I Became Spider-Man's Cousin in Anime Crossover

Chapter 544 [3 Chapters Combined] "The Flash" Shows His Might

Before Nick Fury could finish his rant, Hawkeye released the bowstring expressionlessly.

The arrow shot through the air at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, striking Fury squarely in the chest.

The immense impact sent Fury tumbling backward, collapsing to the ground in an extremely disheveled posture, instantly becoming motionless.

Seeing this, Amora nodded in satisfaction, feeling a sense of relief for his earlier failure to control Nick Fury.

She stopped looking at Nick Fury lying on the ground and turned to walk toward the only exit of the storage room.

At the same time, Hawkeye put away his bow and followed behind Amora.

Skorch raised his hand, and the heavy double-headed axe, which he had thrown and which was already embedded in the wall, drew an arc in the air and landed steadily in his palm.

He then strode after him, but as he passed Hawkeye, he deliberately shoved his shoulder, pushing Hawkeye directly behind him.

"Stay away from my witch."

Skorch muttered under his breath, his tone full of possessiveness.

He then followed closely behind Amora, keeping a half-step distance to ensure that he was always the closest person to her.

Hawkeye stumbled slightly from the jostling, but his face remained expressionless as he readjusted his pace and followed Skorch.

This made Skorch, who was initially somewhat dissatisfied, thinking that these weak ants would only be a burden in the process of the operation and even compete with him for Amora's attention, immediately relax and look much more at ease.

Unfortunately, Amora's gaze never lingered on Skorch for even a moment.

Dr. Asakura, who had been previously controlled, had already deactivated the precision locking mechanism of the special device embedded with the Cosmic Cube, as ordered by Amora.

After its outburst, the Cosmic Cube has quickly returned to calm. The light it emits is soft and stable, seemingly undergoing a cooling-down and recovery period.

This allowed Dr. Asakura to retrieve it with his bare hands and casually put it into his suitcase.

Before long, the four of them left the storage room on their own and, led by Hawkeye, the "local," arrived at the nearest parking lot.

A few military jeeps and transport trucks were parked sparsely in the parking lot.

Meanwhile, other staff members at the research institute were busy moving equipment under the guidance of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

With time running out and the task at hand, everyone was too busy to pay attention to Hawkeye and the others who had suddenly appeared.

Only Hill noticed their arrival.

Following Nick Fury's orders, Hill was standing next to a jeep, checking the evacuation supplies list.

When she saw Hawkeye with a few people, including some unfamiliar faces, she couldn't help but ask.

"Agent Patton? What brings you here? And who are these people...?"

"My superior ordered me to escort this batch of supplies for priority transfer, the highest priority. And these people around me are experts in charge of this part of the research."

"But why didn't I receive a notification?"

"Because this was a last-minute decision by the superior, and it was emphasized that the itinerary needed to be kept confidential. If you have any other questions, you can go directly to the superior."

However, Hawkeye's mind was only controlled, but his memories were not altered.

So when Agent Hill questioned him, Hawkeye answered fluently and, in front of Agent Hill, opened one of the jeeps with the key in the ignition and invited Amora and the others to get in.

Hill frowned upon hearing this, then watched them get into the car, start the engine, and drive confidently toward the exit.

She felt something was off, yet it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and the deliberate secrecy it made was exactly in line with Nick Fury's style. Add to that the subtle shifts in Hawkeye's expression and the tone of his voice—there was no flaw in his demeanor—because in Hill's memory, Clint Barton was always this cold and aloof, as if everyone owed him money—she couldn't detect anything unusual.

But just as Hill hesitated, wondering whether to take out his communicator and ask Nick Fury for confirmation, a piercing static suddenly came through the communicator.

The next second, Nick Fury, who should have been killed by Hawkeye, spoke in a weak, hoarse, and slightly hurried voice through the communicator.

"Urgent notification! Agent Patton has betrayed us! I repeat! Agent Patton has betrayed us! They've taken the Tesseract! Stop them! At all costs!"

It turns out that although Hawkeye's mind was controlled by Amora, when he received the order to kill Nick Fury with his own hands, the loyalty buried deep in his consciousness caused a brief ripple in his emotions.

That's why, despite his unerring marksmanship, Hawkeye didn't cleanly pierce Nick Fury's shiny black egg when he "shot" him. Instead, without Amora's knowledge, he subtly adjusted the angle and hit Nick Fury in the chest.

