Sentinel Robots!

Canadian border.

Heavy snow drifted through the air, blanketing everything in white. Ice crystals on the trees reflected a beautiful glow beneath the sunlight, adding a touch of splendor to the scenery.

Across this snowfield, all that met the eye was desolation and bleakness. It was as if there had never been any trace of human activity here, with nothing but endless mountains and rivers buried beneath the snow.

Following two trails of footprints stretching onward, two figures slowly moved through this boundless white world.

"Honestly, Melissa, you didn’t have to come with me. This is my mission, not yours." Old Barton leaned on his cane and pressed forward step by step.

At his age, long journeys were no easy task. What was more, he was climbing a snow-covered mountain on foot. This extreme weather had greatly drained the stamina of both Hawkeye and Songbird.

"No. This was my choice too. I won’t stay silent anymore. I don’t deserve to say things like ‘avenging my teammates.’ All I want now is to atone for what I did before. If I die here, then I deserve it."

Melissa’s tone was calm, so calm that it was as if she were not talking about herself at all. She seemed to have long since seen through life and death. One could even say that, rather than cling miserably to life, she would rather die while accompanying Hawkeye on this road.

That made her seem more like a "real" hero.

Perhaps this was the twisted mentality of superhumans in this world. Most villains hoped to die fighting heroes, while those heroes hoped to die in the battles of the past.

Whether it was the Punisher, Old Man Logan, or the other surviving heroes, they had long since been "broken." They could no longer reclaim the unyielding hearts full of hope that they had once possessed.

Perhaps that was why Hawkeye had embarked on this path.

Hawkeye had had enough of drifting through these aimless years. The moment he stepped onto the road of vengeance and placed himself before the eyes of every villain, he had already cast aside any concern for life or death. To him, perhaps death was the better ending.

At the very least, this act could ignite the fighting spirit in some people of this wasteland world.

After pondering for a moment, Barton still did not know how to judge Melissa. He could only lower his head and continue studying the map in silence.

In truth, Old Barton felt deeply conflicted and tormented when it came to Melissa. On one hand, although Songbird had not joined the attack on the heroes back then, she had indeed been branded a "traitor."

She was one of Barton’s targets for revenge. Yet on the other hand, he truly could not bring himself to harm her. At the same time, he was glad that Songbird had chosen to follow him on this journey. At least it meant she had not abandoned the heart of a hero.

Unlike a certain old wolf, who stubbornly refused to step outside his fenced-in shack.

Still, glad as he was, Old Barton held a deep prejudice against Melissa. He wanted to relive the old days when they had fought side by side, yet he also did not want to become too close to her.

Those two contradictory thoughts and feelings left Barton unsure of how to handle his relationship with Melissa.

Melissa understood that herself. She did not expect Barton to forgive her, because she could not forgive herself either. She wanted to help Barton seek revenge only because she had waited for this day for a very long time.

Carrying their own different thoughts, the two barely spoke along the way. The atmosphere remained strange throughout.

Until—

"Something feels off."

Melissa stopped walking. She placed both hands beside her ears and activated her power, sensing the faint sounds around them.

".What is it? What did you sense?"

Old Barton stopped as well. He could not hear anything, but that did not mean he distrusted Melissa’s judgment. As an old teammate, and as the former captain of the Thunderbolts, Old Hawkeye immediately drew his weapon and prepared for battle.

"Something is approaching," Melissa answered with her eyes tightly shut.

"Direction?"

Barton asked calmly.

The vast white snowfield had worsened his vision even further. He frowned slightly, his guard rising as well. After all, this was his first time here, and he had no idea what they might encounter.

"Four o’clock. It sounds mechanical, familiar? We’ve dealt with it before." Melissa gave her assessment, but instead of relaxing, she became even more vigilant.

Old Hawkeye did the same. He abruptly drew his bow and aimed at the location Melissa had indicated.

"In this world, anything we’ve dealt with before is obviously not friendly."

"Yes. When did the Thunderbolts ever run into trouble that was easy to handle?" Melissa tried to smile, but she had not smiled in so long that her facial muscles had become stiff.

Not long after the two prepared themselves for battle, the sound of machinery operating came from afar. Judging by the tremendous noise, whatever it was had to be enormous.

"It’s coming," Melissa warned.

Barton’s grip on his bow tightened involuntarily. Though he had yet to see who—or what—it was, the immense commotion made it clear that it would not be easy to deal with.

The next moment, an enormous robot shoved aside the pine trees and emerged from the forest.

It was a robot dominated by blue and purple, but it was covered in wounds. One of its eyes had been destroyed, and several circuit boards were exposed across its body. It was hard to imagine what it had fought before this.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

Old Barton’s mouth fell open. Though he had glaucoma and could not see clearly, he could still identify it from that massive body.

"Songbird, you never told me there were Sentinel Robots here hunting mutants!"

"I didn’t know either—watch out!"

Just as Songbird was about to say something else, the Sentinel Robot attacked directly.

Old Barton sprang aside, narrowly avoiding the Sentinel Robot’s massive hand. Before he could turn back to counterattack, the Sentry’s single remaining eye fired a red laser.

"Oh, come on! Why is this thing fixated on me? I had a physical before—I’m not a mutant!"

Hawkeye twisted aside again to evade the laser, curses spilling continuously from his mouth.

In his current condition, fighting a Sentinel Robot alone was clearly impossible. Even though this Sentinel Robot was already covered in damage, Barton was still only human.

But at that moment, Songbird made her move.