A faint scraping came from the distance.
Lucian turned his head and saw Makkari gritting his teeth as he crawled forward with one leg severed.
His willpower really was impressive. Nearly half his leg was gone, yet he still wanted to escape.
Unfortunately, a speedster without speed was no different from a venomous snake with its fangs pulled out.
Lucian teleported over, crouched down, and delivered a swift, clean knife-hand strike to the back of Makkari's neck.
Thud.
Makkari gave a muffled grunt and slumped limply into the muddy water, going completely still.
"Wouldn't it have been better to behave? You could've spared yourself the pain."
Lucian reached out, grabbed Makkari by the back of his collar, and dragged him out of the mud like a dead dog.
"Let's go, Hulk."
Lucian whistled at the Hulk a short distance away.
The two returned to the thicket where they had left the Avengers.
The wounded lay sprawled in every direction.
The ring of light from the reactor in Tony's chest was faint, but his heartbeat was steady. Steve's body had already healed, and his breathing was even. Pietro had escaped death, too, and the fracture in his lower leg had mostly healed.
Wanda lay on her side beside a dry rock, her long eyelashes trembling. She had simply fallen asleep from overusing her psychic power.
Lucian looked down at them.
He hadn't had much energy left earlier and hadn't used his healing ability at full power, but it had been more than enough to pull these people back from death's door.
With a thought from Lucian, the vibranium armor on his body silently reshaped itself into a black coat.
He raised his wrist and tapped his watch twice.
"Jade Balance, put Simona through."
The watch vibrated, and Jade Balance's reply came