"Master!"
Vis, in its small robotic form, hopped over to Kyle's feet, coming to a halt and offering a gentlemanly bow.
"A Kryon with a full energy capacity can power Planet Sakaar's Interstellar Spaceship for intergalactic travel, sustain Tony's Iron Man armor in intense combat for an entire day, or provide energy for New York City for ten minutes. So why does it deplete so quickly when it's with you?" Kyle glanced at it reproachfully, but at the same time, he reached into his pocket, drawing out a Blue Item Card.
He transformed the card into a fresh Kryon crystal and casually tossed it to the ground.
Vis's eyes gleamed, momentarily forgetting its gentlemanly demeanor. It excitedly lunged forward, catching the radiant Kryon and shoving it into its dark mechanical maw.
Clickety-clickety sounds resounded as Vis lay on the Helicarrier deck, treating the Kryon in its hands like food, crushing it into energy crystal blocks and swallowing them to replenish its nearly depleted energy, which was on the brink of shutdown.
"You're such a spendthrift," Kyle said in exasperation. A single Kryon like this could easily empty the coffers of Earth's wealthiest magnates.
Kyle had an enormous stockpile of Kryon, numbering in the tens of thousands, so this was not a concern.
"Liege Lord, I have something for you," Natasha said, gently pulling on Sam's arm. She took a step forward and knelt respectfully on the deck.
"Uh, Mr. Kyle."
Sam scratched his head, still not accustomed to the sight before him. The dark lifeform, which had symbolized slaughter and evil, was now revered as a Symbol of Peace, a legendary hero.
A Symbol of Peace and a dark lifeform, representing two extremes, both identities belonged to the same person at this moment...
"Sir, this is the program chip to restart the Helicarrier. It was originally given to Steve by Fury, and Steve just handed it over to me," Natasha reported. She unfolded her tightly clenched hand, revealing three green chips lying in her palm.
Each chip corresponded to one of the Helicarriers, and all three had to be inserted into the Helicarrier's control console to make the system effective.
"The key to defusing Project Insight, right?" Kyle spoke in a cold, low tone and reached out, picking up the program disk with his fingertips.
In the bewildered gazes of Natasha and Sam, Kyle applied pressure with his fingers, crushing the chip into fine powder.
"Master, why did you do that?" Natasha asked with uncertainty, her beautiful eyes wide open.
"As long as I have Vis and enough energy, there's no need for these chips and their cumbersome Helicarrier rebooting process," Kyle said calmly.
Natasha and Sam both looked at Vis, who was still munching on Kryon, and the realization hit them. "Right, I forgot to tell you. As long as I have enough energy and I'm on a Helicarrier, I can directly control satellites and modify the system commands of the Helicarrier we're on," Vis explained.
As Vis spoke, two antennas extended from its forehead, and its feet firmly penetrated the Iron Man structure of the Helicarrier deck. Dim electrical currents extended along the deck into the Helicarrier's interior.
Its mechanical eyes blinked as it traversed a series of codes, and a data torrent rapidly flowed.
Three seconds later, Vis clapped his hands and said, "Done. The Helicarrier we're on is now under my control."
"That simple?" Natasha and Sam exchanged glances, deeply perplexed. What had taken them so much effort to handle had been resolved so quickly?
"Don't believe it?" Vis proudly puffed out its mechanical chest.
Without energy, it was indeed a pile of junk.
But just after consuming Kryon, it was now the unparalleled mechanical intelligent lifeform above all earthly top-tier technology, truly one of a kind.
A mere Earth satellite? Radio waves could follow the Helicarrier's signal trajectory, traverse the satellite's protective barrier, and forcibly modify the Helicarrier's already set system commands.
At this stage of human technological advancement, the Helicarrier, Earth's publicly acknowledged cutting-edge creation, what level of power did it possess?
Kyle pondered this question, and with a sinister grin, he licked his lips. "Vis, let's give it a try."
"Right away. But how should we test it?" Vis excitedly bobbed its head. However, it suddenly realized that the circling fleet of enemy aircraft hovering in the sky above would be the perfect experimental target.
"I've never really seen the full extent of this Helicarrier's power."
Vis raised its antennas, and the once heavily damaged and riddled Helicarrier began to tremble violently under the transmitted commands.
The large gun turrets on the Helicarrier's exterior, as if they had suddenly grown irritable, activated simultaneously. The gun barrels adjusted up, down, left, and right autonomously, quickly aiming at the circling fleet of aircraft above.
"Countdown, 3, 2, 1, fire!" Vis adopted the demeanor of a commander, speaking with authority and confidence.
In accordance with its command, the Helicarrier, which was on the verge of collapsing and had already been heavily damaged, transformed into a massive Gatling gun. Dozens, even hundreds of gun ports fired at the aircraft in response to the orders.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Countless shells and missiles were launched, trailing long flames and smoke, forming a destructive rain of projectiles that covered an area of hundreds of meters overhead.
And that hundred-meter area was precisely where the enemy aircraft had been circling and observing.
Everything happened too quickly, and the remaining nine aircraft did not have enough time to evade or escape. In the blink of an eye, they were engulfed by the tsunami of bombardment created by the multitude of projectiles.
The blue sky was filled with smoke, white clouds torn asunder, and shockwaves spread outwards, shrouding the airspace over a significant portion of New York City.
On this noon, the people in New York, as long as they looked up, could clearly see the spectacular and devastating explosion clouds, far more brilliant than fireworks.
Sam commented with amazement, "With this kind of power, it's no wonder that three Helicarriers could eliminate elite talents among humanity in such a short time."
"After all, this was built in secret by SHIELD over the course of several years," Natasha stated matter-of-factly.
"Its firepower is no less than an Interstellar fighter, it's just that the Helicarrier is a bit too bulky," Kyle thought aloud, and he couldn't help but grin.
Being too greedy wasn't a good thing.
Regardless of how unwieldy and massive it was, the Helicarrier wasn't originally designed for agility and solo combat; it was meant to serve as a mobile juggernaut base, a Fortress, and a transit hub.
"Vis, relay the system command to take this Helicarrier out of the city limits of New York," Kyle ordered.
"Are we giving up this Helicarrier?" Vis inquired.
"It's heavily damaged. Why keep it? We'll get a new one," Kyle said, looking towards the other two intact Helicarriers, situated about a hundred meters away.
"Sir, this isn't theft; these were ours to begin with," Natasha chuckled.
"Don't make us sound like villains. But why do I have an incredibly excited feeling?" Sam chuckled.
Kyle's pace was different from Steve's careful planning. In one word— exhilarating!
(End of this chapter)
You can read ahead up to 80 chapters on my patreon and I've also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon /marvel6395