An ambush on the way

The first half of Lockdown's reply had pleased Mercer a little, but the second half left him speechless.

Apparently, even being summoned by the system hadn't changed his original personality. He was still a bounty hunter at heart.

"All right, turn back into a car," Mercer said.

Lockdown complied, transforming back into a Lamborghini supercar.

Settling comfortably into the car, Mercer took out the Dark Saber to examine it.

He accidentally triggered the light blade. Luckily, Lockdown reacted quickly, or it would have punched straight through the window.

"Creator, please be careful!" Lockdown said with a hint of irritation.

"Hahaha, sorry, sorry."

Mercer looked at the lightsaber in his hand, excitement stirring within him. This would definitely give him a major boost in combat power.

"Even Stark couldn't replicate this lightsaber's construction. And its sheer heat must reach at least two hundred million degrees. I doubt any solid material could withstand a slash from it!"

At this early stage, there would surely be situations where his claws couldn't handle the enemy, or where revealing them would be inconvenient. That was when the lightsaber would come in handy.

I really want to test it against Carter's Vibranium Shield. I wonder if the Dark Saber could cut through it, Mercer thought.

Driving the Lamborghini, Mercer soon returned to the apartment building where he had lived.

The police cordon was still there, but slipping inside was easy for Mercer.

"Good thing I only have clothes to take. That makes things convenient. I'm so poor there's hardly anything to pack."

Mercer joked about his circumstances while humming a tune and packing his luggage. Suddenly, his hands stopped, and he spoke without turning around.

"How long have you been sitting there?"

He turned to see a slender figure concealed in the darkness.

Soft moonlight spilled over her, setting off her shapely figure beautifully.

She stood and walked toward Mercer. Only when the moonlight fell across her face did her identity become clear.

Carter, the female Captain America!

"I've been thinking about how you usually behave. You really kept your secrets well."

Carter drew out her words. With her blonde hair and blue eyes, she made it hard to look away as she spoke.

The passage of time hadn't diminished her charm. Instead, it had given her a distinctive air.

After all, not just any woman could receive the Super Soldier Serum, get frozen in ice, and survive into the present.

"I wasn't trying to hide anything. Things just didn't go according to plan."

Mercer shrugged as he spoke. That was true enough; even he hadn't expected to unlock the system at this particular moment.

"Where are you planning to go next?" Carter stepped closer as she watched Mercer continue packing.

Mercer's hands paused. Where was he going? He really hadn't thought about that.

Despite having so many great things now, he was still broke. It seemed he wouldn't even have anywhere to stay once he left...

As he considered where to go, Mercer abruptly tilted his head backward, as though something had flashed past his face.

Carter and Mercer both looked to the side, where a thumb-sized hole had appeared in the wall.

A sniper!

The word sprang into both their minds at once. Without another word, they immediately found cover in the room.

"Was that bullet aimed at you? Who did you piss off badly enough for them to bring out a sniper rifle?"

Looking at the bullet hole, Mercer's expression grew grave. The shooter was even using a suppressed sniper rifle.

Movies might show snipers being sent after people at the drop of a hat, but anyone involved in a job that called for a sniper assassin wouldn't be ordinary.

And when Mercer had dealt with Abomination in front of everyone earlier, he had kept his face well hidden.

Then who was behind this? S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Impossible. Nick Fury wasn't foolish enough to do that.

The information Mercer had given him was more than enough to astonish him. Surely he understood that gaining a friend was better than gaining an enemy.

"Then there's only one answer."

Mercer quickly reached a conclusion. He had just left S.H.I.E.L.D.; who else could have known he had been there?

There was only one organization: Hydra, which had long since infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.!

"I didn't expect you to move so fast. Then I won't hold back."

Mercer sneered inwardly. Luckily, the blacklight virus inside him could protect its host on its own.

The instant the bullet had been fired, it had sensed the killing intent and automatically moved him out of the way.

While he was thinking, Carter studied the view outside and soon pinpointed the sniper's position.

"The shot came from the top of a high-rise eight hundred meters away. It's too far. There's no way we can get up there and take him out."

The building towered into the clouds. By the time Carter and Mercer reached its rooftop, the sniper would be long gone.

"Mercer, do you have any ideas...?"

She turned to ask Mercer's opinion, only to see him toss his luggage bag into her hands, nimbly slip over to the window, and vault out.

They were on the seventh floor!

Before leaving, Mercer left her with one sentence.

"I'll deal with him. Wait here."

With that, he leaped down without the slightest hesitation.

Night stretched around him as Mercer sprinted through the darkness, though the surface he ran on was far from ordinary.

It was the side of the building!

Despite the wall being perpendicular to the ground, he raced across it as easily as if it were level pavement.

This was the main reason he had been able to infiltrate the S.H.I.E.L.D. building. Mercer had developed the blacklight virus's abilities, allowing him to run along walls as though they were flat ground.

If he covered those eight hundred meters by the normal route, he would still have to climb the building afterward.

By the time Mercer arrived, the sniper would indeed have slipped away.

But now he could run along building walls. With a slight push, he leaped from one building to the next.

It was as effortless as stepping over a small obstacle.

On the rooftop.

A man in a black suit lay prone on the ground, his sniper rifle braced in his hands as he aimed motionlessly at the building ahead.

"This guy's pretty good at hiding, but I've got the exit covered. Seven floors up-there's nowhere he can run," the man said confidently.

Abomination's massive body had smashed a huge hole in the building, and Mercer and Carter happened to be on the other side of the doorway.

To get out, they would have to cross a corridor in full view. If either of them appeared there, he was absolutely confident he could shoot them dead.

"Oh? You sound pretty confident."