With all the publicity from every side, a great many people were now following the story on TV and online.
A tale of an elderly superhero being threatened by a criminal already had plenty of sensational appeal.
Although superheroes possessed superpowers, they grew old just like ordinary people.
After they aged, even though their superpowers wouldn’t vanish, many other aspects of them would only grow worse and worse.
Things like stamina, like resistance, reflexes, and so on.
And that was precisely what gave certain people an opening to exploit.
By any normal way of thinking, the vast majority of people surely hoped that these heroes who had once protected them could enjoy their twilight years in peace—so naturally, the attention was high.
For a while, quite a few people were all hoping that some other superhero would hurry up and appear to resolve the matter.
However, as the coverage played on, no superhero showed up for the longest time.
According to the reporters, this criminal had a tightly planned scheme: the moment he died, or the moment he sensed a superhero arriving, he would immediately detonate the bombs and release the toxin.
In any case, he had cooked up a whole pile of seemingly reasonable excuses to stall for time.
Alex didn’t know how many brain cells had to die to come up with all these excuses, but it surely wasn’t a pleasant task for the people in the PR department.
Alex waited in silence, waiting for Blast Vision to appear.
And just as the time ticked away second by second, at last, Alex spotted a figure up in the sky.
“Here he comes.”
A deep curve tugged at the corner of Alex’s mouth, and then he leapt straight down from the rooftop, racing swiftly toward One World Trade Center.
“Goldie!”
A cry of concern rang out.
A figure plummeted from the heavens, slamming straight down onto the roof of the building like an artillery shell.
The newcomer was none other than Blast Vision!
This first-generation superhero from a century ago wore a flight jacket and dark khaki trousers, his somber blond hair combed without a single strand out of place.
He looked just as young as he had back in the day, without the slightest trace of age about him—utterly impossible to tell that he was now apparently over a hundred years old.
Bound and seated in her wheelchair, the Golden Geisha gazed at the Blast Vision before her, her lips parting slightly yet saying nothing, only looking at him with a complicated expression.
Looking at this former lover who seemed to have stepped across the very flow of time.
“Who are you?!”
“I’m warning you, don’t try anything funny, or else I’ll kill this old woman!”
The kidnapper brandished the controller in his hand, eyeing Blast Vision warily as he issued his sharp warning.
But Blast Vision paid him absolutely no mind.
Instead, gazing at the Golden Geisha with a face full of tender affection, he advanced toward him step by step.
“Come any closer and I’ll set it off—I’ll make you watch with your own eyes as this old thing is turned into mincemeat!”
“Shut your damn mouth.
I’ll kill you, absolutely!”
Blast Vision whipped his head around, glaring furiously at the kidnapper.
“Wow.”
The kidnapper let out a strange cry and pointed at his own heart.
“Are you threatening me?”
“Are you threatening me, hero?”
“But for the sake of this old thing who’s just like your mommy, I’d advise you not to do that.”
“Otherwise, if my emotions swing too violently, the toxin inside her will detonate just like the bombs—and so will fainting, or dying, for that matter.”
The kidnapper recited smugly, following the script the Vought Corporation had given him.
These so-called reasons were purely excuses cooked up to stall for time.
Saying them out loud now was also meant to give the audience a plausible explanation.
Hearing the kidnapper compare his lover to his mother, Blast Vision grew even angrier inside—yet there was nothing he could do.
Because he didn’t dare to gamble, to bet on whether all of this was true.
If what the other man said turned out to be true, then his lover would die right before his eyes, all because of him!
“What exactly do you want?!”
Blast Vision spoke in a furious roar.
If he could, he really would have liked to slam this guy in front of him into a bloody pulp right then and there!
“Revenge, of course.”
The kidnapper roared with laughter, seeming to thoroughly enjoy the present situation—enjoying the sight of a superhero brought to heel under him, an ordinary man.
Blast Vision clenched his fists, his expression brimming with rage.
Yet just as he was speaking, facing the kidnapper, behind his back where the man couldn’t see, a small iron box about the length of a palm appeared in his hand.
Inside the box was none other than the original compound that Blast Vision had preserved for decades!
The very thing that Alex was after.
It was precisely because of this that Blast Vision had been able to maintain his current youthful appearance, utterly unlike his lover, who had already grown frail and aged.
In the present situation, this kidnapper—Blast Vision found him rather difficult to deal with too.
The only method he could think of was to inject the original compound into the Golden Geisha while the kidnapper wasn’t aware of it.
With the reinforcement of the original compound, perhaps the Golden Geisha would be able to survive under the dual threat of the bombs and the toxin.
“Robbie.”
Just as Blast Vision was silently making his preparations, the Golden Geisha’s gentle voice came from behind him.
Blast Vision’s movements stilled.
His actions could be hidden from the kidnapper, but they couldn’t be hidden from the Golden Geisha.
Since last night, under Alex’s careful coaching and instruction, Doppelganger had begun to understand roughly what kind of person the Golden Geisha was.
As well as what attitude she held toward Blast Vision—only, he had no idea what the original compound was.
And now, just a single utterance of “Robbie” had made Blast Vision’s movements come to a halt, an expression of particular helplessness on his face.
Toward everyone else, he possessed tremendous power and could do whatever he pleased.
But when facing his own lover, he still preferred to respect her thoughts and wishes.
Otherwise, given the Golden Geisha’s strength, he could have long since forced the original compound into her by force.
“Goldie.”
Blast Vision didn’t turn around, calling out the pet name for his beloved.
“Why must you be so stubborn?
I…”
While Blast Vision was still going back and forth with the Golden Geisha that Doppelganger was playing, Alex over here had already arrived below the rooftop.
“All right, let’s begin.”
“Shut down all the live broadcasts.”
Alex hung up the phone in his hand, and those eyes of his, possessed of X-ray vision, took in the scene on the rooftop with perfect clarity.
Including the original compound in Blast Vision’s hand.
“Shut down the broadcast?”
“But sir, now isn’t a good time for you to make your entrance…”
On the other end of the line, Ashley was utterly baffled, speaking with great caution.
“I said shut it down.”
Ashley didn’t dare waste any more words, hurrying to send a message to the reporters on the helicopter.
A few minutes later, the citizens who had been following this broadcast received a notice that the signal was unstable and the feed had been lost.
Watching on his phone as the broadcast was shut down, Alex no longer waited—he shot straight up toward the rooftop overhead!
“BOOM!”
A thunderous roar.
The roof of reinforced steel and concrete was as fragile as tofu in front of Alex.