Marvel: DNF Invades

Luke soared over Hell's Kitchen in his mech, deep in thought.

He had finally figured out why Black Widow, who was supposed to be undercover at Stark Industries, had shown up tonight. Unexpectedly, it was because of him.

Someone who manipulates luck...

It seemed the chaos he caused that night had already caught the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., whose eyes and ears were everywhere.

Not surprising.

He did go a little overboard that night. It wasn't like he didn't want to keep a low profile, but the system potion was just too damn strong. With double the luck, laying low simply wasn't an option.

Most regular people wouldn't think too hard about it—they'd just chalk it up to him getting possessed by the God of Gamblers, hitting an insane lucky streak.

But S.H.I.E.L.D.? They understood how weird this world was. The moment they saw how that gambling night played out, they knew something was off. Luck like that didn't happen naturally—it was being manipulated.

Think about it: some random gambler walks into a casino, loses one bet at the start, and then goes on a flawless winning streak all night long. The odds of that happening? Probably lower than lightning striking the same spot twice in a row.

(A certain hammer-wielding god: I can do that!)

With her perfect cover as a Russian, Black Widow had been sent in as an undercover agent.

"So this is the legendary butterfly effect?" Luke mused.

Because of his existence, the original plot had already begun to shift.

Sure, on the surface, this seemed like a minor change. After all, Stark had plenty of secretaries, and losing one wouldn't matter much.

But the real question was: would this butterfly keep flapping its wings, setting off an even bigger chain reaction?

For example, if Black Widow didn't report Tony's condition to Nick Fury, and Nick didn't pass along Howard Stark's research, would Tony even make it? Would he die from palladium poisoning?

Luke suddenly found himself looking forward to how things would unfold.

Maybe it was because he had been hanging out with Ross too much lately, but he felt like he was getting more... sinister.

Or maybe it was just his hatred for rich people acting up. As a broke genius who had to build mechs from scrap, seeing wealthy guys struggle a little gave him a bit of twisted satisfaction.

Of course, if it came down to it, he wouldn't mind helping Tony cure his palladium poisoning.

The magic box had plenty of useful things in it—including a universal antidote.

One bottle of that stuff, and Tony would be back to his old cocky, fast-talking self.

And when that time came, Luke sure as hell wouldn't mind squeezing some cash out of Stark in exchange for the cure.

After all, his plans required funding—building bigger and badder mechs wasn't cheap.

While he was lost in thought, Luke had already reached a Mexican cartel stronghold—one that probably had the ammunition he needed.

The raid went smoothly.

Sure, a bunch of them tried to resist. But once Luke gave them a little taste of what "justice from above" looked like…

Well, let's just say they weren't a problem anymore.

With a full haul of ammunition, Luke returned to his secret warehouse, calling it a night.

Meanwhile, Hell's Kitchen was still in chaos.

The tough-as-nails Russians were proving their reputation as a nation of fighters. Even though they were outnumbered, they were holding their ground, fighting the other gangs to a standstill.

The conflict kept escalating, with both sides pulling out heavier firepower. Explosions lit up the night sky as gangsters blew each other to hell.

And all of this was because of Luke.

After the two major incidents he caused, none of the gang leaders knew what was actually happening. They all assumed it was their rivals behind the attacks, pushing the gang war to a whole new level.

Back in his warehouse, Luke tuned it all out.

He didn't give a damn about what was happening outside—that just wasn't his problem.

Right now, he had work to do.

The first order of business? Upgrading his air-combat mech, Tornado.

He mounted four machine guns onto it—modified versions of the AK-47 and MP7. With an increased firing rate and an almost unlimited ammo supply, the mech's firepower had just skyrocketed.

He tested it out—within seconds, a sandbag was shredded into nothing.

Four machine guns firing together meant the firepower of eight soldiers, all crammed into a single mech. Luke was satisfied. This covered Tornado's previous lack of conventional firepower.

Now, Tornado had three main combat strategies:

First, close-quarters combat.

Using his custom mecha fighting techniques—based on skills from Dungeon Fighter Online—he could go toe-to-toe with enemies.

The only real limitation here was the mech's material strength.

Since he built Tornado from scrap metal, its armor wasn't nearly as strong as something like the Mark II. In fact, it was only slightly better than the Mark I—meaning if it ever went up against something like the Mark V, he'd have to rely on skill rather than brute force.

Second, heavy machine-gun fire.

With four machine guns firing at once, Tornado could handle most situations without breaking a sweat.

Luke could've slapped even more guns onto it, but that would've been unnecessary—and ugly as hell.

Third, aerial bombing.

Tonight had proven just how powerful Justice from Above really was—way beyond what he had expected.

The second-generation grenades weren't just twice as strong as his first-gen homemade grenades. They were two, maybe even three times more destructive.

Looking back, Luke realized he hadn't just underestimated his grenade modifications. He had underestimated the potential of the Magic Stone—his exclusive material.

Thinking it through, it actually made sense.

In the lore of Dungeon Fighter Online, the first organization to study the Magic Stone was the Seven Gods Elytra.

They were created by seven genius engineers—known as the Seven Mechanical War Gods—who joined forces to build the ultimate humanoid battle mech, Gai Bogar, to take down the ninth angel, the Exploding Dragon King Bakar.

Five hundred years later, Seven Gods Elytra became the top scientific research institute in the heavens, gathering the brightest minds.

Melvin, the guy who handed out high-tech rings like candy…

Giselle, the crazy old scientist…

They were all core members.

Along with Perla Wayne, Nien Sig, and Meri Faionil, they stood at the forefront of the celestial scientific community—basically, the Stark Industries of DNF.

When the Seventh Apostle, Flame Devourer Antuon, invaded the heavens, the Magic Stone appeared alongside his powers.

Melvin was the first to study it.

He quickly realized the Magic Stone contained an energy unlike anything seen before—so powerful that he immediately declared it a breakthrough for science.

Luke saw it as something similar to uranium—dangerous but packed with massive energy.

If he could find the right way to tap into its potential, it could be just as groundbreaking as nuclear fission.

Right now, though, his method was pretty primitive.

All he could do was grind the Magic Stone into powder and mix it into gunpowder as an additive.

That barely scratched the surface of what this thing could really do.

And yet, even in that crude form, it had already proven ridiculously powerful in battle.

But to truly unlock its potential?

He needed someone with top-tier knowledge in physics and chemistry.

And in this world, there was one guy who had that expertise.

In Iron Man 2, Tony had figured out how to create a brand-new element—just from a few cryptic clues left by his father.

If Luke wanted to fully harness the Magic Stone's power, he had no choice but to get involved with Tony.

"By now, Tony should already be in Monaco, right?"

In the movie, that's where he got jumped by Whiplash—the Russian maniac with electric whips—during a high-stakes race.

Luke smirked.

It was time to head to Monaco and get in on the action.

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