"I have to admit," I said calmly, pushing Taskmaster back with a sharp strike, "your ability to copy any fighting style you see is truly impressive. But you lack the years of refinement and perfection behind my technique."
Taskmaster slid back several meters before stopping himself. He had managed to block the strike, but I could tell from the way he shifted his stance that he still felt the impact.
We had already been fighting for ten minutes.
Taskmaster rolled his shoulder and smirked behind his mask.
"Give me time," he said while mirroring my stance perfectly, "and I'll master it soon enough."
He attacked again.
I flowed into Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, my body moving like water around his strikes. Every punch, every kick, every motion he attempted was redirected and countered.
He tried sweeping my leg.
I lightly jumped into the air, spinning as I kicked him away. I landed smoothly on my feet after a small backflip.
This was starting to get interesting.
"Bang," I heard Ed's voice through my earpiece.
"Yes?" I answered without taking my eyes off Taskmaster.
"The Widows are cured," Ed said. "And the rest of the team is going on a rampage around the base. We need to finish this quickly before anyone tries to escape."
"Understood," I replied.
Though I couldn't hide a small sigh.
I really did want to see how far he could push my technique.
"Sorry, young man," I said, straightening slightly, "but it's time to end this."
Taskmaster tilted his head, confused.
In the next instant, I vanished.
Before he could react, I appeared directly in front of him.
My fists moved faster than the eye could track.
One strike.
Ten strikes.
Fifty strikes.
By the time the barrage ended, I had hit him ninety times in the span of a second.
The final strike launched him across the hallway and into a concrete wall.
The impact cracked the surface before his body slid down to the floor.
Unconscious.
I walked over and looked down at him.
"Great talent," I said quietly. "But wasted."
I placed a hand behind my back.
"Hopefully, we can change that."
Ed POV
Five minutes later
The battle for the Red Room was already over.
All the soldiers, scientists, and other personnel had been disarmed and locked up.
It took about five minutes to gather all the freed Widows into a large chamber within the base.
I stood on a small platform in front of them.
Hundreds of women looked back at me.
Some cautious.
Some confused.
Some were still processing the fact that they were finally free.
"I'm sure some of you already know who I am," I began. "But for those who don't, my name is Arsenal, and I'm currently considered the world's strongest superhero."
A few whispers moved through the crowd.
"The reason I came here today is simple. I came to save you and free you from Dreykov."
I crossed my arms.
"You're free now. You can live your lives however you want."
I paused before continuing.
"But I also know many of you may not want a normal life. If that's the case, you have another option."
I gestured behind me.
"You can join my organization, the Vanguard. And we would gladly accept all of you."
One of the Widows raised her hand.
"What about the kids?"
"Of course," I answered immediately. "If they still have families, we'll return them home."
I looked across the room.
"For the ones who don't… they'll come with us. And we'll take care of them."
Another Widow narrowed her eyes.
"And what exactly does taking care of them mean? Finishing their training so they can work for you?"
I shook my head.
"Of course not."
"My idea of taking care of them means letting them be kids. They'll go to school, make friends, and grow up normally. And when they're older, they'll get to choose their own paths."
Several Widows looked genuinely surprised.
"I know what some of you might be thinking," I continued. "That I only saved you to gain a group of trained assassins."
I shook my head again.
"That couldn't be further from the truth."
"I saved you because what Dreykov was doing was monstrous."
I looked around the room.
"And if any of you want to leave and live your own lives, that's perfectly fine. I'll still help you."
I raised a hand slightly.
"I can give you new identities, money to start over, and medical treatment."
A Widow near the front looked shocked.
"Medical treatment?"
"Yes," I said. "Including healing the damage done to your bodies… so you can have children again, if you want."
The room went silent.
"You can do that?" another Widow asked.
I shrugged slightly.
"Very easily. The Vanguard has extremely advanced technology. And I also happen to have multiple healing abilities… along with some ridiculously talented doctors."
They all looked at each other, quietly discussing among themselves.
"Take your time," I told them. "Whatever decision you make, I'll respect it."
For nearly an hour, the Widows spoke amongst themselves.
Honestly, I expected maybe half of them to leave and start new lives.
But when they finally came back with their decision…
They all chose the same answer.
They would join the Vanguard.
Not the outcome I expected, but definitely a good one.
I opened a portal.
We all stepped through, returning to our base.
Behind us, Dreykov was dragged along and thrown into one of the prison cells.
I had plans for him.
And someone else deserved the chance to deal with him personally.
One Month Later
An entire month passed, and a lot happened during that time.
Ever since I recruited the Widows, the base has been running a lot smoother. It turns out their training in the Red Room went far beyond just assassination.
Some of them are brilliant scientists.Others have extensive medical knowledge.And a few are straight-up mechanical geniuses.
Having that kind of talent around has been a huge help for both Peggy and me.
And speaking of changes…
Dreykov is dead.
Melina killed him the moment she got the chance.
What she did to that man was… honestly terrifying.
We were still cleaning blood out of that prison cell weeks later.
No one questioned her about it.
No one wanted to.
Another thing that happened was Alexei finally meeting Melina and Yelena again.
To say that the reunion was awkward would be an understatement.
Yelena was not happy to see either of them. In fact, at first she tried to completely ignore them. But Alexei and Melina were stubborn. They kept trying to apologize and make things right.
Eventually, after a lot of persistence…
Yelena finally gave in and started talking to them.
Things aren't fixed yet.
Not even close.
But at least it's a start.
And honestly, I was happy she was giving them a chance.
Meanwhile, the Web Warriors managed to track down the last person who had been bitten by one of the spiders.
Her name is Mattie Franklin.
