Hydra

After deciding on a direction, Fury and Captain America fought as they retreated.

They fled toward Tony Stark's luxurious villa. As Iron Man, a B-Class Hero of the "League of Heroes," he had become quite famous in New York.

"Spirit detected—Hermit. Disaster level: Demon!"

"Traits: docile, timid, afraid of strangers."

"She is currently the only Spirit who can be captured. Change targets immediately!"

Winter Soldier, who had been pursuing Fury, suddenly caught sight of Yoshino playing in the water. After weighing his options, he immediately abandoned his original target.

Among all the Spirits who had appeared in the real world, nearly every one possessed the terrifying power to destroy a city. The slightest mistake could lead to catastrophic consequences.

But "Hermit" was an exception.

No matter what kind of attack she suffered, she would only panic and flee, never fighting back. She was practically the ideal target for capture.

"Whoosh—"

Winter Soldier took the ** handed over by his companion and fired directly at Yoshino.

The shell trailing a crimson tail of flame exploded beside the blue-haired girl.

Boom!

The blast wave from the ** knocked Yoshino to the ground.

Thanks to the protection of her "God's Authority Astral Dress: Number Four," she was not injured.

"Watch out! Are you okay?"

The rabbit ** in her left hand asked anxiously.

"Mm..."

The girl responded in an almost inaudible voice. Her pale little face was full of fear as her eyes darted around in search of an escape route.

As the youngest of all the Spirits, she hated fighting and only wished to play quietly whenever she appeared in this world.

Yet every time she showed herself, she would encounter attacks from unknown people.

Although ordinary ** could not penetrate her Astral Dress, the impact of the ** still stung—like being lightly pricked by the tip of a pencil.

"Stop, Bucky! She's just a child!"

Captain America, who had been preparing to retreat, suddenly threw his shield, splitting the ** in Winter Soldier's hand in two.

To be so ruthless toward such a young girl was simply inhuman!

Fury, hiding behind cover, helplessly rubbed his forehead.

The chance to escape that they had finally managed to seize had vanished because of Captain America's impulsiveness. Now, they were surrounded once again.

Fury had a curse stuck in his throat that he desperately wanted to spit out.

The biggest problem now was this: without ** Captain America by his side to protect him, how was he supposed to deal with the traitors within S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra's elite forces? Fury was only an agent who had undergone rigorous training, not some superhero capable of sweeping through armies!

"Run, Yoshino! They're fighting over there!"

"Mm."

Yoshino timidly climbed to her feet and immediately turned to flee. Even though she possessed the strength of a Demon-level Disaster, she hated conflict and hated seeing bloodshed and pain even more. She gathered spiritual power beneath her feet and leaped lightly into the air.

The blue-haired girl walked through the sky and vanished from the edge of the battlefield in the blink of an eye.

"Don't think you're getting past me, Bucky! I can keep this up all day!"

"Please move aside. Hermit is the priority target."

"I don't care about that. Bullying such a little girl isn't honorable."

Captain America had no idea that the pitiful little girl in his eyes could crush him with a single finger. Yoshino was merely afraid of battle and had never taken the initiative to attack anyone.

"Brother, if you don't come soon, I really can't hold on!" Fury shouted.

The moment he showed his head, he would definitely be shot full of holes.

"Hold on. The distress signal has already been sent. Heroes patrolling nearby will arrive to support us soon."

"God, I hope I can last until then."

Yoshino rode her spiritual power away from the battlefield and eventually stopped in an alley. The drizzling rain was blocked by her Astral Dress, making her look like a spirit in the rain.

However, she failed to notice the slippery ground beneath her feet and stumbled forward.

Bang!

Her face and stomach slammed heavily into the ground, sending water splashing everywhere. The hand puppet in her left hand fell off and flew ahead of her.

The blue-haired little girl lay motionless on the ground, like a fallen young animal.

"Li Chen, look, a child fell down."

"Where?"

Li Chen, who had just left the maid café, rounded the corner and immediately spotted the figure lying on the ground. He stepped forward, picked up the hand puppet, and gently lifted the drenched little girl into his arms.

