Who Wants to Be Next?

The magical energy filling the entire battlefield began to steadily fade. The strange energy originating from within Red Skull’s body turned into streaks of light, erupting like volcanic ash and rising into the sky, becoming a spectacle as dazzling as the aurora.

Near Red Skull was the area most severely corroded by magical energy. The topmost layer of bricks and tiles on the ground was no longer distinguishable, while the soil buried deep underground had been churned up and transformed, amid the interweaving energies, into clumps of rotten mud that gave off a foul stench.

Slowly, with Red Skull’s downfall, the entire battlefield began to descend into chaos.

As Hydra’s supreme leader, Red Skull’s death did not signal the end of the battle. On the contrary, it sparked an even more terrifying upheaval. At this moment, an extreme madness blanketed all of New Babylon and gradually spread across the world.

Red Skull was dead!

The city-state that Hydra had used to rule the world for decades was on the verge of collapse!

Every spectator watching this execution ceremony went mad. Just like that old war forty-five years ago that had shocked the entire world, Red Skull’s fall was the fuse, and the whole world was about to enter an even more chaotic era.

The Hydra soldiers scattered and fled. Without Red Skull and Arnim Zola commanding them, they could not make sense of the situation, much less form an effective formation to fight.

As the saying went, a defeated army collapsed like a landslide. Some wanted to fight, while others wanted to flee. With no one stepping forward to command them, nearly every Hydra soldier ran around the battlefield like a headless fly.

As for the gangs and mercenaries who had long gathered in New Babylon, they could no longer contain the restlessness in their hearts. Seeing Hydra crumble beneath the Justice League’s assault, they naturally wanted a piece of the pie as well.

With the Justice League and Hydra both badly weakened, everyone believed they should be the ones to reap the rewards.

In an instant, the flames of war reignited.

Hydra’s defensive perimeter had yet to contain Old Barton, who was preparing to break out, when the gathered mercenaries on the outskirts smashed through it. With trouble both within and without, Hydra soldiers were dying horribly almost every moment.

Old Barton had just taken down a Hydra soldier when mercenaries nearly turned him into Swiss cheese.

Those lunatics who charged in did not care whether someone was Hydra or a superhero. Their goal was to kill everyone in their way and storm Hydra’s fortress all the way to the White House.

Everyone knew that during Hydra’s years of ruling America, it had looted countless treasures from around the world. Those items were all stored in the castle beneath the White House. Wealth of that caliber was like a slab of fragrant pork belly—everyone wanted a bite.

"Are these people insane!?"

Gunfire rang out everywhere. The surrounding noise made it difficult for Old Barton to tell which way to go. If Mockingbird had not been protecting him beside him, he would have died who knew how many times already.

"We need to get out of here."

Mockingbird had just opened her mouth when a deafening boom cut her off. Turning around, she saw several members of the Hulk Gang charging into the battlefield. Those whose blood carried Gamma Rays were no different from madmen, rampaging forward and tearing open a bloody path by force.

".We really need to leave." Mockingbird’s mouth fell open. Looking at the uncontrollable situation, all she wanted now was to get out of there as quickly as possible.

At that moment, a red sedan sped past and came to a steady stop beside Old Barton.

Mockingbird looked back and saw the old Punisher gripping the steering wheel in one hand and holding a gun in the other to cover them. Jason Todd was still unconscious in the passenger seat.

"Clint, get in!"

The old Punisher shouted. He no longer resembled the man he had once been. Age had shriveled his entire body, and aside from his iconic outfit, there was nothing left of his former self.

Barton was pale. Without another word, he pulled Mockingbird into the back seat. The entire battlefield had gone mad. They had finally won the hardest battle, and he had no intention of dying inexplicably at the hands of these lunatics.

Once inside the car, Barton listened as the old Punisher skillfully started it. He felt that the sound of the vehicle was strangely familiar, as though he had heard it somewhere before.

What he could not see was the unmistakable silver eagle emblem on the front interior of the red sedan—the classic symbol of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Frank, where did you get this car?"