Furthermore, because Nick Fury always carries a specially made bulletproof vest under his leather coat, after being shot, he only fell into a brief coma and broke several ribs, but his life was not in danger!

This allowed Nick Fury to grab the communicator after he slowly regained consciousness and promptly transmit this danger signal to all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents!

The warning sound from the communicator echoed continuously in the underground passage, causing Hill's pupils to contract sharply.

Before she could ask why, her body acted before her mind. She sprinted towards the nearest jeep, jumped into the driver's seat, and started the engine. The tires screeched on the concrete, and the jeep launched itself forward, speeding in the direction Hawkeye's car had disappeared.

The underground passage was narrow and dark. The emergency lights overhead began to flicker after the Cosmic Cube's energy burst, casting distorted shadows on the walls with their intermittent light.

In this environment, quickly catching up with Hawkeye and the others who were ahead of them would undoubtedly be a major test of Agent Hill's driving skills. A slight misstep could result in crashing into a wall and a fatal accident.

But Hill couldn't care less about that right now. He gritted his teeth and floored the accelerator, trying to outdo Hawkeye in who had the tougher constitution.

Pipes and cables on both sides of the passage rushed past, and the roar of the engine echoed in the enclosed space, making people's eardrums throb.

Fortunately, Hill, risking his life and speeding at breakneck speed, finally caught up with Hawkeye and his team.

But before Hill could close the distance further, pull out his gun, shoot out the tires of the vehicle in front, and force it to stop to intercept Hawkeye and his team.

Amora then saw the jeep chasing closely behind him through the passenger-side rearview mirror.

She frowned slightly, shifted her gaze from the rearview mirror to the glaring sunlight at the exit ahead, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Someone is following us."

Upon hearing this, Skorch immediately rolled down the car window. Facing the fierce wind blowing into the cabin, he leaned out and looked back. As he saw the approaching jeep, a flash of malice crossed his eyes.

"She dared to chase after me alone; she's courting death... I'll take care of her!"

With that, Skorch gripped the double-headed axe tightly, aimed at Agent Hill's head, and hurled the axe.

The heavy double-headed axe spun rapidly in the air, whistling through the air, heading straight for Hill's face.

Although Hill instinctively jerked the steering wheel and swerved to the side the moment he sensed the attack coming, he successfully dodged the fatal blow.

But because of this, Hill could only watch helplessly as the extremely imposing double-headed axe sliced ​​his jeep in half like cutting tofu!

The next second, the Jeep, having lost rear wheel support, tilted sharply downwards. Amidst a piercing, ear-piercing roar, the chassis screeched against the ground, sending sparks flying.

Fortunately, the vehicles S.H.I.E.L.D. deployed this time were all military versions previously purchased from Stark Industries, ensuring their high quality. This allowed Hill to come to a safe and smooth stop despite gripping the steering wheel tightly and struggling to control the drifting trajectory of the cockpit.

However, this also caused Hill to completely lose the opportunity to pursue Amora and the others.

By the time she struggled to get out of the driver's seat, she could only watch helplessly as Hawkeye's jeep sped out of the underpass, disappearing quickly into the distance with the roar of its engine fading into the distance. Enraged, Hill slammed her sidearm to the ground and punched the floor, venting her frustration.

However, the instant Hill's punch landed, he could clearly feel the ground beneath his feet begin to tremble violently. Hill couldn't help but raise his hands, looking himself up and down with a bewildered expression.

hiss……

Although I did subconsciously use all my strength in that last move...

But surely it shouldn't have caused such a commotion with just one punch...

…Wait, that’s not right!

The source of this tremor is deeper underground!

Hill turned his head sharply and witnessed the horrific sight of the thick, sturdy load-bearing columns collapsing one by one.

Concrete fragments rained down from the ceiling, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

Cracks in the walls spread outwards like a spider web, and the entire underground passage groaned and trembled.

Clearly, with Dr. Asakura, the only one who had studied the Cosmic Cube in depth, being taken away, the remaining energy lingering on the ceiling of the storage room during the teleportation of Amora and Skorch finally went completely out of control.

Millions of tons of concrete and steel bars disintegrated instantly under the sweep of this energy storm.

This caused the research institute, which had lost its support, to collapse into a huge funnel-shaped pit at a visible speed.

Thick smoke and dust billowed from the pit, obscuring the sky.

