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"A year ago, a Roxxon Oil Corporation oil tanker had a major accident in Pensacola, northwest Florida, leaking nearly 100 million gallons of crude oil."
"This crude oil caused devastating damage to the natural ecological environment of that sea area… Tens of thousands of marine creatures suffocated to death due to lack of oxygen, and a large number of seagulls and other seabirds lost their ability to keep warm and fly due to their feathers being contaminated with oil, eventually starving to death!"
"But guess what President Ellis, who appears to be an upright person with a good reputation, did in this incident?"
"Forget it, let me tell you directly… He used the President's privilege to forcibly interfere with the judicial process of this case, ultimately ensuring that no one from Roxxon Oil Corporation received the punishment they deserved for this oil spill!!"
"How about that? Is it ironic enough?"
"America, which constantly preaches 'environmentalism' and 'animal protection laws' to the whole World, turns out to be the real sinner who disregards environmental protection and animal lives?!"
"However, it is precisely because of his accumulated crimes that he will be judged by me today… I said before that whatever you Americans have done to others, I will deal with you in the same way…"
"So, in 15 minutes, I will publicly burn President Matthew Ellis to death with oil in front of you, letting him taste the pain suffered by the animals that died from the oil spill, and I will publicly display the entire execution process to all of America."
"Finally, I also want to warn those who try to rescue him from my hands… Whether you are the U.S. military, or that running dog who always likes to fly around in a tin suit, and that self-righteous S.H.I.E.L.D., none of you can save his life, so don't waste your efforts!!"
This brief declaration directly plunged the entire East Coast into endless panic.
The public was both shocked and angry, because throughout America's history, there had never been a precedent of a President being kidnapped by a terrorist!
And the most crucial thing is that this is on U.S. soil?
Can you believe this?
So, the netizens who came to their senses began to overwhelmingly condemn the incompetence of the White House high-level officials and the USSS (United States Secret Service) and S.H.I.E.L.D. on the internet.
Who told these useless people that they couldn't even protect their own President?
Nick Fury, who was fed up with being criticized, also cursed, "Motherfucker, is this damn Middle Easterner crazy? He actually wants to publicly execute the President of America?!"
"And why are there so many idiotic brain-dead people online? What does the President being hijacked have to do with us S.H.I.E.L.D.? We are not responsible for the President's usual security work!"
"Officer, I'm afraid the netizens have all been led astray by that Mandarin," Maria Hill cautiously reminded him.
"However, this crisis may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us S.H.I.E.L.D.… If we can successfully rescue President Ellis before other organizations, he will undoubtedly become our staunchest supporter in the future."
But at this point, Maria Hill's face couldn't help but show a look of hesitation.
"It's just that we still cannot determine the exact location of those terrorists… And it's still an unknown whether Mr. Stark and Human Torch alone can defeat that group of terrorists who can transform into Fire Lizard Warriors?!"
Nick Fury fell silent upon hearing this.
Maria Hill's analysis was completely correct. Whether S.H.I.E.L.D. could seize this opportunity… or rather, the key to this rescue, actually depended entirely on whether Tony Stark and Human Torch could find President Ellis's location in time, and whether they could ultimately rescue him unharmed.
No way, who told the Sky Carrier's speed to be "too slow"? By the time they arrived in New York, President Ellis's grave probably would have already grown grass.
But what made Nick Fury most envious and depressed was that he, unlike Karl, did not know the mages of Kamar-Taj and could not open portals for long-distance teleportation at any time!
After a long silence, Nick Fury murmured as if comforting everyone, and also himself, "I believe Tony and they will definitely succeed… right?"
At this moment, in a dark corner not far from the abandoned oil tanker where President Matthew Ellis was about to be executed, Tony Stark, wearing his Mark 43 Hunter Armor, and Human Torch were quietly approaching the oil tanker, using the surrounding stacked containers for cover.
"Wow, Mr. Stark, how did you know those terrorists were here?"
Human Torch asked curiously in a low voice, "You're not the real mastermind behind the Ten Rings Gang, are you?"
Tony Stark stopped, turned his head through his faceplate to look at the guy following him, who had a face almost identical to Captain America's, but who often only needed a few words to make people dislike him, and coldly reminded him:
"I said, can you please shut up for a moment? Just for a moment… We need to sneak in quietly and then rescue President Ellis while those terrorists are unprepared."
However, as soon as Tony Stark finished speaking, a suddenly lit searchlight beam shone on their hiding place.
Immediately after, Eric Savin appeared in front of them, leading more than a dozen Extremis Warriors.
Without any unnecessary words, Eric Savin waved his hand towards Tony Stark and Human Torch, "Kill them!!"
More than a dozen Extremis Warriors transformed into Fire Lizard Warriors and spewed hot tongues of fire at the two people opposite them.
Human Torch directly transformed into his Pyro form, absorbing all the flames shot at him, and looked at Tony Stark with a strange expression, "This is what you call sneaking in quietly?"
Tony Stark was too lazy to pay attention to this foul-mouthed chatterbox. While controlling his suit to evade the enemy's flame attacks, he muttered unhappily:
"Jarvis, didn't you already detect that there were no thermal imagers or military night vision devices on the entire dock? So how did these guys discover us?"
Jarvis's voice immediately sounded, "Sir, I just detected that the bodies of these terrorists seem to have all been enhanced by Lizard · Cross-Species Gene Serum, allowing them to see normally in the dark. So you were most likely discovered by the terrorists standing guard on the quay container cranes."
"This works too?"
Tony Stark pouted, then said to Human Torch, who was continuously absorbing the flames released by the enemy below:
"You stay here and deal with these troublesome guys, I'll take advantage of the chaos to rescue President Ellis!!"
