Even though from the outside it seemed to have the size of a medieval castle, the place was much larger than it appeared. Underground, numerous floors extended, endless corridors and rooms that none of them bothered to explore. They only advanced, knocking down enemies in their path.
"More and more white hallways, what's the point of making it look like a castle if the inside doesn't match?" asked Tony, launching several missiles at a group of Skrulls ahead of him.
The explosion roared behind his back as he moved to the next group, but from the cloud of smoke, two elongated arms shot out, wrapping around him like ribbons on a gift.
It was Pietro who freed him, moving so fast that only a silver flash marked his path. Due to the Skrull's plastic nature, he couldn't harm it, so he used his speed to twist its body around itself, tying it into knots like in a cartoon.
"Who knows? Maybe they just wanted to show off," said Pietro, his voice fading into the air as he was already striking another group in a different direction.
A sudden blast echoed just as he passed through a new hallway, a mine. The explosion sent him flying forward through the air, where he couldn't control his body, landing directly into a hail of bullets. In an instant, his body was riddled with holes before he fell to the ground.
However, neither Gravik nor Ulysses, who were watching through the cameras, expected that to work. True to their expectations, Pietro's body moved backward in midair, as if the scene were running in reverse, and in the blink of an eye he was moving again, this time unknowingly dodging the mine.
"Pietro, could you pay a bit more attention to your surroundings?" said Leonardo, exasperated.
He had never tested the limit of his abilities, if such a thing even existed. He didn't know if he could exhaust them or if they required rest, but he doubted it. After all, they came from the Infinity Stones, sources of endless energy, but still...
"Did it happen again?" asked Pietro, without stopping his movements.
He had learned hand-to-hand combat from Natasha, and though his style wasn't as refined as hers or Steve's, his speed compensated for any lack of technique.
"Twenty-seven times, Pietro," replied Leonardo, emphasizing the number.
That's right. Pietro had died twenty-seven times. They were in the base of an alien race that had been preparing an invasion for years, with their strongest soldiers gathered there, all enhanced with abilities stolen from humanity, and on top of that, a seer capable of predicting every move. In contrast, there were only four of them. Dying wasn't surprising. Leonardo had considered it from the start and knew he would have to use his ability many times. But even so, Wanda had only died once, Tony six times, while Pietro not only surpassed both combined but almost quadrupled them.
It wasn't due to a lack of skill. Pietro was simply reckless.
"Pietro, when Natasha and Loki return, you're going to train more," came Wanda's voice.
The enemies around her were enveloped by chaos magic, crashing into each other before being thrown aside indifferently. The hallway was empty for a few seconds until more Skrulls arrived.
"What? Are you crazy, Wanda? I don't want Loki and Natasha hitting me, I'm pretty sure they enjoy it."
"Get stronger and they won't be able to hit you." Wanda rolled her eyes with indifference at her brother's complaints.
As if fueled by a rush of adrenaline, Pietro increased his speed, striking the enemies with such ferocity that he barely left any work for Tony and Wanda.
The hallway was cleared, and they reached an elevator that descended to another level. But before they could even step inside, a voice echoed through the speakers, mocking and arrogant.
"Well, Avengers, I must admit you've surpassed my expectations, but this is where it ends."
"Don't you ever get tired of talking so much?" Tony replied with disdain. He didn't take it seriously. In fact, he barely listened. He had too much confidence in Leonardo's abilities.
"Shut up, Stark!" roared the voice in fury. "And you, Laplace, I already figured out how your power works. It's based on possibilities, and it also has a time limit. If it didn't, you would have revived your allies much later, which would have been a tactical advantage. But guess what, this time there's no possible chance of victory, I..."
"A bomb?" interrupted Tony.
"Y-You, how...?"
"It's always the same. Villains have no originality. When they say that, it usually means they want to blow us all up."
There was silence. Then Ulysses's voice returned, colder. "Whatever. You won't survive this."
"And now?" asked Wanda, looking at Leonardo.
"A bomb," murmured Leonardo, thinking for a second. "If he says we have no chance, it must be about to explode. Then let me first..."
A green light spread from Leonardo's body, covering the entire floor.
"Now we're good."
"What did you do?" asked Tony.
"I put the floor on pause. If he plans to kill us and is certain we can't escape, then the explosion must cover this entire floor. Which means the bomb is here too."
Leonardo stared into nothingness, his eyes turned white for a moment. "I see."
He turned to Tony. "It's a special bomb. It covers the whole floor and extends up to the surface, including the two levels we already cleared. To keep it simple, it's capable of killing us and it's designed to neutralize your powers so they can't do anything to it. Can you disarm it?"
"Is it technology?" asked Tony, raising an eyebrow.
Leonardo nodded.
"As long as I have enough time, there's no technology I can't understand. Where is it?" Tony replied, with fully deserved confidence.
Leonardo shook his head. "No need. If you can do it in the future... then it's already done."
As soon as he said it, the bomb was deactivated. No one saw it, but every piece was removed and disassembled with invisible precision, as if a hand were manipulating it from afar. That hand would be, in another moment, Tony Stark's. Leonardo simply skipped the process. Then he restored time to normal.
"So, are we leaving now?" said Pietro, pressing the elevator button thousands of times per second with impatience.
"Wait," interrupted Wanda, looking at the three of them. "We're not going to go floor by floor like this is a video game, are we?"
Leonardo didn't respond, expressionless, but Tony and Pietro lowered their gaze, embarrassed. Clearly, that was exactly what they had in mind.
Wanda looked at them with annoyance, raised her hand, and moved her index finger. The elevator was ripped from its place by that gesture and thrown against a wall, smashing through it. In its place, a hole descended all the way to the bottom of the base.
"Then let's go straight to the boss," said Tony, continuing the video game analogy as he dove into the void.
Wanda followed him, dragging Pietro and Leonardo with her magic.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)