Getting Stronger in Marvel with Warhammer Simulator Chapter 240 - 239: Similarities Between Slums and Hives!

The Valkyrie's displacent engines roared with trendous power, the sound reverberating through the hull and out across the landscape below. The bass rumble vibrated through tal deck plating, creating a constant physical presence that passengers felt in their bones.

Ten automatic servo robots equipped with heavy logging guns remained stationary in the cabin's corner. Their turtle-shell bodies held perfectly still, conserved energy. Occasionally they waved their curled chanical tentacles in small adjustnts, checking systems or testing movent ranges. Otherwise they existed in a state approaching complete dormancy, patient and waiting.

Another squad of five servo robots occupied a different section of the cabin. They'd activated their flight engines upon boarding, the repulsors maintaining low-power hover just above the deck. Each drone conducted independent weapons checks, laser emitters cycling through diagnostic sequences with soft whines.

At that mont, Nolan erged from the foundry workshop. He'd replaced the power armor's Arc reactor with a fresh unit, ensuring maximum operational ti. The speed-type blue power armor humd with ready power as he drove it forward through the base.

He moved slowly through the passage connecting different base sections, his mag-boots producing steady rhythmic impacts against the floor. Each step carried him closer to the waiting Valkyrie.

Tucked beneath one of his thick armored arms, he carried a blue tal helt that had just been fabricated. The paint still carried that fresh-from-the-forge sll, chemicals not quite fully cured.

When Nolan, his expression carefully blank and controlled, settled safely onto one of the cabin seats, the armor's weight making the mounting groan slightly, David took imdiate action.

The Man of Iron, positioned in Valkyrie's cockpit and responsible for piloting the massive aircraft, drove the machine upward with smooth precision. Engines cycled to full power, lift generators engaging.

The tal ceiling panels above the hangar bay opened rapidly in response to transmitted commands. The heavy plates separated with loud chanical sounds, hydraulic valves turning and locking chanisms disengaging. The noise echoed through the underground facility.

With displacent engines roaring violently, pushing output to maximum thrust, Valkyrie rose through the opening without hesitation. It climbed steadily, breaking through into open sky, then banked and flew toward the distant horizon.

Today, Valkyrie could operate openly over New York City airspace without requiring stealth systems or evasive routing. The change represented a significant shift in operational freedom.

All of this was entirely due to Imperial Heavy Industries' reconstruction plan for Staten Island, which had successfully completed resource integration and established legitimate presence. The company had transford from shadowy operation to recognized corporate entity.

Additionally, Mada Gao and Imperial Heavy Industries' lobbying departnt had repeatedly spent substantial funds paving the way through official channels. Money flowed to the right people in the right amounts, creating corridors of access and willful blindness.

The financial investnts had effectively blinded most official oversight departnts to activities that might otherwise draw scrutiny.

Nolan could state the situation bluntly without exaggeration: if S.H.I.E.L.D. attempted to launch a comprehensive investigation into Imperial Heavy Industries' operations, Nick Fury would face imdiate resistance from multiple fronts.

The White House and nurous Congressional mbers would push back hard against any such inquiry. Their objections would be loud, public, and politically motivated by the substantial campaign contributions flowing from Imperial coffers.

Additionally, the hundreds of thousands of Staten Island residents who were currently thriving and building new hos under Imperial's reconstruction program would provide a "warm welco" to any federal agents attempting interference. Public opinion could be a powerful weapon when properly cultivated.

Even if Nolan's enhanced abilities were sohow exposed to public knowledge, the revelation wouldn't prove catastrophic. His organization had grown into a powerful force that could not be underestimated or easily threatened.

The balance of power had shifted substantially in his favor.

Dust and loose gravel scattered across the ground flew away instantly, propelled by the powerful downdraft created as Valkyrie descended for landing. The displacent engines' output created miniature windstorms that scoured the imdiate area clean.

The transport settled onto the ground with a heavy tallic groan, landing struts absorbing the impact. Engines cycled down gradually, the roar diminishing to a steady rumble.

