"Ding, ding!"
The elevator kept plumting downward.
Rowan was still brooding over Thanos when suddenly a thunderous boom shook the air.
The elevator jolted violently, then screeched to a halt with a harsh clang.
"Boom!"
The car groaned and swayed from side to side. From the shaft, another explosion rumbled upward.
Rowan's brows drew together.
That didn't sound like one of Shuri's experints gone wrong. It sounded like a fight.
Glancing at the completely stalled elevator, Rowan reached out, wedged his fingers into the gap of the doors, and pried them apart with a wrenching pull.
"Creak!"
The grating sound was enough to set one's teeth on edge as the doors yielded, peeled open as if they were made of paper.
With a push, Rowan vaulted down the shaft.
A faint hum vibrated the air as he slowed to a stop right before hitting the entrance of the B3 level, where light spilled into the shaft.
Hovering at the threshold, he imdiately caught sight of what was happening inside.
In the vast chamber of the third basent level, Shuri and Zhao Helen were desperately fending off several masked figures. Each wore a half-mask of black over their faces.
And towering within the underground space was a massive Dark Elf warship, its blade-like hull bristling with nace. The intruders fought and sabotaged in equal asure, wrecking equipnt while gathering stolen data and materials.
A glacial light flashed in Rowan's eyes.
To think soone dared to storm his ho ground!
So there were still forces on Earth reckless enough not to fear death.
Rowan drifted forward from the elevator shaft.
The mont he appeared, all seven or eight intruders snapped their heads toward him.
"Boss!"
Shuri and Zhao Helen cried out in unison, their voices full of relief.
Though Shuri had been doubly enhanced by the Heart-Shaped Herb and Extremis Virus, and Zhao Helen had taken the Heart-Shaped Herb serum, neither had much real combat experience. Even with their nanotech vibranium suits, they were clearly outmatched. Their opponents wielded troubleso abilities, and the two won had been barely managing to hold their ground.
They had tried to call for help, but the comms were dead jamd.
Fortunately, Rowan had arrived in ti.
Both won imdiately broke away, running toward him.
One of the masked intruders, a woman with flowing, wavy hair, lifted her hands.
A misty crimson glow unfurled from her palms.
In an instant, both Shuri and Zhao Helen were ensnared, cocooned in that eerie red haze.
Their voices cut off, their bodies convulsed as they struggled, as though caught in invisible hands with crushing strength.
Rowan froze mid-motion. He had been about to summon his flying blades to slaughter the intruders instantly, but now
His eyes narrowed.
That power… it looked unmistakably like Scarlet Witch Wanda's abilities.
A woman. Long hair. Hands glowing red.
Rowan studied her, recognition settling in.
At that mont, another of the intruders flickered forward, blurring into a streak of shadowy speed. He appeared at Rowan's side in the blink of an eye.
In his perception, ti itself seed to pause.
Smirking, he drew back a fist, intending nothing more than to give Rowan a black eye, to humiliate the so-called titan of Kroll Industries.
So this was the man who supposedly repelled alien invasions twice by himself? Didn't look so terrifying up close.
But the smirk froze on his lips when Rowan's eyes shifted turned and locked onto him.
Unlike everyone else who seed paralyzed under his speed, Rowan's gaze tracked him perfectly. Cold light glead in those pupils, sharp enough to devour him whole.
"Snap!"
Rowan's hand shot up, catching the fist mid-strike.
With that touch, the false stillness shattered.
To everyone else, it was as though the man had simply appeared before Rowan only to have his fist instantly caught.
It looked like teleportation.
Rowan lowered his gaze at his attacker and gave a short, derisive laugh.
If not for his recent breakthrough to planetary level, he might not have been able to follow such speed. But the strength behind the punch was pitiful. He knew at once who this was.
Quicksilver.
Which ant the woman could only be Scarlet Witch Wanda.
Rowan clenched his right fist and slamd it into Quicksilver's gut.
"Thud!"
The man flew like a ragdoll, hurled more than ten ters before smashing into the wall. He crumpled to the floor, limp as wet clay, unconscious.
"Pietro!"
The cry tore from Wanda's throat.
Everything had happened too fast. She barely had ti to turn her head before she saw her brother spitting blood, crumpled and broken.
Her mind went blank.
Then rage and terror fused, and she scread.
Her body erupted with wild, surging crimson energy.
"Boom!"
The shockwave tore through the chamber like a tidal wave.
Her two surviving comrades were flung across the room, sprawled in heaps.
Shuri and Zhao Helen staggered but remained standing, their suits glowing violet as they absorbed the kinetic force.
Rowan, with nothing but his bare flesh, stood firm against the onslaught.
"Interesting. Like telekinesis… but stronger, directed straight at the body."
He asured the pressure, his lips tightening in appreciation.
Scarlet Witch indeed.
This red energy felt like sothing beyond ordinary psionics.
"Could it be Chaos Magic? If so… the potential is staggering."
His eyes flickered with thought.
"You dared hurt Pietro!"
Wanda's eyes glowed red with fury, her whole body trembling.
Rowan's voice was cold and steady. "What? He was free to attack , but I'm not allowed to fight back?"
"You break into my ho, steal my work, strike at my people and when I retaliate, suddenly you can't stomach it?"
He stepped forward, each word like falling steel.
Wanda faltered, stunned into silence.
"Did you not prepare to die before you ca here?" Rowan's voice thundered.
And then his aura erupted.
The magnetic field of a planetary-level warrior filled the chamber, casting his figure in the shadow of a god.
Even Shuri and Zhao Helen swallowed hard under the oppressive weight.
Wanda's face paled.
She had awakened her powers barely two months ago. Her strength and her resolve were still fragile. Standing before Rowan, she felt like a child facing down a demon.
Her potential was imnse but she was nowhere near the Wanda who could one day tear down Kamar-Taj with her bare hands.
"Wanda, stop talking! Attack!"
Her comrades, battered but still alive, lunged again.
One transford, his skin hardening into rocky plates, each stride stamping footprints into the floor as his arm thickened into stone.
Another vanished into invisibility mid-charge.
Rowan's frown deepened.
Unfamiliar superhumans.
But his mind was already spreading outward, his psychic senses latching onto the invisible one.
"Invisibility… Could it be Baron Strucker's experints finally bore fruit?"
Hydra.
The thought clicked into place.
A blade of light flashed from Rowan's waist.
The flying knife streaked away, circling once before returning.
Faster than Quicksilver's sprint, faster than eyes could track.
Two thuds rang out.
The stone-skinned brute and the unseen man collapsed at once, neat crimson pinpricks blooming on their brows.
Wanda's heart lurched.
She had seen only the barest glimr of the blade's movent. If Rowan had chosen, it could have pierced her skull just as easily.
Why hadn't he? She didn't know. But the ssage was clear he was far more terrifying than the legends claid.
Her gaze darted to Pietro, broken on the floor, and she clenched her teeth, unleashing another torrent of red energy at Rowan.
But Rowan only summoned his vibranium and Black God suits around him, striding forward step by step, forcing through her power.
Her energy strained, snapped.
By the ti he reached her, she was pale and trembling, body sagging with exhaustion.
Rowan's hand closed around her throat and lifted her effortlessly into the air.
Her nails clawed at his arm, red light sparking as she struggled in vain.
Rowan's eyes t hers brimming with anger, fear, and a flicker of plea.
His response was a cold fist to her stomach.
"Thud!"
She flew back, pain twisting her face before darkness swallowed her whole.
Scarlet Witch Wanda collapsed unconscious.
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