Latveria's Dire Straits, Susan's Despair

[System notification: The target is not currently in a state of imminent death; the Substitute Death Skill cannot be triggered.]

A cold, mechanical voice flashed through Lynn's mind.

Although Susan's Force Field was riddled with cracks, the pale blue energy membrane was still stubbornly holding on. This fraction of a second of remaining energy caused the system's judgment mechanism to malfunction.

"Hold!"

Lynn cursed inwardly and abruptly cut off the skill channeling. Without the Super-Soldier Serum and without Spider-Sense, he had squeezed the adrenaline out of this mortal body to its absolute limit.

His military boots slammed into the scorching ruins, and he slid along the ground like a cheetah.

"Boom!"

The instant Lynn plunged into the azure Force Field, the green ray from Doom's palm slammed into the very top of the Force Field like a burst dam.

"Crack--Bang!"

The Force Field finally succumbed to the terrifying magical pressure and shattered with a deafening roar.

A torrent of violent green energy, mixed with molten bricks, poured down. Without the slightest hesitation, Lynn grabbed Susan's battle suit collar with his left hand and, with a sudden burst of strength in his right, tumbled her into the deep pit on the right.

A scorching wave of air swept past Lynn's back, instantly Carbonization the S.H.I.E.L.D. -made bulletproof vest, and the acrid smell of burning flesh assaulted his senses.

"Ugh..." Lynn groaned and fell heavily to the bottom of the crater, the rubble cutting several bloody gashes on his face.

Susan was shielded beneath him, and apart from getting a little dusty, she was completely unharmed.

The elegant and composed Invisible Woman was now completely stunned. She looked at the agent who was pressing down on her, his face covered in blood, and could even feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest from the exertion.

"You..." Susan opened her mouth.

"Shut up, breathe, activate your flank Force Field." Lynn interrupted her coldly, showing no mercy. He quickly flipped over and jumped up, kneeling on one knee, holding a Tactical Dagger in a reverse grip, his eyes fixed on the top of the shell crater.

Susan was taken aback. She was used to Reed's long-winded tactical deductions and to being treated as a data node. But this ordinary agent in front of her, with his unquestionable rudeness in his tone, gave her an unprecedented sense of security.

She instinctively raised her hand, and a faint, eerie blue Force Field barely managed to spread above the crater.

"Insect."

Doom's cold voice emanated from beneath the metal mask, tinged with condescending disdain.

Doctor Doom descended slowly from mid-air, his heavy boots thumping dully on the charred ruins. He didn't even glance at the two people hiding in the crater, but went straight to Mister Fantastic Reed, who lay in a pool of blood.

"Reed!" Susan saw Doom's movements clearly, her pupils contracted sharply, and she instinctively wanted to rush out.

Lynn grabbed her wrist with surprising force. "Going out means death."

"Let me go!" Susan's eyes reddened, her voice filled with undisguised despair.

Doom walked up to Reed, looking down at his former nemesis. Reed's body was still twitching slightly as he tried to wrap his incredibly strong arms around Doom's ankles.

"A pointless struggle."

Doom raised his right foot, and his metal boot slammed mercilessly onto Reed's back.

"Click."

The sound of bones cracking echoed through the ruins. Reed let out a piercing scream, his body instantly going limp, and he completely lost consciousness.

"No!" Susan's tears finally burst forth. Her mental Defense Line were ripped apart at that moment. Her fiancé's fate was unknown, her teammates were all wiped out, and she herself was exhausted of magic, unable to even maintain a complete Force Field.

Despair overwhelmed her like a tidal wave.

"Miss Storm, your team is utterly pathetic." Doom turned around, his dark green cloak billowing wildly in the wind. His eyes gleamed with an even more piercing green light, and the armor plates on War Armor shoulders opened layer by layer, revealing a dense array of miniature missiles.

Magic and technology merged perfectly at this moment.

"Now, let's end this farce."

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh--!"