"Are you okay?"

"Thank you..."

Yoshino answered in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz. Her seaweed-like blue hair was fluffy and soft, her cherry lips pressed together, her lashes lowered, and her gemlike blue eyes secretly studied him. Usually afraid of strangers, she nonetheless felt an unusual sense of closeness toward Li Chen.

In fact, the feeling was quite similar to what she felt toward Mio and Yatogami Tohka.

As an ice Spirit born from Mio's Spirit Crystal, Yoshino possessed the authority of "Mercy" among the Kabbalah Sephirot. "Um... could you... give the hand puppet... back to me...?" Like a startled little animal, she spoke timidly.

Naturally, Li Chen would not refuse such a simple request. He handed the puppet back to Yoshino and gently set her down.

After putting the rabbit hand puppet back on, Yoshino visibly calmed down. "Oh my, you really helped us out, big brother!" the hand puppet said in a shrill, lively voice.

Li Chen knew very well that this voice came from Yoshino's other personality. Since she was not good with words herself, the hand puppet usually spoke for her. "Be more careful next time."

"Mm-hmm~ But when big brother saved her just now, you seemed to touch Yoshino's soft body, didn't you? How did it feel?" The hand puppet swayed about, making a gesture as though clutching its belly in laughter. Clearly, it did not mind Li Chen's "carelessness."

"Since you helped her, we'll count it as a special bonus! After all, it's the first time Yoshino hasn't resisted someone touching her. Maybe she likes you..." Before it could finish, Yoshino, her entire face red, covered the puppet's mouth with her right hand.

"Yoshino, you're a Spirit, right?"

"Mm..."

Sensing the familiar aura around Li Chen, she nodded honestly. This was the third Spirit Li Chen had encountered, and also the gentlest one.

Although she disliked fighting, being able to take in a Spirit girl with Demon-level power was an unexpected gain. "Would you like to come with us?"

Mio and Tohka also invited Yoshino. "Wow, you want to take someone home the first time you meet? Big brother is really bold!"

"It's not a joke. They're Spirits too."

"Li Chen has lots of delicious food there."

"Come with us."

Tohka's invitation came purely from a sense of closeness toward one of her kind, while Mio looked at Yoshino as though she were her own child. Bringing a child wandering outside back into the family was undoubtedly the best choice—with her timid personality, she truly was not suited to living alone.

"Really... can I?"

"Of course."

With the natural closeness between Spirits, Yoshino quickly let down her guard.

Perhaps following this big brother and the other two Spirits was the best choice. At the very least, she would not be attacked for no reason.

"Wanda, are you ready?"

"Mm. Target confirmed: 'Hermit.' There are also two unknown individuals and one ** Hero."

"I'll grab Hermit later. You handle the control."

"Fine, but with a ** Hero present, we should finish this quickly."

"Don't worry. When it comes to speed, I've never lost." Quicksilver was brimming with confidence.

After locking onto the target, he instantly turned into an afterimage and rushed out. In the blink of an eye, he dove down from the sky, reaching for the unsuspecting Yoshinon.

Smack!

An arm suddenly blocked his path.

Quicksilver's pupils contracted. Before he could react, he was slammed hard into the ground. No matter how he struggled, he could not break free from the suppression of the black-haired, red-eyed young man.

"Your speed is decent, but you're still not there yet." Li Chen pinned down the man attempting a sneak attack. "Quicksilver? Is Scarlet Witch your younger sister or older sister?"

"What's it to you? Let me go!"

"Be sensible, and you'll suffer less."

"...She's my younger sister." Feeling the sharp psychic force against his neck, Quicksilver immediately gave in.

After learning that Wanda was his younger sister, Li Chen confirmed that this was the Marvel movie version of Quicksilver—the heavily weakened version, whose speed was only three times the speed of sound and who had even died to ordinary ** while fighting Ultron. He was truly one of the most miserable superheroes.

