Luca quickly turned around at the sound.
Behind the counter of the convenience store, two burly, bald men with angry expressions were peeking out.
One of them was even pointing a gun right at Luca's chest.
"Bastard! What are you looking at?! I told you to get out. Don't bring those monsters over here!!"
The other bald man, holding a knife, leaned out a bit more and shouted at Luca in a forcibly rough voice, waving his knife to scare him.
However, the way he even dared to raise his voice didn't really make him seem that intimidating.
That's when Luca noticed something else.
Right next to the counter, a young woman in a convenience store uniform was lying in a pool of blood with stab wounds.
Luca quickly figured out what had probably happened.
It was nothing more than two cowards too afraid to run, taking over this place to hide and wait for death.
However, after noticing Luca's gaze, the man holding the gun actually seemed to gain some confidence, raising his voice.
"Get out! If you don't leave now, this will be your—"
But before he could even finish his sentence, Luca suddenly raised his gun.
A soft blue laser shot out, hitting the armed man straight in the chest.
The guy, who had just started to act tough, was thrown backwards by the blast. He crashed into a pile of items behind the counter and knocked them all over.
Before the other burly man could even react, a second laser beam followed close behind.
"BOOM!"
The same scene repeated itself. The burly man holding a short knife was also sent flying backwards.
"Idiots. Didn't you see I had a gun too?"
Looking at the two men on the ground, Luca didn't care whether they were still breathing.
He walked up and shot each of them in the head to finish them off, making sure those two fools were completely dead.
Afterwards, he turned around to continue on his way. But just as he reached the store's entrance, Luca realized something was wrong.
Suddenly, a lot of Chitauri were slowly surrounding the store with glowing Chitauri Staff in their hands.
Just as Luca noticed the Chitauri, they noticed him as well.
Without hesitation, Luca hooked a soda can from the ground with his right foot, kicked it high into the air, and aimed his gun at the same time.
The soda can spun super fast through the air, and Luca fired several laser shots right after it.
The can, as expected, hit one of the Chitauri right in the head and exploded, knocking him out cold!
However, due to the rushed aim, only one of the laser blasts hit its target.
The remaining Chitauri didn't hesitate. After recognizing Luca as a threat, they immediately raised their staff and aimed right at him.
Luca was just about to jump for cover when...
"BANG!"
A familiar red-and-gold figure came down from the sky at high speed.
Spinning like a bowling ball, the figure slammed into four or five of the Chitauri, knocking them over before hitting the ground hard.
The first unlucky Chitauri to get hit was blown apart on impact, with its head rolled right up to Luca's feet.
'That's the third time... was Tony ever this clumsy?'
Luca couldn't help but shake his head as he looked at Tony Stark lying on the ground in front of him again—just like before.
"Football boy?"
Struggling to get back up, Tony also noticed Luca inside the store.
But before he could even begin to figure out why this kid wasn't staying safely at home and instead running around out here...
Suddenly, Chitauri were already rushing in fast, surrounding them both and shooting Tony's suit, making it hard for him to even stay standing.
He could only struggle to fight back with his relatively weak repulsor blasts from his palms.
'Wait a second! Isn't this the scene right before Iron Man flies off to stop the nuke?!'
Luca suddenly recognized what was happening and realized he had to help him deal with these enemies quickly.
If Tony went full throttle and flew off to stop the nuke in the next moment, Luca knew he'd be left behind, and it was way too many for him to handle by himself.
Thinking quickly, Luca quickly raised his gun and took aim.
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
A few precise shots later, he instantly took down two Chitauri soldiers who had been attacking Tony Stark.
He fired a few quick shots and took down two of the Chitauri that were attacking Tony, but this drew the attention of the other Chitauri, who had been ignoring him until then.
A few of them turned and aimed their staff right at Luca. Fortunately, Luca had anticipated this and swiftly dodged away from his original position.
At the same moment, in the middle of the street, Tony Stark used his quick break, immediately raised his hand and took out three Chitauri with his repulsors.
But just as Luca rolled across the ground and got back on his feet, ready to counterattack...
He suddenly noticed that two energy staff were already pointing straight at him.
"Crap!"
"Kid! Get down!"
Tony lunged forward without hesitation, tackling one of the Chitauri to the ground while firing a blast from his right palm, sending the second one flying through the air.
However, the second shot came just a little too late.
The Chitauri he blasted had already pulled the trigger before flying backwards.
A pale blue laser shot out instantly, streaking straight toward where Luca stood.
"Goddammit..."
Even though he saw he was being targeted and tried to dodge right away, Luca wasn't in a good position.
He had just rolled and was crouching, which meant he couldn't use the full power of his 'Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes'.
He wasn't nearly as fast this time, and all he could do was raise his arm desperately in front of him while trying to evade.
"BOOM!"
A loud explosion rang out.
A burst of sparks exploded from Luca's arm as he was sent flying, crashing hard into a car behind him.
The force of the impact sent a jolt of searing pain through his back. The next moment, everything went black, and I nearly lost consciousness.
The explosion, combined with the heavy crash, left his ears ringing.
The taste of blood filled his mouth, and red drops trickled from the corner of his lips.
He slowly slid down from the dented car door.
Luckily, thanks to 'Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes', Luca still had some strength left. He managed to stay on his feet, barely avoiding collapse.
'I guess this body's a bit out of shape…'
Luca thought, opening his blurry eyes.
He lifted his hand and glanced at his destroyed prosthetic right arm, then suddenly grinned, making the smile look menacing with blood.
"Haha... good thing I'm right-handed!"