She's a bit older than the rest of the group. She graduated from high school two years ago and had been attending college like a normal student, until one day a spider randomly bit her.
At first, she completely freaked out when her powers started appearing.
Which… honestly, fair.
Eventually, she started getting used to them, though.
According to Peter, she decided to become a hero after watching one of my interviews online.
Still not sure how I feel about that kind of influence, but hey… at least it worked out.
Side note: besides the usual spider powers, she also has Venom Blast.
So that's pretty cool.
As for Taskmaster, he ended up joining my Black Ops Team, which I kind of expected after I showed him exactly how much he was going to get paid.
Money talks.
But he did make one surprising request.
He wanted to continue learning Bang's technique.
That honestly caught me off guard.
Still, after asking Bang if he was okay with it, I agreed to the arrangement.
Bang didn't seem bothered by the idea at all.
In fact…
He almost looked interested.
The Fantastic Four's powers finally appeared.
And the moment they did, Reed came to me for help.
At first, he was planning to ask for funding so he could research a cure for the team. Instead, I offered to help him directly. Not just financially, I personally helped solve the problem.
Reed was surprised.
Even more surprised when he realized just how smart I actually was.
The first problem I tackled was Ben.
Out of the four of them, he had it the worst. The others could eventually learn to control their powers, but Ben was permanently stuck in his rocky form.
So I created a serum designed to upgrade his cells, allowing him to control his transformation the same way the others could, basically giving him an on-and-off switch for his powers.
Injecting it normally wasn't an option. His skin was far too durable for a needle to penetrate, and I wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of him just drinking something experimental either.
So instead, I built a sealed gas chamber to disperse the serum as a vapor so his body could absorb it through respiration.
The moment it was activated, the results were immediate.
Ben returned to his human form.
And now he can transform into The Thing whenever he wants.
Needless to say, he was pretty emotional about it.
After solving Ben's problem, Reed and I built a machine that could absorb and remove the cosmic radiation from the rest of them if they truly wanted to be normal again.
But while we were working on it, I ended up convincing them not to go through with it.
Their powers weren't a curse.
They could control them now, and more importantly, they could use them to help people.
In the end, they decided to keep their abilities.
Before they left, I also offered Reed a business partnership.
I would help him commercialize and sell some of his inventions to the public, and in exchange, I'd only take twenty percent of the profits.
Reed was shocked by how generous the offer was.
He accepted immediately.
Meanwhile, Ben ended up divorcing his wife.
When he first showed her his rocky form, she instantly pulled off her wedding ring and left him.
But when he later turned back into his human form, she suddenly wanted to reconcile.
Ben wasn't having it.
If the only thing she cared about was how he looked…
Then she never really loved him to begin with.
Honestly?
Good for him.
Another big development was Tony Stark.
Just like I predicted, he managed to escape from the terrorists who captured him.
Peggy was relieved to see him safe.
What surprised me more, though, was that Tony shut down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries. His time in captivity clearly changed his perspective.
While everyone else panicked and started selling their Stark Industries stock…
I bought as much of it as I could.
You have to strike while the opportunity is there, after all.
I also finally found out who put the bounty on my head.
Graydon Creed.
Not exactly a shock.
The guy absolutely hates me.
Every time we've debated publicly, he tries to attack me for being a mutant. Unfortunately for him, that strategy hasn't been working very well lately. People can clearly see I'm not some dangerous threat, especially with everything I've done to help others.
Since I joined the campaign, he's been steadily losing supporters.
Putting a hit out on me was probably his last desperate attempt to get rid of me.
It failed spectacularly.
Not only did I hack into his systems and tip off the FBI about the illegal bounty he placed on my head…
I also sent them a list of all the weapons he secretly purchased and supplied to the Friends of Humanity.
It didn't even take a week.
They arrested him.
And just like that…
One more problem solved.
It was almost time for Cell and Selene to be born.
Their bodies were fully developed now. All that remained was removing them from the tanks and waking them up.
Stratos had been especially excited lately. He could barely contain himself, knowing he was finally about to meet his brother and sister.
Honestly… I was excited too.
Right now, I'm just flying around in Antarctica. I'm trying to find the Savage Land.
If I could find some Antarctic Vibranium, that would open up a lot of useful possibilities. That stuff was insanely valuable and had some very interesting properties.
Unfortunately, my luck searching for it lately had been terrible.
I had been floating in the air thinking about it for a while before finally giving up and landing on the ground.
I stretched my arms a little.
"I'm bored… and tired," I muttered.
Might as well do something fun.
"System, activate Gacha."
A familiar mechanical voice responded immediately.
"Gacha system activated."
Dragon Egg(Game of Thrones)
Charles Xavier's Powers
Underdog(Underdog) — [Summon] (Pet)
Zombieman(One Punch Man) — [Summon]
The Ability to Copy Any Power
Superalloy Darkshine's Power(One Punch Man)
Psychic Paper(Doctor Who)
Golden Apple(Minecraft)
Danny Phantom's Powers(Danny Phantom)
Ninja Mask(Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja)
The Force(Star Wars)
Generator Rex's Powers(Generator Rex)
Daenerys Targaryen(Game of Thrones) — [Summon]
Spear of Ra(Gods of Egypt)
Third Star Dragon Ball(Dragon Ball)
Gazerbeam's Powers(The Incredibles)
Tony Tony Chopper(One Piece) — [Summon]
Ebony(Devil May Cry)
Ivory(Devil May Cry)
Carmen Sandiego's Red Coat(Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego)
_________________________________________________________
AN: Sorry about the late chapter. I've been taking care of my mom and little sister. They're a little sick but getting better.