"What is this?!" When an unfamiliar scream echoed through the air, Thor couldn't help but pause for a moment. He turned his head in the direction of the sound, only to see a naked man lying next to Storm, the man he had intended to rescue, the Invisible Man.
In fact, the Invisible Man's abilities weren't bad. He could change the structure of his skin to turn invisible. However, since he could only alter his skin structure, rather than create an invisibility field, he could only make his body invisible while his clothes remained visible. That's why, when he became visible again, he appeared as a naked man.
Apart from his invisibility, the Invisible Man was also physically quite formidable. His speed, strength, and defense far exceeded that of a super soldier, even reaching the levels of Gamma Warriors and Beast Soldiers. However, his skin structure while invisible was vulnerable to electrical currents, which led to his current embarrassing situation.
Thor was slightly confused by this sudden appearance of the Invisible Man. He didn't understand what had just happened, and seeing the naked Invisible Man left Thor feeling somewhat uncomfortable... it was hard on the eyes.
"Storm, are you crazy? Didn't you hear me calling you? Why are you still using lightning?" The Invisible Man was more bewildered than Thor at the moment. He shouted at Storm, upset. After all, he had risked his life to save her, only for her to act like an idiot, not only refusing to cooperate but also causing his exposure.
"Are you her companion?" Thor raised an eyebrow, his tone serious as he questioned the Invisible Man. "So you're from the Black Cloak Enforcers, or Hydra?"
"Hydra? Damn! You hid this well, I should've never saved you!" The Invisible Man's face changed at Thor's words. He had followed Storm secretly after seeing her sneaking off with some mysterious information, intending to keep an eye on her. At first, he was too afraid to approach, but when he saw Storm pinned to the ground by Ego's hammer, he hesitated for a moment before deciding he couldn't just watch her die, especially after peeping at her so many times.
But he never imagined Storm would be so unreliable, causing his appearance to be revealed. What was worse, she was actually part of Hydra. The Invisible Man was now completely caught off guard.
"Shut up, you idiot!" Storm, who had already lost her sanity, screamed at the Invisible Man. "Get this hammer off me, I'm going to kill this fake god!"
"Fuck! You can't even beat him and you call him a fake god? Are you out of your mind?" The Invisible Man was also not in a stable mental state. Perhaps the brutal experiments they had undergone to gain their powers had something to do with their instability, but in this life-and-death situation, the Invisible Man lost his calm and became increasingly agitated.
Thor, watching from the side, was bewildered by the interaction between Storm and the Invisible Man. From their conversation, it seemed the Black Cloak Enforcers were some kind of group similar to the Avengers. Whatever their methods, they at least appeared to follow a superhero-like code. But now, Storm—who had clearly been brainwashed by Hydra—was completely insane, and the Invisible Man wasn't acting any more sane himself. He was a naked exhibitionist, and his manners left much to be desired.
"Ugh!" Just as Thor was distracted by Storm and the Invisible Man, a hot shockwave slammed into Thor, knocking him back a little.
"Is this Earth now this weird? Also... wait, are you trying to mimic Steve, as in your Captain America?" Thor, now steadying himself, looked at the man in black who had charged at him and couldn't help but comment. The man's outfit resembled Steve's so much that Thor had to point it out. Even the man was carrying a shield, albeit a triangular one instead of Steve's iconic round shield. It seemed this guy wouldn't be able to pull off the same Newtonian shield tricks as Steve.
"I'm not that cowardly kid without any combat experience! I'm Soldier Boy! My achievements far exceed his!" Soldier Boy, initially calm, suddenly reacted angrily when he heard Thor's question. He charged at Thor, swinging his fist at Thor's head.
"Smack!" In the next moment, Soldier Boy's fist was caught by Thor, while Thor's other fist slammed into Soldier Boy's head!
"Boom!" Despite Soldier Boy's quick reactions, he still had time to raise his shield to block, but he was sent flying back, landing heavily on the ground.
"Vibranium?" Thor glanced at Soldier Boy's shield with a hint of surprise, then sneered. "You still dare to call yourself a copy of Cap? Even if it's vibranium, it can't stop me now!"
When Thor first arrived on Earth, even with Mjolnir, he wouldn't have been able to break through a vibranium shield. The shield's ability to absorb force would have kept it intact, but now that Thor's power had reached a different level, even vibranium couldn't handle him.
