"Don't rush."
Hela's voice came from the rubble, low and arrogant, steeped in contempt that seeped from her very bones. "You're next, you stray Female Thor!"
Her Sword of Death whirled into a dark green vortex beside her, sending death energy spreading in every direction and shrouding the entire wreckage of the Bifrost.
The other Avengers desperately tried to hem her in, attacking relentlessly.
Pietro knelt at the edge of the steps, dark green energy still ravaging his body.
He could feel that death energy crawling through his blood vessels toward his heart like countless tiny venomous snakes, draining the warmth from every inch it passed.
His vision began to blur.
Silvery afterimages peeled away from his body layer by layer, scattering in every direction like dandelion seeds blown apart by the wind.
A trickle of dark red blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, mixed with dark green residue, and dripped onto the ice-blue bridge.
"I..."
His voice was hoarse and broken, forced through clenched teeth, every word carrying pain that burned up from his bones. "I was too careless..."
"Don't talk. Hang on."
Natasha dropped from the air, her silver-blue armor rippling slightly as she landed. She planted the Square Hammer at the edge of the steps, and blue arcs of lightning burst across its surface, temporarily driving back the death energy still spreading around Pietro.
She knelt beside him and reached out with her left hand, pressing her fingertips against the edge of the gash in his abdomen. Thor's power seeped from her palm and flowed slowly through the channels within his body, neutralizing, stripping away, and expelling the death energy corroding his organs, layer by layer.
Pietro's pupils dilated for an instant. Pain and defiance roiled in his light brown eyes, along with a certain