According to the original plot, the siblings should have gained their powers through Loki's Scepter, the Mind Stone. But Loki was currently fighting the awakened Thor and had not yet arrived. This meant the way they had awakened their powers might have changed—perhaps the Mutant X-Gene, or perhaps a Monster Factor had triggered their abilities.

"Let him go!"

Scarlet Witch Wanda floated down from the rooftop, energy surging around her. Though the movie version of her had astonishing potential—her Chaos Magic could warp reality, and she had once nearly twisted off Thanos's head—she was still immature now that her powers had only just awakened.

"Oh? Buy one, get one free?" Li Chen raised a brow and smiled as Scarlet Witch Wanda drifted down to the ground.

The Scarlet Witch from the comics might have terrifying power, but the movie version? She was far inferior. One came, he would beat one. Two came, he would make it a pair.

"Let Quicksilver go!"

"And if I... don't?"

"Then I'll... break your neck."

Scarlet Witch had originally been unwilling to hurt innocent people, but the black-haired, red-eyed young man before her made her feel an unprecedented pressure. Crimson energy flared around her body, condensing into a giant hand that fiercely gripped Li Chen's throat, attempting to snap his neck through brute force.

Yet no matter how hard she exerted herself, the dark red energy wrapped around Li Chen's neck did not budge in the slightest. Their strength was simply not on the same level.

Not to mention the vast energy contained within Li Chen's body, even his physical strength alone was enough to crush the likes of Thanos and Boros.

"Save it. You're still far from enough."

With a flick of Li Chen's finger, Scarlet Witch's body was pulled toward him against her will before he lightly set her down on the ground—treatment completely different from Quicksilver's.

Quicksilver had just been blasted away at high speed and smashed face-first into the ground. His entire body was now in agonizing pain, screaming from head to toe.

"Hydra? They're just a bunch of ants. Stop running with them."

"You don't understand Hydra's power at all!" "Hydra's influence spans the entire world!"

Still affected by Hydra's brainwashing, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch instinctively retorted upon hearing Li Chen belittle their organization. However, their loyalty to Hydra was far from fanatical. A little "socialist education" combined with "capitalist guidance" might be enough to wake them up.

"So what? Other than you two test subjects and Winter Soldier, what else can Hydra produce?" "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place? That might work in mythology, but in reality, they're nothing more than a factory for disposable cannon fodder."

Li Chen's tone was filled with disdain. An organization like this had no value beyond mass-producing expendable tools.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver wanted to argue, but under Li Chen's absolute suppression of strength, they were left speechless.

They had to admit that he was right—Hydra as a whole probably could not defeat even one true hero.

"We will never betray the organization."

"That's right. We'd rather die than become traitors!"

Listening to the siblings' heroic declarations, Li Chen smiled indifferently. "That isn't up to you."

With a casual wave of his hand, invisible psychic power transformed into tough ropes, binding the two firmly. With the Marvel movie version of Quicksilver's speed, even if he had started running a minute earlier, he still would not have escaped Li Chen's grasp.

"Zero, please take Tohka and Yoshino back."

"Understood."

Zero accepted the order and handed Yoshino a League of Heroes member bracelet. Although her favorability toward Zero was high, it seemed that before gathering all the Spirits, she was unwilling to wear this bracelet—otherwise, with her Quasi-God-Level spiritual power, Li Chen could break through to the God-Level at any time.

The originally romantic date had been ruined by one sudden incident after another. Li Chen put this debt on Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tab.

"They're tied too tight!"

"Prisoners don't get to complain." Li Chen formed protective layers over their bodies with spiritual power, then shot into the sky at two hundred times the speed of sound. In only a few seconds, he arrived at Hero Academy.

The shockwave from landing made Quicksilver's stomach churn violently, while Scarlet Witch suffered no such effect due to her special treatment. Suddenly, out-of-control laser beams came roaring toward them. Li Chen casually blocked the beams with two fingers, while Cyclops, Scott Summers, who had caused the trouble, hurriedly put on his specialized glasses and suppressed his rampaging power.