When the engineering unit arrived, they only knew one thing: they had been ordered to build a swimming pool.
That much hadn't been explained.
All they knew was that the President himself had issued a directive: go to a grocery store on 58th Avenue in Manhattan and find the owner. Once there, follow his instructions to the letter.
So, naturally, when Doggo raised his head toward the sky, every soldier followed his gaze.
There was nothing visible up there, just open sky, but a gentle breeze suddenly swept down over their faces.
And then came a faint buzzing sound, it actually sounded like a swarm of bees.
General Hans squinted upward, his brow furrowing. Something wasn't right. He turned slightly to glance at his men, but they all wore the same look of confusion.
Was there something hiding in the sky?
A figure appeared out of thin air.
Before they had time to react, silver lightning crackled around the figure, which plummeted from the sky like a thunderous deity.
A crater burst open on the asphalt as the figure landed, shaking the ground beneath their boots.
Out of the swirling dust and fractured pavement, Sharon emerged. Her expression calm and confident. She stepped out of the crater without a scratch, sparks of lingering electricity still clinging to her body, making her look like a storm goddess made flesh.
Her strength had grown ever since Luke helped her awaken the power of thunder. Now, her body was nearly as resilient as Thor's.
With a radiant smile, Sharon approached the stunned soldiers. "You're here to build the swimming pool and the games room, right?"
He was too busy trying to comprehend what he'd just witnessed.
She had fallen from an impossible height, struck the ground with thunder wrapped around her, and emerged without even a bruise.
And that lightning, he'd seen it clearly. Not artificial. Real lightning. From her.
He swallowed hard. The job... definitely not for ordinary people.
With a deep breath, he straightened up, forcing himself to respond with the respect due to a superpowered being.
"Yes, ma'am," he said, offering a slight bow. "I'm Brigadier General Hans of the United States military. I've been dispatched to assist you in every way possible."
Though he held the rank of general, he spoke with the humility of a private.
"Are you the owner of this grocery store?" he asked cautiously.
In his mind, it made sense. Someone this powerful surely had the kind of influence that could draw the President's attention.
But Sharon shook her head with a faint smirk.
Then she looked to the sky.
Hans followed her gaze, puzzled again.
Suddenly, a red figure appeared.
Unlike Sharon's meteoric entrance, this woman descended slowly, gracefully. She floated downward like a blossom on the wind, her silhouette illuminated in soft red hues.
Where Sharon's power was force and storm, this new woman was elegance and mystery.
When she finally landed, her feet barely touched the ground.
Hans blinked in awe. He hurried forward, attempting to act normal, and gave her a courteous smile. "This must be the owner, then. The President sent us to assist you."
Wanda's expression twitched. She turned toward Sharon with a raised eyebrow.
Sharon gave her a wry smile and stepped closer to Hans. "You really should stop guessing," she said, amused. "We're not the boss. He's waiting for you up there."
"Up there?" he repeated, voice faltering. "Where, exactly?"
He tilted his head again, trying to see what she meant. But the sky offered no answers, just more of that strange breeze and faint buzzing.
Wanda smiled mysteriously. "Don't worry. We'll take you to him."
Before he could ask how, her body began to glow. Crimson energy surged around her, swirling like living magic.
Then she floated up again, just like before.
But this time, her powers spread outward.
To their off-road vehicles.
Even the dozen or so large trucks.
Everything around them was enveloped in red light.
The Scarlet Witch had fully revealed her power.
Under normal circumstances, her strength wouldn't have grown this quickly. But ever since Luke's system influenced her, Wanda's magical abilities had developed at an unprecedented rate.
Ten seconds later, Hans and his entire convoy were floating off the ground.
His eyes widened in horror.
The trucks, fully loaded with construction supplies, should have been impossible to lift. Even with helicopters, moving this many vehicles into the sky would have been a logistical nightmare.
Yet this woman… She was doing it effortlessly.
As they rose higher, the breeze grew stronger.
Soon, the wind became a roar, and Hans heard the distant hum of massive engines.
Then, the clouds parted.
A behemoth floating in the sky.
Hans felt like his brain had short-circuited.
The carrier was enormous, dwarfing even the largest aircraft carriers he'd ever seen. But this one… it actually flew.
As an engineer, he immediately began calculating the energy required to keep such a thing aloft.
Nuclear power, no question.
Even then, it would consume fuel at a mind-boggling rate. Possibly more uranium than a small country's nuclear plant.
And yet… here it was. Floating above Manhattan like a silent colossus.
But what stunned him even more was the implication.
They were here… to build a swimming pool on this?
On this flying fortress?
Hans struggled to process it.
Moments later, a figure stepped onto the deck.
It wasn't what he expected.
The man who greeted them looked like a kid, slightly thin, ordinary, maybe in his late teens or early twenties.
But the way Sharon lit up when she saw him said everything.
She gestured toward him and said to Hans, "This is our boss."
Hans blinked again. "This… is the boss?"
Despite his surprise, he quickly straightened and gave Luke a formal military salute.
It wasn't regulation, Luke wasn't military.
But after everything Hans had seen, it felt more than appropriate.
"I'm Brigadier General Hans," he said solemnly. "The President has ordered me to serve you with whatever resources you need."
Luke gave a warm nod. "Well, very good."
Then Hans hesitated. "So… just to confirm… are you planning to build the pool and games room here?"
Luke grinned, amused by Hans's cautious tone.
He rose on tiptoe and patted the taller man's shoulder like they were old friends. Then, gesturing to the massive empty deck, he said, "Yes. We don't plan to use the airstrip for planes anymore, so we're going to turn the whole thing into a giant pool."
Hans turned to look at the space again.
The full size of the deck finally hit him.
His mouth dropped open.
Even the largest swimming pools on land didn't come close.
And he was certain of one thing now:
The materials he brought were nowhere near enough.