The cabin's tal door opened slowly, hydraulics hissing as the ramp extended and locked into position.

Nolan, now wearing the blue tal helt that sealed his armor completely, drove the power armor down the ramp. He stepped onto xican soil for the first ti, mag-boots crunching against debris-strewn ground.

The next mont, automatic servo robots and servo robots rushed from the cabin in coordinated deploynt. They dispersed rapidly around Valkyrie's periter, establishing a defensive cordon. Servo robots positioned themselves at key angles while drones lifted into low hover, sensors active and scanning.

Nolan swept his gaze across the surrounding area, the helt's eyepiece providing enhanced vision despite gathering darkness. Dilapidated buildings stood like broken teeth against the skyline, their walls crumbling and windows long since shattered. Desolation marked every surface.

He turned to regard David, who was erging from the cockpit with asured steps.

"David, where have we arrived exactly?"

"My lord, this is an abandoned urban sector located on the edge of the large slum known as Chimahuacán." David's synthesized voice carried clearly despite ambient noise. "This area suffered a serious chemical leak years ago. Very few people maintain long-term presence here due to lingering contamination. Therefore, it provides excellent concealnt for Valkyrie."

David shook its tall tal body slightly, servos adjusting posture as it descended the ramp.

Then it raised one tal arm, pointing in a specific direction with chanical precision.

"Moreover, this location is not far from where Miss Jessica's mobile phone signal disappeared. However, I must warn you that the basic network infrastructure here proves extrely backward. My surveillance and intelligence-gathering capabilities may be significantly limited."

"It doesn't matter, David." Nolan's voice erged calm through the helt's vox-grille. "We'll handle this the old-fashioned way. Use our feet to asure distance and use our fists to ask for directions."

The words had barely finished when Nolan casually checked the Seiko bolter gripped in his palm, confirming the weapon's readiness. Then he began walking forward without looking back, his stride purposeful and unhurried.

David shook its tal head slightly, the gesture conveying sothing between resignation and approval.

It first transmitted orders to five automatic servo robots, assigning them to guard Valkyrie against potential interference or theft. The machines acknowledged silently, taking up positions around the transport.

Imdiately afterward, David led the remaining servo robots and combat drones in pursuit of Nolan's advancing form. They fell into loose formation, maintaining tactical spacing.

The fiery red sunset had gradually descended toward the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and purple. Long shadows stretched across broken pavent and ruined structures.

The earth prepared to enter long night hours, darkness creeping in from the east like a living thing.

With heavy, powerful steps that produced rhythmic impacts, Nolan drove his blue-shelled power armor forward. He passed slowly through dilapidated buildings that had been abandoned for years, perhaps decades. Nature had begun reclaiming spaces humans no longer occupied, vegetation pushing through cracks in concrete.

As ti passed and they penetrated deeper into populated areas, Nolan's enhanced vision through the helt's eyepiece registered increasing quantities of dostic garbage accumulating nearby. Refuse piled against walls and filled corners, creating mountains of discarded packaging, broken furniture, and unidentifiable waste.

Slly sewage flowed freely across the ground, following channels worn by repeated passage. The liquid glead with chemical iridescence under fading sunlight, carrying stenches that would have been overwhelming without his sealed helt.

Suddenly, Nolan experienced a slight illusion that felt disturbingly familiar. For a mont, he could almost believe he was descending deep into an unknown hive city from the Warhamr universe.

The parallel struck him with uncomfortable clarity. Poverty concentrated in vertical layers, infrastructure failing, humanity packed into impossible density while struggling for survival.

Especially wearing his completely enclosed power armor, the experience felt eerily similar to simulations he'd run through the Warhamr reality. The automatic servo robots shuttling back and forth beside him, performing vigilance tasks with chanical efficiency, intensified the sensation considerably.

"David, do you believe it?" Nolan spoke quietly through the communication device, his voice ant only for his companion. "I have a strong intuition that our Battle Sister may have disturbed sothing significantly larger than expected. This feels wrong."

