"NO!!!"
Wanda, who had been holding the Hulk in a tight grasp, shrieked, her voice nearly breaking. The scarlet mist instantly abandoned its hold on the Hulk and slammed into Iron Man, Tony Stark, who had only been showing off for a few seconds.
BOOM!!!
A crushing pressure, like a mountain falling from the sky, instantly enveloped him. If it hadn't been for J.A.R.V.I.S.'s warning, Tony Stark felt he would have been smashed into a bloody pulp by this enraged woman.
CRACK!
CRACK CRACK!
CRACK CRACK CRACK...
Towering trees with lush branches and the sprawling, perfectly arranged single-family villa were all obliterated in the Scarlet Witch's furious attack.
Within a fifty-meter radius, all structures were unceremoniously reduced to rubble. The Chitauri elite soldiers, who had been hiding in the shadows under the siblings' orders, didn't die at the hands of their enemies. Instead, they were absorbed into the debris from Wanda's indiscriminate energy blast. A few small red flowers were impaled on the piles of metallic corpses, as if in a gesture of encouragement and praise.
The enraged Hulk froze, and Tony Stark, who had flown up with Pepper, also froze.
Even Pietro, lying on the ground, stopped struggling.
All eyes were on the woman in the wreckage, who had clearly underestimated her own power.
How could this be... my power...
Wanda stared down at her own fair hands, her eyes filled with the same terror as everyone else. She had never displayed such a powerful outburst at the HYDRA training base.
"Pietro..."
"Pietro!"
"Are you okay? Can you walk?!"
After the shock, Wanda remembered her brother on the ground.
"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm okay."
"Just... a little blood." Pietro, who was long used to being injured from his time in HYDRA, got to his feet with his sister's help.
"Chitauri soldiers? Are you two working for Lothar?"
Tony Stark was still wondering what was going on with the siblings who had suddenly appeared on his doorstep. But when he saw the Chitauri soldiers Wanda had accidentally killed, he immediately understood their connection.
"Not yet, but we will be after we kill you."
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Pietro didn't dare to flaunt Lothar's name just yet. As he said, their mission for vengeance wasn't complete.
"I don't remember doing anything to offend Lothar." Though he was loath to admit it, Tony Stark knew that during the Battle of New York, he was practically insignificant in Lothar's eyes.
"Of course. Because it's us who want to kill you."
"Blood for blood, Tony Stark."
The fury on Pietro and Wanda's faces only made Tony more confused.
CRASH!
In the next second, the Iron Man armor floating in the air was suddenly forced to the ground. If Tony Stark hadn't reacted quickly, Pepper Potts would have broken her legs.
"Go to hell and atone for your sins, Tony Stark!" Red-eyed, Wanda waved her arms, but was instantly knocked away by the Hulk, who had just joined the fight!
"Wanda!"
"I don't know where your hatred for me comes from, but to be honest, it's no big deal. After all, there are plenty of people who hate me in this world."
Tony Stark winced as he stamped his aching feet, but he still couldn't resist using his signature wit to provoke the siblings.
Hundreds of miniature missiles fired from Tony's suit, weaving a tight web of explosions in the blue sky.
"DANGER!"
Pietro, wanting to protect his sister, felt a gust of wind at his feet. He redirected the hundreds of missiles with his super speed, turning them all back toward Tony Stark and the Hulk.
"Okay, I admit it. I'll remember you two now." The incessant alarms from J.A.R.V.I.S. made Tony's face tense.
He fired his repulsor beam, which was controlled by J.A.R.V.I.S. for maximum energy output. It detonated the airborne missiles.
BOOM!!!
The shockwave of the explosion rattled all of Washington, D.C. The Hulk, in his ripped shorts, lay on the ground in the epicenter of the blast. Half of Tony Stark's helmet was gone. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was shallow.
"Tony?"
"TONY!"
Pepper Potts, who had been thrown to the ground by the blast, felt her lips tremble. Tony's motionless body filled her with dread.
"Hah... is he... dead...?"
The Scarlet Witch's forehead was slick with sweat as she dropped her energy shield. Her lips were pale from the exertion. After all, her powers had only recently been awakened, and she had already pushed past her limits.
"I don't know, but to be safe..." Pietro, also out of breath, looked at the fallen Tony Stark with a grim glint in his eyes.
When you kill someone, you always finish the job. This was something he had learned in the HYDRA organization. You must put your knowledge to use.
However, just as Pietro was about to deliver the final blow, a figure descended from the sky and stopped him in his tracks.
"That's enough."
"You passed your test."
Lothar's hands were behind his back as he floated above the ground, his expression cold. Wanda and Pietro immediately bowed.
"You're... Lothar...?!" Pepper, who had scrambled out of the rubble and rushed to Tony's side, stared in terror at the figure who had just arrived.
The mysterious man who killed Odin, the All-Father, during the Battle of New York.
"Tony Stark is as good as dead."
Lothar slowly raised his right hand. The energy beam that gathered in his palm shot through the clouds and straight through the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier that was flying into Washington's airspace!
BOOM!
The fiery explosion immediately stained the skyline!
"Because now, no one can save him." Lothar lowered his hand, his gaze sweeping over the others in the wreckage. He smiled contemptuously. The only person who could still fight, the Hulk, had shrunk back into Banner and stubbornly refused to come out after seeing Lothar.
"Let's go. It's time to leave."
With one last glance at the barely breathing Tony Stark, Lothar, whose mind was whirring with schemes, disappeared.
"Yes, Your Highness Lothar."
Pietro and Wanda bowed respectfully, exchanged a look, and, after another look at their dying enemy, turned to leave.
Tony Stark is close to death. It's about time for you to proactively go to Vormir and find the Soul Stone that can 'counter' me, isn't it?
To be safe and to give them a sense of an "unbeatable" foe, Lothar made sure to blow up the Helicarrier as well.
Back on his ship, a smile played on Lothar's lips, which confused Hela, who had just rushed over from Asgard.
Is it my imagination? Why do I suddenly feel like this single-celled organism is scheming something?
"Hela? What are you doing here?" Lothar saw Hela waiting for him in the ship.
"I told you, I needed to talk to you about something... who is that?" Hela, who was about to speak her mind, spotted the woman Woz had teleported back. She automatically ignored the man. Hela was certain she had never seen this woman before.
"Wanda, she's my subordinate." Lothar was puzzled.
Hela narrowed her eyes, looking past Lothar and sizing up Wanda, who was supporting Pietro.
Her first impression: A major bad omen.
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