Gray-black raindrops slowly fell from the sky. Due to the central area of the previous nuclear explosion, Triskelion was already located on a tributary of the Potomac River, and a large amount of water vapor was directly evaporated into the air by the high temperature brought by the nuclear explosion.
Therefore, the current radiation rain covered a considerable area, spreading outwards from the nuclear explosion center in just a few minutes, turning into a torrential downpour.
However, this torrential downpour did not bring much vitality; instead, it made this deserted Washington appear even more oppressive and distorted. It was not until the rain-covered area gradually approached an inconspicuous sycamore tree on the outskirts of Washington that the viscous raindrops finally flowed down the cracks in the broken trunk onto the light blue energy cube embedded in the bark.
The moment the first drop of rain touched the cube, a blue light flashed.
"Boom~"
The entire tree instantly exploded.
Bark fragments shot out like bullets, and the broken sycamore tree flew out with a crash, smashing onto the roof of a nearby convenience store.
Amidst the scattering wood chips and rain, a massive and distorted metal silhouette, enveloped in blue light, rapidly expanded and reassembled.
The violent distortion of space fiercely pushed away the surrounding rainwater and debris, forming a temporary vacuum zone.
The over ten-meter tall Boxing Mecha still maintained the posture of directly confronting the nuclear explosion Impact at the last moment before it disappeared.
Its body was bowed forward, and its arms protected its head, like a scarred steel beast frozen in the river of time.
However, as the surrounding spatial fluctuations subsided, its own blue light also suddenly extinguished as if power had been cut off.
The heavy Mecha, having lost all power support, could only follow the laws of physics, maintaining that Impact posture, and uncontrollably crashed backward.
"Boom—"
A tremendous sound shook this desolate land, stirring up even muddier waves of mud.
The Mecha's huge, heavy body sank into the mud and rubble, shaking the surrounding precarious remnants into further collapse.
The dense gray-black rain instantly submerged the raised dust, with only the "shasha" of falling rain persistently dominating everything.
This desolate place seemed to have returned to peace.
If someone could look down from the sky at this moment, they would find that the front of this massive Mecha lying on the ground was covered in charred, twisted, and deformed external armor.
Many areas where the armor was originally weaker were directly and completely torn and caved in, now barely maintaining the integrity of their overall shape.
Inside the Mecha cockpit, for Luka, only an instant had passed from directly facing the nuclear explosion to recovering.
One second, dazzling red light filled the entire cockpit; the next, blue light flashed, and everything around seemed to have returned to calm. The lights in the entire cockpit extinguished, with only the "shasha" of raindrops from outside remaining in his perception.
It wasn't until the Mecha completely fell backward that the huge tremor brought Luka back to his senses.
"Hmm~~ Cough cough~"
As his perception returned, intense pain immediately came from his chest.
With a faint, painful gasp, Luka immediately coughed up a large mouthful of blood.
However, Luka did not pay attention to his injuries at the moment; instead, he was filled with the relief of having survived a disaster.
Did I escape? Damn those HYDRA bastards!
Although Luka had never overestimated HYDRA's bottom line, he truly hadn't expected that HYDRA would choose to detonate a nuclear bomb directly at Triskelion, even with many of their people still occupying and fighting back in Washington!
It was fortunate that Luka still had the Dehydrator Gun, a divine artifact, which allowed him to timely compress the entire Mecha, along with himself, into a cube just before being torn apart by the explosion, thus enduring this nuclear blast.
After all, it was an energy cube condensed from spatial dimension power; ordinary physical Impacts would find it very difficult to directly tear it apart.
"A nuclear explosion! Hahahaha~~~"
Thinking that he could now be considered a man who had directly withstood a nuclear explosion, after the fear receded, for some reason, Luka couldn't help but burst into uncontrollable laughter in the dark cockpit.
However, "Hiss~~ Cough cough cough~~"
His laugh immediately pulled at the tearing pain in his chest.
Luka, who had barely regained some vision in the darkness, endured the pain and looked down at his chest.
Upon looking, he realized that a twisted metal fragment, broken off from somewhere unknown, was actually still stuck in his chest.
'#! No wonder it hurts so much!'
Perhaps it was the effect of adrenaline, but despite such a severe injury, Luka's mind remained exceptionally clear.
Even before the Mecha collapsed, he hadn't even noticed the pain. However, now that he had regained his senses, Luka found it incredibly difficult even to move his arm.
He could only barely maintain his life with the healing ability of Sweet Captivity.
However, Sweet Captivity's healing could only be considered "minor injury recovery." No matter how the green light flickered, blood continued to ooze from the wound on his chest and the corner of his mouth.
Not to mention the metal fragment directly impaled in his chest; without pulling it out, even the "powerful healing" from exploding his arm would only slightly prolong Luka's life.
...I didn't die in the nuclear explosion, but I'm going to die here, aren't I?!
That bastard Tony only had some metal shards stuck in his chest; I have such a big piece of iron stuck in mine. Can I brag to him about this?
Well, even at this point, Luka still had the presence of mind to think about such random things.
But just then, in the pitch-black cockpit, two red lights suddenly began to flash.
Immediately after, a flat electronic voice sounded:
"Warning, warning!"
"Life-critical, life-critical!"
The voice, of course, came from the perfectly intact orange Harro next to the pilot's seat.
Since the Mecha had completely shut down and lost the support of the onboard voice system, the little gadget reverted to its state of speaking two words at a time. However, this did not affect its inherent intelligence.
Luka, lying on his back in the cockpit, looked weakly at the orange Harro that had spoken, and struggled to say, "I know... cough, stop talking nonsense, help me pull out the iron piece!"
"Removal not recommended, not...."
"Pull!" Luka forced out the command again.
The little guy finally stopped babbling, flapping its large ears, and leaped down from its own pilot's seat, landing with a "thud" beside Luka.
Good... it didn't jump onto my chest...
At this point, Luka was starting to become somewhat disoriented, and his thoughts were quite muddled.
However, the next moment, the orange Harro unsteadily extended its short little hand, gripped the iron piece stuck in Luka's chest—which was even taller than itself—and pulled back with a sudden surge of strength.
"Pfft~~"
"Holy crap!!"
The renewed intense pain instantly brought Luka's brain back to full consciousness.
Using the strong stimulation from the bone-deep pain, Luka fiercely tightened his right hand, disregarding everything else.
The next moment, this mechanical arm, Sweet Captivity, which had been with him for quite some time, instantly burst open, and countless green light particles filled with life energy instantly enveloped Luka's entire body.
The chest wound also healed rapidly at a visible speed.
I survived...
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