About Moonstone

After exchanging some basic intelligence, Zhang Ye and Old Barton turned their attention back to the next phase of the plan.

"Moonstone won’t be easy to deal with. The stone that gave her superpowers came from the Blue Area of the Moon, and she was enhanced before this as well. I can’t judge how powerful she is now," Barton warned.

"You don’t need to worry about that. Her powers are indeed somewhat interesting, but they’re nowhere near troublesome. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be hiding out in the middle of nowhere. Leave Moonstone to me."

Seeing Zhang Ye so confident, Old Barton could not help raising his eyebrows. He knew Zhang Ye and the others were strong, but judging by Zhang Ye’s attitude, he seemed to know even more than Old Barton had imagined.

With that thought in mind, Old Barton could not resist probing further. "From the sound of it, you know Moonstone quite well. Did you fight her in your world?"

Zhang Ye immediately realized that Hawkeye was trying to draw information out of him. Looking at the old man, who was constantly on guard against him, Zhang Ye suddenly felt that he resembled an elderly Batman.

After a pause, Zhang Ye spoke with a mixture of truth and falsehood.

"I do know her well, but I’ve never truly fought her. Still, you don’t need to worry. That doesn’t affect my judgment of her, or my confidence in dealing with her."

To be honest, Zhang Ye despised Moonstone from the bottom of his heart.

Unlike Songbird Melissa, although Moonstone was also one of the antiheroes who had turned over a new leaf, she had not chosen to follow one path to the end. Instead, she repeatedly jumped back and forth between the sides of good and evil.

Perhaps that had something to do with her childhood experiences and personality.

Moonstone’s real name was Kara Sofen. She was not the first Moonstone. Unlike those who inherited a predecessor’s name, she had obtained Moonstone’s power entirely by taking it for herself.

Soffen had originally been a doctor of psychology and lived a fairly stable life. However, her lifelong obsession with power and controlling others led her down a dark path.

When she was assigned to treat the psychological illness of the previous Moonstone’s bearer, Soffen knew that her chance to rise to prominence had arrived. Through psychological suggestion, hypnosis, and special drugs, she successfully made the previous bearer develop an aversion to the Moonstone.

She then got her wish and obtained the Moonstone, which could grant humans superpowers. Afterward, Soffen inherited the Moonstone name and joined the criminal organization formed by Crime Master.

After the villains’ operation was discovered by the heroes, Crime Master’s scheme was destroyed by Captain America, and Soffen, along with several other criminals, was thrown into prison.

However, perhaps because everyone focused on her superpowers, they overlooked her exceptional skills in mental manipulation and hypnosis. That gave Soffen the opportunity to escape.

For some time afterward, Soffen entered an endless cycle of committing crimes, getting caught, and breaking out of prison. She worked under many notorious villains, including Red Skull, Murdock, Black Spectre, and other super-criminals.

Soffen changed her uniform almost every time she joined a new team. Though her appearance changed, the desire and obsession with power deep within her never did.

This continued until Baron Zemo found her and invited her to join the Thunderbolts, a team assembled to imitate superheroes, so that Baron Zemo could carry out his plan to defeat the superheroes from within.

And that was everything Moonstone in this world had experienced.

Of course, in Zhang Ye’s memories, Moonstone from other universes had also participated in the major event known as Siege. During Osborn’s time in power, she joined the Dark Avengers and replaced Captain Marvel of the original Avengers.

Moonstone’s final fate was also rather tragic. Perhaps it was inseparable from everything she had done over the years.

After all, someone like her, who craved power intensely yet refused to choose a side, would inevitably end up unwelcome on both the righteous and villainous sides. She could not exactly call that outcome undeserved.

"Do you see the scorch marks on the Sentinel Robots? I can sense the distinctive radiation of Moonstone’s energy from them. That proves it fought Moonstone before. I imagine Moonstone didn’t get off lightly after dealing with such a massive Sentinel Robot." Zhang Ye pointed at the Sentinel Robot’s face.

Old Barton looked over and found that Zhang Ye was referring to the Sentinel Robot’s damaged eye. It was also because of that weakness that he had been able to destroy the Sentinel Robot with a single blow.

"It does look like it. That means we’re on the right track. Moonstone is very likely nearby. Sentinel Robots won’t stop until they complete their objective. The fact that it was here means we’re already close to the settlement Moonstone established."

"Yes. Kara—the black-haired girl—has excellent hearing and eyesight. Finding them won’t be difficult." Zhang Ye smiled.

Barton nodded in agreement. Then he looked at Zhang Ye again and asked curiously, "Do you know who sent this Sentinel Robot? Logically speaking, Moonstone is also a criminal. The Sentinels shouldn’t have targeted her."

"I heard Moonstone betrayed Baron Zemo before. Given Baron Zemo’s capabilities, having a few Sentinel Robots under his control shouldn’t be difficult," Zhang Ye replied casually.

After Magneto gained control of part of the government’s power, many Sentinel Robots that had been used against mutants were destroyed, and the technology for making them was also destroyed by Magneto.

But there were no secrets that could stay hidden forever. Other villains had seen the power of the Sentinel Robots for themselves. Naturally, they were unwilling to let Magneto destroy such an effective weapon, so Baron Zemo secretly preserved part of the technology.

"Baron Zemo!?"

Old Barton became excited at once. He stroked the Sentinel Robot’s wreckage, his tone filled with anticipation. "So there may be records of its departure point in the Sentinel Robot’s black box. We can use this thing to find Baron Zemo?"

"There’s a very good chance."

Zhang Ye answered truthfully. After all, according to the original story, Nighthawk had indeed used this very method to find Baron Zemo’s hiding place.

"Great, great."

Barton kept muttering under his breath as he stared at the Sentinel Robot as though it were some priceless treasure.

Seeing Old Barton like this, Zhang Ye could not help speaking up.

"How about you stay here for now? I’ll take the others to deal with Moonstone, then come back for you."

"No, I’m going with you!"

Zhang Ye’s words pulled Barton out of his excitement. He spun around sharply, stared at Zhang Ye seriously, and said each word with deliberate emphasis.

"I still have a score to settle with Moonstone. Even if you’re going to kill her, I have to watch it happen with my own eyes!"