Chapter 423: Civil War II (Invincible Marvel)
Boom!
Since Carol was currently locked in a struggle against Wanda, Steve's punch successfully connected with her side. Carol stumbled back several steps from the momentum, and Wanda seized the opportunity to surge her Chaos Magic forward.
Carol quickly regained her footing, stabilizing her body before launching a heavy kick at Steve. Steve raised his shield to block, but the sheer force still sent him skidding back. No sooner had he retreated than an arrow from Clint came whistling through the air with extreme precision.
Carol chose not to tank this one. The energy within her spiked, breaking the shackles of Earth's gravity as she streaked into the sky like a meteor, narrowly dodging the arrow.
Bang!!! The arrow struck the ground and exploded, sending up a plume of black smoke. From mid-air, Carol's eyes glowed with golden light. She instantly locked onto Clint's position and fired an energy beam.
"Clint!" Steve shouted, throwing a quick glance at Pietro.
Pietro understood immediately. He scooped up Steve and blurred toward Clint. Clint looked up at the descending beam, realized he couldn't dodge in time, and instinctively crossed his arms to protect his head.
Just then, Pietro arrived with Steve. Steve leaped forward, expanding his shield to intercept the fierce blast.
BOOM!!!
Steve successfully blocked the hit, but the force sent him plummeting. Pietro, with lightning reflexes, caught him before he hit the ground. However, the residual impact was so powerful that both men were sent tumbling across the dirt.
"Cough, cough!" Pietro had used his own body to cushion Steve's fall, acting as a natural human shield.
"Ugh..." Steve pushed himself up, clutching his aching arm. "Are you alright?"
"Don't worry, still breathing," Pietro groaned, lying on his back and gasping for air as his chest felt tight from the shock.
"Cap." Clint jumped down beside them. "Wait, where's the other guy?" Throughout the entire fight, Clint hadn't seen Scott once.
"Not sure," Steve said, looking around before locking his eyes back on Carol, who was hovering in the air.
In the sky, Carol looked down on the Avengers. She was about to raise her arm to attack Wanda when a voice suddenly rang out.
"You'll regret it if you do that!"
"Who's there?!" Carol snapped into high alert. There was no one near her; how was the voice so close?
"Me? I'm your conscience!" Scott had crawled all the way up to Carol's neck.
Originally, Scott had planned to crawl inside her suit to cause a malfunction, but he found that her suit had no gaps or seams whatsoever. It seemed to be nanotechnology; unless he shrank down to a subatomic level, he couldn't get inside. So, he decided to settle for her neck—the only exposed skin.
"Cheap tricks," Carol muttered. She scanned her surroundings and, seeing no one, assumed it was some form of telepathic communication. Just as she prepared to fire another blast, she felt a sharp sting on her neck.
"What was that!" Carol instinctively slapped her neck.
Scott looked up at the approaching "giant palm" and scrambled to dodge, sliding down from her collarbone toward her chest. Carol realized there might be someone on her; she remembered Fury mentioning a man who could shrink to the size of an ant.
Vroom!
Suddenly, the energy flowing over Carol's body pulsed. Scott, who was looking for his next move, was blasted off by the radiant energy. He fell away from her body. In the nick of time, his flying ant caught him and dove toward the ground.
Now separated from Carol, Scott was exposed to her glowing eyes.
"Found you!" Carol dove straight for Scott like a falling star, leaving a long trail of starlight behind her.
"Faster!" Scott urged his mount, but there was no way a flying ant could outrun Captain Marvel.
Carol caught up in an instant. Just as she reached out to grab him, a red flying object slammed into her.
Boom!
A cloud of black smoke erupted in the sky. Scott managed to reach the ground safely and returned to his normal size.
"Phew~ That was way too close." Scott patted his chest, heart racing. "Thanks, man," he said to Sam.
Sam Wilson shook his head helplessly. "Looks like Redwing is officially scrapped."
In the air, Carol's energy dispelled the smoke, revealing her glowing form and the mangled remains of Redwing in her hand.
"You people certainly have a lot of toys," Carol said, tossing Redwing aside like a piece of trash. Having gone full Binary, there was no way Redwing could have actually hurt her; she had simply turned and punched it out of the air.
On the ground, Clint muttered, "This woman is insane. She's like a female Hulk."
"Careful. If the Hulk heard that, he'd probably kill you," Natasha said, slowly standing up.
"Is everyone okay?" Steve asked.
"I'm fine," Pietro said.
"Just worry about yourselves," Wanda added, her Chaos Magic fluctuating intensely.
"Redwing is gone," Sam said, drawing his twin submachine guns. He felt the name "Falcon" was a bit hollow now; what good is a falcon that can't fly?
"Sorry," Scott apologized, feeling responsible.
All the Avengers stood together, looking up at Carol. Carol stared back at the defiant team and began another dive, appearing like a multicolored comet. Just as the group braced themselves for a devastating impact, a massive red figure stepped in front of them.
BOOM!!!!
The earth shook as if protesting the sheer force of the collision.
"Is that... the Hulkbuster?" Natasha asked, puzzled.
Standing before them was a giant suit of armor. It looked like the Hulkbuster Tony had used before, but with noticeable differences.
"Hulkbuster Version 2.0," Tony's voice rang out from within the suit.
The reason he had disappeared for a moment was to summon this massive rig. After the first one was nearly destroyed by the Hulk, Tony had built a new one—primarily to stop a rampaging Hulk, but also to deal with other heavy hitters, like the one in front of him.
Carol's small fist looked tiny compared to the Hulkbuster's massive hand, but everyone was shocked to see that her strength was actually suppressing the giant machine.
"Not a bad suit," Carol said, her radiance intensifying.
Creeaaaak—
The Hulkbuster's arm began to emit the sound of straining metal and failing hydraulics. It seemed even this armor wouldn't last long.
"Is that so? I've got something even better," Tony laughed.
Carol frowned. Suddenly, the Hulkbuster's fist erupted with explosive power. Before Carol could react, the fist detached, propelling her high into the sky with rocket boosters.
BOOM!!!!
High in the atmosphere, the detached fist detonated.
"Wasn't that a bit much?" Natasha asked, looking at the small black mushroom cloud in the sky.
"Maybe?" Tony wouldn't forget being tossed aside earlier. Besides, he figured she could take it.
Fury, watching from the sidelines, wasn't worried. He knew Carol had been able to stop interstellar missiles with her bare body over a decade ago. He didn't believe for a second she hadn't gotten stronger since then.
"She's fine. Look, Cyclops over there isn't even blinking," Tony pointed out.
The team looked at Fury, who shifted uncomfortably. Why are they all staring at me?
Just as Fury expected, Carol emerged from the smoke, floating serenely in the air without a scratch. The Avengers felt their hearts sink. Did that attack really do nothing?
"Is that all you've got?" Carol looked down calmly. She was ready to get serious. The explosion had actually been quite powerful—she had almost lost her footing and had to draw on more power at the last second.
The Avengers offered no reply.
"No? Then it's my turn." Instead of diving, Carol landed steadily on the ground.
"Whoa~ How do you get your whole body to glow like that?"
A new voice entered the fray. Everyone turned to see a figure in a high-tech red and blue suit landing on a nearby wall.
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