I Became Spider-Man's Cousin in Anime Crossover

Chapter 548 [3 Chapters Combined] Xiaoyu Can Go Wherever She Wants

"Of course we came by plane, just like you! How else could we have gotten here? We can't fly! It's a good thing we came along, otherwise we would have missed a thrilling adventure!"

Xiaoyu put her hands on her hips, tilted her head back confidently, and looked around with bright eyes, curiously observing everything around her, while muttering to herself.

"Wow, this place is even cooler in here than it looks from the outside! What are we going to do next? Pilot this super battleship and fight aliens?"

"To be precise, it was Xiaoyu who discovered that the fighter jet's belly, like the transport planes in District 13, had an inspection compartment, with just enough space for two people to crawl in."

Seeing Riley's bewildered expression, clearly unable to process what was happening, Felicia added from the side, her tone tinged with a hint of smugness.

"So we sneaked in before you boarded and followed you all the way here. You have no idea how dark, stuffy, and cold it was in there, and there was a strong smell of engine oil..."

"So you just stayed there, following us all the way? Are you crazy?! Weren't you afraid of freezing to death in there without anyone noticing?!"

Upon hearing this, Riley's voice immediately rose several octaves, his eyes filled with both lingering fear and anger, and his tone became urgent.

"What's there to be afraid of? We did the same thing before when we hid in a plane in District 13 and went to Mexico with Uncle Long, didn't we? Besides, the nanosuits you designed for us have an automatic temperature control function, so we won't feel cold at all~"

Unfortunately, Riley is used to spoiling the kids, so unless he gets really angry, he doesn't feel much pressure in front of these two.

Xiaoyu showed no remorse whatsoever; instead, she stood with her hands on her hips and retorted defiantly.

"But so these are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents... Their patrol and security measures seem nowhere near as strong as Section 13's. They slipped in so easily and haven't been detected at all. Hmph, as expected of me, the brave and fearless T-Girl!"

"...Now I understand why Tony confiscated Tom Holland's suit... Kids with gear can really cause trouble...!"

Riley took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, muttering to himself. He reached out and placed his hand on Xiaoyu's head, giving it a light but firm ruffle, turning her hair into a mess. He then rolled his eyes and continued talking, annoyed.

"Do you realize how serious it is to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D.'s core operations platform without authorization? What would be the consequences if you were treated as an enemy?"

"But we can't be treated as enemies, can we?"

Xiaoyu covered her head, pouted and frantically patted herself a couple of times, but still showed no remorse, responding with a hum.

"Just as they knew your true identity, they must have known all along that we, like you, are from District 13!"

Felicia nodded slightly in agreement, "Besides, we're not here to cause trouble. With such a big incident, we want to help out... By the way, if Peter hadn't been busy patrolling New York City and searching for the enemy, they probably would have come along too."

"So I should be glad? Felicia, not only did you not stop Xiaoyu, but you actually joined in her nonsense..."

Seeing that the two were completely unmoved, Riley finally couldn't hold back and raised his hand, slapping himself across the face before forcefully pulling it down. He sighed, lamenting that the obedient and sensible Felicia, after spending so much time with Jade, had ultimately been assimilated and turned into two demonic orbs.

But just as Riley opened his mouth, attempting a last-ditch effort to continue his sermon, he seemed to realize something, raised an eyebrow, and asked in a strange tone.

"Wait, how did you know something serious happened? Did you peek at my computer?"

"It wouldn't really be considered peeping..." Felicia blinked a little embarrassedly. "When we went to find you yesterday, Xiaoyu saw that your computer screen was on and thought you had forgotten to turn it off in your hurry, so she turned it off for you. That's all we happened to see."

"Oops, I was wondering why the computer was off when I came back from the bathroom. I thought I must have misremembered... Wait, my room door was closed! How did you guys get in?!"

"Even the most heavily guarded underground vault in District 13 couldn't stop Xiaoyu... Do you really think a simple combination lock door can stop Xiaoyu from wanting to play with you?"

"..."

Riley was speechless upon hearing this, and felt a throbbing pain in his temples.

Of course, Riley, whose attention was entirely focused on the two magic orbs, didn't realize...

Among the people present, there were actually some who were even more vulnerable than him.

