"Oh, Banner, don't..."
Tony, who was mid-air and in the process of suiting up with the Veronica armor parts, face-palmed when he saw the Hulk leap onto the Sandman's head and start tearing at it.
He had just managed to enrage the Sandman enough to make him lose reason and follow him toward the ocean.
Once he knocked the giant into the seawater, the battle would likely be over.
As for how to knock down such a behemoth... after his test fight with Luca, Tony had added plenty of anti-giant weaponry to Veronica.
But now, the Hulk's impulsive attack had disrupted everything.
Hulk was dealing massive damage, sure, but it wasn't effective damage against a creature made of sand.
Worse, it shifted the Sandman's aggro. The giant stopped moving forward and focused entirely on the green flea on his head.
But Hulk didn't care about strategy.
Someone made Hulk mad? Hulk smash!
Watching Hulk burrow into the Sandman's body like an ant digging a hole, Tony shook his head helplessly.
Just as he was considering unleashing another volley of missiles to draw the aggro back, a white dot appeared in the distant sky, trailing flames and growing rapidly larger.
Simultaneously, a familiar voice crackled over the Avengers' comms channel.
"Woo-hoo~ Looks like someone needs help! Guess I arrived just in time~"
Hearing the voice, the corner of Tony's mouth curled up under his helmet.
"That brat..."
The black-and-white Haro Mech streaked through the sky, ignoring the Sandman and Hulk, and landed next to Tony.
Luca, controlling the mech remotely, reached out and knocked on Veronica's chassis.
"Hey~ You're actually using it~"
Tony ignored the teasing and asked directly.
"Why didn't you send the Boxer?"
In Tony's mind, the 12-meter Boxer mech could actually grapple with the Sandman. The 2-meter Haro Mech? It probably had less combat effectiveness than his old Mark 12 against a foe like this.
He didn't think Luca would make such a rookie mistake.
Luca retorted with an eye-roll (audible in his tone).
"The Boxer can't fly, genius. New York is far away. Did you expect me to roll all the way here?"
This wasn't a lie.
Flight propulsion was still his weak point. The thrusters on the Haro Mech were based on Tony's designs.
The Boxer, even lightened, weighed nearly a hundred tons.
Sure, Luca could strap enough rockets to it to achieve "brute force flight," but that would create massive energy consumption and structural issues.
It wasn't unsolvable, though.
Once the folding base blueprints were done, Luca planned to build four "GN Drives" (Solar Furnaces).
That would solve flight, energy, defense, and weapon power all at once.
But that was for later.
Right now, the Haro Mech wasn't just here to watch the show.
"Relax. Haro can handle this too~"
Luca didn't keep him in suspense. He opened a compartment on the Haro Mech's arm. Inside, neatly arranged, was a row of Hoi-Poi Capsules!!
He tossed two to Tony.
Catching the capsules, Tony asked, confused.
"This is...?"
JARVIS scanned them instantly.
The result: simple mechanical transmission devices, some water, and a suspected energy block in the middle. Nothing special.
Luca smiled mysteriously.
"Soccer Ball Belt. I told you about it~"
"What? Wait, you succeeded??"
Tony exclaimed inside his helmet, staring at the unassuming capsules.
Luca could imagine his shocked face.
"Uh-huh~ But the tech isn't mature yet. I have to use a massive compressor to shrink and seal the items. It's not like Pym Particles where you can shrink and grow at will."
"So once you throw it and release the item, shrinking it back down is... troublesome."
Lies.
In reality, Luca's "Massive Compressor" was just a prop—a big, complicated-looking machine with the [Dehydration Gun] hidden inside.
The Dehydration Gun didn't even need external power. The "energy device" inside the machine was just there to... uh... pull the trigger.
This elaborate charade was just to make the Dehydration Gun's existence less suspicious and cover up his previous spaceship theft.
"As for what's inside..."
"Water!"
Tony blurted out.
It was obvious. That was exactly what they needed to defeat the Sandman.
The Haro Mech nodded. Tony wasted no time. Clutching the two capsules, he rocketed toward the Sandman's head.
Seeing Tony's urgency, Luca shook his head with a laugh and flew after him.
"Today's weather! Oily with a chance of heavy rain!"
Mid-air, an excited Tony Stark pressed the switches on the capsules and hurled them at the Sandman.
POOF~ White smoke exploded.
The thumb-sized capsules instantly transformed into two massive industrial water tanks.
Before Tony could even shoot them to release the water, the thin metal tanks smashed into the Sandman and burst open on impact.
SPLASH.
Tens of tons of water erupted.
The Sandman's shoulder and arm, hit by the deluge, instantly turned to mud and lost their shape.
Then, the Haro Mech arrived.
Luca threw two more capsules. These didn't hit the surface; they plunged deep into the Sandman's sandy body before activating.
POOF~
BOOM.
Two massive water tanks expanded instantly inside the Sandman, blowing his torso apart from the inside.
Washed by the torrent of water, the giant body of sand turned into a pile of sludge. Unable to support his own weight, he collapsed into a shapeless mound.
"NOOO~~~"