"A bit dirty… but pretty sturdy. No wind, no rain…"
Muttering to himself, Saitama carefully spread the empty convenience-store plastic bag on the ground, letting it serve as a makeshift "mattress." Then he plopped down on it, leaned against the cold concrete wall, and stretched with a satisfied groan.
"Whew… I can finally rest. Today really wore me out…"
He closed his eyes, looking as if he might fall asleep in the very next second.
Outside, the battlefield where a terrifying enemy had been buried and a god-tier artifact had been lost—and that whole crowd of shaken, conflicted superheroes who had watched him duck into the "bridge hole"—all faded into something like a meaningless background painting.
On the other side of the rubble.
"Sir, high-level energy signature 'Corvus' is weak. Target appears to be in a deep coma. The target zone is under dual confinement: a high-intensity mystic-ice energy field (formed by a fusion of Mind Stone energy with subterranean materials) and a dense layer of physical debris. Forcibly extracting the target carries an extremely high risk and could trigger secondary collapses. I recommend abandoning the current retrieval operation."
JARVIS' calm voice sounded in Tony Stark's earpiece.
Tony had already landed near the mouth of the collapsed section, wearing a stripped-down emergency armor rig. Under the emergency lights, his face looked dark and stormy.
"Damn it…" Tony cursed under his breath, his gaze sweeping over the ruins—massive slabs of stone and ice standing like tombstones. "That bastard Corvus is buried down there? What about Ebony Maw? Proxima?"
Through JARVIS' scan feed, he could see that the scepter's energy trail had vanished completely somewhere in the depths of the underground river. The weight of it pressed on his chest like a stone.
"Proxima Midnight, high-mobility target," JARVIS reported. "Her signal disappeared 0.7 seconds ago in the southeast deep-ventilation grid of sector D2, suspected to connect to the city's underground sewage treatment system. Movement speed exceeded tracking threshold.
"Ebony Maw, high-intensity psychic signature, current whereabouts unknown. Last recorded location: Brooklyn midtown.
"At the same time, I have detected a suspected Cull Obsidian life-signature at the Brooklyn Bridge battlefield ruins—the position where he was previously struck away by Saitama. The signal is extremely weak and unstable, but confirmed as a residual active lifeform."
"Cull Obsidian… isn't dead?"
Steve Rogers, dragging his exhausted body over, happened to catch that last part. His brows knit tight. Thinking back on the sheer destructive power of that stone-skinned monster, this was not good news.
"Luckier than Corvus by just a hair," Tony said irritably, pressing his fingers to his temples. "But he's down to half a life at best. He's not getting back on his feet for months.
"The bigger problem is the Mind Scepter. JARVIS tells me it fell into an underground river. That's like dropping a needle in the ocean. Who knows which damn cavern, which sea, or into whose hands it might drift?"
"We have to lock it down as soon as possible," Steve said firmly. "Bucky, Clint, organize search teams. Natasha, get in touch with S.H.I.E.L.D.—"
He stopped short, a sudden wave of helplessness washing over him as the memory of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse hit.
"No… for now, we can only rely on ourselves."
"And there's also…"
Tony's voice dropped. His gaze passed through the dim tunnel and settled on the bald man with the red cape, who looked like he'd already fallen asleep under that little bridge of steel beams.
"That… 'Bridge-Hole Guardian.' What are we supposed to do about him? Is he just… going to live down here now?"
Everyone fell silent.
Most of the tunnel had caved in. The scepter was missing. Their powerful enemies had either escaped or been half-buried. The situation was a complete mess.
And the being with the power to reshape the world itself… had found a cramped corner in the ruins and decided to take a nap there.
(End of Chapter)
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