Not far away, Nick Fury stood in front of the main screen, his one eye slowly sweeping over the two figures that had suddenly appeared beside Riley, his lips twitching visibly a few times. A faint blush, a sign of the intense heat, appeared on his dark old face.

After all, when he invited everyone to meet at the space carrier, he had confidently boasted to Riley and the others about how impeccable the space carrier's security system was.

In the blink of an eye, two teenagers brazenly infiltrated the core operational area. And yet, his entire security system remained completely unresponsive to these two grown men!

Fortunately, the people who came were Xiaoyu and Felicia, who were one of their own.

If it were an enemy, the consequences would be unimaginable!

"Coulson."

Thinking of this, Nick Fury turned his head and called out through gritted teeth.

Coulson strode over from the control panel, his face still bearing a gentle smile, but his eyes now held the alertness typical of an agent.

"Sir."

"Go and thoroughly investigate the security system." Fury's one eye was still fixed on Jade and Felicia, his tone clearly saying, "I need an explanation. See if there are any other 'surprises'."

"Understood." Coulson nodded, turned and strode towards the elevator.

Xiaoyu tiptoed and waved at his retreating figure, a sly smile on her face: "Agent Coulson, good luck! If you can't find the loophole, I can tell you where it is—but it'll cost you!"

Coulson paused for a moment, then quickened his pace.

Felicia nudged Xiaoyu gently with her elbow and whispered, "Stop fooling around."

"I'm not joking, I'm serious."

As Xiaoyu spoke, she didn't forget to make a face at Coulson.

Clearly, even after many days, Jade still hasn't forgotten that when she and Riley were having a great time at the amusement park, Coulson suddenly barged in and ruined that warm and wonderful memory.

Riley looked at the two clowns, shook his head, and decided not to ask them how they had sneaked in.

Anyway, with their skills, especially Xiaoyu who has the unique ability to "walk up stairs", there are few places in the world that they can't go.

Besides, there are more important things to deal with now.

Some time later, at the command center of the space carrier.

Banner's fingers flew across the keyboard, and data streamed down the holographic screen like a waterfall.

A fine layer of sweat beaded on his forehead, but his eyes burned with a light that only scientists could understand.

That was the excitement of getting closer to the answer.

"It's done."

With that, Banner pressed the last Enter key forcefully, leaned back, and let out a long breath.

On the screen, the previously chaotic energy readings began to be automatically aggregated, categorized, and sorted under the operation of the new algorithm.

In just a few breaths, a global gamma-ray hotspot map was quickly formed.

The red dots are scattered densely across the map, each representing a potential signal source.

"This algorithm automatically filters out natural radiation and industrial interference, retaining only signals that match the energy characteristics of the Cosmic Cube."

Banner raised his hand, rubbed his eyes vigorously, and after regaining some of his composure, continued to explain to the crowd.

"In theory, it can narrow the search range by more than 90%."

Nick Fury stood behind him, hands in his pockets, looking down at the data, and couldn't help but whistle.

"In theory? Dr. Banner, you are too modest... To be able to come up with such a sophisticated algorithm in such a short time, you are indeed a genius."

"After all, science doesn't always yield 100% certainty." Banner smiled shyly upon hearing this, then replied earnestly, "But we should still have about 98% accuracy."

Upon hearing this, Nick Fury's lips curled into a slight smile.

That's exactly what he was waiting for.

"Now that we have the algorithm, let's begin...!"

"Reporting, sir!"

Before Fury could finish speaking, an agent sitting in the corner suddenly turned around. His loud shout, brimming with barely suppressed excitement, instantly drew the attention of everyone in the command center.

"Target codenamed 'Amora' has been spotted! 67% match... Wait, cross-comparison shows 79% match! We've found her!"

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, Nick Fury's one eye widened suddenly.

He strode to the agent's control panel, stared down at the data on the screen, his expression shifting from shock to seriousness, and then from seriousness to a complex mix of emotions that were hard to describe.

Banner stood there watching this scene, his eyes wide open, almost popping out of their sockets.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but found that his throat felt like it was blocked by something.

He worked tirelessly for most of the day, pushing himself to the limit to maximize efficiency, before finally developing this screening algorithm that he was so proud of...

Before it could even be officially put into use, the target came knocking on our door?