With that, he soared into the sky and flew towards President Matthew Ellis's location.
However, Eric Savin and the other Fire Lizard Warriors, upon seeing this, showed no intention of stopping him, letting him leave without a second thought.
The reason was simple: their boss, Aldrich Killian, wanted to deal with Tony Stark personally and redeem himself!
"Are they difficult to deal with?"
Human Torch showed a smug, annoying smile on his face, turned to the Fire Lizard Warriors who were spewing fire at him, and said:
"I can give you a chance to live now. Immediately transform back and tie yourselves up obediently, and I can let you live… Otherwise, you will immediately fall into a pool of blood."
"Oh really? I'm so scared!" Eric Savin, glowing red all over, directly pounced on Human Torch, his sharp claws, like heated electric knives, slashed down.
Human Torch was startled into a cold sweat upon seeing this. He jetted fire from his feet and shot into the air, barely dodging the opponent's attack.
Although he was immune to the flames and high temperatures released by the Fire Lizard Warriors, it did not mean he could ignore their sharp claw attacks.
If he had been hit just now, his head would probably have been cut in half on the spot.
"You guys are really infuriating!"
Human Torch waved his hands, releasing a stream of fire at Eric Savin below, instantly engulfing him.
However, before Human Torch could gloat, he found that the opponent had walked out of the flames completely unharmed.
Σ(⊙▽⊙"a???
WTF???
"This… this works too?"
Human Torch was instantly dumbfounded, looking at the flames on his body, and then at Eric Savin below. He seemed to be unable to understand why his previous attack hadn't burned the opponent to death.
Was the temperature not high enough?
That was indeed the case.
Although under normal circumstances, the highest temperature that Extremis could generate was only around three thousand degrees Celsius.
Human Torch's maximum limit, however, was tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of degrees Celsius, almost at an explosion level.
But the problem was, only a little over two months had passed since Human Torch gained his abilities.
And during this period, he not only failed to focus all his energy on developing his newly acquired superpowers, like his sister Invisible Woman Susan Stone, but instead wasted a lot of time on chasing girls and showing off.
So, even now, the highest temperature he could release was only about one or two thousand degrees Celsius.
This temperature might be fine for dealing with ordinary Extremis Warriors, but it was somewhat insufficient for dealing with the stronger Fire Lizard Warriors.
Not to mention dealing with higher-level "elite monsters" like Eric Savin!!
"Mr. Stark, I'm sorry, can we switch jobs?"
Just as Human Torch was about to abandon Eric Savin and the other Fire Lizard Warriors and run away… no, he should have said, head towards the oil tanker to rescue the President with Tony Stark.
The flames that had enveloped his entire body suddenly seemed to run out of energy, and after several "puff, puff, puff" stutters, they directly disappeared.
"Damn it, don't tell me I'm so unlucky… the energy ran out at a time like this?"
Human Torch showed a helpless bitter smile, and then his body heavily crashed to the ground from mid-air.
Under ideal conditions, he could currently maintain the continuous supply of flames on his body for about 2 to 3 hours before exhausting all his energy.
However, his previous continuous battles in the Ten Rings Gang's secret Base, and his supersonic flight from Miami to New York with Tony Stark, consumed a large amount of energy, so much so that his internal energy was now at rock bottom.
Facing the Fire Lizard Warriors surrounding him, Human Torch changed his previous arrogant attitude, raised his hands, knelt on the ground, and said with a smile:
"Uh… sorry, I admit I was too loud just now!!"
At the same time.
Tony Stark had successfully arrived above the oil tanker, piloting his Mark 43 Hunter Armor, but he did not rashly attempt to rescue President Matthew Ellis.
Because at this moment, the bridge structure from which President Matthew Ellis was suspended was already filled with a large number of Fire Lizard Warriors whose bodies were constantly flickering with red firelight.
They seemed to have known that someone would come to rescue the President, standing there glaring at Tony Stark in mid-air.
"Jarvis, scan this area for all Extremis life-form heat signatures!"
Jarvis's voice immediately sounded, "Sir, after scanning, there are a total of 86 Extremis life-form heat signatures in this nearby area. Should I initiate a destructive strike?"
"So many?"
Tony Stark calmly scrutinized the large clusters of red heat signatures, symbolizing Fire Lizard Warriors, displayed on the holographic electronic map in front of him.
The current situation was not optimistic for him… in fact, it was quite dangerous.
Because the Fire Lizard Warriors were standing very close to President Matthew Ellis, he dared not use long-range weapons to attack.
If, during the battle, the President were to be hit and killed by a stray bullet he fired, wouldn't he be trying to steal a chicken but losing a handful of rice… no, he would directly become a sinner condemned by thousands?
At that time, the entire Stark Industries would probably be implicated and quickly decline!
Therefore, Tony Stark would not choose such a dangerous action that would harm his own interests.
What's more, with the self-destruct power of these Fire Lizard Warriors, if he couldn't get a headshot in one blow, their self-destruct power would be enough to instantly kill the President…
The safest method at the moment seemed to be to first lure these Fire Lizard Warriors away from the "execution platform" and then proceed with the rescue operation.
However, he alone clearly could not complete the entire plan.
But fortunately, they came together this time as two people.
"Human Torch, hurry over here. I'll distract these Fire Lizard Warriors, and you rescue the Presi…"
However, before Tony Stark could finish speaking, Human Torch's half-dead voice came through the communicator, "Mr. Stark, come and save me quickly, my energy is exhausted…"
Σ(⊙▽⊙"a???
WTF????