Mark was only afraid that Machine Head would run away, leaving him empty-handed and having wasted his trip.
"I've already dealt with Isotope, he has a girlfriend they meet two or three times a week, I spent some money to keep her busy... Where did Infinitoid go?"
Titan was halfway through speaking when an unintentional glance revealed that Infinitoid was gone.
"Huh?"
Mark turned his head, and the space behind him was empty; he hadn't noticed when his Cousin had disappeared.
Turning back to the building across the street, he saw Russell had crashed through the bulletproof glass like breaking a thin layer of sugar, bursting into the room with a gust of wind, grabbing Machine Head by the neck and lifting it up.
"Cousin!"
Mark's eyes widened, his pace disrupted by Russell's sudden move, he quickly grabbed Titan and flew several hundred meters to appear in the office.
"You are under arrest, Machine Head!"
Mark declared righteously.
"Don't move, put the boss down!"
Over a dozen retired special forces members surrounded the three intruders in the office with guns. Russell swept his cold gaze over them, his eyes glowing with deep red lasers, sweeping across.
The dozen special forces members were cut in half, vanishing in an instant.
"Infinitoid? You weren't in my plan."
Machine Head's mechanical voice held a hint of surprise. Despite being suddenly intruded upon in its office, grabbed by the neck, and lifted into the air, it didn't seem surprised or flustered at all.
"You knew we were coming?"
Mark raised an eyebrow.
"The entire block is my network of informants. Did you really think you and Titan were invisible?
I knew yesterday when Titan brought You to check out the situation in this slum district.
Idiot."
Whoosh!
As soon as it finished speaking, streaks of green light emerged from the office, and several strangely shaped super-human figures were teleported in.
"Is this Isotope's ability?
Didn't You say You dealt with him?"
Mark looked at Titan in shock.
How did the planned surprise attack turn into falling into a premeditated trap?
"I... I..."
Titan's face was grim; he had still underestimated Machine Head's cunning.
"One more doesn't matter. Whether it's Infinitoid or Invincible, I don't have Your kind of power, but... I have money, and these people..."
Machine Head was about to proudly introduce how it had acquired these people.
Crunch!
With a teeth-grinding sound of metal deforming, Russell forcibly ripped Machine Head's mechanical head off its body. Wires sparked with electricity, and blood seeped from the neck.
"You... You..." Machine Head's eyes widened in disbelief before it died.
"Don't think too highly of Yourself. I didn't come here to listen to You babble."
Squeezing Machine Head's head into paste, Russell looked at the figures who had appeared in the spacious, single-story office.
He wasn't like Mark, who hesitated to kill in the early stages of his career.
Keeping this kind of trash alive and sending it to prison would just be a waste of food.
"Current Kursk, Leash Tyrant, Magma Maniac, and Furnace... all notorious Supervillains."
Not just Russell, but Mark and Titan also stepped back, their faces changing drastically as if facing a formidable enemy, recognizing these individuals hired by Machine Head to protect it.
"I say, the boss who hired us is dead. If we deal with these guys for him, who pays us?"
Kursk, a tall, thin figure wearing a yellow lightning suit, crackled with electricity all over, and picked his ear.
"Let's kill these guys and see if there's a safe!"
Leash Tyrant wore a knitted hat, dressed like a fierce bandit in a steel jacket, with several ropes on his chest flailing like tentacles.
"Kill them all!
Infinitoid, he seems to have some fame!"
Magma Maniac was a strange man made entirely of lava, his tone bloodthirsty and violent, like a vicious wolf targeting its prey, staring intently at Russell floating in mid-air.
"Infinitoid?... Haven't You heard that he's responsible for selecting new members for the new Global Guardians, and all the Superheroes who went were utterly defeated by him.
This isn't what the mission brief said, I'm not doing this job."
Furnace was shrouded in heavy armor, radiating intense heat and nuclear radiation. Looking fearfully at the figure in the White cape, he backed away, then turned and crashed through the window, attempting to escape.
"Many of them were Supervillains that the previous generation of Global Guardians had never managed to catch."
There was only one that Mark didn't recognize.
A guy covered in White fur, half-man, half-lion, with a lion's head, carrying a warhammer, looked like an augmented human from some biological laboratory. He looked very Mighty and domineering, but wasn't very famous.
Russell beside him was staring intently at him, perhaps attracted by his strange half-beast appearance?
This person might not be difficult to deal with.
"Titan, you deal with the lion head."
"My Cousin and I will take care of the others!"
Strong enemies surrounded them, Mark made a decisive call.
Titan's ability was only to create a layer of stone skin on his body. It was fine for fighting ordinary people, but against these Supervillains, he probably couldn't take a single hit.
Mark, thinking he was being kind, assigned him an opponent who should be easy to deal with.
"Battle Beast, a cruel and ruthless beast, who enjoys blood and battle, one of the power ceilings of the entire Invincible Universe."
Hearing Mark's assignment, Russell couldn't help but shift his gaze from Battle Beast and glance at Mark.
Mark, You sure know how to pick an 'easy target'.
Turning back, Russell wasn't in a hurry to attack Battle Beast, instead, he shot his Cyclops at the escaping 'Furnace'.
Zzt!
Furnace, who was outside the building with Fire spewing from his feet, preparing to fly away, had his heavy armor pierced through from front to back as if cut by a hot knife through butter.
He looked down in shock, seeing a large hole in his chest.
The nuclear-powered armor plummeted straight down. After a crash, screams of passersby came from the street below.
"Huh?"
Battle Beast, who had been casually weighing his warhammer and wasn't in a hurry to attack, saw the power of Russell's Cyclops, his eyes lit up slightly with excitement at the sight of prey, lowering his body like a beast spotting its quarry.
"I thought this remote and barren place wouldn't have any warriors worth a look, but I didn't expect this machine head to not be lying.
It really found me an interesting opponent!"
Battle Beast stomped fiercely, swinging his hammer through the air and charging towards Russell. Meanwhile, Titan actually listened to Mark, charging forward and swinging his fists at his assigned 'opponent'.
"Get lost!"
Like seeing an annoying Fire, Battle Beast swept Titan away with his hammer. Enjoying the pleasure of battle, he didn't easily kill him.
Bang!
Even so, Titan was sent flying sideways as if hit by a hundred-ton truck moving at high speed, crashing heavily into the wall. His stone skin shattered, and his body folded backward from the waist at a grotesque angle.
"My back..."
Titan, now folded like a chair, coughed up blood and reached for his back.
"Titan? I didn't mean to."
Mark was greatly alarmed.
He really hadn't expected the opponent he casually picked for Titan to be so powerful!
Buzz!
After sending Titan flying, Battle Beast suddenly leaped and accelerated, his Shadow reaching Russell in the blink of an eye, swinging his hammer down, tearing through the air.
Bang!
Russell couldn't dodge in time and raised his arm to block. It felt as if a meteorite had crashed down on his head. His arm was in severe pain, and a massive wave of air exploded, sweeping through the surroundings.
His knees sank, and in an instant, the ground cracked inch by inch, followed by the collapse of the entire floor.
"What great strength!"
He knew that Battle Beast was likely just testing him at first, and wouldn't use too much power to avoid ending the battle that excited him too early.
But even that initial strength was already comparable to Soldier Boy's!
"Let's see if Cyclops can break through the defenses of this beast that seems born for battle. If it can, perhaps I might be able to defeat him!"
After taking Battle Beast's blow, in a flash of lightning, Russell's eyes narrowed, and he suddenly shot out lasers emitting terrifying high temperatures, aiming directly at the eyes of Battle Beast, who had just lost his footing.