Marvel: The Imposter Inventor

Chapter 198 After the Nuclear Explosion
Washington, D.C., S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Triangular Wing Building
Or rather, the former Tri-wing Building.

At this moment, there are no buildings left here. The terrifying nuclear explosion vaporized everything, even melting the earth into glass.

Further afield, the spreading shockwaves also leveled most of the buildings.

Lincoln Memorial, Roosevelt Bridge, White House, Pentagon.

The first two were completely destroyed, while the latter two, though further apart, were also mostly destroyed.

These once iconic buildings in Washington can now only be vaguely discerned from their former appearance by their remaining ruins.

Everywhere you look, there are only ruins.

The air was filled with a pungent mixture of smells, including the fishy smell of ionized ozone, the burnt smell of vaporized plastic and rubber, the smell of molten iron, and even a faint, sweet, fishy odor.

Apart from the occasional creaking of collapsing buildings or the crackling of faint flames beneath the rubble, there was no other sound in the area covered by the explosion.

Above, the sky was a grayish-yellow hue mixed with radioactive dust and smoke, which, from a distance, seemed to reflect the outline of the collapsed city.

At that moment, three golden-red figures streaked across the sky above the ruins and flew southwest towards Washington.

Meanwhile, in western Arlington County, about 15 kilometers from Washington, D.C., a temporary relocation area was set up during those 12 hours.

The original residents here have long been relocated to other cities further away, and all the schools, office buildings, and even large shopping malls have been emptied and quickly converted into temporary relief stations.

A large number of Washington residents, who were once dressed in suits and looked high and mighty, are now gathered here with dejected expressions, receiving examinations and treatment from medical staff in protective suits.

And this is the temporary command post in Harrington County.

Most of the Avengers members gathered here with grim expressions.

The entire room was filled with a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.

'What exactly did we save?'

This thought lingered in everyone's mind.

Saved America? Saved the world?

Yes, they destroyed the Helicarrier, thwarted Hydra's plan to rule the world, and saved thousands of innocent people who might have been killed by the Eye of Insight.

But if they had been more careful, would Hydra have avoided a desperate, all-or-nothing decision to detonate a nuclear bomb?

Looking at the numb expressions of the refugees outside, and thinking of the innocent citizens who died in the nuclear explosion, at this moment, no one had an answer in their hearts.

In the corner of the room, in front of a row of computer monitors, Tony Stark removed the remote control device and stared blankly at the data displayed on the screen.

At this moment, the three remotely controlled steel suits that had gone to the radiation zone for search and rescue had returned and were cleaning up the radioactive dust they carried in a special quarantine area.

Tony, who is usually very opinionated and has a strong drive, was at a loss as to what to do after putting down the remote control.

In fact, Tony did more than anyone else in those 12 hours.

Previously, the White House was strafed by a space carrier, then Washington experienced a nuclear explosion, and Hydra launched simultaneous insurgency in various places. The entire United States suffered heavy casualties among its top officials, and the government was once paralyzed.

The temporary command that had been put together was simply unable to consider rescuing Washington, and focused more on maintaining stability in the other states.

The temporary resettlement area here was even built jointly by Stark Industries and some of the surviving S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

However, after all of this was done, apart from repeatedly sending unmanned combat suits to the radiation zone for search and rescue, Tony didn't know what else he could do and could only stare blankly at the screen in front of him.

Finally, Steve Rogers, who had been silently leaning against the wall with his head down, broke the deathly silence in the room. "Still haven't found Metal Luca?"

Steve subconsciously wanted to say "Metal Knight" again, but at this point, there seemed to be no need to pretend he didn't know the other party's true identity.

After he said that, most of the people in the room didn't react at all, but just looked at Tony quietly.

Only Harry Osborne showed a flicker of surprise in his eyes upon hearing Luca's name, but in the end, he simply bit his lip and fell silent again.

In fact, Steve knew that his question was just a waste of time.

But in this situation, even he didn't know what to say to break the current atmosphere.

Upon hearing this, Tony merely raised his head slightly, his eyes revealing no light whatsoever.

"No, Jarvis detected a change in humidity over Washington. The nuclear blast radius will soon produce radioactive black rain. Further search and rescue operations must be delayed by half an hour."

Although his tone remained heavy throughout, Tony eventually finished speaking.

Actually, Tony was one of the people most confident about Luca's survival.

As soon as the radiation interference with electromagnetic signals weakened, he immediately dispatched redeployed Iron Man suits deep into the nuclear blast zone to search for Luca's whereabouts.

His confidence grew even stronger after the discovery of no [Boxing Armor] wreckage.

Knowing the strength of the 'E-carbon armor', he knew that even at the center of a nuclear explosion, it was impossible for the [Boxing Armor] to be completely devoid of any debris.

However, as time goes by, even the strongest confidence will be gradually eroded.

Right now, all that can sustain Tony's continued search is that faint glimmer of belief.

'That kid has so many imaginative inventions, he definitely won't just die in a place like this!'

However, compared to Tony, the others present clearly did not have his 'blind' confidence.

Upon hearing this, they immediately fell silent again.

However, at that moment, Jarvis's mechanical voice suddenly rang out on the computer screen in front of him.

"Sir, Mr. Orange's artificial intelligence just contacted me. The drone it dispatched has entered the radiation zone."

Upon hearing this, Tony, who had been keeping his head down and silent, regained some of his sparkle. Ignoring the puzzled looks from others, he immediately turned back to his computer desk and put the remote control device on again.

at the same time.

In the Washington nuclear blast zone, a thick, black rain mixed with radioactive dust began to fall slowly from the sky.

As the first raindrop fell, a dense rustling sound began to spread outwards from the blast zone.

Grayish-black rainwater seeped into the ground through the cracks in the ruins.

The location is approximately 10 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion.

On the trunk of a sycamore tree that had been broken in half, a light blue square, no bigger than a thumb, was wedged tightly into a crack in the bark.

The blue energy cube emitted a faint glow, appearing completely out of place in the dim and dilapidated surroundings.

I wonder when the raindrops will finally fall on this long-awaited energy cube.

(End of this chapter)