#123 - The Magical Uses of PUBA
"Alright boys," Natasha interrupted the chattering.
"Let's get down to business first."
"Ahem." Steve cleared his throat. "Natasha is right, we should be serious."
"Roger that." Hawkeye's tone still carried a hint of laughter, but he immediately suppressed it when he heard footsteps from behind.
Drawing his bow, nocking an arrow, turning and aiming—all in one fluid motion. Seeing the person lunging at him from behind, marked by the telltale fiery hands of the Extremis virus, Hawkeye didn't hesitate and released the string.
The arrow shot out, instantly sinking into the attacker's right eye socket. The attacker screamed and fell.
"Guys, I've got a new guest here," Hawkeye reported his situation. Not relaxing after his successful strike, he re-nocked an arrow, drew back the bow, and aimed at the attacker crawling on the ground.
"What's the situation? Can you handle it alone?" Steve's inquiry came through.
"Still under control for now." Seeing the opponent trying to get up, Hawkeye immediately shot the prepared arrow.
The arrow pierced the attacker's throat. The special arrowhead, upon contacting the ground, deployed into three grappling hooks that firmly gripped the ground, pinning him in place.
"Be careful, Captain. I think they might have more than just this one backup."
"Thanks for the heads-up." Steve acknowledged Hawkeye's intel.
"Too bad, no need. I already see them."
Just as Steve said, about a dozen hostile individuals were surrounding them from all directions of the parking lot.
Steve watched the encirclement with a grim expression. Fortunately, they had dispersed most of the civilians earlier, which could be considered a stroke of luck amidst the misfortune.
"Need to call for reinforcements, Captain?" Natasha asked over the comm channel.
"Yes," Steve replied.
Killian put on the coat handed to him by his subordinate. Although he was still shirtless underneath, it was better than being completely naked.
"Take care of them." Killian issued the order and turned to leave.
"Tell them to hurry, Natasha," Steve urged, dodging an enemy's lunge.
"Killian is about to escape."
"Don't worry, Captain." Greasepot used mud to disrupt the attacks of several enemies.
"I already called for reinforcements when Hawkeye was attacked. They should be here now."
As if to echo Greasepot's words, a Quinjet appeared above the parking lot with a roar of engines.
Several dark figures jumped from the still-descending transport, landing on the ground with a standard superhero landing.
"Looks like we made it just in time." Four Arms stood up, forcefully slamming his fists together in front of his chest, producing a muffled thud.
"If you ask me, we shouldn't have bothered with this low-profile nonsense in the first place," Thor said, twirling his hammer, clearly dismissive of Steve's plan.
"In the end, we still have to rely on our grand entrance."
"Plans can't keep up with changes, Thor," Diamondhead defended Steve.
"Steve's idea wasn't wrong, just the process went awry. No one could have foreseen this."
"Even if you're right," Thor didn't argue further on the matter. He looked at the enemies surrounding them with great interest.
"Let's talk philosophy after we're done fighting!"
The Extremis virus injectors' expressions turned serious. Although they didn't recognize some of the big guys, they had heard of Thor, the God of Thunder. They couldn't afford to relax even a bit against the enemies before them.
Upon seeing the Avengers' reinforcements, Killian quickened his pace even more, running towards the outside of the parking lot, where his subordinates had left a car for him.
Of course, Killian didn't think his car could outrun the Avengers' ship. He was just trying to complete the mission given to him by Ultron. He had to run at full speed until the mission was completed.
"That guy is running." Thor noticed the fleeing Killian, swinging his hammer and throwing it at him.
Killian's men certainly wouldn't let Thor have his way. A dozen people jumped towards Mjolnir, ready to block it with their bodies.
With the power of the God Hammer, after smashing through a dozen bodies, Mjolnir continued towards Killian. Hearing the sound of something breaking through the air behind him, Killian leaned to the left, barely dodging the blow at the cost of his right hand being shattered.
But Killian's movements didn't stop at all. He bypassed Mjolnir and continued to run out of the area regardless.
Seeing that the attack failed, Thor frowned and retrieved his hammer, preparing to give Killian another shot. Clearly, he was determined to get Killian, even though there was an easier way.
At this time, the enemies who had been smashed also repaired their limbs and rushed towards Thor and the others one after another, ready to create an opportunity for Killian to escape.
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"Looks like an army from hell," Thor complained.
These people had the flames left over from the fusion wounds on their bodies, and some even had cracks that were slowly repairing, with sparks splashing from their bodies from time to time, their expressions ferocious, almost like the legendary hellish demons.
Just as Thor was preparing to swing his hammer to deal with these people, a hand stopped him. Thor looked along the hand and found it was Goop, who hadn't spoken since earlier.
"Fighting like this will never end," Goop said.
"Leave it to me."
After speaking, he walked towards the onrushing enemies. From the front, it was easy to notice that in Goop's transparent abdomen, gases of different colors were rapidly churning, like a witch's cauldron in a fairy tale.
"Working tirelessly for the boss, the company isn't even yours, why can't you understand that?" Goop shook his head, saying the kind of cynical words that his race was known for.
"You're all being manipulated by the boss, blinded by a little bit of benefit, wake up."
Goop thrust his hands forward, and white mist sprayed out from all the round holes all over his body, instantly enveloping Goop himself and all the enemies.
"Is this guy okay?" Thor frowned and asked Four Arms next to him.
"Goop is definitely fine, but those people are not necessarily," Four Arms said with certainty.
"And I advise everyone not to get close to that white mist," Greasepot looked at the white mist with lingering fear.
"Who knows what kind of concoction he synthesized?"
"We may be familiar, but I'll still sue you for defamation if you talk nonsense," Goop's voice came from the mist.
Outdoors, the unmanned white mist was quickly blown away by the wind, and everyone was able to see the scene inside.
The white mist dissipated, and only Goop stood in place. All the other enemies had fallen to the ground, seemingly unconscious, and they no longer had the characteristics produced by the Extremis virus.
"A large amount of Extremis virus antidote, plus a little bit of sedative, oh right, because of personal preference, I also added a little mint fragrance."
