Thanks for the powerstones!
I'm motivated now!
Yosh!
***
The pupils of Mark, Vera, and Wanda constricted in shock.
"Pietro, are you sure of what you're saying?!" Wanda asked, but before Pietro could reply, a man ran toward the group.
"Mark, Wanda, Vera, General Viktor is calling for you," the man said.
Mark's face turned grim as he looked at Pietro. "We'll talk later," he said, following the man alongside the two girls.
In a dimly lit room, Viktor, Peter, and Bora stood around a spherical table. The air was thick with grief and somber tension.
With a creak, the door opened, and Mark and the others entered.
"You're back," Bora sighed. "It's good that none of you were left behind."
"Where are the items?" Viktor asked, his voice several degrees colder than usual.
"There was nothing," Mark replied.
Bang!
Viktor's fist smashed into the round table. The legs snapped under the force, tilting the table to one side.
Viktor exhaled, closed his eyes, and opened them again. "Get some rest. When information on the next cargo truck arrives, I'll inform you."
"Are you mad?!" Mark shouted, glaring at Viktor. "Keep targeting that organization, and Nadia might not be the only one who dies!"
Swoosh!
Viktor became a blur, appearing in front of Mark in an instant. His callused hand gripped Mark's collar and hoisted him up to eye level.
"Kid," Viktor's voice was terrifyingly cold as he glared back, "watch your tone."
Viktor released his grip and turned to the others. "Get some rest. I'll inform you when the next mission comes up." He turned on his heel and left the room.
"Don't be aggrieved. He's going through a lot," Bora said softly. "He and Nadia had only recently confirmed their relationship. He's grieving."
Mark didn't reply. Instead, he turned and walked toward the exit. "Wanda, let's go."
Peter silently watched him leave, then turned and walked out as well.
The moon hung high, and the chirping of insects echoed around the base. In a dark, inconspicuous corner, a figure leaned against the wall, holding a small earpiece to his ear.
"They're still alive?" a voice asked through the receiver.
"Yes," the figure replied in a low male voice. "And not only that, Wanda and Mark are completely uninjured. It seems there's more to their abilities than we thought."
"The more profound their abilities are, the better," the voice responded. "Now that Nadia is dead, Viktor will surely want revenge. We will initiate Phase 2."
"I understand, sir," the figure said, slipping the earpiece into his pocket before slipping away into the dark.
In the room shared by Mark, Wanda, and Pietro, the three kids sat in a circle. Heavy silence dragged on between them for several minutes.
"So," Pietro spoke, breaking the quiet. "What should we do now?"
Mark ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I don't know."
They couldn't leave the country, nor could they refuse to participate in the war. Either option would lead to the same destination: capture.
Only by eradicating HYDRA's influence in Sokovia would they have a chance to wrest control of the country away from the corrupt politicians. But that path would bring casualties. High casualties.
Mark wasn't afraid for himself since he couldn't actually die, but Wanda and Pietro didn't share his immortality—especially Pietro, who hadn't even awakened his ability yet.
'Do we really have to fight?' Mark scratched his head in frustration.
With Viktor acting recklessly out of anger and a mole lurking within their ranks, the future of the rebel army felt bleak.
Time quietly slipped by, and a month passed.
During that month, the rebel army had gone quiet. No new raids, no protests.
For Mark, this was ideal. He used the downtime to refine his strength, drawing upon Buu's absorption capability to assimilate the biological traits of various insects.
From raw physical strength and speed to heightened reflexes, the individual improvements were minor—and he could only extract a specific trait from a given insect species once—but accumulating these traits across different insects steadily boosted his base parameters.
Only Wanda and Pietro knew about his secret training.
In addition to physical absorption, Mark had also begun experimenting with ki in combat to reinforce his body.
While he had successfully mastered basic physical enhancement, he still couldn't fire energy blasts from his hands—that specific output technique hadn't come pre-packaged with Buu's innate memories.
Then, at the end of the month, the army's quiet period was abruptly shattered by the arrival of three bulky men.
Inside the briefing room, the inner circle of the rebel army—the Freedom Fighters—stared at the three excited men across from them.
"Talk," Viktor commanded, his voice colder than ever. "Didn't we agree not to contact each other again?"
"We couldn't help it!" one of the men blurted out.
"We had to!" another chimed in.
"Because we found a way to win the war!" the last one declared.
***
Fuck!! All fanfic Authors that write Marvel stories need an Award!!!!!