His expression changed from shock to confusion, from confusion to embarrassment, and finally from embarrassment to self-doubt: "What am I even doing this for?"

"This...this is not scientific," Banner muttered.

Tony leaned against the control panel, taking a sip of his wine while a smug smile played on his lips.

"Science? Oh no, no, no, of course it's scientific, Banner, you're just unlucky."

"That's not bad luck," Banner said, rolling his eyes in annoyance, trying to look less embarrassed. "It's... a matter of timing. Yes, a matter of timing. If the algorithm had started a few minutes earlier—"

"Until she appears in public so openly like this, it still wouldn't be so easy for your algorithm to find her... because this time, she deliberately showed up so that we would discover her."

Just then, Riley patted Banner on the shoulder. As he spoke, his eyes were fixed on the clouds outside the window, lost in thought.

The appearance of this familiar place name convinced Riley that Amora was indeed taking over Loki's script.

This is why Riley was able to realize that Amora, who seemed to have been caught off guard, was actually using herself as bait to deliberately attract attention.

Of course, Riley couldn't just tell everyone that he was a time traveler who knew the plot's direction in advance and therefore could guess what Amora wanted to do.

Therefore, after these words, everyone's attention was immediately drawn to him.

Riley, who had no interest in riddles, walked to the main screen and brought up the live feed of Amora's location.

It was a classical-style opera house with a spacious square and dense buildings all around.

"Look, with the high volume of people in this theater, if she were to make a move here, even if it weren't detected by big data, it would definitely cause widespread panic and attract our attention... If Amora really wanted to hide her tracks, she wouldn't be in a place like this. So it's obvious that she did it on purpose."

As Riley spoke, he pointed to the image on the screen, using a mix of truth and falsehood to further enhance the credibility of his argument.

Upon hearing this, Nick Fury was already quite convinced of Riley's suspicions. However, his usual skepticism made him raise an eyebrow and instinctively ask a question in return.

"What you say makes some sense... but as an Asgardian, it's possible that Amora wasn't aware that Earth's technology was so advanced that it could easily detect her movements, thus lowering her guard. And what makes you so sure she did it on purpose?"

"Because Thor once told me that after Amora escaped Asgard, he came into contact with a mad Titan who called himself 'Thanos'."

Fortunately, Riley had anticipated this turn of events before he even spoke.

Almost as soon as Nick Fury finished speaking, Riley took over and explained calmly.

Taking advantage of Thor's absence, they directly pinned the credit for the "spoiler" on him.

"And what Amora needs to do now is open a portal for this alien warlord who's been waging war across the land, and send an entire alien army to Earth. So the question is, what does she need most to achieve this goal?"

Banner was the first to react, and without thinking, he said, "I know! It's energy! The Tesseract itself is a massive energy source! But to open a stable, large portal, without the short duration and risk of a violent explosion like the one at the experimental base, we need to find additional—"

"Iridium," Tony interjected, his expression turning grim. "If handled properly, it can form antiprotons. Used as a stabilizer in spatial portals, it can keep the portal running for longer."

"That's why she specifically lured Dr. Asakura away, because he understands the structure of the Cosmic Cube and is a genius in the field of antimatter research! As for iridium, it can usually be found in fallen meteorites. Although it's very rare, it's not impossible to obtain..."

With Thor, also from Asgard, as his guarantor, and with explanations from two brilliant scientists, Nick Fury unknowingly began to follow Riley's train of thought and try to figure out Amora's intentions.

But soon, Nick Fury realized something, turned sharply to look at Riley, and shouted with wide eyes.

"Wait, you mean... her real target is those laboratories that store meteorites?!"

"That's right, that's why she deliberately showed herself, using herself as bait to divert our attention and conceal her true intentions. She also planned to attack one of the 'lucky ones' at the scene to gather their personal information and open the storage room containing iridium."

"Fuck you! That's so cunning!"

Fortunately, Nick Fury was just a bit paranoid, but not a fool who wouldn't listen to advice.

So much so that as soon as Riley finished speaking, Nick Fury, who had no time to argue with Riley, quickly turned to Hill, who had also realized the seriousness of the problem, and gave him an order.

