"Cap, we found it. There's a Quinjet parked on the runway behind us."
Sam's voice rang out, with the fake Bucky standing beside him.
Hearing Sam's report, Steve suddenly raised his web-bound hands.
"Barton, Scott, now."
The moment he finished speaking, an arrow shot through the air, accurately severing the webbing around Steve's wrists. At the same time, in a spot Peter hadn't noticed, Scott had already crawled onto the shield in miniature form.
Peter's spider-sense suddenly flared violently.
"Danger!!"
Peter shouted a warning immediately.
At the same moment, the shrunken Scott suddenly returned to full size and slammed a punch into Peter's jaw. Completely caught off guard, Peter felt like he'd just been hit by a bullet and was sent flying with a single blow, while Scott reclaimed Steve's shield.
"Damn it, Scott! You almost dislocated my jaw with that punch!"
Peter got up and shouted at Scott.
Both of them were veteran trash-talkers, so they actually got along pretty well—birds of a feather.
"Sorry, Peter. You know I barely touched you. Who knew you were this fragile?"
Scott shrugged teasingly.
"Damn it, there are two people in the terminal—Sam and Bucky."
JARVIS had scanned and identified Sam and Bucky's positions.
"Barnes is mine!"
Erik immediately leaped forward, charging toward the terminal like a hunting panther.
"Don't kill him, Erik! We still need him alive!"
T'Challa shouted after him.
Before coming here, Natasha had already explained the true purpose of the mission to both T'Challa and Erik, including the matter of the fake Bucky.
Yes—Natasha again.
Nick Fury couldn't conveniently appear in public. He still needed to track down Zemo, so all communication and coordination had been handed over to Natasha. Sharon had her own assignment as well: stabilize the people back at Avengers Headquarters while covertly assisting Fury.
Seeing Erik move, Steve immediately rushed after him.
T'Challa followed closely behind and suddenly lunged, tackling Steve cleanly to the ground.
"Give it up, Captain. Don't make me repeat myself."
T'Challa rose to his feet as the claws on his gloves snapped out sharply.
"Sorry, T'Challa. I can't let you capture Bucky."
Steve was still defending him.
T'Challa sighed, then suddenly lashed out with a kick. Steve raised his shield to block, and the two instantly engaged in fierce close combat.
But Steve's shield was still no match for T'Challa's vibranium claws. After only a few exchanges, deep claw marks had already appeared across the shield's surface.
Meanwhile, Natasha intercepted Scott.
Back when Scott had first joined the Avengers, Natasha had been the one who brought him in, so the two were quite familiar with each other.
Looking at Natasha blocking his path, Scott felt rather helpless.
"Listen, Natasha, I really don't want to hurt you. You should just move aside."
"You're worrying too much."
Natasha tilted her head slightly, then kicked directly toward Scott's groin before grabbing his arm and throwing him away.
Midair, Scott suddenly shrank. Then, grabbing Natasha's sleeve, he yanked hard, instantly flipping her onto the ground.
Although the Ant-Man suit reduced Scott's size, it didn't reduce his strength—in fact, it amplified it.
Scott grabbed Natasha's arm, intending to twist it behind her back.
But he forgot about the Widow's Bite on her wrist.
Suddenly, a burst of powerful electricity exploded outward.
Scott was blasted away by the shock, slamming directly into a nearby shipping container hard enough to dent the metal.
---
Inside the terminal, Peter was rapidly crawling across the exterior glass walls while Sam and Bucky sprinted desperately through the building with Erik close behind them.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
Bucky stared at Peter climbing outside the glass and shouted.
"That's Spider-Man. He can crawl on any surface."
Sam kept his explanation brief. He didn't want to waste energy talking.
With a loud crash, Peter punched through the terminal window and leaped directly toward Sam and Bucky.
He kicked Sam to the floor, then immediately threw a punch at Bucky.
Bucky countered with a punch of his own.
But he had seriously underestimated Peter's strength.
Peter caught the metal fist instantly. No matter how hard Bucky struggled, he couldn't overpower him.
"Holy crap! You've got a metal arm?! That's awesome, dude! Where'd you get it? What's it made of? Is it external armor or a prosthetic?!"
Peter unleashed a barrage of questions so fast that the fake Bucky was momentarily stunned.
He hadn't expected the person in front of him to be such a curious chatterbox. Judging from the voice, Spider-Man sounded pretty young too.
Peter forcibly twisted Bucky's arm aside while still nonstop questioning him about the metal arm.
What he failed to notice was Sam charging toward him from the side.
By the time Peter's spider-sense finally screamed loud enough to warn him, Sam had already grabbed him and launched into the sky.
"Hey! Hey! Sam, don't take this so seriously! Put me down!"
Peter smacked at Sam's arm.
Not wanting to be dropped, Peter wrapped himself completely around Sam like an octopus.
"Buddy, I'm a straight man. This is getting inappropriate~~"
Sam rolled his eyes.
He hadn't expected Peter to lock onto him so tightly.
"There's a platform up ahead. I'll toss you there. Get ready~~"
Sam flew toward a platform and shoved Peter off.
Peter immediately landed on it dramatically.
---
Unlike the strangely harmonious atmosphere between those two, Erik and Bucky were fighting like the end of the world had arrived.
Erik had completely abandoned defense. Relying on the Black Panther suit's ability to absorb kinetic energy, he simply tanked Bucky's punches head-on while beating him down relentlessly.
Bucky, meanwhile, fought with careful precision.
Unlike Erik, he understood how to avoid his weaknesses and maximize his strengths. Time and time again, he dodged or blocked Erik's attacks before counterattacking at just the right moments.
But his raw power still couldn't compare to Erik's.
Beyond the enhancement from the Heart-Shaped Herb, the Panther Habit itself provided tremendous physical amplification.
Under overwhelming force suppression, even Bucky's disciplined combat style gradually started failing him.
This wasn't part of his plan.
His real objective was to publicly expose the fact that Bucky had personally murdered Howard and Maria Stark, forcing the two pillars of the Avengers—Iron Man and Captain America—into complete conflict.
But now, he hadn't even had the chance to meet Tony Stark.
Instead, some random man out of nowhere had completely suppressed him.
Boom! Boom!!
Outside the terminal, Tony and Rhodey maintained aerial fire suppression.
Rockets, mini-missiles, and repulsor blasts rained toward the ground like they were free.
Still, both men were deliberately holding back. They weren't trying to hurt anyone—only block movement routes and prevent Steve's group from advancing.
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