Following them was the terrifying city filled with souls driven into madness. More and more crazed individuals emerged, and people with monstrous heads seemed infected by something. They began to lurk in the gloom of the rainy nights, bringing more lunacy and sin to the city.
Barely escaping another tentacle assault, Iron Man jerked upwards and hovered midair. Shaking his head, he said, "It's insane, they're all insane. Those symbionts said these monsters were tough, but I didn't realize just how mad they'd be!"
Elsewhere, the symbionts narrowly avoid the shockwave of an explosion and jump on top of a large building. Blue Spirit, watching the shadows below, carrying their tools of light walking like the living dead on the streets, hunting every living thing to kill. Its voice was trembling, "The Brood have evolved again! They've become more sinister and insane. The cosmos is about to experience another catastrophe..."
"Something's not right," Thunder voiced gravely. "The Brood aren't some senseless chaotic insect race that only know to devour. They're an advanced civilization of wisdom; they wouldn't have built such a developed city otherwise. But it's as if they've turned into ... overnight."
"Some changes we're not aware of have occurred in this city," Green Sting shook its head. "The atmosphere here is too peculiar; I've never encountered such a sight in any city before."
"And the strangest part, why does it rain every day? Where does this planet get so much water resources?"
Clearly, everyone noticed a dreadful atmosphere shrouding the city, as if the entire planet was inevitably plunging into the dark side of the cosmos.
Those who also felt this frightening atmosphere, besides the Avengers squad that arrived here, were the city's original dwellers.
Within a high-rise in the city centre, a creature with a monstrous head, dressed in uniform, slammed the control panel hard. "Where's our fleet?" It yelled. "Where have they gone? Why aren't they protecting their planet?!"
"Governor, we don't have permission to fire upon the Earth's surface!" Another monster-head in a uniform protested, "We can't just use ground-level weapons because of the chaos caused by one person. It would destroy all the facilities on the planet, and the Capital Planet wouldn't approve!"
"But he's caused such chaos, what the hell is going on? Who let him come here?!!!" the Governor raged.
"According to the data returned from the teleporter, it was likely the parasitic material brought back by an Agent assigned to Earth, code 25308. It was supposed to be the lowest level of material that should've immediately been sealed upon entering Brood Planet territory..."
"Then why wasn't it sealed away?!!"
The assistant shook its head, "The data indicates that Earth's agent might have been sacrificed."
The Governor slammed the table again, "Humans... humans... aren't they supposed to be the weakest race in the cosmos? Since when did the mighty Brood start losing to humans???"
The assistant seemed baffled, "According to the scanner installed on the portal, the masked man seems to be just an ordinary human."
"Yet, in just five days, he's played over a dozen games, caused countless explosions! But no one can catch him, he's killed all our guards and security personnel!!!"
Shivering with rage, the Governor commanded, "Now! Immediately! Call the fleet!! I want to fire on the planet surface!!!"
With no other choice, the assistant saluted and turned to leave. Just as the door opened, a metal-clad fist appeared.
With a loud 'thud', the assistant screamed as it was sent flying away. Iron Man stepped over its body and entered, looking at the Governor, "Are you in charge here?"
"Who are you? Wait! Are you a human? How did you get here?"
"Dammit, you must be with that madman, you're invading the Brood. Are you humans declaring war on us?!!"
"Language analysis in progress....translation completed, translation system download status at 70%, minimum communication requirement met, program initiated..." After Jarvis's voice was heard, Stark opened his mouth and said, "You captured our people, you wanted to hurt our kind, that's why we're here."
"Hurt your kind???" The Governor raised his voice in disbelief and frustration, "As soon as that madman arrived, he sought out our broadcast communication device and said he wanted to play a game!"
"Cackling insanely, he took the city's administrators, brutally ripped their heads off their bodies and threw them in the furnace. He also kidnapped a group of nobles to perform a play and cut off their tentacles as an admission ticket!!"
"You evil race!" The Governor accused vehemently, "You madmen! Perverts!! I'll expose your sins to the whole cosmos!! You will face judgment!!"
"I..." Iron Man choked a bit, considering Shiller's actions to be a bit extreme.
But looking at that monstrous face, and thinking about how they are parasites living inside human bodies, Stark suddenly found the Governor's complaint to sound pleasing, like praises.
He didn't care anymore and stated, "That's right, this is us, this is humanity. Buddy, you've picked the wrong fight."
"But you cannot possibly defeat the mighty Brood! Our fleet is near the star at this very moment. I have lifted the safety protocol. They will soon fire upon the planet's surface. You will all perish here!"
With that, the Governor fiercely pushed a button behind him, and the starmap lit up on the screen behind him. Several octopus-shaped spaceships, looking very much like the monster's head, moved towards the planet.
"Fleet?" Stark's mocking voice came from behind his face guard, "You think you're the only one who can press buttons?"
With that, he opened his arm guard, and pressed a button on it. Right after, Jarvis's voice sounded, "Fleet command system accessed, commands received, deactivating invisibility stance, anti-gravity device operational, command panel ready..."
Stark pointed towards the screen behind the Governor. The Governor, seeing his gesture, hurriedly turned around.
Then he saw several huge battleships, each many times larger than their ships, slowly enter the frame.
Beneath the face guard, Stark's eyes saw a virtual command panel appear in his sight. To the Governor, his voice sounded like a demon:
"Now, I want to play a game with you too..."