The quiet of the plaza was suddenly shattered by the thunderous roar of rotor blades cutting through the air.
Lying injured on the ground, Liz instinctively looked up. Her face tensed with anxiety.
Above them, three armed helicopters circled over the square, ominous shadows cast by their spinning blades.
The two soldiers who had been tending to Liz immediately perked up, their hearts surging with hope.
Reinforcements. Finally.
But the only one who remained perfectly calm… was Alex.
He tilted his head upward, gave the helicopters a casual glance—
And then looked away.
As if they were just birds flying overhead.
Not even a twitch of his brow.
To Alex, these helicopters were nothing. Utterly beneath his attention.
If they were smart enough to retreat, he'd let them go.
But if they pressed their luck?
Then they'd be annihilated.
A voice crackled over the helicopter comms.
All at once, the Gatling guns on all three helicopters began spinning—spitting fire.
The air filled with the deafening roar of high-velocity rounds, far more powerful than standard ammo, pouring down on Alex like metallic rain.
Alex muttered coldly, his expression darkening.
He didn't move. He didn't dodge.
All he did was calmly raise his head.
And his eyes… began to glow red.
Thousands of bullets tore through the air, striking him dead-on.
At the remote command post, Hawkeye was watching the live feed.
His expression twisted in disbelief.
"Skullface, this intruder... this guy's not normal. No wonder he took down Katz and the rest... Holy sh—"
Before he could finish—
Alex's eyes erupted with twin beams of blazing heat vision, slicing through the sky—
B277 exploded in a fireball, debris raining down from the sky.
B278 suffered the exact same fate, its wreckage spiraling down and smashing into the ground below.
Only B279 managed to launch two missiles in time, streaking toward Alex with deadly precision.
"No way you survive this…" Hawkeye muttered, eyes fixed on the screen.
But before the missiles even got close—
A slight turn of Alex's head, and the heat vision sliced them out of the air like swatting flies.
Another subtle movement.
The third helicopter exploded, joining the others in a cloud of flame and smoke.
In the span of mere moments, three of the most advanced military helicopters had been destroyed.
Alex hadn't moved from his spot.
He hadn't even lifted a foot.
He just stood there—hands behind his back, calm as a mountain.
"Who the hell is this guy?"
Liz was in shock. She had witnessed the entire scene unfold before her eyes.
And it had left her utterly speechless.
She was a mutant herself—but even she couldn't comprehend that someone like her could become this powerful.
A living body tanking rockets.
Eyes firing laser beams.
Oh right—he could fly, too.
Just what kind of monster was this?
Her brain was short-circuiting.
The two soldiers beside her were even worse off.
They looked ready to pass out from fear.
They had believed their reinforcements would turn the tide.
They had dared to dream that they might escape this nightmare.
The very helicopters they counted on had been slaughtered like bugs.
The soldiers were beyond terrified—frozen, trembling, hopeless.
They didn't even dare to form a single rebellious thought.
"This… is getting ridiculous."
Hawkeye finally snapped out of it, muttering in disbelief.
"Hawkeye, report! What's happening?"
Skullface's voice came sharp from the side.
Hawkeye rubbed his temples.
Skullface's voice shot up by an octave.
He couldn't believe his ears.
They'd barely arrived on scene. Had it even been three minutes?
And they were already gone?
"This intruder…" Hawkeye groaned.
"Is way beyond anything we were prepared for."
"We've got a problem."
Skullface stood in silence for a moment.
Then finally, he spoke:
"Looks like I'll have to go myself."
"You? What are you going to do?"
Hawkeye didn't even try to be gentle.
"I'm afraid you'll get vaporized before you even activate your power."
"Yeah. Laser vision."
Hawkeye narrowed his eyes.
"Just like the boy the Master's been tracking."
"Now you get it, right?"
That shut Skullface up completely.
That kind of heat vision—deadly, precise, unstoppable.
And the guy could shrug off a full Gatling burst like it was a light breeze.
No, Skullface had to admit:
This wasn't someone he could take on.
Hawkeye pressed him with a sigh.
"Report to the Master. Have him send someone else. This guy is way out of our league."
But Skullface looked unwilling.
He was the one in charge of this operation. Reporting failure to the Master?
What would that make him look like?
Hawkeye saw right through him.
"You know full well how Liz is tied to the Paranormal Defense Bureau."
"If we screw this up—there's no salvaging it."
Skullface flinched, eyes widening behind his mask.
And in that moment, he knew Hawkeye was right.
This wasn't about pride anymore.
This was about survival.
Without another word, he pulled out a special encrypted communicator and connected to the Master's private line.
Nervously, he relayed the entire report.
The reply was calm. Deep.
"This is no longer your concern. I'll send others to deal with it."
"Have Hawkeye keep eyes on the target."
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