"Damn it!"
Witnessing Colin withstand a rocket explosion head-on without a scratch, the guards' fear deepened.
"Where are the Thunderbolts' members?"
Feeling the commotion behind him, the guard in charge of the operation suppressed his fear and questioned the personnel on the communicator.
"They're doing their best to get here!"
In the monitoring room, the communications guard responded, his forehead beaded with sweat.
The moment they encountered Colin, the communications guard had already reported the situation to the Thunderbolts.
But even so, it would still take some time for the Thunderbolts to arrive.
Who could have imagined they wouldn't even be able to hold on for that short period?
Using [Super Hearing] to listen to the guards' communication, Colin's gaze shifted to Crossbones and Boomerang moving in Zone A.
Clearly, they were the Thunderbolts mentioned by the communicator.
His gaze moved away from Crossbones's newly modified arm.
Colin looked at the guards still firing madly in front of him, countless flattened bullets littering the ground.
Stepping on the deformed bullets, Colin frowned slightly. He glanced at the guards firing wildly before him and took a deep breath.
*Huuu~*
The next instant, a chilling cold emanated from Colin.
Vast swathes of frost visibly appeared. As the cold permeated, the guards' movements began to stiffen. Their faces filled with terror as they tried to escape, but they were still unable to evade the speed at which the cold spread.
Within mere seconds, lifelike ice sculptures appeared in the prison corridors.
"So cold."
Following the direction from which the gunshots came, Doreen Green and Hawkeye arrived at the location where Colin had 'fought'.
However, before they could get closer, a bone-chilling cold emanated from the area.
Facing this sudden cold, Doreen Green quickly wrapped herself with her tail, saying with some confusion,
"What happened all of a sudden..."
Before she could finish speaking, she was stunned by the sight before her.
*Squeak squeak—*
The squirrel 'Tippy-Toe' crawled down from Doreen Green's shoulder and cautiously extended its paw towards a guard frozen in an ice sculpture.
The next second, the cold emanating from the ice sculpture made 'Tippy-Toe' squeak and run back.
Climbing back onto Doreen Green's shoulder, 'Tippy-Toe' looked at the thin layer of frost on its paw with a wronged squeak.
"Another unknown ability."
Standing beside Doreen Green, although Clint maintained a facade of expectation, his inner shock was no less than hers.
Muttering to himself, Hawkeye glanced at the bow and arrow in his hand. He felt that after this mission, he needed to have a serious talk with Howard, asking him to design more arrowheads for him.
...
"Damn it!"
Upon learning from the communications guard that a small team was missing, Crossbones's scarred face revealed a grim expression.
The guards stationed in the secret prison by the Thunderbolts had undergone at least rigorous training.
Crossbones had initially thought they could buy some time.
He hadn't expected the enemy to be even more powerful than he'd anticipated.
At the very least, Crossbones himself couldn't guarantee he could neutralize a fully equipped squad of guards in such a short time, even with his new modified arm.
Taking a deep breath, he forcefully suppressed his emotions.
"Who else is in the base?"
Crossbones turned to Boomerang, asking.
"Taskmaster took a small team out for an arrest operation. Currently, the only ones left in the base are Luke Cage, Mister Hyde, and Moonstone..."
Frowning as he recalled, Boomerang said with some uncertainty.
"Of course, besides them, there's also Bullseye and that rich kid who just joined not too long ago."
When he mentioned Bullseye's name, Boomerang's expression became noticeably uncomfortable.
Within the Thunderbolts, Bullseye and Boomerang's abilities were very similar – both relied on superior throwing skills to hit opponents.
However, Boomerang had always been unable to match Bullseye's performance.
It wasn't just about the accuracy comparison of their throwing skills; Boomerang's abilities were mostly focused on throwing darts, whereas Bullseye could turn anything in his hands into a weapon.
He had even been known to kill targets by breaking his teeth when unarmed.
Of course, if it were just the gap in abilities, Boomerang might have grudgingly accepted it. Throwing was a skill that relied heavily on talent, something he had understood when he was a professional baseball player.
The fundamental reason for Boomerang's attitude towards Bullseye wasn't just the difference in abilities, but rather the maniacal demeanor Bullseye displayed during missions.
He was a complete lunatic.
Boomerang would never forget the scene after witnessing Bullseye complete a mission. Boomerang never considered himself a good person within the Thunderbolts, yet Bullseye had shown him through his actions that he couldn't even be a bad person, at least not an evil person like Bullseye.
"Notify Luke Cage, Mister Hyde, and Moonstone."
Within the Thunderbolts, Crossbones and Luke Cage had always had a strained relationship.
He disdained the latter's self-righteous 'kindness,' even though they were doing the same kind of work.
Despite harboring mockery for Luke Cage in his heart, Crossbones did not let his personal emotions affect his judgment of the situation.
While Luke Cage's conduct was highly unsatisfactory to him, at least in terms of abilities, the man was quite useful.
As for Bullseye and Harry mentioned by Boomerang, the former could only be released from detention with Taskmaster's orders, and Crossbones didn't believe the latter could change anything in the current situation.
In fact, if the latter were to get injured, the Thunderbolts would have to allocate personnel to protect him.
After all, Harry Osborn was different from them; he was a truly important figure, someone even the Superhuman Activities Oversight Committee could meet.
It was rumored that the Superhuman Activities Oversight Committee had accepted sponsorship from Oscorp and had even begun discussions on a cooperation plan.
Perhaps one day, Harry Osborn could even become the head of the Thunderbolts.
