"Descending altitude: 6,000 meters… 5,500 meters… 5,000 meters…"
In the dead of night, a black cape billowed against the wind.
Clad in a modified version of the "White Moon" combat suit, Kagura Hitomi leaped from the "Halo" transport aircraft, soaring towards the designated theater location in a new, sleek form.
"4,500 meters… 4,000 meters… 3,500 meters…"
"Master, I've detected an abnormal temperature spike at the target site. There's a high risk of explosion."
Cortana's voice chimed in through the Argo Project's surveillance satellites.
"The temperature is still rising—it's about to exceed 2,500 degrees Celsius."
"It's starting… I hope I can make it in time!"
Gritting her teeth, Kagura activated the ion thrusters on her combat suit, accelerating her descent.
"Cortana, are the CTOS drones in position? Use the backdoor access to send warnings to all civilians in the area—get them out of there!"
"Command confirmed, Master."
Nearby, Rhodes Island Industrial's drones switched to CTOS experimental mode, changing course toward the theater plaza.
They hacked into people's smartphones and other electronic devices, sending out urgent evacuation alerts
Within moments, bizarre and seemingly random messages spread across the crowd, urging people to leave the danger zone of the impending Extremis virus outbreak.
Meanwhile, Kagura activated her shield system.
An orange ring lit up on her left wrist, her armor unfolding as energy lines spread in a honeycomb pattern, forming a pure energy shield.
After the Battle of New York, she had refined this pure energy shield using the latest developments in dark energy research and knowledge extracted from the Tesseract.
Now, the technology was highly advanced, and its once-massive energy consumption issue had been resolved.
Rhodes Island Industrial had even begun mass-producing these shields for Griffin Security forces.
"2,000 meters… 1,500 meters…"
At the theater plaza, a bald man glanced at the lingering crowd, then opened a metal container and injected himself with a high concentration of the Extremis virus.
Under orders from A.I.M.—or rather, the Mandarin—the virus within him quickly exceeded safe thresholds, causing an irreversible biological reaction.
His body began to glow with an eerie orange light, as if he were burning from the inside out.
"Savin! Savin…!"
Panic set in as the bald man felt the searing pain spreading through his body. He turned to the A.I.M. agent who had given him the virus, pleading for help.
"Eric! Save me!"
"Heh." Eric Savin smirked coldly, adjusting his suit and chewing on his gum as he casually turned away.
What he failed to notice was that, thanks to the CTOS drone hacks, the surrounding civilians had already started leaving the vicinity.
No innocent bystanders would be caught in the explosion.
"No—!"
As his body temperature soared, the bald man let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Moments later, orange flames erupted from within him, pushing him past the critical threshold.
"Oh, god!"
Still in the area, Happy Hogan immediately realized something was wrong.
But unwilling to abandon the situation entirely, he frantically ducked behind a market stall for cover.
However, the Extremis virus explosion could generate temperatures exceeding 3,000 degrees Celsius—there was no way a simple stall could protect him.
Given his proximity to the explosion, Happy was as good as dead.
"Aaaagh—!"
The bald man screamed as he lost consciousness, his body transforming into a massive thermal bomb before violently detonating.
'BOOM—!'
The explosion turned night into day, its raging flames consuming everything in sight.
Within a 12-yard radius, everything was instantly vaporized.
Any living beings caught in the blast wouldn't even leave remains—just eerie carbon shadows, burnt into the walls and pavement, like ghosts frozen in time.
At that critical moment, a dark figure descended from the sky, landing right in front of Happy Hogan.
The newcomer wore a sleek black bodysuit, a half-covered helmet adorned with cat-like ears, and a massive black cape spread out like a protective shadow.
The sheer size of the cape momentarily blocked Happy's view.
In the next instant, the explosion roared towards them.
Instinctively, Happy raised his arms to shield himself, but… nothing. No shockwave, no searing heat reached him.
Kagura, cloaked in black, had reacted just in time.
Before the blast could hit them, she raised her left arm and deployed her pure energy shield, expanding it into a full-body tower shield, shielding Happy from the inferno.
At the same time, she spread her cape wide, wrapping both herself and Happy in an additional layer of protection—just in case the shield failed.
"Hoo—!"
The pure energy shield crackled under the intense heat, but it held strong.
Energy shields were particularly effective against thermal and radiation-based attacks—this level of explosion wasn't enough to break through Kagura's defenses.
As the blast subsided, she retracted her shield and turned to check on Happy.
"Are you alright, Mr. Happy Hogan? Any injuries?"
Her voice, electronically modulated to a different frequency from her "Flashblade" persona, sounded entirely unfamiliar.
"I… I'm fine… I think…"
Still dazed, Happy Hogan stared at the mysterious figure before him. "Are you… Hawkeye's daughter?"
"What?!" Kagura blurted. "What do you mean, Hawkeye's daughter?!"
"Well, you've got the whole black outfit and cape thing going on… kinda like Hawkeye, right?" Happy pointed at her attire. "Did the Avengers recruit a new member?"
"Ahem. No, I'm not part of the Avengers."
Kagura cleared her throat. "Anyway, as long as you're safe, that's what matters."
"Thank you. Thank you for saving my life."
Happy Hogan hesitated before asking, "What's your name? I mean, your alias?"
A alias…? Flashblade…
That was her usual name, but she couldn't reveal it now.
If Tony Stark found out she had snuck away from the Christmas party, he'd never let her hear the end of it.
"Just call me… Batman."
She glanced at her outfit and, without hesitation, borrowed the name of a certain caped crusader.
Technically, I'm not wrong. I do look like a female Batman right now.
The girl shamelessly justified her impromptu alias.
"Batman?" Happy Hogan blinked. "Huh. Cool name. Well, thanks again, Batman."
"Alright, no time to chat. I still have work to do."
Kagura turned toward the direction Eric Savin had escaped.
"Some people think they can slip away unnoticed. But tonight, they'll pay the price for their crimes."
— A Nearby, Empty Alley
Eric Savin strolled casually down a deserted alley, chewing his gum as if nothing had happened.
"Yo, buddy! Nice night, huh? No one around, perfect for some shady back-alley deals, don't you think?"
A figure in a red bodysuit appeared in front of him.
"That stuff you sold that guy back there looked explosive! But that wasn't just some human bomb serum, right? You used it too, didn't you?"
Without waiting for an answer, the newcomer unsheathed two katanas from his back.
"By the way, does that stuff heal scars? Like burn scars? If so, mind hooking me up? I might just become your most loyal customer—seriously."