Exactly how many and which prisoners were held in the Raft?
the numbers were likely staggering. The Raft had been operational for about half a year, and the count of super-criminals deemed by various national courts to require special containment had already reached over five hundred. This served as a testament to the extent to which superhuman and high-tech crime had escalated globally following the Battle of New York. Of course, the vast majority were prisoners from European and American countries; after all, in these nations, it was difficult to sentence super-criminals to death.
Had they been in other countries, they would likely have already gone to see God—or the King of Hell.
Currently, faced with the paralysis of the Raft and the fact that the Avengers had yet to arrive for support—leaving only a few heroes to handle the crisis—the prisoners began to harbor their own little schemes, looking for ways to escape. Most of them would eventually realize they had no way out and would be forced to remain on this broken ship.
However, a few exceptional individuals were seriously considering how to make a run for it.
Abomination was one of them. He smashed through a marble wall with a single punch; he had no idea where this marble structure had come from or how it had ended up inside the Raft, but he didn't care. Instead, he went straight to find what he needed—anything that could float would do.
As for the Absorbing Man, that fellow had already bolted. The moment a hole was punched through the prison wall, that son of a bitch had transformed into a stream of water and beat a hasty retreat without wasting a second. His speed of escape was such that even Abomination marveled at it, leaving one to wonder how he had ever been caught in the first place.
"You lot just keep making your noise. How long do you think you can keep this up?"
Abomination picked up a bathtub he had ripped out of some unknown room, leaped into the air, and, relying on his formidable physical prowess, cleared several kilometers in a single bound before plunging into the sea with the tub held high.
Next, Abomination intended to use his super strength to race against time, sitting in the bathtub and paddling with his hands until he reached land!
"My God, is that green-assed big guy planning to paddle all the way to shore with his hands?"
An unclothed Deadpool watched the soaring Abomination while pulling on his pants. He glanced at Sabretooth, who had just stepped out of a cell after ripping off his mutant power-suppression collar, and flashed a crisp grin.
"Shall we swim for it, boys?"
The five members of the Weapon X squad, including Lady Deathstrike, possessed powerful self-healing abilities. They could simply dive straight into the Atlantic and swim to the coast. It wouldn't even matter if they ran out of energy halfway and drowned; as long as someone fished them out onto a shore or a boat, they would be up and bouncing again within minutes.
One could say they were the group with the lowest cost of escape.
And that is exactly what they did. Almost the entire Weapon X squad immediately jumped into the ocean—except for Deadpool. As the only "moral mercenary" who had been temporarily released twice to help superheroes solve problems and hadn't run off even after obtaining a teleportation belt—Deadpool did not flee.
Not only did Deadpool not flee, he even began to stroll leisurely through the Raft. But before he could take two steps, a silver flash pushed him back into an anonymous cage, and the cell door was promptly blocked by a massive pile of furniture.
Deadpool was dumbfounded. Though he was handsome and dashing, he actually didn't have super strength! He couldn't move this furniture!
Deadpool wasn't the only prisoner being rounded up. Shocker, who had just been swatted aside by Doctor Octopus despite his well-intentioned attempt to help, was also kicked back into a cell by Quicksilver, who then blocked the door. Although Quicksilver saw that Spider-Man was in danger, he trusted Peter's abilities on one hand and had to consider the severity of the overall situation on the other.
In short, Quicksilver moved with near-maximum speed to neutralize most of the super-criminals whose equipment or abilities had not yet fully recovered, tossing them all back into cages. Up to this point, very few prisoners had successfully escaped.
Then, he discovered Ant-Man being trampled underfoot. Pushing away the one-armed man who was stepping on Dr. Pym—careful not to kill the man in the process—he helped the scientist up.
"Hello, Dr. Pym. I'm Pietro. You might know me; I've helped the Avengers before."
Quicksilver helped Pym stand and asked about his condition: "Are you alright?"
"Not great. The Big House section houses the most dangerous super-criminals, those who have no hope of reform. You must be careful."
"We'll see about that, Dr. Pym. First, let me get you out of here."
Quicksilver quickly moved Pym out, just in time to see the Fantastic Four entering. After setting Pym aside, he stretched his joints and explained the situation to the four: "Uh, Spider-Man is currently engaged with the enemy, fighting several at once. I suggest you go help him quickly."
The Human Torch looked at Quicksilver with a strange expression: "Why aren't you helping?"
"I'm busy locking the prisoners back up. Unless you can run as fast as I can." With that, Quicksilver vanished in a blur. Johnny Storm merely shrugged, then ignited his flames and blasted forward.
He had heard recently that Spider-Man and the Captain had dealt with a modified original Human Torch; this was a perfect chance to ask which of them was actually stronger.
"Wait a minute!"
Pym hurriedly stopped the others who were about to follow the Human Torch. He stood up with Janet's support: "You must be careful. At the very bottom of the Big House, there is a terrifying enemy that even the full roster of the Avengers wouldn't be certain of defeating..."
Meanwhile, as Peter was dealing with the Sinister Six, the situation shifted.
"Octavius, the Fantastic Four are here!"
It wasn't just the group that had witnessed the Fantastic Four's entry; Electro had also learned of it immediately through his control of the Raft's remaining systems. Electro had been giving Spider-Man "electrotherapy" to create an opening for Rhino, but he turned pale with shock upon seeing this.
The six of them combined hadn't managed to take down Spider-Man yet. If the Fantastic Four arrived, what hope would they have?
Otto used his mechanical tentacles to brutally tear open the outer wall of the Raft, creating an exit for everyone, and then roared at Electro: "Dillon! Discharge all your current! Paralyze the Raft one more time!"
"All of it?"
"All of it!"
Realizing they intended to flee, Peter hurriedly began to cast a spell. However, as the electrical current surged rapidly, a powerful shockwave accompanied by an intense surge of electricity knocked him back. Then, to Peter's astonished gaze, the Sinister Six actually transformed into a beam of light and vanished.
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