"My lord, with all respect, the greatest threats here should be drug dealers and gang mbers." David's tone carried notes of puzzlent. "I cannot identify anything else that should cause you such concern. These are ordinary criminals, not enhanced threats."

David glanced left and right, blue light flashing in its eye sockets as sensors swept the environnt continuously.

Then it raised one tal finger in a small gesture of command.

The servo robots flying at low altitude around their position imdiately responded, adjusting flight paths. They climbed rapidly into the darkening night sky, becoming nearly invisible as they gained elevation.

The drones had completely transford into David's extended eyes, providing comprehensive observation of the surrounding environnt from aerial vantage points.

"My lord, we are approximately five hundred ters from entering the slum's actual populated boundaries." David, monitoring feeds from the aerial drones, suddenly addressed Nolan's blue armored back. "There are already nurous traces of human activity ahead. Do we need to adopt a low-profile approach?"

Nolan showed absolutely no sign of slowing or stopping when he heard the question. His stride remained constant, purpose unwavering.

He answered without turning his helted head. "No. We need to disturb the nest, make noise, create chaos. Let those restless elents in the slums co to us voluntarily. Otherwise, finding Jessica's trail in this urban labyrinth will prove exponentially more difficult."

The logic was sound, if aggressive. Better to force enemy action than conduct exhaustive searches.

David nodded slightly, its tal fra dipping in acknowledgnt. It raised no objections to this tactical approach.

The Man of Iron simply commanded the servo robots to intensify reconnaissance of the increasingly complex environnt nearby. Sensor sweeps expanded, data streams multiplied.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Shortly afterward, accompanied by the terrifying sound of heavy armored footsteps echoing between ruined structures, the situation changed.

Humans who were almost naked, their bodies showing signs of severe malnutrition, had been searching through garbage dumps for anything edible or valuable. They raised their heads in blank confusion at the approaching sounds, primitive survival instincts triggered by the unusual noise.

The next mont, comprehension dawned. Their cloudy eyes suddenly opened wide with shock and fear.

Entire bodies began trembling uncontrollably in the stinking garbage heaps where they crouched. Terror seized them completely, rational thought fleeing.

"Monster! Monster!" soone scread, the word breaking into hysterical repetition.

At that mont, a blue chanical figure approximately two and a half ters tall slowly erged from dark shadows between ruined buildings. The armor caught fading sunlight, ceramite gleaming with alien quality.

Machines shaped like beetles or turtles, their chanical tentacles waving through the air in constant motion, also passed rapidly by the blue chanical figure. They moved with insectoid coordination that seed profoundly wrong to human eyes.

Heavy weapons mounted on the servo robots' tal shells tracked and locked onto all nearby humans. Targeting lasers painted red dots on chests and heads, marking potential threats for imdiate neutralization.

At that critical mont, Nolan finished scanning the imdiate area through his helt's advanced eyepiece. The enhanced vision systems provided complete tactical assessnt in seconds.

He suddenly raised one armored palm, making a gentle waving gesture that carried clear aning despite the lack of words.

The automatic servo robot squad responded instantly, weapons lowering. They disard their threatening postures, returning to standard alert status. The targeting lasers extinguished, red dots vanishing from terrorized civilians.

However, just as Nolan prepared to bypass these non-combatant civilians and continue penetrating deeper into the slum's heart, simultaneously hoping to attract drug dealers and gangsters with guilty consciences who would reveal themselves through aggressive response, sothing unexpected occurred.

A barefoot child stood atop one of the garbage heaps, balanced precariously on unstable refuse. The small human clutched a puppy in thin arms, holding the animal protectively against an emaciated chest.

The child suddenly raised a face covered in dirt and gri, features barely distinguishable beneath the accumulated filth.

Crystal-clear eyes, startlingly bright despite terrible living conditions, widened slightly. The child's voice erged small and hesitant, trembling with hope rather than fear.

"Hello... are you Iron Man?"

The question hung in the air, innocent and desperate.

Then the child continued, words tumbling out faster as courage built. "Are you the Blue Angel who ca to save us from our suffering?"