Cliff House, New York.

With a rapid breath, Tony woke up from his sleep.

His face was pale and he was clearly having a not-so-good dream.

"Sir, you've been not sleeping well lately."

Noticing Tony's condition, Jarvis spoke out to give a reminder.

"I know."

Wiping the cold sweat from his face with a towel, Tony looked at his almost pale face in front of the mirror and replied with a weak look.

In fact, he hasn't been in great shape since the New York War.

Although the outcome of the Battle of New York ended with the victory of the Avengers, everything experienced during this period is a constant reminder of the dangers facing Tony. Especially later, David Jones, who appeared in Upper New York Bay, and the sacrifice of the turtle immortals, one by one, told Tony how much danger the world faced.

He tried to save it all, but, apparently, it didn't turn out as expected.

The strength of the opponent always seems to be stronger than that of him.

And Tony has been immersed in the study of the stone ghost face recently, and he has not wanted to use this to divert his attention and avoid his cranky thoughts.

"But I just fell asleep."

Turning his head to look in the direction of the bed, Tony gave up his intention to lie back again, turned around and came to the basement of the villa, looked at the steel suits all over the room, and said casually.

"Sir, according to my diagnosis, the appearance you are now showing is clearly characterized by anxiety disorder, and it is already a severe anxiety disorder."

"Me?"

In the basement, hearing Jarvis's diagnosis, Tony's face subconsciously showed a stunned expression.

He, Tony Stark, a billionaire, a super genius, Iron Man, actually suffers from anxiety.

……

Bang –

Luke Cage swung his heavy fist and punched the corpse in front of him into the air.

However, the damage caused by Luke Cage's powerful blow to the corpse was not as effective as imagined.

Getting up from the ground and looking down at the fist marks on his chest, Luke Cage's punch directly broke three ribs in the corpse's chest.

It's just that this is an obviously serious injury on an ordinary person, but for a corpse, it's just a bruise.

Grinning and letting out a roar, the corpse man did not hesitate to rush towards Luke Cage again.

Bang!

Descending from the sky in a controlled flying position, Jessica kicked the neck of a corpse man opposite, and said with a frown: "Now, I can understand Joseph Joestar's reminder that these corpses are indeed a group of troublesome guys. As she spoke, Jessica glanced at the corpse in front of her who had been kicked and her neck broken, even with such a serious injury, this guy still stood up stubbornly, and pounced on her with his neck that was still bent at one hundred and eighty degrees.

The power of the iron fist directly smashed the head of the corpse in front of him, and Danny looked at the corpse in front of him who had completely fallen after losing his head with a solemn expression, and his expression was not very good.

"Haven't you noticed that the number of corpses has become more and more numerous in the last few days?"

This isn't the first time the Defenders have fought the Dead, in fact, they've been actively searching Hell's Kitchen for hidden Deadlings since a few days ago.

It's just that, since yesterday, Danny has clearly felt that the number of corpses encountered by the defenders has increased significantly.

"Actually, I feel that way, too."

Raising his hand, grabbing the head of a corpse on the other side, ignoring the other party's bite, Luke Cage pinched the opponent's head with one hand, and his expression was also solemn.

This is not a good sign, the increase in the number of corpses may not be too serious a threat to the defenders, but for ordinary people living in Hell's Kitchen, it is obviously a huge threat. After all, not everyone could look at them and ignore the attacks of the corpses.

Even, according to Joseph Joestar, the corpses infected by vampires no longer have the ability to infect others. However, don't forget, the way the corpses survive is mainly by eating corpses, and in a sense, the existence of the corpses is even more frightening and dangerous than that of vampires.

Jessica frowned, glanced at Luke Cage's hand that pinched and exploded the corpse's head, subconsciously stepped to the side for a while, and then turned his head to look at Matt on the other side, the blind lawyer exerted the power of ripples, and easily melted and eliminated the corpses attacking around him, with a somewhat envious expression.

"Sure enough, ripples are the most effective means of attacking the corpses."

After learning the power of ripples, Matt's attacks on the corpses were deadly, much more effective than the rest of the defenders.

"After all, this is the strength that Baron Shepili has learned from Penglai after a lot of hardships."

Raising his hand to block the attack of a corpse in front of him, and then a left hook knocked the opponent into the air, accompanied by a heavy landing sound, Luke Cage raised his eyebrows and continued: "Moreover, if you are interested in the cultivation of ripples, you can go to Matt or Joseph Joestar to learn." ”

"Forget it."

Dodging the corpse's attack and flying into the air, Jessica swung her fist and punched the head of the corpse under her into her body, pouting, "If I can learn it, I have learned it when I was by the river before." ”

Jessica knows very well that although the so-called ripple power is good, it obviously has nothing to do with her.

"Ripple Walking~"

Adjusting his breathing, he exerted the last faint ripple power in his body to melt the corpse in front of him.

Matt's mouth let out a heavy gasp, his contact with the power of ripples is still too short after all, although he quickly comprehended the power of ripples by relying on his super senses, but if you want to truly use the power of ripples naturally, it will take a period of cultivation.

Fortunately, Matt was not the only one fighting the corpses in front of him, relying on the assistance of the defenders, they finally eliminated all the corpses in front of him.

It's just that the victory in front of them did not make the defenders feel much excitement.

"There are more and more corpses."

Adjusting his breathing, Matt said with a solemn expression: "This is not a good sign. ”

"I've actually found a clue about this."

Just when the members of the Defenders were worried.

