Chapter 375

Steve landed a punch, and Grant was sent flying backward—but fortunately, the power of the Power Ring defied physics; Grant instantly halted midair and charged back at Captain America, when suddenly he heard a shout: "Hey! Over here!"

"Do you all enjoy playing these little tricks?" Grant said coldly, but just as the voice came from that direction, a strand of webbing shot through the air with a *whoosh*.

Just as Grant prepared to teleport away, he suddenly realized his intended escape point was occupied by Iron Man; Stark sneered: "Your 'little tricks' were predicted by artificial intelligence—your movement patterns calculated. Magic? As long as it's wielded by a human, it's nothing hard to counter."

In the instant Grant's positioning was locked, the webbing stuck to his leg—but he reacted swiftly, his body erupting in a stronger burst of yellow light.

Then he was slammed to the ground by Spider-Man.

No sooner had he landed than his own shadow pinned him down; a girl at the street corner extended her hand, and black shadows coiled around Grant's body. As he struggled to break free, spiky crystalline growths spread up from the ground.

Grant barely rose into the air to evade—when a bolt of lightning struck him down, followed immediately by ninja shurikens and a staff whistling through the air…

Grant wasn't a true Lantern, and this power originated from another world. Here, there was no emotional spectrum to serve as backup energy; the limitation wasn't just endurance—it affected burst capacity too. Grant had to ration his energy carefully, ensuring he didn't deplete it mid-battle. He couldn't risk mission failure, so he moved cautiously.

loubiqu.

Fortunately, Shieler didn't intend for Grant to face the Avengers alone—he'd already found Grant a partner.

Strange was hurrying down a Manhattan street, phone in hand, muttering curses: "Shiler Rodriguez! Damn it! I told you I was on vacation—why the hell did you drag me back so urgently?! What could possibly be so critical that you're this panicked???"

As he spoke, a deafening *boom* erupted—his stretch of road shattered into debris. Strange turned, phone still in hand, to see a massive crater blasted into the pavement. Looking up, he saw a figure glowing with yellow light hovering above him, staring down.

Grant tapped his earpiece and said: "Black suit, long face, furious expression—that's him…"

Strange glanced at the panicked crowd fleeing around him, then didn't hesitate—he waved his hand, and a deep crimson ribbon materialized in his grip, lashing straight at Grant.

Grant had never faced a sorcerer before and nearly got hit—but thanks to remote tactical guidance, he lured Strange into several attacks, then abruptly shifted his movement pattern, causing Strange's ribbon to swing wide and miss.

Missing wasn't enough—the crimson ribbon struck Captain America square in the face as he leapt forward.

Captain America was mid-leap, unable to fly; the impact knocked him off balance, nearly sending him tumbling off the rooftop.

Before Strange could even apologize, Spider-Man shot through the air and caught Steve. Then came Stark's rapid-fire barrage, his voice echoing over Manhattan: "Strange! It's you!"

"What? No… I didn't! What are you talking about? I don't know—"

Seeing Strange's reaction, Stark narrowed his eyes—Strange was hiding something.

Stark had worked with Strange long enough to know his temperament; Strange's temper rivaled Stark's own. If someone had opened fire on him without warning, Stark would've exploded—but Strange's demeanor suggested he'd expected it… and was deeply guilty.

Indeed, the moment Strange saw Stark, he retracted his ribbon. He had no fight left—he immediately tried to open a portal and flee.

Just then, a strand of webbing stuck to Strange's wrist-guard. Strange turned—and Spider-Man held out his hands: "You owe us an explanation, Mr. Strange."

Facing the advancing Avengers, Strange stepped back, raising both hands: "Hey! Wait! Listen—I can explain! It's all a misunderstanding—I can explain—"

"Explain? What exactly do you plan to explain?"

As soon as he asked, Stark suddenly realized: "Wait—I know his plan. His target is the ship!"

All the Avengers turned. Stark spoke with certainty: "He sent assassins to kill T'Challa, drawing our attention to Wakanda—while he used a sorcerer's portal to reach space and steal the ship…"

"When his trail was exposed, he used other Hydra agents to distract us, while he hid himself…"

"To disrupt our operations against Hydra, he sent this yellow-glowing freak to fight us."

"Every tactic in this sequence is consistent—identical in style. Clearly the work of one mind…"

"Strange, I never thought you had this kind of cunning."

