A Direct Hit to Quicksilver!
23: Chapter 23: XLR8 Unlocked!
A Direct Hit to Quicksilver!
“Time’s almost up.” Owen Vance offered a very reasonable suggestion: “How about this, Pietro?
You stand right there and let me punch you a few times, and we’ll call it a day.
What do you say?” The progress bar for XLR8 was less than two percent away from completion.
Landing a few—or a few dozen—punches on Quicksilver would wrap it right up.
The proposal was a complete win-win.
Unlocking XLR8 without severely injuring or accidentally killing Quicksilver meant Wanda wouldn’t hold a grudge against him either.
Owen wins twice—a double win, in short.
At that moment, Wanda was staring at Owen with an extremely complex expression, showing no intention of attacking.
She couldn’t make sense of him.
Owen had attacked them, but he had also attacked Ultron.
Wasn’t he Ultron’s subordinate?
What on earth was he doing?
“Ha!” Quicksilver’s face turned livid at the suggestion.
Gritting his teeth, he let out a cold snort.
The battle intent in his eyes didn’t dissipate; if anything, it flared up even more fiercely.
Owen shrugged, not the least bit surprised.
“Alright then.” With less than two percent remaining, Owen could finally let loose a bit.
The fire machine gun spun up once more, pouring out a barrage of blazing bullets.
While the two could still exchange a few words between clashes down below, up in the sky, the Avengers aboard the Quinjet were involuntarily growing tense.
Hawkeye’s palms were slick with sweat.
He kept clenching and unclenching his fists to relieve the pressure.
Not long ago, he had clashed with Quicksilver himself.
In that brief encounter, he hadn’t managed to touch the boy even once!
The overwhelming sense of powerlessness resurfaced, and Hawkeye subconsciously projected himself into Heatblast’s shoes, his face darkening with anxiety.
Hawkeye gave a grim warning: “Trust me, that flame guy isn’t going to take down the silver-haired kid!” Stark curled his lip upon hearing that, thinking to himself: *Did you really need to say that out loud?* The silver-haired kid runs so fast, who could possibly take him down?!
However, compared to Quicksilver, Stark was paying far more attention to Wanda.
She was the primary reason he was so stressed.
That red-haired girl possessed the ability to manipulate minds.
Hulk’s rampage had been caused by her!
Stark believed that if they had to face her later, the Avengers might plunge into a civil war before Ultron even had to lift a finger.
At the thought of this, Stark’s expression grew so heavy it seemed ready to drip water.
Breaking out of his deep thoughts, Stark turned to look at Vision beside him, a glimmer of hope lighting up his eyes.
The Avengers’ greatest trait was their resilience; when facing powerful opponents, they would fight to the very end.
Now, Ultron had gained the help of the siblings, but they had gained Vision’s assistance.
The hope of saving humanity was still alive.
Regarding Vision—yet another creation of his—Stark harbored both anxiety and high expectations.
Being able to lift Thor’s hammer had already proven that Vision possessed the qualities of a worthy individual, someone who could stand shoulder to shoulder with them in battle.
So, what could he do?
Stark hoped Vision would bring them a pleasant surprise.
On the satellite feed, another round of combat unfolded between Heatblast and Quicksilver.
Heatblast remained in place as before, firing bullet-like flames from his arms like a machine gun.
The Avengers hadn’t witnessed Quicksilver’s earlier embarrassment, but they clearly saw his incredible speed now!
The group’s heartbeats quickened as they fell into a stunned silence.
Quicksilver’s speed on the screen was far too fast for the naked eye to capture!
He was like the wind—appearing out of nowhere one second, vanishing the next!
Half an hour from now, how were they supposed to deal with a speed monster like that?!
*** After stopping and flashing across the ground several times, the confidence on Quicksilver’s face gradually returned.
“A fish back in the ocean isn’t going to get caught by you again, pal!” Leaving behind those confident, almost provocative words, Quicksilver vanished from the spot once more.
Owen glanced at the shattered, melted ice on the ground beneath his feet, tactfully stowed his flaming machine gun, and smacked his lips.
The slick ice surface had indeed managed to hamper Quicksilver’s speed to a certain degree.
