322. A Fight to the Death!

322. A Fight to the Death!

(Sizzling... Sizzling... Voice recognition activated... Avengers code recognized—G-2 (Guardians of the Galaxy)-001)

The cockpit of the Hulkbuster suddenly lit up. Blue indicator lights and virtual screens powered on, and the new control interface automatically booted up, with one system after another coming online.

(Welcome, Star-Lord)

"Hmm, I've never had high praise for Stark, but now I realize how terribly wrong I was." Old Star-Lord fumbled around, trying to locate the control levers inside the cockpit. "He's definitely a genius, but can someone tell me how to use this thing?"

Although the Hulkbuster was successfully powered up, Star-Lord clearly hadn't yet figured out how to operate it. It's understandable, though, since even when Iron Man was alive, he had only programmed the heroes' information into the system, but no one had ever personally piloted one of these high-tech suits.

(Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, improved Stark's original design. Now, the mech doesn't require manual control. It responds to the wearer's thoughts, so you can control it entirely with your mind.)

HERBIE, floating swiftly beside the Hulkbuster, reminded him through its electric microphone.

"A great upgrade, but what I want to know is, where did all the weapons go?" Star-Lord frowned as he looked at the text on the screen. "'Weapon systems offline'—what does that mean?"

(The upgrades to the Hulkbuster aren't complete. Mr. Fantastic dismantled most of its weapons. They should still be in the armory.)

Hearing this, Star-Lord was speechless.

"Oh, for f—"

On the other side of the battlefield, the fight between Shazam and Gladiator had reached its peak.

Both were superhuman-level heroes, and even their fists and palms clashing created terrifying sonic booms. Their battleground had become an area no one else dared to approach, for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

Gladiator had also noticed that Shazam was blind in one eye, leaving a gap in his field of vision. He continuously exploited this blind spot to press his attack, limiting Shazam's space to maneuver.

"You're sure you're not a Kryptonian?" Shazam became more and more alarmed as the fight continued. The immense strength of this alien warrior reminded him so much of Clark, especially since Gladiator could even shoot heat vision from his eyes at times.

"I don't understand a word you're saying!" Gladiator roared as he grabbed Shazam by the shoulder and slammed him into the wall with all his strength.

With a deafening crash, the two of them smashed into the alloy wall, causing massive cracks to spread throughout the reinforced structure. The entire underground facility began to hum and tremble from the impact.

The violent shaking affected everyone for a moment. Most of them instinctively crouched down, lowering their center of gravity to stabilize themselves, which in turn allowed their opponents to find openings.

Raven's magic was disrupted, forcing her to halt her spell. Astra, floating in the air and unaffected by the ground tremors, immediately seized the opportunity, firing a laser beam. Raven, still off-balance, was hit squarely by the molecular ray, sending her flying backward and crashing hard to the ground, skidding for a short distance.

"No!"

Seeing this, Wolverine, Logan, wasted no time and leaped forward. However, Fang wasn't about to let him go. The beast followed closely behind, slashing at Wolverine's back, leaving deep claw marks.

Logan's eyes were bloodshot, filled with veins. As an aging hero, Logan had lived through too much. When he first saw Raven, the fragile and pitiful young girl reminded him of his own children.

Just like when he was with the X-Men, seeing Raven reminded Logan of his former students, those poor kids who had suffered because of their mutant abilities. Now, seeing Raven hurled away, her life hanging in the balance, Logan's primal rage erupted.

"I won't let another child die in front of me!"

Inside, Star-Lord had already prepared his elemental gun, the barrel aimed squarely at the shocked Warbird's face.

A surge of flames erupted from the gun, blasting Warbird with a massive shockwave that sent her flying through the air, snapping beams and ventilation pipes, before slamming her hard into the ground.

As Warbird shakily tried to get up, Batwoman Kate, who had been waiting for the moment, picked up her discarded blades. She gripped the handles tightly, then used the momentum and the alien metal's sharpness to drive them through Warbird's body.

"Urgh..."

Feeling the pain in her back, Warbird tasted blood in her throat, which sprayed everywhere.

"I usually don't like killing people, but I'll make an exception for you," Kate said coldly as she yanked the blades back out. "And besides, you don't really count as 'people' anyway."

A sharp metallic clash rang out behind her. Kate turned and saw Star-Lord, piloting the Hulkbuster, locked in combat with Warstar.

Warstar was a terrifying machine, comparable to the Hulkbuster. It consisted of a massive robot operated by a small alien at its core. They could move independently, but usually functioned together.

(Sizzling... Warning! Warning! The time barrier oscillator is in an unstable state. Once it fully activates, it will destroy everything within a one-mile radius.)

HERBIE's voice suddenly blared out a loud warning.

It turned out that when Etrigan had severed one of Titan's legs, he had accidentally damaged the energy control pipeline that stabilized the multiversal time barrier oscillator. Now, blue sparks were crackling along the pipeline, and small arcs of electricity were dancing across its surface.

That alone would have been bad enough, but to make things worse, Pulsar's powerful electromagnetic forces had interfered with the devices in the facility, causing most of the electronics to short-circuit. The multiversal time barrier oscillator began to rumble ominously as a result.

"Can't you see—I'm a little busy right now?!" Star-Lord yelled.

Pinned beneath Warstar, Star-Lord still wasn't skilled at controlling the Hulkbuster, moving far more slowly than Warstar.

"HERBIE's right. Damn it, this place is going to blow up any second!" Barbara had quickly rushed to her Bat-tablet, and sure enough, the screen also displayed a warning signal.

"Isn't there a way to shut it down?" Kate asked, frowning as she anxiously came over to Barbara.

"I can try, but I can't guarantee success. The device is way too unstable now, and it can't take any more intense damage. But with everyone's destructive power, I'm not sure it'll hold," Barbara replied, her expression grim. She knew she had to act fast.

"HERBIE, give me access to the network systems."

(Sizzling... Fine, you're friends with Star-Lord and Wolverine. That makes you friends of the Fantastic Four... Sizzling.)

Once she gained access to the Baxter Building's network, Barbara immediately set to work. She took off her gloves to use the keyboard more effectively, and her slender fingers flew across the keys, moving so fast that they almost blurred.

"Any chance?" Kate asked again.

"I've forcibly activated the safety protocols left by the Fantastic Four. This should help stabilize things for now. But if they keep fighting, I can't make any promises," Barbara said, exhaling a sigh of relief, before glancing at the ongoing battles and quietly sighing again.

.....

????30 advanced chapters on p@treaon????

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323. Temporal Radiation!

324. The Wolverine Returns Home.

325. Madame Masque.

326. Days of Future Past!

327. Kang the Conqueror!