The incident happened so suddenly and over such a wide area that it was enough to bury all those who had not yet evacuated, including Hill, under the rubble and perish from that moment on!

At this critical moment, a streak of azure lightning ripped through the gray sky, hurtling towards the collapsed research institute at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

It slipped into the cracks of the ruins, weaving among the massive pieces about to fall. Sometimes it was in the east, sometimes in the west, each flash accompanied by a faint blue arc of electricity.

As the lightning appeared, Hill, who had resigned himself to his fate, found that the scene before his eyes had suddenly changed in the blink of an eye.

One second ago, she was standing in the underground passage, with falling rocks above her head, the ground trembling beneath her feet, and a deafening roar in her ears.

The next second, she appeared in a vast, empty desert.

The setting sun shone on her face, and the warm breeze brushed against her hair, making her truly aware that she was still alive.

Without any warning, they appeared out of thin air in an open area more than ten kilometers away from the research institute, having come from an underground passage from which they should have had no time to escape!

Therefore, even the usually well-trained Agent Hill showed a rare look of disbelief and shock.

Even stranger, before Agent Hill could figure out what was going on, he saw more survivors appearing out of thin air around him.

A technician, still crouching with his head in his hands, suddenly appeared on the sandy ground beside the road.

His posture and expression were frozen in that moment of "about to be hit"—eyes tightly closed, lips pressed into a line, body curled up to its smallest size—until the scorching heat and rough texture of the sand penetrated his clothes and reached his skin, he opened his eyes blankly. Like a fledgling bird just hatched from its egg, he kept looking around.

At the same time, a security guard from the research institute appeared on the open ground on the other side.

He was still screaming in terror, waving his arms wildly forward, and making running motions with his legs.

It wasn't until I had run several steps on the sand that I realized I was no longer in the corridor of the research institute that was rapidly collapsing.

He then collapsed, exhausted, panting heavily, his eyes shifting from fear to confusion.

that's it……

one……

two……

Ten...

Twenty...

Thirty...

More and more people are starting to "refresh" this open space far from danger.

This also drew Hill's attention, who had been diligently searching for clues, to the beam of blue electricity that kept moving back and forth between the research institute and the open space.

Unfortunately, the speed of this light was simply too fast. So fast that even the well-trained Hill, with his eyes wide open and his eyes fixed intently on one direction, could only barely catch a fleeting blue arc on his retina.

She couldn't even see the trajectory of the light.

But without a doubt, they were all saved by this light.

With each flash of that lightning, one or two survivors who had already stepped one foot into hell would return to the world of the living unharmed.

Even Nick Fury, who issued a warning but did not choose to pursue them personally, instead quietly went to the tarmac and left alone on a private jet, was also caught off guard and dragged along!

Gradually, under everyone's watchful eyes, the enormous research institute completely collapsed into the depths of the underground...

The bolt of lightning, which kept circling back and forth, hovered over the ruins once, and only after confirming that nothing was missed did it reform into a human shape and land on the ground.

Arcs of electricity crackled around him, like the final note of a symphony nearing its end. His hair stood on end, and the afterglow of the current lingered in his eyes. His chest heaved as he gasped for breath, his eyes filled with exhaustion, but also with the satisfaction and pride of having saved so many lives.

That was Max, who had joined District 13 and, under Riley's wicked influence, changed his name from "Electro" to "The Flash"!

It turns out that, thanks to the advancement of clean energy projects, Nick Fury, who appears incredibly aloof on the surface, secretly chose to cooperate with Tony and his team, and even brought the research institute along.

After all, even though S.H.I.E.L.D. is a large and powerful organization, its money doesn't come easily. Saving where necessary and spending where appropriate is perfectly reasonable.

Nick Fury, whose attention was entirely focused on Riley and who at most kept an eye on Banner's movements, was completely unaware...

Max, who usually keeps a low profile and seems to have little presence, actually travels in the form of an energy body within the vast power grid responsible for transmitting clean energy.

In other words, connecting Harry's family to the power grid was tantamount to opening a pathway for Max.

Furthermore, because Max, as an energy being, is exceptionally sensitive to energy fluctuations, he was able to notice the commotion at the research institute even though Nick Fury was deliberately concealing information. He immediately sent a message to Riley and followed the trail to the institute.

This allowed them to rescue everyone present at the very moment the crisis erupted, just like the famous scene in the X-Men movies where Quicksilver saves people!