However, after a prolonged barrage of fire bullets, the ice had been completely destroyed, and even the lingering water had evaporated.
With Quicksilver’s feet making firm contact with solid ground again, his speed had returned to seventy or eighty percent of its original peak, despite his injuries.
And with his speed back, his confidence naturally returned with it.
With a swift *whoosh*, Quicksilver appeared right behind Heatblast out of thin air.
Quicksilver flashed a smirking smile.
“Pal, aren’t you going to keep using that freezing ability of yours?
That might be your only hope.” Heatblast didn’t move at all.
It seemed he hadn’t even sensed Quicksilver appearing behind him.
Yet even after speaking, Quicksilver didn’t dare attempt an attack, vanishing again in an instant.
He still had basic common sense.
He had realized earlier that Heatblast wasn’t using his full strength.
Now that he had finally regained his speed, he was far more cautious.
His full attention was focused on defending against any potential ice forming on the ground, not daring to strike recklessly.
Watching all of this play out, Wanda felt thoroughly exhausted by her brother.
She pressed a hand to her forehead, unable to watch any longer.
*Pietro clearly knows he’s no match for Heatblast, so why does he keep talking so tough?* *What on earth goes on inside the head of a rebellious teenage boy?* Wanda let out a heavy, bewildered sigh, while simultaneously feeling relieved that Heatblast had no real intention of harming them.
Otherwise, Pietro—that energetic idiot—would have been given a severe reality check just now instead of getting the chance to talk trash.
Meanwhile, after FRIDAY read Heatblast’s lips and relayed the dialogue back to the jet, everyone’s brows furrowed in unison.
Staring at Heatblast’s form, they all uttered the exact same word: “…Ice?!” Captain America was utterly baffled.
Had FRIDAY made a mistake?
How could a mutant who controlled fire also throw ice?
Stark’s voice interrupted his thoughts: “I don’t think that’s the main point right now.” Changing the subject, Stark smiled and asked, “FRIDAY, is the jet at maximum speed?” FRIDAY’s gentle voice echoed through the cabin: “No, sir.
However, flying at maximum capacity for an extended period will severely degrade the engine life.” Inside his helmet, Stark’s eyes lit up, and the corners of his mouth curled into a smirk.
After a few seconds of silence, FRIDAY responded: “Understood, sir.
Jet speed raised to maximum.
Four brand-new engines have been pre-ordered.” Stark finally spoke up, earnestly correcting her: “No, no, no, that’s far too wasteful.” “Just buy a brand-new jet directly.
It saves more time.” With the communications system fully synchronized, the entire team went silent once again after hearing the full conversation between Stark and FRIDAY Ah…
so the ‘wasteful’ Stark was referring to meant time, not the money they had assumed…
Cap, who had his arms crossed, glanced at the designer leather sofa nearby, silently took a step away, and stood on the cheaper bare floor.
Taking a deep breath, Cap spoke up: “Tony’s right.
The main focus right now isn’t the flame mutant, but Wanda and Pietro.” Looking at everyone one by one, Cap asked, “Once we land, how do we deal with them?” He was right.
Obsessing over whether the flame mutant possessed ice abilities was entirely the wrong focus.
The situation transmitted by the satellite made everything clear.
If the flame mutant were truly that hostile or aggressive, Pietro wouldn’t be running around freely down there.
Cap had even considered the absolute worst-case scenario: that by the time they arrived, the flame mutant might have already been sacrificed.
The group remained silent.
Facing someone who ran that fast, combined with the Scarlet Witch, none of them could come up with a good strategy at the moment.
Just then, Vision’s voice drifted over: “You can leave them to me.” Cap turned his head to look out the window: “Can you keep up with his speed?” Vision, who was flying alongside the jet, didn’t turn his head.
He lightly touched the stone on his forehead and murmured softly: “I can sense the siblings.
Perhaps I can persuade them.” “As for speed…” Vision finally turned his head: “Their abilities originate from the Mind Stone.
Steve, please believe me—no one can keep up with Pietro’s speed.” Right at that moment, Owen transformed into XLR8, charged straight toward Quicksilver—who was moving at near-teleportation speeds—and delivered a punch square to his face.
In that instant, the world went dead silent.
XLR8, successfully unlocked!