Chapter 431: Civil War II
"But seriously, I really didn't expect the 'Chosen One' to be so young."
Natasha walked over to Silas and teased him with a smile. Silas laughed back, "Well, now you know."
"I never imagined this was what you really looked like," Thor added, walking over.
"Hey, is everyone here just going to focus on my age?" Silas rolled his eyes. Did no one care about his performance? His strength was clearly the most impressive part of the day.
Shaking his head helplessly, Silas flashed over to Wanda's side and asked softly, "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No," Wanda replied, standing up and wrapping her arms around Silas, leaning into his embrace.
"Hey! My chest really hurts over here!" Pietro grumbled from behind them, rubbing his sternum. Why was no one asking about his injuries?
"Oh, right! Pietro is hurt," Wanda said, hurriedly pulling away with a faint blush on her cheeks. She had almost forgotten her brother was still nursing a blow from Captain Marvel.
"Don't worry, leave it to me." Silas turned and walked toward Pietro.
Pietro swallowed hard and took a few steps back. "I'm actually fine, you guys keep doing what you were doing." He honestly thought Silas might be coming over to settle a score for his earlier meddling.
"What are you thinking about?" Silas instantly read Pietro's mind. Ignoring the speedster's protests, Silas grabbed his shoulder, and a brilliant emerald light bloomed in his palm.
Pietro's eyes widened in shock. The dull ache in his chest vanished instantly, replaced by a surge of vitality. Not only was the pain gone, but his fatigue had vanished as if the battle had never happened.
"This! What happened?" Pietro asked, stunned.
"Just a little trick, don't look so surprised," Silas chuckled, patting Pietro on the shoulder before turning toward Rhodey.
Rhodey, seeing Silas approach, joked, "It's rare for someone to notice the disabled guy in the room."
"Don't worry, Rhodey, I've always got you in mind," Tony said, stepping up beside him. Tony was holding the prosthetic leg Carol had ripped off and discarded. He tapped it and asked, "How's it feeling?"
"It's okay, just a bit uncoordinated. I'll get used to it after a while," Rhodey sighed. Losing a leg made him feel lucky in a way—it was better than losing his life.
"I'll build you a new one when we get back," Tony promised. He hadn't expected the current one to be so flimsy that Carol could just tear it off. If someone hadn't caught Rhodey, another tragedy might have occurred.
"Do you want your real leg to grow back?" Silas asked, crouching in front of Rhodey.
"Of course I do, but is that even possible?" Rhodey didn't hold out much hope.
"Of course it's possible. Technology is always evolving. One day, humanity will overcome this hurdle," Tony encouraged. To him, it was just a matter of technical limitations that would eventually be solved by science.
"Well, I hope I live long enough to see that day," Rhodey said, trying to be optimistic.
"What if I told you I could grow it back right now?" Silas's words were like a depth charge, sending ripples of shock through the group. Silas had that kind of power too?
"Don't forget, I'm a Sorcerer, not just a fighter," Silas reminded them, needing to re-establish his "class" in their minds.
The Avengers exchanged looks and stepped back, giving Silas and Rhodey some space.
"It's not like I'm performing some world-shattering ritual..." Silas muttered, ignoring their stares. Since Rhodey's War Machine armor was damaged and couldn't be easily removed, Silas used his telekinesis to peel the metal away, exposing the stump of Rhodey's leg.
Rhodey's breathing quickened. "Can it really grow back?"
"Naturally. I'm a senior Sorcerer, after all," Silas smiled. He extended his right hand toward the injury and activated the Horse Talisman.
A vibrant, life-giving green light enveloped the stump. Behind him, Tony watched with clinical intensity. If this were technology, he would have understood it instantly. But this was magic. Tony was fascinated—what was the underlying principle of such a phenomenon?
As the light bathed the area, tiny buds of flesh began to sprout from the wound. They intersected and grew like rapidly maturing trees, a time-lapse of biological evolution. Soon, white bone began to extend, accompanied by vivid red blood vessels and intricate nerves.
Rhodey breathed heavily. He was watching his leg grow back with his own eyes, yet he felt absolutely no pain. In fact, he felt nothing at all, as if the leg belonged to someone else.
The Avengers were speechless. Was this magic? It was a true miracle—regeneration of a lost limb. Finally, a complete, perfect leg appeared.
"I'm not dreaming, am I?" Rhodey rubbed his eyes.
Slap!
Tony rushed over and slapped the new thigh.
"Ow! What was that for, Tony? That's my brand new leg!" Rhodey barked, clutching his limb.
"You can feel it?" Tony asked, excited.
"Of course! Wait... yeah, I can feel pain! But just now..." Rhodey was confused. He hadn't felt a thing during the process.
"Don't overthink it. I temporarily shut down your neural pain receptors," Silas explained.
"How come we've never heard of you having this ability before?" Tony asked.
Silas shrugged. "I just learned the spell recently."
"This is so cool! Silas, does this mean you can save Gwen too?" Peter asked, his voice filled with hope.
"Of course. But that has to wait a moment. We need to finish up here first," Silas nodded. He fully intended to deal with Gwen's persistent fever. Peter, relieved to hear Silas had a plan, stepped back with a huge grin.
"Finish up? I thought it was over," Steve said, frowning.
"Not quite. Carol agreed to stop bothering Tony, but Nick Fury hasn't. And Tony, you still need to provide proof that you don't have the Mind Stone before Carol truly washes her hands of this."
This was the best Silas could do. Otherwise, Carol wouldn't have compromised. Silas didn't want to make an enemy of her—they still needed Captain Marvel for the eventual fight against Thanos.
"Proof?" Tony narrowed his eyes. "How am I supposed to give that?"
"Stark, do you have any evidence?" Natasha asked. Without it, they were looking at another round of fighting.
"How do I prove a negative? Do they want a minute-by-minute log of my day?" Tony snapped. "My word should be enough."
"This is a headache," Natasha shook her head. Steve stayed quiet, given his recent history with Tony, and Scott didn't feel it was his place to jump into an Avengers' family matter.
"They'll be here any minute," Silas noted, having received word from a Shadow Ninja monitoring Nick Fury. S.H.I.E.L.D. was inbound.
"Are you kidding? More fighting?" Pietro was still a bit traumatized by Carol.
"Let them come. I only lost because I was careless," Thor said defiantly. He was still stinging from his loss to a woman.
"Don't push it, Thor. You got handled pretty roughly," Tony retorted. He didn't want his friends getting into more trouble on his account.
"We are... we are always the Avengers," Steve said firmly, stepping forward. Tony looked at him but didn't say anything.
At that moment, a voice rang out:
"It looks like you're all discussing strategy. How's that working out for you?"
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