"What?"
Captain America blinked.
He even wondered if he'd misheard. After fighting for so many years, this was the first time he'd heard someone tell him to hide.
"I'm not that old yet, kid."
He wasn't angry. With a wry smile, he forcefully threw the shield in his hand. In Peter's astonished gaze, it cut an arc and precisely hit the robot's energy core.
"Zzzz—"
Instantly, the two-meter-tall robot sparked and fell.
"See?"
Steve raised his arm, and the shield flew back into his hand as if it had eyes. "I can fight all day!"
"Whoa!"
Peter exclaimed in surprise. He leaped forward, landing beside Captain America, and tapped the round shield, but it made no sound.
"Buddy, how'd you get this? Did you steal it from a museum?"
"The ones in the museum aren't real," Steve shook his head. Then, he noticed a missile flying towards Peter out of the corner of his eye.
He immediately raised his shield to protect Peter.
At the same time, Peter's Spider-Sense naturally detected the danger. He raised his hand and shot spider silk towards the robot attacking them, then yanked hard—
The robot, weighing several tons, was directly pulled up and swung like a wrecking ball, clearing out a row of machines with a heavy sweep.
This maneuver left Captain America dumbfounded.
To be honest, he might not have been able to lift robots of this weight either, but to swing them around like toys as easily as Peter did was simply impossible.
Therefore, seeing Peter's performance, Captain America's myriad thoughts condensed into one sentence:
Holy crap, this kid!
Is his strength just ridiculously overpowered?
Could it be that after all these years, not only has he fallen behind, but even the Super Soldier Serum has become outdated?
For a moment, Captain America even missed the world where he was the only one with superpowers.
"So this is the real deal?"
Peter pointed at the shield, his voice even more surprised.
"Not just it, I'm the real deal too," Captain America said with a smile. "You're very strong. Where are you from?"
"Queens."
"I'm from Brooklyn."
After a brief introduction, the two plunged back into the fight against the robotic monsters.
Initially, Peter had wanted to ask Ben for help because the number of robots was overwhelming.
But as he fought, he realized that these robots' combat effectiveness seemed a bit too weak.
It wasn't just him; even Captain America felt the same way.
Casually strangling a robot, Captain America said with confusion, "I don't even know Hammer Industries' purpose in designing them... Tanks that walk on two legs? They're not even as good as real tanks..."
He looked up at the sky. The flying machines were a bit better than tanks, but why not just fly a plane instead of piloting such a thing?
"It's hard to say. Think about it, it's the same principle as Gundam," Peter said, shrugging. "We all know fighter jets are shaped better for combat, but in comics, humanoid mechs have that feel. Even in interstellar civilizations, they still throw punches when fighting."
"Makes sense." Hearing this, Captain America nodded, then asked confusedly, "So what's Gundam?"
"You don't even know what Gundam is?"
Peter covered his face with one hand. "Now I believe you really are Captain America."
Honestly, Peter already enjoyed watching old movies and old anime, but he never imagined someone could be even more old-fashioned than him.
But then again, if this person was Captain America, it wasn't surprising.
Meanwhile, since Captain America had been deployed, Coulson and Natasha, those S.H.I.E.L.D. workhorses, wouldn't be idle.
Both of them put on special equipment, ready to fight the robots to the death.
However, they also discovered that these robots seemed too vulnerable. Their outer shells were nowhere near as tough as Iron Man's battle armor, and their shock absorption was terrible.
Even...
Natasha stopped what she was doing and took out a device. "You know, Ben Parker gave me this earlier."
"What is this?"
Coulson rubbed his almost bald forehead, thinking that Primus had so many inventions, like Doraemon. At this rate, he might actually invent a growth potion in the future.
"It's nothing fancy, just a signal jammer."
As she spoke, Natasha pressed the button on the device.
An invisible electromagnetic field spread out, interfering with the signals of all the combat mechs.
In an instant, all the battle armors simultaneously crashed.
"Done."
Natasha slapped the sides of her thighs, a relaxed expression on her face. "This was the easiest mission I've ever done."
"It's already done?"
Coulson looked at all the robots within his line of sight. They were indeed frozen in place as if they had crashed, but he still found it hard to believe.
The reason was simple: his phone was still working, and the signal was excellent.
"That's because you're using a Primus phone, isn't it?" Natasha said. "Hammer's trash is even comparable to Primus?"