Dozens of miniature missiles, trailing plumes of flame, rained down like a swarm of bees, blocking all escape routes around the crater. At the same time, Doom formed hand seals, and a green magic circle rapidly formed in mid-air, sealing off the space above.

There was no way to ascend to heaven, nor to descend to earth.

Susan closed her eyes in despair. She knew it was all over.

But just then, a rough, blood-stained hand suddenly pressed down on her shoulder.

"Hold your Force Field steady, leave the rest to me."

Lynn's voice was eerily calm, without a trace of fear in the face of death.

Susan opened her eyes, staring in shock at the agent. He was just a mortal! How could he possibly withstand the Deity- like power of Doom?

Lynn didn't explain. He pulled out the last two high-explosive fragmentation grenades from his tactical vest, bit off the pins with his teeth, calculated the trajectory of the missile, and threw them out with a vengeance.

"Boom! Boom!"

The grenade was detonated in mid-air, and the resulting Impact and fragments forcibly interfered with the guidance systems of several miniature missiles, causing them to detonate prematurely in mid-air.

Using the thick smoke and flames from the explosion, Lynn, like a lone wolf cornered in Extremis, leaped from the crater. Instead of retreating, he faced Doom's magic circle, stepping on a raised concrete slab to propel himself into the air.

"Overestimating yourself." Doom sneered and waved his hand casually.

A violent surge of magical energy slammed into Lynn's chest.

"Pfft!" Lynn spat out a mouthful of blood in mid-air, the sound of his ribs breaking clearly audible. His body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the edge of Susan's Force Field.

"Lynn!" Susan cried out in alarm, desperately trying to maintain the crumbling Force Field with both hands, protecting him within it.

Lynn coughed up blood and struggled to his feet. His special operations uniform was soaked in blood, and his left arm was twisted at an odd angle, clearly broken.

But his dark eyes were fixed on Doom, and a mocking sneer even appeared on his lips.

"Is that all you've got, Tin Can can?"

Doom stopped in his tracks.

As the dictator of Latveria, Doctor Doom can tolerate the resistance of superheroes, but he will never tolerate the provocation of a mere mortal ant.

"You've successfully angered me, you bug."

Doom slowly raised his hands. This time, he didn't use those fancy miniature missiles.

The reactor on his chest, emitting a ghostly blue light, began to operate violently, and massive amounts of technological energy flowed through the War Armor's circuitry into the green magic circles on his hands.

The surrounding air was instantly sucked away, and the air pressure dropped so low it was suffocating. The rubble on the ruins began to defy gravity, slowly floating into the air, before being directly Oblivion into dust by that terrifying energy.

A truly deadly move.

"Lynn... don't worry about me, just go..." Susan's voice trembled. She looked at the thin figure blocking her way, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

Reed abandoned her when calculating the odds of winning, while this complete stranger, an ordinary agent, risked his life to buy her even a second of breath.

"Go?" Lynn spat out a mouthful of blood, his right hand gripping the already dulled Tactical Dagger tightly. "The S.H.I.E.L.D. operation code doesn't include abandoning the target."

Before he finished speaking, the magic circles in Doom's hands had already expanded to their maximum extent.

"Oblivion."

A green Destruction Ray, as thick as a bucket and carrying earth-shattering energy pressure, tore through the air and hurtled straight toward Susan's Force Field.

"Snap!"

The moment they made contact, Susan's already crumbling azure Force Field emitted an extremely shrill wail.

Cracks instantly spread across the entire energy membrane.

The Force Field shattered completely in the next second, turning into countless blue specks of light.

The Destruction Ray, carrying the heat of death, descended upon the hood.

Susan's mind went blank.

In that fraction of a second, a dark, extremely crazed glint finally appeared in Lynn's eyes.

[Ding! The target is in a state of certain death.]

[Substitute Death Skill, conditions met.]

Lynn suddenly turned around.

Instead of dodging the ray that could vaporize him, he spread his arms and pounced on the desperate Susan with an absolutely irresistible force.