The Legendary Mechanic in Marvel Universe

Chapter 179 Stopping Missile Bare Handedly

TL: Kyous

Moving the time forward a little.

In the morning, when Dr. Zola was causing an uproar throughout the country, Leo had located the flying missile according to the coordinates. Shrunk into ant size and after decelerating, he used the Mechanical Force to pry off the missile’s outer shell and clung to it.

The missile was silver in color but its head was oxidized due to the air friction, appearing somewhat dark. And the most iconic item on the missile was the two huge words printed on it, “Hail Hydra!”

When he saw the words, he immediately knew this missile was fired by H.Y.D.R.A. Besides, the weapon data he obtained from Dr. Zola also included this missile’s blueprint.

【H.Y.D.R.A. Missile: A missile designed by Dr. Zola. 10.7 meters in length, 1.3 meters in diameter, has a firing range of 4500 to 5000 kilometers, and loads with 500,000 tons equivalent to thermonuclear bombs. Titanium alloy is used for outer shells.】

As described, the missile’s outer shell was created with titanium alloy. Its gap was extremely small, even Leo in his tiny form couldn’t enter it. If he disregarded everything and shrunk even further, he would be entering the subatomic state. If he was lucky, he might encounter Hank Pym’s wife, Janet van Dyne. And if he was even luckier, he could return to normal like how Scott Lang did in the movie.

But why would he take such an idiotic and risky approach? He had tons of methods to stop the missile!

Using the Mechanical Force to adjust the regulator, he activated Pym Particles’ enlarging function. The next moment, he and Viper Mark VI became a thirty-foot-tall giant. The giant tightly grabbed the H.Y.D.R.A. missile with his hands. His current size was more or less the same as the missile and was around two-tenths of the missile’s weight.

The error in the missile’s accuracy was within a hundred yards. And now its weight suddenly increased by two percent, it immediately deviated from its original pathway. The error now was within a thousand yards. God knows where the missile would finally end up, but it certainly wouldn’t be New York City!

However, Leo wouldn’t do such an irresponsible act. With his ten feet square palm, he clenched onto the missile and circulated his Mechanical Force. The gigantified Leo suddenly learned his Mechanical Force capacity was still the same but the strength and range increased by a huge margin. Naturally, the corresponding consumption rate also increased.

Therefore, without further delay, he swiftly penetrated the missile’s inner structure with Mechanical Force. With his understanding of the H.Y.D.R.A. missile, he accurately broke the missile’s detonation and propulsion system. After making sure the missile wouldn’t accidentally explode, he willed his Mechanical Force and shredded every electrical component in the missile into pieces.

Losing its power, the missile began to free fall. Leo hastily shrunk into ant size again and let the missile fly towards the ground. But this was around a million feet in the sky, he had no idea what was directly below him and even more impossible to predict where the missile would fall. It might fall into the ocean, river, park, or even into a bustling city. It might also drop onto some unlucky fellow’s head. 

Nonetheless, it wasn’t his concern and he didn’t have the time to be concerned about it. There were still two more missiles flying toward Washington and those two were enough to level Washington.

Although he did tell Fury there was nothing he could do about the two missiles, there was still time. Whether or not they could be stopped, he had to try it first.

When Fury asked for the coordinates of New York’s missile from General Ross, the military reported all three missiles’ coordinates to General Ross. And Leo who was lying in the hair also learned the other two’s positions.

By now, he had descended to a height of ten thousand feet. He changed his direction based on his GPS and chased after the other two missiles.

……

Rewinding the time a bit to when Leo was clinging onto the H.Y.D.R.A. missile.

Far away in a mansion by the seaside in Malibu, California. A dashing young man was staring at the monitor while leisurely conversing with the Department of Defense.

“Chill down, Rhodey, Stark Industries is in New York. I won’t let that missile drop into my backyard.”

Major Rhodes pursued, “Tony, this isn’t a joke. Can you stop the missiles on time, including the two flying to Washington?”

“Come on, relax, my young major. I’ve launched three interceptors and in two minutes, they will detonate those three missiles at an altitude of ten thousand feet without causing any slightest threats to the ground.” Tony confidently assured his buddy.

But in reality, his focus was concentrated on the monitor to his right. To his right were two monitors and the upper monitor was the talking Dr. Zola while the bottom monitor was rows of densely packed codes.

Tony was frantically hitting the keyboard, attempting to locate Dr. Zola’s position, and even wanted to eliminate Dr. Zola.

As the designated military liaison for Stark Industries, James “Rhodey” Rhodes had a high status in the military. He was promoted to the rank of Major around the age of twenty. If he was hardworking, there were no problems for him being promoted to the rank of Colonel in a few years.

Major Rhodes, in the faraway command center of the Department of Defense, heard the assurance from his buddy Tony Stark and was reassured. 

He reported this favorable news to General Norrey, “Sir, Stark Industries is confident in intercepting the missiles. They’ve launched the interceptors and will detonate those three missiles at a high altitude approximately in two minutes without harming the ground in the slightest.”

General Norrey was beaming with joy as he patted Major Rhodes’s shoulder in relief and said, “Great work, Major Rhodes. After this matter is resolved, you can go with me to the army for a brief training.”

The implication of that meant after the so-called brief training, Rhodes would be promoted!

Just as the military was overjoyed by this news, one of the soldiers monitoring the screen suddenly yelled, “Oh no! The missile heading towards New York is deviating all of a sudden! It’s heading to Houston… Wait, it isn’t heading to Houston, its advance keeps changing. I’m not sure where it will land.”

The soldier sounded panicked as he completely lost judgment on the flight status of the missile.

Concurrently, everyone in the command center began working, troubleshooting the anomaly and trying to identify the situation. General Norrey frowned and landed his gaze on Major Rhodes.

Major Rhodes instantly understood General Norrey’s intention as he promptly picked up the communicator and contacted Tony Stark. “Tony, are you still watching the real-time surveillance I sent to you? What’s going on with the missile heading to New York? Why did it deviate all of a sudden?”

Right now, Tony, who was busy searching for Dr. Zola’s location, frowned and refocused his attention on the monitor to his left. With a glance, he subconsciously widened his jaw. The missile wasn’t deviating, it was dancing in midair.

After carefully inspecting for a bit, he replied, “The missile is deviating, but Rhodey, look at how quickly it’s losing its heat signature, this means it’s losing its energy. In other words, it was destroyed!”

Major Rhodes hurriedly relayed Tony’s message to the command center. They swiftly double-checked and realized the missile did lose its body and was free-falling.

Placing the communicator next to his mouth again, Major Rhodes asked, “Tony, is that your interceptor? Will the missiles heading to Washington be the same as that?”

He wanted to confirm the situation with Tony, otherwise, if a similar situation occurred to the two missiles, then the command center would be in a pickle.

Out of the blue, Tony remained silent for a second before answering, “No, that’s not Stark Industries’ interceptor, it’s still on its way. You can see it from your surveillance.”

“Then, why did the missile suddenly lose its power?” Major Rhodes uncontrollably asked.

Tony was baffled as well, so he could only reply, “I got no idea!”