Don’t Waste Your Effort

A settlement hidden along the Canadian border.

This was a small shelter personally established by Moonstone.

After choosing to betray Baron Zemo, Moonstone had once attempted to assassinate him. She had tried to kill Baron Zemo and inherit everything he had, becoming a major figure capable of standing on equal footing with someone like Red Skull.

But the result was obvious. Although Baron Zemo was only an ordinary man, his abilities were no less impressive than those of any superhuman. Perhaps he had long since seen through Moonstone’s treacherous intentions. In any case, Moonstone’s assassination attempt ended in failure.

As a result, Moonstone was hunted relentlessly by Baron Zemo. Driving her out of the country was not enough for him; over the years, Baron Zemo had used pre-programmed Sentinel Robots to snipe at Moonstone, forcing her to hide everywhere she could.

During those days on the run, Moonstone not only felt no regret for trying to assassinate Baron Zemo, but instead continuously plotted how to strike back—how to truly kill Baron Zemo, then prove herself to Red Skull.

To that end, Moonstone established a church and gathered a group of impoverished people who could barely survive, silently amassing strength in the shadows as she waited for the right moment to retaliate against Baron Zemo.

It looked fairly promising, but in truth, most of those she gathered were elderly, weak, sick, or disabled. Even the few sturdy young men gradually became barely recognizable after being irradiated by the "Moonstone" within her body.

It was not only ordinary people. As the bearer of Moonstone, Soffen herself had developed pustules all over her body after using this cosmic energy for too long. Worse still, she had become painfully thin, no longer looking human at all.

To keep others from seeing her miserable appearance, and to make her followers feel the fear of the unknown, Moonstone usually wore a long robe that concealed her disgusting body.

".Are you sure you really saw an old man and Melissa?" As she walked toward the settlement, Moonstone spoke to her followers in a distinctly unfriendly tone.

"Y-yes, revered Goddess. The guards stationed at the front line did indeed see your old friend, but they were moving too fast, so they lost them." A man whose skin was covered in pustules and blisters answered ingratiatingly.

Moonstone’s expression darkened at her follower’s words.

When she first heard that Melissa had appeared on her territory, Moonstone had been extremely excited. She was thrilled that Melissa had finally been willing to leave that lousy church and come seek refuge with her instead.

But when she hurried out with her subordinates to search for Melissa, she found nothing. Moonstone knew that seven or eight Sentinel Robots were searching for her nearby, so she could not expand the search.

At the same time, she was worried that Melissa might be attacked by the Sentinel Robots.

Of course, Moonstone was not worried about Melissa’s personal safety, nor was their relationship particularly close. She merely felt that she had finally managed to win over an ally, and it would be a terrible waste if she died so easily.

After walking for a while, the group returned to the settlement.

After pondering for a moment, Moonstone sighed. "Forget it. Arrange for some people to go out later and widen the search area. Melissa is very important to me. I want to see her alive, or her corpse if she’s dead."

"By the Oracle, Goddess. Then… what should we do about the old man mentioned in the report?" the follower asked cautiously.

"The old man? Ah, that must be Mach—no, Beetle. He came with Melissa too? That’s wonderful. A visit from an old friend always brings me joy."

Moonstone forced a terrifying, hideous smile, then gently instructed, "Find that man as well. Whether they’re alive or dead, Beetle’s armor would still be a great help to us."

At that moment, Moonstone did not know that Beetle had long since died at Hawkeye’s hands. She thought Melissa had come to seek refuge with her alongside her old lover.

"Yes."

The followers accompanying her responded.

"Wait!"

Moonstone suddenly stopped.

Hearing their goddess’s voice, the other followers stopped as well. They watched Moonstone with reverence, curious as to why she had halted them and what she was about to say.

Moonstone frowned and swept her gaze around. The houses and streets before her were all painfully familiar. She had led people in building this place, so she knew every blade of grass and every tree here.

Yet for some reason, the settlement was so quiet that it made her heart tremble.

Whenever she returned before, she would always see a large number of worshippers kneeling in rows to welcome her. But now, the entire settlement had fallen into an eerie dead silence.

Thinking back, she had not seen a single worshipper on the way back. Even the guards stationed at the gate were gone.

After pausing for a moment, Moonstone immediately made her decision.

"Leave. Now."

With that, Moonstone turned and headed for the settlement’s gate.

But before she could retrace even two steps, a flicker of ghostly green fire flashed ahead of her, and the figures of a man and a woman abruptly appeared not far away.

Moonstone halted, startled by the bizarre sight.

After carefully examining them, Moonstone suddenly realized in horror that she did not know the black-haired girl, but the silver-haired man beside her seemed to be Quicksilver.

Soffen was truly flustered at that moment. She had never imagined even in her dreams that Quicksilver, who had long been dead, would appear before her. More importantly, she could clearly feel the oppressive presence emanating from the two of them.

After thinking for only a second, Moonstone immediately turned around, attempting to find another way out of the settlement.

But the moment she turned, ghostly green flames rose again.

This time, the flames spread farther. Figures appeared in every direction, blocking all of Moonstone’s possible escape routes and surrounding her and her followers.

Moonstone saw a girl in a Spider suit, as well as a strange figure in a trench coat and a top hat, his entire face hidden beneath a Bird-Beak Mask. Melissa, whom Moonstone had been desperately searching for, was there too, along with Clint Barton holding a bow and arrow.

"Y-you… who are you!?"

Moonstone immediately recognized that the man in the trench coat was likely the leader of the group. Rather than greeting Melissa first, she turned to Zhang Ye and demanded an answer.

"You dare trespass onto my territory? You’ve got some nerve!"

Hearing the faint threat in Moonstone’s words, Zhang Ye could not help shaking his head.

"Don’t waste your effort, Soffen. While you were out looking for Songbird, your followers were already taken care of by us."