The Scapegoat Takes His Place

"If I remember correctly, you said you were looking for information, not bringing back an entire truckload of cargo." Lyden stared at Skye as she climbed out of the truck, spreading his hands in surprise.

"It was an accident." Skye arched her delicate brows and explained, "I only saw online that the shipment contained the R-37 files. Who would’ve thought the so-called R-37 files would turn out to be several huge crates packed full of documents?"

"So you hijacked the entire transport truck?"

"What else could I do? Did you expect me to carry one huge crate in each hand and fly around the sky? That would’ve been practically begging S.H.I.E.L.D. to find me!"

"I originally thought you were going to steal something. With a Magnetic Field Warrior’s abilities, you could do it without anyone noticing. Even if S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered the files were missing, they’d only assume they’d been misplaced. But this…" Lyden gestured at the seven- or eight-meter-long cargo truck, rendered speechless.

"It doesn’t matter. We’ll take the crates containing the R-37 files and leave everything else here. S.H.I.E.L.D. will come looking soon and drive the truck back themselves."

As Skye spoke, she opened the rear compartment, reached in, and carried out the several crates marked with the R-37 files, stuffing them into the car Lyden had driven over. As for the other enormous crates inside, she didn’t even spare them a glance.

"Beautifully done!" Lyden turned and sat back in the driver’s seat. "I have to say, Magnetic Field Rotation is incredible. You’re practically a little superman!"

"Then you should work harder at cultivating instead of drooling over my abilities." Skye rolled her eyes at him and climbed into the passenger seat.

"After the rapid-growth period of the first three months, progress becomes almost negligible. I’ve investigated it carefully. Anyone who fails to get started during those first three months needs at least two years, even at the fastest pace. If I’d known, I would’ve mastered Chinese first before going to learn from a master."

Lyden started the car and drove toward his secret base.

"Are you sure the R-37 files contain information about your parents?"

"All sorts of clues indicate that my parents’ identities are problematic. Every piece of information I obtained by hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s systems ultimately points to these R-37 files."

"Have you never tried obtaining the information through official channels? You’re a Magnetic Field Warrior now. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. should be willing to recruit you, right?" Lyden asked casually as he drove.

Skye frowned and said doubtfully, "That was what I thought too, but strangely, S.H.I.E.L.D. has maintained an ambiguous attitude and never agreed."

"Then there’s only one possibility: the level your parents were involved with is extremely high, requiring strict confidentiality. Either your parents were important figures, or someone connected to them was." Lyden spoke with absolute certainty.

"Whatever the truth is, we’ll know once we open the crates and search through them carefully."

Meanwhile, after Skye and Lyden drove away from the scene, a team of people quickly arrived. They opened the large crate at the back of the cargo truck, rapidly carried out the preassembled portal device inside, and set it beside the vehicle without moving it anywhere else. Then someone pressed the switch on the miniature Arc Reactor, and the entire group scattered like frightened birds.

Within seconds, a powerful electric current was amplified by the device and poured into the base beneath the Tesseract at the other end. After building up for a moment, a blue beam shot straight into the sky like a sharp sword, piercing a hole through the heavens.

Space twisted and began spinning like a vortex. With every rotation, it tore away a section of the surrounding space and pulled it into the vortex. The hole grew larger and larger, slowly opening like a curtain to reveal a swarm of alien warships on the other side.

"What’s that behind us?" Lyden suddenly asked while driving.

Skye glanced at the rearview mirror and immediately jolted. She quickly turned around to look. In the district they had just left, a beam of light reaching into the heavens was brazenly announcing its presence across all of New York.

"That looks like the place where we parked earlier. Should we go back and take a look?"

Skye hesitated. After all, she had just stolen something and felt a little guilty. But the alien soldiers surging out of the space portal made the decision for her.

"You drive back—no, leave New York. I’ll go back and take a look. Once I deal with things there, I’ll come find you."

Ignoring the fact that the car was still moving, Skye pushed open the door, leaped out, and unleashed her movement technique, sprinting back at full speed.

Lyden had just wanted to call out to her. He opened his mouth, but ultimately gave up, sighed, and turned the steering wheel, accelerating toward the outskirts of the city instead.

Skye moved like the wind and soon returned to the original district. She stared dumbfounded at the strange device continuously firing a blue beam into the sky.

She glanced up and saw only the alien soldiers pouring out, but fortunately, a Magnetic Field Warrior was already engaging the enemy head-on. Judging from the distinctive paint on his armor and the shield in his hand, he was unmistakably Captain America.

But warriors who could react as quickly as Captain America were clearly rare. The alien soldiers had already begun raining ammunition down on the streets of New York.

The sensitive hearing of a Magnetic Field Warrior allowed Skye to hear the sounds of buildings collapsing, along with the cries, screams, and other noises of the people being caught in the attack.

Desperate, she had no time to consider how the device in front of her had gotten out of the cargo truck. She stepped forward, gathered all her strength, and slammed her palm heavily into the energy-emitting device.

But the energy-emitting device was protected by the Tesseract’s energy. How could she possibly break through it?

Amid a deafening boom, Skye was violently blasted away by the energy shield, vomiting blood.

More and more aliens poured through, and the battle instantly reached a fever pitch. Explosions grew increasingly violent, and the entire city seemed to boil over.

Skye didn’t know who had brought the device out, but she believed she bore some responsibility for what was happening. If she hadn’t stolen S.H.I.E.L.D.’s transport truck and casually abandoned it, how could this situation have occurred?

The moans, screams, and cries for help entering her ears pierced her heart like knives.

"Damn it!"

"Magnetic Field Rotation, Fifth Heaven!"

"Open up!"

Ignoring her injuries, she advanced as soon as she broke through, gathered all her energy once more, and lunged forward again, slamming down hard against the spatial device.

But as one of the six Infinity Stones, the Space Stone possessed vast and inexhaustible energy. Although the shield had activated only a small portion of its power, it was still far beyond what Skye, at the Fifth Heaven, could break through.

"Boom!"

Skye was blasted away again at an even greater speed than before, crashing straight into the neighboring building and punching a massive hole through it.

This attack had been even more powerful than the last, so the rebound injuries she suffered were naturally much worse.

She coughed several times and spat out a mouthful of blood. Struggling painfully, she crawled to her feet, walked out through the hole, and was about to try again when a group of armored vehicles suddenly charged in.

"We’ve discovered the device lost by S.H.I.E.L.D.! A criminal guarding the spatial portal is present at the scene. She’s a Magnetic Field Warrior. Requesting support! Repeat, the criminal is a Magnetic Field Warrior. Requesting support!"

Skye hurriedly waved both hands and explained, "I’m not the criminal guarding the spatial portal…"

"Open fire!" The lead S.H.I.E.L.D. agent gave the order, and a storm of bullets poured toward Skye.

That level of attack was nothing more than a drizzle to Skye, but she could only take the beating and wasn’t allowed to fight back.

"I already told you, I’m not a criminal!" she shouted, but no one believed her.

Enraged, she waved her hand. Everyone’s hands jolted, and they could no longer hold on to their weapons. Every gun flew from its owner’s grasp and was twisted into a mass of scrap metal in midair.

Skye tossed the metal ball aside. "Can we talk properly now?"

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Magnetic Field Warriors hidden nearby had been waiting for her to make a move. They immediately flew out and slammed down with a punch, shouting, "The criminal is attacking the police! Kill her without mercy!"