"'Web'! Activate! Equip!"
Cindy pressed the suit against her body, and its built-in system semi-automatically assisted her in putting it on—
Click, click, click…!
Black, white, and red patterns rapidly spread across her body!
Cheng—!
As the red faceplate sealed itself shut, the 'Silk' suit was fully equipped!
Just a second ago, this beauty still looked like a helpless girl.
But now, transformed into Silk, her eyes were sharp and valiant!
This contrast— was so striking, even Chen Ying couldn't help but be dazzled!
"So cool~!"
Seeing Cindy in that awesome look, Chen Ying's panic faded, her eyes sparkled—she was full-on fangirling~
"I'll take care of them."
Cindy moved her slender fingers in a delicate, weaving motion, as if caressing the air, preparing to generate webbing.
She gave Chen Ying a reminder.
"You should hide."
"No way, I'm a cop!"
Chen Ying mustered her courage and declared.
"I want to help too!"
"...Alright, do what you want. But be careful."
Cindy's gaze remained calm and steady.
Not great with persuasion, she simply nodded and dove from the rooftop like an acrobat—
"Whoosh—!"
"Hey! Take me with you!"
Chen Ying glanced down at the street below, took in the terrifying height... and obediently ran back toward the stairwell...
…..
"Lady Knight! Long live!!"
"Lady Knight! Lady Knight!"
"Lady Knight!!"
A tidal wave of cheers erupted.
After Jessica one-shotted a Chitauri monster warship, the cheers echoed through the streets.
"Lady Knight is too strong!"
"Lady Knight is invincible!"
"With Lady Knight here, why should we fear aliens?!"
"Smash them to pieces!"
"Lady Knight! I wanna have your babies!"
"I called dibs first!"
As it turns out, both flattening a Leviathan with a single punch, the shock value is vastly different between a green brute and a beautiful girl...
The amount of praise received, naturally, isn't the same either.
People really are visual creatures.
…..
"Hah... she's really that strong?"
Natasha, barely catching her breath, turned to Barbara and asked.
"The intel you gathered… is way off the mark, isn't it?"
Barbara looked a bit lost: [This doesn't make sense…]
Didn't Li say— that Jessica's 'combat ability' was pretty average...?
[Why is she this strong…?]
[How did he manage to 'tame' her so easily…?]
Bang!
Captain America knocked out a Chitauri soldier with his shield, then looked at the dazzling silver light in the sky and nodded in satisfaction.
"What an impressive young woman... The next generation is in good hands..."
"She's improving so fast."
Barton was also surprised, and full of admiration.
Last time, when they took down 'Scorpion'…
It took Ghost-Spider, Lady Knight, and Silk together to beat up McDonald.
But now, just Lady Knight alone could instantly slay a beast like that—honestly, even the Hulk might not do better...
"...Eh?..."
Speaking of which, where's Dr. Banner?
Beep beep beep—
Hawkeye was just thinking about it, when Banner came riding in on his beloved little motorcycle, weaving through several traffic jams, finally arriving at the battlefield.
Banner got off the bike, looked around at the trashed streets, and smiled: "I'm not late, am I?"
Hawkeye shrugged and tossed him a communication earpiece.
Dr. Banner caught it and, a bit confused, put it in his ear.
Then, he heard Tony's slightly smug voice come through: [Doc, I think you just missed a perfect chance to show off. What a pity.]
Banner: ?
"These two sisters just keep outdoing each other. We can finally breathe a little easier."
"Jarvis… pull up the…"
Seeing Jessica and Mathilda—the two sisters—temporarily hold back the Chitauri army, Tony decided to take the chance and go find 'Silk', Cindy Moon, to understand the prophecy in detail.
"Pull up the location map… Never mind! Just activate auto-navigation flight!"
To save time, Tony gave up on manually piloting his suit and let Jarvis take over.
…..
"Peng—eng~!"
"Clang~"
The red-and-gold armor landed in front of Cindy's house and knocked—
"Knock knock knock."
"Miss Silk, are you home?"
"I'm Tony Stark—Iron Man. Yes, the one you always see on TV."
"You might not remember, but we met at Li's gallery, and you almost kicked me in the face."
"Oh... thank goodness you didn't hit me, since as it turns out, you're not exactly ordinary..."
"...Alright, off-topic."
"I'm here to ask you something important—about the Chitauri army. I have a feeling you know something..."
"Miss Silk, are you there?"
"Ms. Moon?"
"Cindy?"
Stark muttered to himself for a while, realizing no one was responding, then shouted into the house.
"Miss Silk! Are you home?!"
Click~
"Stop shouting... young man..."
The door next to him opened.
An elderly neighbor peeked her head out and said, "Cindy said she was going to walk around Chinatown... She's not home right now..."
"Oh, alright. Chinatown, got it."
Tony stopped knocking and thanked the old lady. "Thank you, granny. I'll bring you an apple pie next time."
"Hehe, call me 'Miss'."
The old lady put on her reading glasses, saw clearly that it was Stark, and playfully blew him a kiss. "So, it's Iron Man... Can I get your autograph?"
"Oh~ Miss, I know I'm quite charming."
Tony was rather friendly.
He raised his shoulder armor slightly.
With a flashy gesture, his suit's fingertip emitted a laser, engraving Iron Man's signature on her door.
"But I'm busy saving the world right now. Consider this a keepsake."
Then.
As Tony was about to rush to Chinatown.
At this moment.
"Hey!"
An old man with white hair and a white beard came out of the old lady's house.
"Who said you could carve on the door?"
Wearing trendy glasses and full of wrinkles, he glanced at the smoking door and scolded Stark.
"Are you still a little troublemaker?"
"A grown man like you—still celebrating Children's Day?"
"What?"
Tony, who was just about to take off, was momentarily stunned by the old man's rapid questioning. "Who even are you?"
"You don't need to know who I am."
The fashionable old man clasped his hands behind his back, gazed into the distance, and cryptically said in a dramatic tone.
"You have a good friend."
Tony: "What?"
"Nothing."
The old man waved him off. "Go on, kid. Before I decide to settle things with you."
"This is so weird..."
Tony had more important things to deal with and couldn't be bothered to argue with a crazy old man, so he turned and flew into the sky.
After he left, the stylish old man smiled, like a parent watching their child find happiness.
"Compared to the other Iron Man, you're much luckier, kid."
"You saved... And this—this is what you deserve..."
Whoo~—~
As a light breeze swept by, the elderly couple faded away.
The interior of the house became unusually old and worn.
This place... had been abandoned for a long time...