"How is this possible?!" Soldier Boy struggled to get back up, still unable to accept the fact that he had been knocked back so easily. In the past, during countless tests within the Vault Group, no one had been able to break through his vibranium shield, let alone send him flying.
Despite being a member of the Black Cloak Enforcers, Soldier Boy had longed for others to possess vibranium gear, but the Vault Group had refused, since Soldier Boy had been designed to emulate Captain America, and his shield was a special piece of equipment. Others in the Black Cloak Enforcers didn't deserve such equipment.
The Black Cloak Enforcers were just tools created by the Vault Group, with no control over what powers or gear they could have, especially in a world filled with extraordinary abilities.
"I'm going to kill you!" Soldier Boy, enraged, began to gather terrifying amounts of heat energy in his chest. This was the very attack that had previously forced Thor back, but now, with his fury fueling him, Soldier Boy's energy was even more destructive.
"Whoosh!"
"Boom!"
However, when the fiery energy was released, the outcome was not what Soldier Boy had expected. Just as the energy was about to hit Thor, it was batted away by a hand crackling with thunder, sending it crashing into the distant ground, causing little more than a small tremor. Earth was no longer the same Earth, after all.
"Boom!" In the next moment, as Soldier Boy still hadn't fully processed what had just happened, Thor's fist hit his abdomen with devastating force, piercing straight through Soldier Boy's body. Thor gripped Soldier Boy's body tightly, not allowing him to fly away.
"To be honest, you guys are really getting on my nerves. I don't know where all these freaks are coming from, but are you all out of your minds?" Thor said, feeling Soldier Boy's body start to heal. He raised the struggling Soldier Boy off the ground and spoke coldly.
"Zzzzz!"
As Thor spoke, a massive surge of lightning energy erupted from his arm. When the lightning flowed into Soldier Boy's body, it wasn't enough to heal him—Soldier Boy's entire body was nearly fried.
If Soldier Boy hadn't endured unimaginable tortures during the Vault Group's experiments, he would have collapsed from the sheer electrical overload by now.
It was clear that despite their erratic behavior, these "subjects" had a strong survival instinct. For example, even though Storm had lost her hand trying to free herself from Mjolnir's grip, she was so desperate to survive that she severed her own palm.
"I want you dead! Fake god!" After cutting off her hand, Storm seemed even more insane. She charged straight at Thor, as if she had lost all rationality.
"Are you out of your mind? A hammer did that to you and you're still charging at him? Are you not afraid of dying?" The Invisible Man, now recovered, looked at Storm's suicidal charge with confusion. However, he wasn't about to stop her. His survival instincts kicked in as he began to distance himself from Thor.
"Boom!" Before the Invisible Man could escape, Storm's reckless charge was stopped by a swift kick from Thor, sending her flying back. The lightning energy from Storm collided with the Invisible Man, and he was knocked out of his invisibility.
"Zzzzz!"
The Invisible Man was revealed once more, his invisibility broken by Thor. Thor had clearly done this on purpose, knowing the Invisible Man's weakness. Now that it was exposed, Thor would take advantage of it. He had no intention of letting these three troublesome individuals leave alive.
Though Thor had once been impulsive and had a basic moral code, the brainwashing had twisted him. Like the Winter Soldier or Storm in this state, he had become cold and ruthless, valuing life as little as a blade of grass.
Despite his earlier surprise at the Black Cloak Enforcers' behavior, Thor wasn't going to let anyone who continuously attacked him off the hook.
"Die! I want you dead!" Soldier Boy, barely holding on after being punched through, still managed to grab onto Thor's leg, leaping up and wrapping his arms around Thor's torso, trying to hold him in place.
"So?" Thor, frowning, looked at Soldier Boy's actions with confusion. Was this really going to hurt him?
"Huh? Wait a minute!" Thor then remembered the glowing energy on Soldier Boy's chest earlier. He understood now—Soldier Boy was trying to take them both down together!
"Boom!" Just as Thor realized what Soldier Boy was planning, a terrifying explosion erupted from Soldier Boy's body, centered around Thor, engulfing everything in its vicinity, including
the area where Storm and the Invisible Man had been!
In the end, only a pile of rubble remained where Thor had stood.
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