Strange was bewildered—Hydra? Yellow-glowing freak?

He didn't know what Hydra was—but there was one yellow-glowing freak right here. He looked up at Grant, hovering in midair.

Grant's earpiece crackled with Shieler's voice: "Master of deduction, Stark—your reputation holds true."

At that moment, Grant suddenly attacked the Avengers head-on. Stark dodged an energy beam and shouted: "You're definitely working together!"

"Spider-Man!!" Stark yelled to Peter. Peter understood instantly—he fired a web-line toward a building, swinging himself upward. Instantly, several small drones launched from behind Stark's armor.

The drones resembled a flock of birds—tiny, but numerous. But as they reached Peter's back, they suddenly unfolded into a pair of metallic jet wings, locking onto Spider-Man's suit. Red Bee whispered in Peter's mind: "Ready?"

With a *whoosh*, Spider-Man launched skyward, executing a dazzling midair flip before diving straight at Grant.

Spider-Man's greatest weakness had always been his inability to fly—he relied on webs to swing between buildings, bound by physics, always leaving blind spots.

Plus, swinging on webs gave no acceleration—speed inevitably bled away, exposing openings. Now, with mechanical wings and Red Bee's high-speed propulsion, his battle with Grant became pure aerial dogfighting—two human fighter jets executing advanced maneuvers in midair.

As the yellow and red figures danced through the sky, Steve and Stark fought Strange together.

Strange was getting angry—he'd only performed a few secret experiments on the ship, hadn't damaged it at all—was Stark really this overreacting?!

Strange had just become Sorcerer Supreme; since taking over Kamar-Taj, he'd never fought a real battle. He decided not to explain anymore—he'd show Stark today what a Sorcerer Supreme truly was.

As the battle raged, Grant's earpiece received Shieler's order. In his office, Shieler held a stack of files, scanning them as he spoke: "Fly them east—about nine hundred kilometers. There should be a barren beach. Fire an energy beam into the ground there—you'll find a hidden Hydra base."

Grant didn't ask why. He flew straight toward the direction Shieler indicated. Shieler set down the communicator and sighed: "I wonder why Hydra always trains these emotionless agents—he never asks a single unnecessary question. How do I even explain this?"

He turned to Pikachu, who stared back with his tiny black eyes. They locked gazes for a long moment—then Pikachu sighed: "Fine, I'll ask: why are you making Grant lead them there?"

"Because some researchers gave me critical data—indicating that an abandoned Hydra base there might hold something Captain America needs…"

"Something Captain America needs? What?"

"The Winter Soldier."

On the streets of Manhattan, the battle reached fever pitch—but the situation was simple to describe: it had happened before.

As soon as Grant moved, Spider-Man chased him—but once Spider-Man pulled far away, Stark's attention shifted, and he dragged Strange toward that direction. And when Strange moved, Captain America naturally followed…

The group began another Christmas dinner-style chase. When Grant reached the designated spot, he began plowing the ground with energy beams.

With the Yellow Lantern power fully unleashed, the destruction was massive. Spider-Man didn't understand what he was doing and held back—but behind him, Stark saw only smoke and explosions. He cursed under his breath and accelerated toward the site.

Seeing Stark move, Strange's fighting spirit surged—he immediately followed. The slowest, Captain America, lagged far behind.

Fortunately, before Grant fully tore open the ground, the front-runners had already clashed. Steve arrived just as a thunderous *boom* echoed—the earth collapsed beneath them.

Before everyone's eyes appeared a massive crater in the center of the wasteland, its bottom revealing a long-abandoned base—the ceiling and overlying rock had already caved in.

Steve instantly recognized the symbol on the ground: "Hydra base?!"

At that moment, Grant fired another energy beam at the central metal door of the base hall. As the door groaned and crumbled, a device inside activated.

A piercing alarm blared—the entire underground base flashed with blinding red warning lights.

Then came faint mechanical grinding sounds. Spider-Man, still airborne, froze. Without hesitation, he dove straight toward Captain America.

"Oh! Ugh!!"

Struck by Spider-Man's full-speed charge, Steve was thrown hard. As he struggled to his feet, he saw another figure—familiar, unmistakable—where he'd just stood.

"Bucky?!!!!"

——————Extra Notes——————

The plot has now sprinted off in another direction…