"You have a point, but doesn't this mean cheaters in exams will have a field day?"
"Then we'll just create a dedicated signal jammer," Natasha said matter-of-factly.
Hearing this, Coulson nodded.
He could already imagine Primus inventing a phone, then a jammer, then a phone that wasn't affected by the jammer, and so on, in a never-ending cycle.
See, that's how you make money!
"But it looks like Hammer Industries' robots are pretty subpar, both in software and hardware. The military spent so much money and all they got was this?"
He shook his head, his smile splitting from ear to ear, feeling sorry for the military.
There had always been an unspoken rivalry between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the military.
On the surface, they both served the country, but behind the scenes, they were locked in a struggle for more military funding.
This time, Hammer's products had clearly made the military a laughingstock, and it was predictable that military spending would likely be cut.
And with the total budget being fixed, the military, being such a behemoth, would save an astronomical sum even with all the intermediaries involved.
S.H.I.E.L.D. could vie for that money!
Coulson didn't know how happy a certain dark kid would be when Nick Fury heard this news, but he knew that the money for modifying his beloved car was secured!
Meanwhile.
Justin Hammer, hunched over like a rat, blended in with the crowd and took refuge in the Primus Pavilion.
At this moment, he had cursed Ivan Vanko hundreds of times in his mind. If words could kill, Ivan would have been riddled with arrows by now.
He truly hadn't expected Vanko to give him such a "big surprise."
Although, he had indeed told Vanko that he wanted that arrogant Tony Stark to die.
But honestly, as a businessman, he wasn't referring to Tony Stark's personal death, but rather the "death" of Stark Industries.
And now.
With this Russian madman causing all this trouble, it wasn't Stark who was going to die, but his Hammer Industries.
Even if Ivan could kill Tony Stark, what would be the point?
He himself would lose everything because of this attack!
After all, Hammer Industries had just taken a military contract; this was national power!
He was finished!
His face was deathly pale, and his entire demeanor had turned bleak. Despite wearing a suit and looking presentable, he was as pathetic as a rat being chased by everyone.
Clearly, Justin Hammer had realized what his fate would be.
For such crimes, even if he wasn't executed, he'd be sentenced to at least a few hundred years. Even with all possible reductions in prison, he'd never see the light of day again.
As for being bailed out by someone, that was even more impossible.
With Hammer Industries collapsing, it was like a giant tree falling, and countless plants beneath it would eagerly absorb its nutrients, branch out, and eventually cover the entire sky.
He, Justin Hammer, wasn't some genius scientist, nor was he a supervillain. Without Hammer Industries, he was nothing. No one would bother saving a nobody.
But he still couldn't suppress his rage towards Ivan Vanko.
That hateful guy!
A scumbag from Russia!
If it weren't for him, Ivan would have died in prison long ago. He had kindly rescued him, and this was how he repaid him?!
If he could do it all over again, Justin Hammer would rather have died in the prison explosion, and the scapegoat wouldn't have been someone else.
But now, it was too late.
No one could save him.
He crouched low, constantly dodging, afraid of being recognized.
Although he understood that he couldn't escape imprisonment, at least he could survive in prison. If these people found him, they would probably swarm him and beat him to death, one punch at a time.
Ben had noticed him long ago, but he ignored the clown and was already backstage discussing future plans with Norman Osborn.
"Once we take control of Hammer Technology, we can expand the Ecopark. Then, the accumulated orders can be completed sooner, and Primus will leap to become a company as powerful as Osborn Corporation."
After saying this, Norman still felt like he was dreaming.
Too fast!
It had only been a few months since Primus was established, and in a few more months, it would become one of the top companies in the country. This speed of development left Norman, who had started from scratch, utterly speechless.
Besides good luck, which had allowed Ben to find an opportunity precisely when Osborn and Hammer Industries were in decline, the more important factor was Ben's own capability to achieve this.
However, Norman also sensed that Ben was a bit impatient.
He immediately asked for the reason.
Norman Osborn didn't know that soon this Earth would be overrun with demons and monsters, with all sorts of people possessing strange powers making their grand entrance. Ben needed to quickly build a foundation.
As for the other reason…
Ben smiled slightly, looked at Norman, and asked a surprising question.
"Uncle Norman, would you like to be the Mayor?"
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