"What the heck? What flashed just now?"
Inside the Boxer's cockpit, Luca, who had just finished a call with Hakimi and confirmed that Strucker had withdrawn all his HYDRA subordinates from Sokovia, was startled by the continuous red and blue flashes on the virtual screen.
After Luca had demonstrated his 'violent output,' Steve briefly communicated with Luca and received a positive response.
He decided to redeploy Thor to join the others in attacking the Sky Carrier to the south, to compensate for their lack of 'flying units.'
The Sky Carrier to the northwest was naturally left for Luca to handle alone.
Luca, with the assistance of two other Haro Mecha, naturally did not refuse this.
So, after that aerial battle ended, the Avengers dispersed directly, flying towards their respective pre-determined Sky Carriers.
However, although the Boxer could fly at the moment, it could only fly in a straight line using Veronica's thrusters, with hardly any room for maneuver.
Luca decisively handed over control to Haro, the 'Ace Gundam pilot,' and activated automatic cruising mode.
He then began to communicate with Hakimi to understand the situation in Sokovia and the HYDRA European branch.
But while he was still on the phone, the virtual screen in the cockpit flashed red, followed by the 'beep-beep' sound of the 'Self-Defense Cannon' locking onto a target.
And then... and then it was gone.
The red light disappeared, the 'beep-beep' sound subsided, and the Mecha continued to fly steadily in formation, as if everything that had happened was an illusion.
However, since Luca had raised the question, Haro, who was piloting the Mecha forward, naturally provided an answer.
"Rollback data, display operation process."
"Three enemy aircraft detected. Enemy aircraft long-range missile, suspected nuclear warhead. Missile entered interception range. Automatic defense main cannon successfully intercepted nuclear bomb. Enemy fighter jets rapidly withdrew."
"Dispatched Mecha No. 2 and Mecha No. 5 to break away from the flight formation for pursuit."
As the Mecha's broadcast finished, three flashes of fire immediately appeared in the distant sky.
Well, it was clear that the Haro Mecha sent to pursue had already destroyed the enemy aircraft.
However, Luca, upon hearing Haro's report, was not happy that the enemy aircraft had been destroyed; instead, he secretly wiped away a cold sweat, feeling somewhat relieved.
'Tsk tsk, they're already using nuclear bombs. Good thing I didn't get overconfident and activated the Self-Defense Cannon.'
Here, we need to introduce the so-called 'Automatic Defense Turret System' on the Boxer.
Aside from the traditional small machine gun interception turrets.
In reality, the core of this system was a 'transmission platform' that Luca specifically left in the cockpit when modifying the Boxer.
As long as he placed the Dehydrator Gun on the 'transmission platform' and activated the defense system.
The Dehydrator Gun would be moved and fixed onto a 360-degree 'turret' on the Mecha's forehead via the transmission device.
Then, relying on Super Mecha Pilot Haro's auto-aim interception system and the Dehydrator Gun's almost 'instant kill' compression ability against physical objects, virtually no missile attacks could hit the Boxer when its 'Self-Defense Cannon' was activated.
However, the only slightly awkward thing was...
"Haro, where did the energy cubes from those three nuclear bombs fall?"
"Unknown area, multiple points circled. Question: Do you need to return to search for the nuclear bomb cubes?"
"Uh, forget it. Let Five Haro look for them later. The weather forecast for the past two days doesn't seem to have rain."
Seeing that the landing point on the virtual screen seemed to be an uninhabited area, and considering that the HYDRA Sky Carrier was just ahead, Luca decisively and unconscionably gave up the idea of returning to search for the energy cubes.
'Hmm, just three activated nuclear warheads, it shouldn't be a big problem.'
Of course, Luca was actually a bit scared.
After all, nuclear bombs are indeed one of humanity's most powerful weapons. If the energy cubes landed in water and accidentally released and detonated the nuclear bombs.
Luca felt that even if he was in the cockpit, he would most likely be finished.
