Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Ant-Man: We're Related
After Captain America gave the order, the six members on his side began moving forward.
This represented their unwavering determination.
Correspondingly, Peter and the others slowly walked forward under Iron Man's leadership.
The two sides gradually transitioned from walking to running, and finally to sprinting!
At last, the two teams collided.
Peter was approached by Ant-Man right from the start.
"Hey, you're a spider, right? And I'm an ant. Doesn't that make us relatives of sorts?" Ant-Man said as he whipped a kick towards Peter.
Peter blocked it and pinned Ant-Man to the ground instead: "Although we're both arthropods, we're very different creatures, so I don't think we're related, Mr. Ant."
"Aw, that makes me sad," Ant-Man said. As he was about to hit the ground, he shrank down rapidly.
It became difficult for Peter to spot him with the naked eye, but he could vaguely sense Ant-Man's presence thanks to his spider-sense.
"You little brat!" Ant-Man launched a sneak attack from behind, yelling loudly just as he was about to strike Peter, trying to startle him.
However, Peter whipped around and fired a ball of webbing instead.
"Whoa!" Ant-Man was shocked. He couldn't figure out how Peter had detected him repeatedly.
Could his suit have thermal imaging like Iron Man's and Falcon's?
Thwip!
Ant-Man was stuck to the ground, webbed up.
He quickly regrew to normal size, breaking free from the webbing's restraints.
But in that moment, Peter had already moved on.
Because on the other side, the Winter Soldier had engaged Black Widow. Though she had the gene-enhancing serum, she didn't have any tools to withstand the Winter Soldier's metal arm. She could only dodge left and right, using her flexibility to evade his attacks.
"Hey, fancy meeting you again!" Peter took advantage of the Winter Soldier throwing a punch to web his metal arm and swing past him.
"You again, kid!" The Winter Soldier vigorously waved his armed, trying to yank Peter down with the webbing.
Black Widow seized the opportunity, grappling the Winter Soldier with a strangulation technique integrating Brazilian jiu-jitsu and slamming him to the ground.
"That move was so cool, can you teach me?" Peter landed nearby, continuously firing webbing to stick the Winter Soldier down.
"Sure, after the mission, I can show you some fighting skills if we get the chance," Black Widow agreed happily.
Swish-swish--
Two precise arrows cut through the webbing from a short distance away.
Seeing this, the Winter Soldier immediately flipped over and jumped back up.
It turned out Hawkeye had noticed the situation and come to provide support!
Hawkeye looked at Peter with slight hostility: "Just a kid, aren't you?"
"Uh-" Peter's expression froze, "I'm already a man!"
"You sure sound like a little girl when you talk!" Hawkeye fired another arrow, attacking Peter together with the Winter Soldier.
Boom!
At that moment, Black Panther's swift figure appeared, directly tackling the Winter Soldier out of the way.
The two began a close-quarters skirmish on the ground.
Peter caught the arrow Hawkeye shot and was about to speak when suddenly, his spider-sense started going haywire.
Danger!
He quickly threw the arrow away.
But it was too late.
Boom!
The arrow exploded.
Peter felt his head ringing.
Fortunately, Hawkeye had some restraint. The explosives in his trick arrows weren't loaded with too much power - otherwise he wouldn't have shot directly at someone.
Black Widow glanced at Peter, then at Hawkeye, saying angrily: "Clint, were you trying to blow him up?"
Hawkeye felt a bit embarrassed. He'd just wanted to blast Peter with the explosive's shockwave from a distance as a lesson.
Who knew the kid could snatch the arrow he fired from such close range, even holding it up cockily near his head?
For a moment, Hawkeye didn't know how to explain this mistake.
After ensuring Peter was okay, Black Widow rushed towards Hawkeye.
Peter patted his head, and the ringing subsided considerably.
He realized he was paying the price for his lack of combat experience.
This incident also taught him some lessons.
Although he had his spider-sense, enhanced further after merging with the noir spiderman, it was no longer intermittent like before.
But spider-sense also had limitations.
Currently, it could only detect overt dangers directed at him, not potential threats that hadn't fully manifested yet.
For instance, Hawkeye's trick arrows were just arrows until activated into explosives.
This time, since they were all on the same side, Hawkeye hadn't meant real harm.
But it could be seriously dangerous if an enemy pulled such tricks next time!
Once he recovered, Peter found himself temporarily free.
He took the chance to observe the overall battle.
In the sky, Vision and Wanda were clashing, their magic creating dazzling bursts of explosions, but anyone could see they weren't using their full power.
Falcon and War Machine constantly circled, fighting in the air as well.
On the ground, Iron Man had abandoned his ranged advantage, engaging Captain America in close-quarters combat with his armor. Perhaps he was still trying to reason with Cap.
To the side, Black Panther and Winter Soldier fiercely battled as well, both masters of close-combat.
Unlike the agile Peter, Black Panther and Winter Soldier were evenly matched brawlers, exchanging brutal blows.
Black Widow and Hawkeye were also trading strikes back and forth.
But overall, it seemed Iron Man's side had the upper hand.
Hey, where was Ant-Man?
Peter searched but couldn't find his "relative" anywhere.
His intuition told him this guy who could shrink must be hiding somewhere, plotting something devious - just like when he first tried to steal Cap's shield!
Just as Peter was looking for Ant-Man, the situation on the battlefield suddenly shifted.
It was Wanda!
She had also noticed her side's disadvantage.
So she abruptly increased her magic output, blasting Vision away. Then with one move, she knocked Iron Man - who was fighting Cap - right out of the sky. Next, she ensnared Black Widow's arms with a magic whip, throwing her aside.
Then she turned her sights on Black Panther, completely enveloping him in a large sphere of magic before smashing him into a shipping container dozens of meters away.
Wanda's outburst stunned everyone on the field.
When they had all been holding back, she had suddenly gotten serious - standing out like a sore thumb.
Wanda hovered in the air, looking down at everyone surrounded by a red magical aura. She said coldly: "There's no need to get tangled up with them anymore. We have our own business to take care of."
"You're right, we should get to the real mission," Captain America nodded.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do as you wish!" Iron Man quickly flew back, but when he tried to activate his palm repulsors, he found they were not firing.
(End of chapter)
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