"Immediately retrieve surveillance footage from all laboratories! Focus on checking the theater where iridium is stored and the personnel involved happened to be there tonight!"

"Yes, sir!"

As Hill responded, his fingers were already flying across the control panel.

A few seconds later, according to Nick Fury's filtering criteria, more than a dozen small windows appeared on the main screen.

Each window corresponds to a real-time monitoring of a laboratory.

For the first few seconds, everything was normal.

The corridor was empty, the laboratory doors were closed, and the electronic locks on the storage cabinets were green.

Then, the screen in the fourth window flickered.

It wasn't signal interference; someone cut off the power to that camera.

The moment the screen went black, everyone saw a blurry figure.

Wearing dark tactical clothing and carrying a bow and arrow, his movements were swift and efficient.

"Agent Patton has already begun her operation... Damn it, we almost fell for her trap!"

Nick Fury couldn't help but twitch his lips when he saw this.

As it turned out, Riley was right.

This also made Nick Fury suddenly understand why Sheriff Black, who had diligently run District 13 for so many years, always listened to Riley's advice without hesitation whenever a crisis occurred.

Clearly, besides being a great fighter, Riley is also an exceptionally reliable external brain, making people unconsciously develop a sense of dependence on him!

Thinking of this, Nick Fury suddenly turned around, his gaze falling on Riley, his tone noticeably softening.

The director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who was usually tough and wouldn't allow anyone to question his ideas once he was certain, now had a hint of pleading in his voice.

"So what do we do next? With Agent Patton's skills, even if we rush there now, by the time we get there, he'll probably have already left with the iridium."

Riley did not answer immediately.

His gaze shifted from the blacked-out surveillance screen to the faces of everyone present.

Tony leaned against the control panel, still looking nonchalant, but he was already holding the briefcase in his hand.

Steve quietly took the shield that was slung across his back and put it in his hand. He looked steadily at Riley, waiting for further instructions from Riley like the most loyal soldier.

Xiaoyu and Felicia stood in the corner, one eager to try, the other remaining calm and composed.

Banner sat at the control panel, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, looking at Riley as well, waiting for Riley's instructions.

"Don't worry about that, I have my own solutions... But in return, Agent Patton needs someone to stop him, and Amora can't really just stand by and do nothing, so we need to split up."

After a brief moment of thought, Riley had an idea and gave the order.

His voice wasn't loud, but every word carried a reassuring certainty.

Of course, having already chosen to participate in the "Avengers" program, Riley had no intention of hiding it.

As he spoke, he pretended to reach behind his back, took out the DECADE belt from the system space, and fastened it around his waist.

"Banner, you stay here and continue searching for the Tesseract."

"Tony, Captain, Jade, Felicia—I'll open a portal and send you directly to the lab. Your job is to stop them from taking the iridium."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone beneath his mask.

"As for Amora... leave that to me."

"You're alone? Are you sure you can manage? Or should I come with you?"

At this moment, Steve patted his chest and put on the nanosuit that Riley had specially made for him.

His blue and white battle suit gleamed softly under the lights, clinging to his body like a second skin.

But the bright red five-pointed star on his chest made Nick Fury's lips twitch. Even Coulson, a die-hard Steve Rogers fanboy, was dumbfounded.

"One person is enough; she'd rather have as many people as possible to capture her."

Riley shook his head, his tone calm and gentle, yet carrying an undeniable air of authority.

"Dad always says, you have to fight magic with magic... Besides, your mission is equally important. Especially yours, Captain. Barton is an elite agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Although he doesn't have superpowers, he has superb marksmanship and is good at handling all kinds of emergencies. And this is the first time you've teamed up. If you fight separately, it's easy for Agent Barton to find weaknesses and take you down one by one. So, the battle at the lab is in your hands."

Steve met the pair of white goggles, paused for a second, and then nodded solemnly.

"I understand, leave it to me."

"Very well, then, prepare to announce our arrival to the world."

Riley nodded in satisfaction, and with a simple gesture, created a silver-gray dimensional wall out of thin air.

Through the liquid-like surface, one could vaguely see Hawkeye leading his team to invade the laboratory on the other side.

Then, Riley waved his hand, his tone unusually excited, and uttered the classic slogan that Steve should have led the way in shouting.

"Avengers, assemble—!"