There were differing opinions within the Thunderbolts regarding this possibility.
Crossbones, as a staunch supporter of Taskmaster, naturally expressed strong opposition.
However, opponents like him were ultimately a minority.
The majority of the Thunderbolts members had joined the team without any clear stance.
For them, who the leader of the team was made little difference.
...
[Contacted Distorted Time Node, collected small amount of Time Shards ×1]
[Contacted Distorted Time Node, collected small amount of Time Shards ×0.5]
[Contacted Distorted Time Node, collected small amount of Time Shards ×0.5]
'Time Shards' could actually be 0.5?
Although he had long since pinpointed the locations of Crossbones and the others, Colin didn't immediately rush to engage them.
Instead, utilizing his [Super Speed], he moved frequently throughout the Thunderbolts' secret prison, contacting [Distorted Time Nodes] to acquire [Time Shards].
However, judging from the results, the [Time Shards] within the entire secret prison weren't as numerous as Colin had initially expected.
During the process, although he encountered many 'prisoners' held in the facility, the [Time Shards] they could generate were surprisingly few.
It was because of this that Colin realized for the first time that [Time Shards] had calculation units like 0.5.
Perhaps because these 'superheroes' themselves had little impact on the world, they couldn't form significant distorted nodes.
Passing by another obscure 'superhero,' Colin acquired 0.5 [Time Shards] from him, while the latter remained oblivious.
Although the [Time Shards] provided by a single 'prisoner' captured by the Thunderbolts weren't much, adhering to the principle of "every little bit helps," Colin didn't give up on contacting them. After all, for him, who had unlocked [Super Speed], acquiring even a small amount of [Time Shards] through brief contact wasn't too strenuous.
Thus, in just a few minutes.
He had already obtained [Time Shards] from over half the people in the prison.
[Silver Mark (32/1000)]
Glancing at the text before him, a smile curved Colin's lips.
His decision was indeed correct. The gains from these few minutes alone were comparable to his efforts over the past half-month.
This wasn't a prison; it was a treasure trove!
Lost in thought, Colin's feet didn't hesitate. With a flash of his figure, he appeared before a special cell in Zone C.
Standing before the iron bars, he looked at Jessica, who was curled up in a corner.
Although he didn't know her identity, since she was captured and imprisoned by the Thunderbolts, she was likely a 'superhero.'
Thinking this, Colin didn't hesitate much and reached out his hand towards the iron bars of the cell.
"Be careful, these bars are all..."
Having just woken from unconsciousness, Jessica was unaware of the events that had transpired in the prison while she was out.
Although she was puzzled by the sudden disappearance of the guards around her, before she could figure out the reason behind it, she saw a figure suddenly appear before her cell.
Seeing Colin suddenly appear, Jessica had no time to think. As she watched him reach out, she instinctively opened her mouth to warn him.
*Crack—*
However, Jessica's warning was clearly a few seconds too late.
By the time she spoke, Colin's hand had already grasped the iron bars of the cell.
With a sharp crackle of electricity, Jessica inside the cell involuntarily twitched her face. As a 'prisoner,' she had experienced the power of these currents more than once.
Just as she thought the person outside would collapse from the electrical impact like herself, she saw that the person outside the cell seemed completely unaffected by the fierce electrical surge.
*Creak—*
With a slight exertion of his palm, accompanied by a grating twisting sound, he easily pulled the specially made iron bars of the cell open to a passable size.
"What did you say?"
Colin withdrew his hand and casually asked Jessica inside the cell.
"..."
Looking at the bent bars, then at Colin before her, Jessica opened her mouth, but ultimately did not finish the half-hearted warning. She simply shook her head and said, "Nothing."
Seeing this, Colin said nothing more.
He moved back slightly, creating space for Jessica to get out.
Suddenly hearing some unusual sounds with [Super Hearing], Colin turned towards the entrance of Zone C, and indeed saw a woman in a yellow bodysuit and a mask as exaggerated as a masquerade ball, flying rapidly towards them.
Moonstone.
Seeing the woman who appeared, Colin's mind immediately conjured the member information publicly released on the Superhuman Activities Oversight website.
According to the website's information, Karla Sofen, or Moonstone, was a rare superhuman with comprehensive abilities. She possessed immense strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, and durability, and could also emit some form of unknown energy wave.
Due to her all-around capabilities, she was often dispatched by the Thunderbolts for solo missions.
In many cases, she directly received orders from the Superhuman Activities Oversight Committee to carry out tasks outside the scope of the Thunderbolts.
"It seems you are the culprit behind this prison riot..."
Controlling her descent, Moonstone's gaze swept over Jessica in the cell before landing on Colin. She spoke with full confidence.
"I don't know what your intentions were in doing this, but since you've run into me, you can only consider yourself unlucky."
Facing the confident Moonstone, Colin's expression remained unchanged. He smiled back and said, "Coincidentally, that's exactly what I was thinking."
Colin felt a surge of interest towards Moonstone, whose abilities were strikingly similar to his own.
Since upgrading his abilities to [Bronze], he hadn't fully utilized them in the Anti-World.
Previously, during his fight with the Green Goblin, he had only exerted abilities at the [Black Iron] level.
Even so, the Green Goblin, who had injected the 'Human Enhancement Formula,' was still unable to withstand the damage and had died as a result.
Now that he had finally encountered someone he could spar with, Colin was naturally not going to miss this opportunity.
Thanks to Hsuwenkuang for the 100 Qidian Coin reward.
(end of chapter)