The remainder of the ceremony proceeded according to Western wedding traditions.
Howard led Tony and Pepper as they recited their vows before officially announcing that the ceremony was complete.
Afterward, Howard spoke briefly to the guests and publicly revealed that he was Tony Stark's father, which naturally shocked many people present.
Once he finished speaking, Howard looked toward Karl and gestured for him to come onto the stage and say a few words.
However, Karl simply smiled and shook his head in refusal.
Seeing this, James Rhodes stepped forward to replace him.
But the moment Rhodes walked onto the stage—
Karl noticed something strange.
Rhodes' body density felt wrong.
BOOM—!
Karl's aura erupted instantly.
Before anyone could react, Karl had already teleported onto the stage, grabbing Rhodes by the throat with one hand.
The sudden action stunned everyone present.
When Tony and the other guests saw Karl restraining Rhodes, confusion spread throughout the crowd.
After all, everyone knew that Rhodes was Tony Stark's closest friend.
"Knowing I would be here, you still dared to show up."
Karl's voice turned cold.
"You've got courage."
"Now tell me—where is the real Rhodes?"
The guests and Tony immediately understood what Karl meant.
This Rhodes—
Was fake.
Tony reacted immediately.
He waved his hand toward the vibranium armor displayed nearby.
The armor flew toward him instantly and equipped itself onto Tony's body.
Tony trusted Karl completely.
If Karl said Rhodes was fake—
Then Rhodes was definitely fake.
Karl would never attack Rhodes without reason.
Even though Karl and Rhodes weren't particularly close, they had met several times before, and Karl had never shown any hostility toward him.
Tony therefore prepared himself for combat immediately.
BOOM—!
Seeing that the fake Rhodes remained silent, Karl activated his mental power.
A powerful wave of psychic energy surged directly into the impostor's mind.
Under Karl's control, the impostor's body began to change.
His human appearance collapsed.
His skin turned green, his ears became pointed, and his face transformed into a grotesque alien form.
The creature no longer looked human.
Karl immediately recognized it.
A Skrull.
The Skrulls were an alien race originating from the Andromeda Galaxy.
Their species possessed the ability to perfectly shapeshift, allowing them to imitate other beings down to their physical appearance and voice.
Karl hadn't expected a Skrull to appear on Earth—
And even impersonate James Rhodes to get close to Tony.
Gasps filled the venue.
The guests stared at the green-skinned creature in disbelief.
Tony quickly walked over to Karl, his expression filled with anger.
His best friend had been replaced during his own wedding.
Karl placed the Skrull under psychic control.
He began extracting information directly from its mind.
Suddenly Karl remembered something.
Nick Fury had previously dealt with the Skrulls before.
"What are you doing on Earth?" Karl asked coldly.
"How many people have you replaced?"
"How many Skrulls are currently on this planet?"
"And where is the real Rhodes?"
Under Karl's psychic control, the Skrull answered slowly.
"We came to Earth to collect genetic samples…"
"Especially the genes of the Gold Saints."
"So far we have only replaced Rhodes and one government senator."
"There are currently twenty Skrulls on Earth."
"The real Rhodes is being held at our base."
"Where is this base?"
Karl continued.
"Our base is located beneath the highest mountain on the eastern outskirts of New York."
After learning the location of the Skrull base, Karl nodded slightly to Tony.
He then used his psychic power to signal Dark Phoenix and May, asking them to escort the others back.
Tony's wedding ceremony had already ended anyway.
Karl grabbed the Skrull and opened a portal.
Tony, wearing his vibranium armor, immediately followed him through it.
Moments later, Karl and Tony appeared on the mountain mentioned by the Skrull.
Karl released his mental perception.
Sure enough—
There was a hidden base beneath the mountain.
Karl glanced at the Skrull still in his grip.
Without hesitation—
He crushed the alien's neck.
A Shadow Ninja immediately emerged from the darkness, dragging the corpse into the Shadow World to feed the creatures within.
BOOM—!
Karl punched downward.
The mountain split open as his strike tore through the rock, revealing the hidden base below.
Karl and Tony descended slowly.
Inside the base, they found Rhodes and a government senator, both imprisoned and restrained.
Nearby, several Skrull soldiers aimed energy weapons at them.
Karl didn't bother speaking.
With a simple use of telekinesis, he crushed them instantly.
However—
One Skrull survived.
His body suddenly expanded and transformed into a massive green figure resembling the Hulk.
Karl narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Did they fuse themselves with Hulk's genetic material?"
Karl gave a faint, disdainful smile.
Even if that were true—
It didn't matter.
Even the real Hulk could not cause him trouble.
BANG—!
Karl fired a sphere of blue freezing energy toward the transformed Skrull.
But just before the attack landed—
A cloud of green energy mist appeared.
The Skrull vanished.
Karl raised an eyebrow.
That ability looked suspiciously similar to Nightcrawler's teleportation.
Apparently the Skrulls had also experimented with mutant genetic abilities.
Still—
That wasn't enough to threaten Karl.
Karl locked onto the Skrull using his psychic sense.
He teleported instantly.
Appearing directly in front of the Skrull.
At the same moment—
Karl threw a punch.
BOOM—!
The Skrull's head exploded instantly.
A massive crater formed beneath the impact.
Moments later, the Shadow Ninja appeared again, dragging the corpse into the Shadow World.
Meanwhile, Tony freed Rhodes and the imprisoned senator.
After learning that a Skrull had impersonated him at Tony's wedding, Rhodes cursed loudly before thanking Karl repeatedly.
At that exact moment—
A spaceship launched from Earth and shot toward space at full speed.
Inside the ship was the Skrull who had impersonated the government senator.
The moment he learned that a Gold Saint had appeared at their base, he knew everyone there was doomed.
There was no chance of escaping Karl on Earth.
So he fled immediately.
BOOM—!
Just as he was celebrating his escape—
Two red laser beams shot from Earth.
The beams pierced straight through the spaceship.
They also pierced through the Skrull's chest.
The spaceship exploded instantly.
The fleeing Skrull died inside the burning wreckage.
...
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