"Luka! Luka!"
Even though he had faced his share of peril in his past life, Luka couldn't help the surge of fear upon witnessing the hellish scene outside—real, alien invasion playing out before his eyes.
His parents' anxious cries from downstairs snapped him back to reality. He had to act.
But before he could respond—
A beam of deep purple light shot straight toward their apartment.
BOOM—!
The explosion hurled Luka across the room. Fire lit up the sky, and the building shuddered from the impact.
He slammed hard against the wardrobe—but the pain wasn't what he registered first.
It was the piercing ringing in his ears and a suffocating wave of dizziness clouding his mind.
Groggy, Luka braced himself on the fallen desk and managed to stand.
Looking around, he saw that the outer wall of their duplex had been blown open, a massive hole now connecting the upper and lower floors.
His bedroom—and nearly half of the second floor—had collapsed into the first.
Dust billowed in the air, choking smoke filled his lungs, and rubble continued to tumble around him.
Still partially deafened, Luka ignored the grit in his mouth and shouted as loud as he could:
"Jina! Herman?! Are you okay?!"
But there was no response from the debris.
Though Luka's emotional bond with his "new" parents wasn't deep—having only inherited the memories of the body—he truly didn't want anything to happen to them.
With no time to waste, Luka opened the wardrobe and grabbed his backpack.
Then he slid swiftly down the debris slope to the ground floor.
But before he could begin searching through the wreckage, two snarling Chitauri soldiers burst through the gaping hole in the wall and charged.
There was no time to dig out the [Pencil Missiles] from his bag—or even activate the [Power-Enhancing Sneakers].
But—
BANG! BANG!
Two loud gunshots rang out behind him.
The Chitauri soldiers' heads exploded like watermelons, spraying gore everywhere.
Luka turned in shock.
His mother, Jina, was leaning weakly against a doorframe, holding a prototype high-powered handgun developed by their family's company.
"Mom! Where's Dad?!"
Rushing to her side, Luka finally noticed: her lower body was pinned beneath a collapsed wall behind the doorframe.
Luckily, debris had formed a narrow pocket that kept her from being crushed instantly.
But his father, Herman—struck on the other side—was not so fortunate. Luka checked him and found he was no longer breathing.
Ignoring whatever Jina was trying to say, Luka dropped to his knees and tried to lift the debris trapping her.
But his mechanical right arm, recently installed, wasn't exactly Winter Soldier-grade.
It was weaker than a normal human arm—completely incapable of lifting the massive slab.
"Luka! Listen to me!"
"Take this gun—your father and I taught you how to use it!"
"Forget about me! Find a place to hide! The storage room is reinforced—get in there and don't come out!"
Desperate and breathless, Jina shoved the strange-looking gun into his hands.
Only then did Luka realize—it was glowing faintly, just like a "core component."
But instead of grabbing the weapon, the glow triggered a realization:
The Power-Enhancing Sneakers… weren't just for explosive kicks!
The thought struck like lightning.
Luka crouched, turned the white knob on his right sneaker.
Sparks arced visibly across the red-white shoe. His right leg began to shimmer with radiant energy.
A surge of power filled his leg.
He carefully slid his foot into the gap beneath the slab.
And then—he pushed.
What he hadn't been able to budge with all his strength now lifted effortlessly with one foot.
His foot felt no pressure. Even his left leg, still without power, seemed steadier, as if enhanced by proximity.
In Jina's stunned gaze—
CRASH!
The slab flipped aside.
Luka quickly pulled his mother out and cradled her to safety.
"Luka… What was that?"
Still shaken, Jina stared blankly at the massive stone he had flipped with one foot.
Luka awkwardly replied, "Just… a little invention of mine."
He wasn't about to explain his "golden finger" now. Better to move.
He helped his mother toward the reinforced storage room.
But before they could take more than a few steps—
A red-and-gold figure plummeted from the sky, smashing through the hole in the wall and slamming into the floor.
CLANG!
The ground cracked under the impact, and the figure skidded in a long trench—coming to a stop at their feet.
Startled, Luka and Jina instinctively raised their weapons.
Jina held the prototype gun. Luka gripped his homemade [Pencil Missile].
"Whoa, whoa—easy, easy, ma'am! I don't think this counts as illegal entry?"
Despite being flat on his back, Tony Stark sounded casual, though his voice came through his helmet's cold electronic filter.
Sensing the unease, his helmet snapped open—revealing Tony's face and signature smirk.
"Relax, folks. Just find a safe place to hide. Trust me, those bootleg Predator knockoffs out there won't last long~"
He winked at Luka.
"Oh—and kid, next time remember: pencil cases don't make good shields."
Helmet closing with a click, Iron Man fired up his repulsors and shot back through the wall.
But—
BOOM—!
He didn't get far.
A laser beam hit him square in the faceplate.
The explosion hurled him backward—faster than he'd left—crashing again in front of Luka and Jina.
Chitauri hovercraft swarmed in, surrounding the building. Each held multiple alien soldiers aiming laser weapons at the gaping wall.
Mother and son shielded their faces from the blast and dust.
Then both raised their weapons again, aiming out the window.
Jina fired first—blasting the head off one Chitauri pilot.
Luka followed a heartbeat later.
His pencil case sprang open—revealing missile-like pencils.
Gun grip and barrel parts extended from the base.
Without aiming, Luka swept the weapon across the targets.
"Beep beep beep—"
Lock-on confirmed.
He pulled the trigger.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Flaming pencil-missiles twisted like serpents through the air, striking every enemy.
No explosions followed.
Instead, each missile burst into sticky goo, splattering the Chitauri and covering them from head to toe.
Blinded and immobilized, they tumbled from the air—hovercrafts crashing one by one.
Luka blinked.
"…What the heck?"