'My main body is still too weak. If only I could find an item to strengthen myself.'
'If only there were items like a Nano Core or Superman Serum.'
In fact, Luca was quite conflicted now.
For him, staying hidden behind and controlling the Mecha, becoming a true 'Metal Knight,' was undoubtedly the safest method.
But the trouble was, if he wanted to confirm whether any 'glowing items' were missed, Luca had to be present in person and observe with his own eyes.
Luca always needed to make some trade-offs between strengthening himself and ensuring safety.
The reason Luca didn't choose to hide behind at the moment, besides the Boxer's full-circumference cockpit and neural link control, which indeed couldn't rely entirely on Haro's remote piloting, was more because he felt that this major event might allow HYDRA to drop some gold coins for him.
"Forget it, Haro, full speed ahead!"
"Currently at maximum flight speed."
"Okay... I didn't say anything."
In front of the Sky Carrier.
Actually, even though Luca and his team encountered air raids and nuclear bombs on their way from New York to Washington, it didn't take much time.
Now, after arriving near the designated Sky Carrier, Luca did not rush to destroy it immediately.
He only sent out two Haro Mecha to slightly attract the Sky Carrier's anti-aircraft fire, then controlled the Boxer to hover in the air.
He then directly opened the cockpit canopy against the howling wind and looked out.
"Alright, no glow, you're out of luck!"
He grumbled a sentence, and the cockpit canopy closed again.
Immediately, Luca's fingertip moved on the virtual screen.
The Boxer suddenly arched its back, and the Veronica thrusters erupted in dazzling white light.
Not an ascent, but a violent charge!
A pale blue flame tail stretched half a kilometer behind, and a height of several hundred meters was reached in an instant.
"Click—"
The Veronica thruster interface precisely unlocked, and the four thruster units smoothly detached, hovering in mid-air like carefully stored spare parts.
The next moment.
The entire Mecha suddenly curled up.
The curved armor plates clicked shut, and the hundred-ton Mecha completely transformed into a giant iron ball.
Luca had piloted the Mecha so close, and HYDRA's Sky Carrier naturally would not remain indifferent.
The carrier's anti-aircraft fire instantly abandoned the two Mecha and unleashed all its firepower at the Boxer, which had transformed into an iron ball in the air.
"Da da da! Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
The tungsten-core bullet rain from the close-in weapons system wove a golden-red net of fire, and twenty anti-aircraft missiles trailed their exhaust plumes as they came rushing.
However, facing this overwhelming firepower, the Boxer in the air remained completely unmoved.
It allowed itself to continue falling, and the anti-aircraft fire only splashed continuous sparks on the Mecha's surface.
The crisp 'ding' of shells hitting armor and the muffled 'boom' of exploding missiles all became futile accompaniment.
In the view of the HYDRA members on the carrier bridges, the giant iron ball in the air was trailing a dark purple sonic boom cloud as it plummeted towards the deck.
Gravity, at this moment, became the most joyful accomplice.
"Boom—!!!"
A deafening roar spread throughout the entire carrier.
The moment the hundred-ton iron ball smashed into the deck, the entire carrier was slammed sideways by half a meter.
The nearly half-meter thick alloy deck curled inward like tin foil, and the cracking sound of breaking rebar mixed with the roar of exploding steam.
Centered on the impact point.
The deck within a hundred-meter radius was ripped away like fallen leaves, and the anti-aircraft gun arrays further away were directly uprooted, their barrels twisted like pretzels.
In an instant, this super Sky Carrier, which had suppressed most of Washington and was once so arrogant in the high sky, already began to totter.
Amidst the thick smoke and flames, in the center of the Sky Carrier's deck, in that twisted and deformed giant crater.
The unharmed blue and white Mecha slowly stood up, re-'stretching' its posture.
And at this moment, inside the Mecha, Luca's somewhat cold and excited voice also came out.
"My Meteor Slam Dunk didn't even smash through?"
"Well then, there's some fun to be had now~"