The One Under Watchful Eyes

Technology still had its shortcomings.

After all, the Zeus Scepter was not one of the Divine Relics wielded by Zeus himself in legend. It was merely a product forged from the fruits of human technology. With magic enhancing it, its capacitor core had clearly reached its critical limit.

Feeling the terrifying, destructive power in his hand, Pietro experienced for the first time what it felt like to wield power.

"I’m sure Doctor Strange and the Punisher will be satisfied with this signal flare."

Pietro murmured softly. Then, in the next instant, he swung his arm fiercely and hurled the Zeus Scepter wrapped in terrifying lightning like a javelin.

"Die!!!"

His super speed, combined with the immense strength of his Vibranium arm, made it impossible for anyone present to see the Zeus Scepter’s path. The scepter flashed through the air like a laser, as though Pietro had truly thrown a bolt of lightning.

The next second.

Boom—

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Astonishing energy erupted instantly, like an explosive shell laced with thunder. The terrifying force tore apart every deformed monster around it. Bolts of lightning burst forth wildly, lashing indiscriminately at every conductor nearby and shredding the mutated monsters’ bodies to pieces.

The blinding radiance became the only color in this space. Moon Knight even suspected that the light would pierce the barrier of reality and affect the outside world.

Very soon, there were no more mutants around Pietro and the others that could remain standing. All they could smell was the nauseating scent of cooked flesh.

"Now Doctor Strange and the others should be able to notice us." Moon Knight gazed silently at the battlefield that had been blasted into ruins and could not help saying.

"I noticed you a fucking long time ago! Do you know you nearly blinded me?!"

Just then, an angry roar rang out. Moon Knight turned around in surprise and saw that a manhole cover beside where he had been standing had been thrown open. The Punisher was glaring at him with fury written all over his face.

Moon Knight did not know what to say for a moment. Before this, he had had plenty he wanted to tell the Punisher, but now that he had truly seen him, he found himself unable to say a single word.

Perhaps that was for the best. He had never been someone good at communicating anyway.

Although the Punisher looked furious, anyone could tell that he was not truly angry. The Punisher was the kind of man who seemed cold outside but was warm within, something even ordinary New Yorkers knew.

"You finally made it." The Punisher swept his gaze around before finally settling it on John. "You look familiar."

"Cough, cough, cough." John nearly choked to death.

They all lived in the same city. Back when John had still been Blood Baron, he had crossed paths with quite a few superheroes. Strictly speaking, he had had grudges with all of them.

"Don’t dwell on that. We need to get out of here quickly. Where’s Doctor Strange?" Moon Knight interrupted the Punisher’s scrutiny of John and asked.

"I’m here." Doctor Strange struggled out of the sewer. The prolonged, high-intensity battle had pushed his body nearly to its absolute limit.

Seeing this, Carolina immediately stepped forward to support him. At the same time, she carefully studied this Doctor Strange. It seemed that he was not as formidable as the Doctor Strange she had encountered in her vision.

"Thank you. If it hadn’t been for you, Frank and I would have been in danger." Doctor Strange said between breaths. He had very few magical items left. A month of fighting and hiding had cost him the vast majority of his magical artifacts.

"If you want to thank someone, thank Witch Raven after we get out. If it weren’t for him, you would probably have been erased from my awareness." Moon Knight looked at the Punisher and Doctor Strange and sighed.

"How could that be?" The Punisher was startled. He had never expected things to have become this bad. "Then what’s happening outside? How is Deadpool? How many heroes are still alive?"

Moon Knight understood the Punisher’s anxiety. Frank had become the Punisher because he placed tremendous importance on "family." In his eyes, anyone who tried to destroy a family was someone he would hunt down.

And having been trapped in the gap between realities for so long, he was naturally extremely curious about the outside world. Moon Knight did not keep him in suspense. After a pause, he said,

"Don’t worry. Things are a little better than we expected. Deadpool has already—"

"Don’t say it!"

Suddenly, Doctor Strange shouted, cutting Moon Knight off.

Seeing the puzzled looks around him, Doctor Strange said grimly, "Don’t say anything about the outside world, and don’t say anything about Deadpool. There is a spy for that thing among us."

At those words, everyone around them, including the Punisher, froze.

Doctor Strange was not exaggerating. Even before they had arrived here, they had worried that some kind of existence might turn its scrutinizing gaze upon them. That could very likely cause their entire plan to fail.

Everyone looked at one another, seemingly trying to identify and guard against the spy.

They did not know who the enemy was, nor when it had infiltrated their group, but Doctor Strange’s words stirred the unease buried deep within every one of them.

Slowly, everyone began shifting within a small area. Pietro and John stood together, Doctor Strange formed a group by himself, while Moon Knight, the Punisher, and Carolina stood together.

There was no need to say much about Pietro and John. They worked under Zhang Ye, and from the very beginning, they had been under a strange sort of protection. Even Kara was largely "immune" to that power’s erosion and corruption.

As one of the greatest sorcerers, Doctor Strange had been affected before, but his mental defenses were now enough to sustain him for a while.

The only ones left to consider were Moon Knight, the Punisher, and Carolina.

If there truly was a so-called "spy" among those present, then only one of them could be it.

"What is your mission?" Doctor Strange asked.

Still caught up in Doctor Strange’s suspicion about a spy and briefly dulled by it, Moon Knight immediately snapped back to his senses. He forcibly suppressed the chaotic unease in his heart, trying to regain his composure.

After pausing, he raised his head. "We came to ‘bring you back.’"

"That’s all?" Doctor Strange frowned slightly.

"And this." Moon Knight extended two fingers, and a playing card appeared from nowhere, pinched between them.

"What is that?" the Punisher asked in confusion.

Moon Knight held the card and took several deep breaths.

Then, he watched the people around him warily, clenched the card tightly in both hands, and slowly backed away several steps, widening the distance between himself and Doctor Strange’s group.

Only after doing all that did he finally speak.

"This is something that will help us at a critical moment, and it is also the key to our success."

Then, before anyone could react, Moon Knight tore the playing card in half!

(PS: Thanks to "Book Friend with a Long String of Numbers" for the reward, brother. Change your name, brother, or it’ll be hard to thank you.)

(And thanks to all the other friends for your support. Thank you, everyone.)