Joseph Joestar's voice rang out, and the weather-beaten vampire hunter appeared in front of the defenders with a tall, thin figure covered in bruises in one hand.

With his right hand, he threw the figure in his hand in front of Matt and the others, Joseph Joestar pointed to the tall and thin figure and said, "This is what I have been looking for, servant of the vampire king, I think it should be able to tell you why there are so many corpses in New York." ”

[Legend from Daredevil ......]

[Legendary ...... from Jessica Jones]

【From Danny......】

[Legendary ...... from Luke Cage]

"Servant of the Vampire King?"

Jessica raised her eyebrows and looked at the wounded guy in front of her, if it weren't for Joseph Joestar herself, she would never have imagined that such a scarred existence would be a vampire.

"Cough, cough, cough—"

Lying on the ground, coughing loudly a few times, the tall and thin figure swept over the defenders in front of him with his red eyes, and finally landed on Joseph Joestar behind him, grinning and revealing his sharp teeth, and said hoarsely: "Joseph Joestar, have you forgotten how your master died at the hands of Master Dior, and he survived with great difficulty, but now, he doesn't know whether he is alive or dead to find Master Dior to send him to death......"

"Don't bother with that."

In the face of the taunt of the tall and thin man, Joseph Joestar raised his foot expressionlessly, and exerted the power of the ripples to directly melt one of the other party's hands, and then continued to interrogate in the other party's screams with a cold face: "Now, you just need to tell me why Dior asked you to come to New York." ”

"Do you think I'll tell you, Joseph Joestar?"

Gritting his teeth and making a hideous expression, the tall and thin man replied in a hoarse voice.

"You can choose not to say it."

Silently resting his feet on the tall and lanky man's head, Joseph Joestar began to make a silent threat: "So. Then my ripples will not fall on your hands, but ......"

"Okay, I say, I say!"

Feeling the deadly threat coming from his head, the tall and thin man's pale face suddenly changed, and he opened his mouth and shouted: "It's Jiuyou, Lord Dior arranged for me to come to New York because of Jiuyou's affairs, meet with Jin He, and hand over the stone ghost face to Jin He." ”

"Nine Shadows? Stone ghost face! ”

[Legend from Daredevil ......]

[Legendary ...... from Jessica Jones]

【From Danny......】

[Legendary ...... from Luke Cage]

What the tall and thin man said made the expressions of the members of the defenders change suddenly, they didn't expect that the appearance of the vampire was actually related to the Nine Shadows, let alone the existence of Jin He.

"Joseph Joestar, I've told you everything, you should ......"

After saying everything he knew, the tall and thin man hurriedly shouted to Joseph Joestar behind him.

However, in response to him, it was Joseph Joestar who carried a heavy blow with ripple power.

"You deceived me...... Joseph Joe ...... Star......

Under the power of the ripples, the tall and thin man's body quickly melted, but he still shouted at Joseph Joestar with resentment.

"I never said I would let you go."

Faced with the question of the tall and thin man, Joseph Joestar replied with a cold face and an expressionless face.

At this moment, the cold image of the vampire hunter was revealed in front of the defenders.

……

"So, Iron Patriot?"

Retracting his gaze from the ridicule of Colonel James on TV, Tony asked with an eyebrow raised as he looked at his friend in front of him.

"Can you tell us how you're feeling right now?"

With a wry smile, in the face of Tony's ridicule, Colonel James shrugged helplessly: "They think the war machine sounds a little too belligerent, so." ”

If he could, Colonel James didn't really like the name Iron Patriot, but unfortunately, although he became the controller of the War Machine, or now the Iron Patriot, by virtue of Tony's friend, he had no actual naming rights, and could only passively accept orders from the military and even the Pentagon behind him.

"James, tell me, what the hell is going on?"

In fact, the reason why the White House chose to change the name of the Iron Warframe at this time is to suppress the recent frequent bombings.

"It's classified, Tony." In the face of Tony's questioning, Colonel James's expression was a little embarrassed.

"Hey, James, are you going to keep it a secret from me?"

Facing Tony's emotional card, Colonel James's face clearly showed a look of hesitation, and he struggled for a moment before lowering his voice: "In fact, as far as we know, there have been nine explosions, and only three are known to the public, and the crux of the matter is that we can't identify how the explosion happened, and there are no bomb shells at the scene......"

"No bomb shells?"

The information given by Colonel James lifted Tony's originally sluggish spirit a little and made him a little interested.

"The Pentagon takes these explosions very seriously, after all, after all the events in New York and the [Flying Dutchman], we all know that the world is no longer as safe as it used to be......"

Tony: "I don't think it was safe in the past. ”

Ignoring Tony's taunts, Colonel James continued to express the government's position: "The government needs to re-establish its image and avoid greater panic, and to do so, it must trace the source of the explosion and prevent the recurrence of similar bombings, New York and the frequent incidents at the corners of the mouth, so that the people's trust in the government has been reduced to a minimum." Speaking of this, Colonel James hesitated for a moment before lowering his voice again and said to Tony in front of him: "In addition, there has been evidence that during the bombing, someone once shouted the name of the Holy Lord......"

"Holy Lord?!"

[Legendary ...... from Tony Stark]

"What's wrong, Tony, are you okay?"

Noticing the change in Tony's face, Colonel James couldn't help but ask.

Hearing his friend's concern, Tony silently turned his head and looked at the other party: "If the other party has really called the name 'Holy Lord', then, maybe you are in big trouble." ”