As Max materialized from the lightning into human form, and the people he had personally saved gathered in the center, lifting him up together, Nick Fury's expression kept changing.

From this unique ability, he recognized the reinforcements before him as belonging to District 13. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, wondering how District 13, once a subordinate agency of S.H.I.E.L.D., could gather so many powerful individuals to serve them. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the fact that everyone's attention was not on him, they began to slowly move backward.

Although Nick Fury didn't know how Max knew about the incident at the research institute and arrived in time...

However, based on Nick Fury's understanding of the practices in District 13...

Max would definitely report to District 13 before taking any action.

In other words...

Riley is coming to confront us soon.

This made Nick Fury, who had initially rejected Agent Hill's request for help and assumed it was just a minor issue that S.H.I.E.L.D. could handle, feel inexplicably guilty and had a headache. He subtly quickened his pace to slip away.

But before he could take more than a few steps, he found himself shrouded in shadow.

When he subconsciously turned around and looked up, he saw Spider-Man, dressed in a black suit, hovering in the air with his arms crossed, silently watching Nick Fury.

"You should know I have to get up early for school tomorrow, Fury?"

Seeing Nick Fury's body stiffen, his movements also stopped.

Knowing that Nick Fury had discovered Riley, he asked in his usual smug tone, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"So, in order to get back and make preparations sooner, please allow me to ask... setting off 'fireworks' in such a remote place, is it to celebrate something, or has S.H.I.E.L.D. gotten into some trouble again, right?"

Upon hearing this, Nick Fury watched Spider-Man adjust the angle of his eye patch, sporting a half-smile, and felt an even greater headache coming on. He wished he could disappear into the ground on the spot, or turn back time so Hawkeye could just shoot him in the head with an arrow.

But in his verbal response, almost instinctively, Nick Fury's tone remained as hard as a rock, speaking in a serious tone.

"...This is a S.H.I.E.L.D. secret, I can't tell you, kid...You just need to know that everything is under my control. We can handle it ourselves. Don't bother with it."

Riley raised an eyebrow but didn't reply.

He simply looked up a few times, his gaze fixed on the huge, bottomless pit left on the original site of the research institute after the collapse.

He turned his head again, scanning behind the survivors whom Max had pulled back from the brink of death.

Finally, with a look that seemed to say, "Keep making things up, I'm listening," the gaze returned to Nick Fury.

"...Don't look at me like that, it's just a temporary little problem."

Although Riley didn't say a word throughout his series of actions.

But precisely because of this, rather than a barrage of questions and accusations, it made even the usually thick-skinned Nick Fury blush with embarrassment.

He quickly added a response, but the firmness in his tone had clearly diminished.

"Yeah?"

Riley looked away, his tone as indifferent as if he were simply saying that the weather was nice today.

But beneath the mask, Riley's brows were already furrowed.

As a time traveler, the familiar scene before him allowed him to roughly guess what had happened.

Someone teleported in, took control of Hawkeye, and stole the Tesseract.

They then secretly conducted research, preparing to use the power of the Cosmic Cube to open a large portal, summon the Chitauri army, and launch a massive invasion of Earth.

This made Riley sigh inwardly.

Even though he cleared Loki's name beforehand and changed so many things, what was bound to happen still happened...

Events like "The Avengers," which are powerful enough to influence the course of the world, are indeed not so easy to avoid...

It could even be said that Riley's involvement in so many things altered the course of so many people's lives...

On the contrary, in this special universe that integrates multiple worldviews and where righteousness and darkness coexist, the darkness is stimulated to exert its power in secret, causing the unfolding of this event to be significantly accelerated.

"What are you thinking about?"

Just then, Nick Fury, realizing he was being ignored and sounding somewhat annoyed, interrupted Riley's thoughts.

Riley shifted his gaze and almost burst out laughing when he saw Nick Fury, who was clearly at a loss but still put on a "I'm fine" and "I can do it" face.

"It's nothing. I was just wondering when you'll admit that you can't handle it and are willing to accept our District 13's help."

Upon hearing this, Nick Fury's lips twitched even more violently.

"...We can handle it."

"What about the Cosmic Cube?"

"..."

Nick Fury remained silent.

"Also, I think I saw Agent Patton here... Don't tell me Max was too late and couldn't save him?"

"..."

The silence grew longer.

Even Nick Fury was now tempted to raise his hand and slap himself hard.

This kid is just rubbing salt into the wound!

You might as well just ignore me!