"A friend loaned it to me." The elderly Punisher forced a smile and did not explain further. He merely released the steering wheel and pressed a red button beside the driver’s seat.

"Hold on tight!"

The next moment, the sedan’s power system let out a violent roar. A burst of repulsive force shot from beneath its chassis, and its four tires slowly retracted. Before long, the sedan actually began to float.

The commotion on Old Barton’s side quickly caught the attention of the nearby mercenaries. As they watched the high-tech sedan slowly rise into the air, their eyes filled with greed.

"Shoot it down!"

"Don’t let that old bastard get away!"

"Keep Hawkeye and the Punisher here!"

"They’re taking away a superhero from another world! Stop them!"

In an instant, the sedan carrying Old Barton, the Punisher, and the others became the target of everyone present.

Whether they wanted to make a name for themselves by killing heroes or were after Red Hood, no matter what motives those agitators had, they had successfully drawn everyone’s attention to Barton and the others.

It was not just the mercenaries. Even the Hulk Gang heard the commotion and turned their murderous gazes toward the rising sedan.

"Thanks, Frank. Now we’re everyone’s favorite target." Old Barton said helplessly.

"Don’t worry. This hovercar is equipped with the best bulletproof system." The old Punisher replied with absolute confidence.

The moment he finished speaking, a laser shot straight through the bottom of the sedan, passing right in front of Mockingbird and blasting a clearly visible hole through the sunroof.

"."

An eerie silence fell inside the car.

Below them, the mercenaries surged toward the sedan. Armed with all kinds of weapons, they continuously fired at the hovering vehicle. Bullets hammered against its surface in a furious rattle, leaving obvious marks behind.

"We can’t hold out much longer!"

"I know, I know! Just hold on tight!"

The old Punisher kept working the control lever, trying to evade the attacks from below. He knew that as long as he rose high enough, no matter what weapons they used, the car’s defenses would be able to withstand them.

On Hydra’s territory, taking this car into the air had originally been no different from painting a target on it. With Doctor Zola’s intelligence monitoring the entire city, the Punisher would have been shot down by missiles before he could even reach fifty meters.

But Doctor Zola was gone now, and all of Hydra’s anti-air weaponry had shut down. As long as they broke through the mercenaries’ blockade, they could leave this place successfully.

However, the people below who had their eyes on Old Barton and the others were not limited to the mercenaries.

"We won’t let you leave. That’s our prey."

Several Hulk Gang members charged forward with cold smiles. These people with Hulk bloodlines were all like little giants, and the leader was over two meters tall, already very close to Hulk himself.

Looking at the sedan climbing into the sky, the Hulk leader merely gave a savage grin. To him, smashing that "toy" down would take nothing more than a jump. It would be effortless.

After finding the right angle, the Hulk leader stomped down hard and instantly launched himself high into the air. The terrifying force propelled him at incredible speed straight toward the hovering car.

As the hovering sedan drew closer and closer, the smile on the Hulk leader’s face grew wider. He seemed to already see himself tearing the car into pieces.

Then, a blinding red light struck from the right.

Before he could react at all, the Hulk leader was blown apart midair by two scarlet laser beams. Like a balloon bursting, countless chunks of blood and flesh splattered outward, raining down below.

The crowd beneath suddenly fell silent. The mercenaries, who had been wildly excited moments earlier, slowly quieted down, and the gunfire directed at the sedan stopped as well.

After a second or two, terror gradually crept across the mercenaries’ faces. They slowly turned their heads and stiffly looked toward the direction from which the lasers had come.

At the edge of the battlefield, a short-haired girl hovered silently in midair.

A red cape fluttered behind her, and the S emblem on the chest of her blue combat suit was especially conspicuous.

Scarlet energy still lingered in her eyes. Anyone who had witnessed the Hulk leader’s fate could sense the devastating destructive power contained within it.

"If anyone makes another move—"

Lowering her head slightly, Kara looked at the crowd below, now trapped in dead silence. Her red lips parted as she spoke slowly.

"Who wants to be next?"

I was a little late because I was watching a game.