As Security Chief of the Celestial Guild, Bant's word was law.
Pietro wasn't happy about being excluded from such a cool off-world mission, but there was nothing he could do about it.
As for the others—
Banner was the first to raise his hand and bow out.
Otto followed right after, saying he wouldn't take part either.
With Bant's help, Otto had successfully built himself four mechanical octopus arms, and once the super-soldier serum had been confirmed safe, he'd injected a dose. In terms of raw combat power, the current Otto was formidable.
But he had no interest in fighting and killing.
"I'm still researching complete mimetic color shifting," Connors said, just as unable to help. "With real-time computation, it's entirely possible to achieve full invisibility."
It couldn't be helped. The three of them were scientists, after all. Unless it reached a point where they had no choice but to take the field, they naturally preferred to continue their research.
But that left the Celestial Guild severely shorthanded. The only people who could actually deploy were Bant, Peter, and Harry.
"I've still got a company to run…"
Harry raised his hands in surrender.
Now their numbers were even thinner.
Peter agreed to join the operation, but even with him, that made just two people.
Bant pressed a hand to his forehead in resignation. "Looks like I'll have to bring in outside help."
He had two candidates. One was the Winter Soldier.
Due to past grudges with Tony, the Winter Soldier had appeared in the last big battle but hadn't joined the Avengers afterward.
On top of that, he'd received his treatment at Primos, so he felt personally grateful to both Primos and Bant. Bant was confident that if he asked, Bucky wouldn't refuse to join the Celestial Guild.
Bucky's combat experience was also more than ample. In his spare time, he could serve as an instructor, training new recruits.
The other candidate was, naturally, Felicia.
Felicia had always known that Bant was Hacker Spider-Man, and Bant knew that she knew. They just had never openly acknowledged it.
Now, every night, Black Cat dragged him all over the streets. With Manhattan destroyed, Hell's Kitchen had ceased to exist, but the criminal underworld had never gone away.
As Black Cat, Felicia had taken over many of the gangs that originally belonged to Kingpin. Some had surrendered and pledged loyalty on their own, others she had claimed with her claws and fists.
Over this period, under Harday's training and through countless gang firefights, Felicia's skills had been thoroughly battle-honed.
When night fell again, Bant changed into his black spider suit and stood atop the Williamsburg Building, gazing out at a quiet New York.
Although the entire city was slated for reconstruction, they had to proceed district by district; otherwise, there'd be nowhere to relocate the displaced population.
Right now, Manhattan was still being rebuilt. Queens was next, followed by Brooklyn.
Bant stood alone on the rooftop for a while, letting the wind wash over him. After a moment, another dark silhouette soundlessly approached from behind—footsteps as light as a cat's paw, drawing close and pressing right up against him.
Felicia breathed a soft puff of air by his ear, then spun around him like a ballet dancer.
Her silver hair flared out like an unfurling skirt.
"Looking for me, Mister Hacker?"
Felicia's face was all smiles.
This was the first time in a long while that Bant had taken the initiative to ask Black Cat to meet.
Felicia couldn't help but feel her offensive was working—that Bant had fallen completely for Black Cat.
"Don't tell me you're finally going to tell me your real identity?"
"Alright, Felicia, that's enough," Bant said, pulling off his mask to reveal a smile as he looked at her.
"Wait, how do you know my—?"
Being called by her real name so abruptly caught Felicia completely off guard. Even Bant revealing his identity right then didn't snap her out of it.
"How do I know?"
Bant laughed, shot a web strand to tug her close, and reached out to tap her forehead with a finger.
"Where do you think all that gear came from—and that serum your father injected you with?"
It was only then that Felicia understood: Bant had known everything from the very start.
And if that was the case, then what had all her so-called "teasing of Bant" been about?
At that, even the strong-willed Black Cat couldn't hold it together. Her face went as red as a kettle about to boil over, and she just wanted to find a hole to dive into.
Bant made it clear his chest was quite broad and welcoming.
At once, Black Cat seemed to deflate, reverting to Felicia's usual self. Even her whole bearing softened, turning almost delicate.
"You were bullying me!"
Flustered and embarrassed, she pounded on his chest.
Then she added, "If you hadn't known in advance, there's no way you would've guessed my real identity."
"No, even if I hadn't known from the beginning, I still would've recognized it was you."
Bant, of course, knew exactly what to say at a moment like this.
"Because Felicia is Felicia."
Right after, Bant tried running his fingers through blonde Felicia's hair. It really was softer than Black Cat's.
It was a good long while before the two finished "making up" and sat leaning against each other on the edge of the rooftop.
Then Bant outlined the action plan.
Considering they might end up dealing with aliens, he also told her about the watch.
Harry and Peter already knew. Even Banner and Connors knew. Letting Felicia in on it wouldn't matter at this point.
At this stage, Bant's strength had long since grown to the point where he no longer needed to deliberately hide himself.
Even excluding X-Man, he still had the crimson-lightning Four Arms as his trump card. On top of that, the entire Skyhammer Bureau answered to him. What was there left to worry about?
"I never imagined there was something like that," Felicia said, amazed. "I thought you'd just lost your old watch. Turns out it only changed its appearance."
And so, Felicia logically joined the Celestial Guild and became one of the members heading into space to search for the Orb.
Before setting out, though, Bant still had plenty to do.
That included upgrading Felicia's and Peter's suits to make sure they could handle outer space.
The Avengers and Celestial Guild members taking part also needed to meet beforehand and familiarize themselves with each other's abilities, so they wouldn't trip each other up.
Bant brought Felicia, Peter, and the Winter Soldier to the Skyhammer Bureau mothership. Over the next stretch of time, they would run joint training there.
The Celestial Guild's roster was tiny. What surprised him was that even fewer Avengers were joining the mission.
Aside from the Captain and Black Panther, there was no one else.
Still, a five-man fireteam was more than enough for a snatch-and-grab on the Orb. The real big battle would come later.
Inside the Skyhammer Bureau base,
the five-person squad gathered.
With Wakanda supplying vibranium, Bant upgraded and reworked everyone's suits.
Peter had Venom, so there was no need to worry about him. Felicia's safety, however, was the top priority.
"These new suits take full advantage of vibranium's properties. After absorbing kinetic energy, they can release it immediately to counterattack. At the same time, the interior of the suit contains a portion of anti-vibranium, stored in the claw sections, capable of breaking down most metals."
Bant was mainly addressing Felicia and Black Panther.
This round of suit upgrades didn't just bring out the suit functions Shuri designed in Black Panther's solo movie; he also incorporated anti-vibranium as a weapon, further boosting offensive power.
But T'Challa had a question.
"Once vibranium releases energy, its internal structure is damaged. How did you manage that?"
"Simple. The new suits are nanotech."
With a light tap, Bant caused the suit on the display model to instantly retract, storing itself inside a small ornament.
"So you succeeded."
Norman was standing nearby as well.
Seeing Bant pull out working nanotechnology, the expression on his face grew even more colorful.
He looked as if he'd always believed it was inevitable, but at the same time, deeply gratified.
Back then, Bant had made his bold boast in front of Norman using exactly this. And now, nanotech really had been realized in his hands.
Bant himself didn't think it was all that impressive.
All credit to the intellect of Grey Matter!
For a long time now, Grey Matter had been the alien form he transformed into the most. With each transformation came an astounding absorption of knowledge.
And once he had Brainstorm—essentially a living supercomputer—the two were a perfect match.
The fact that it had taken him several all-nighters just to produce working nanotech was, if anything, a little embarrassing for these two species' reputations.
"So, when vibranium releases energy, its atomic structure still gets damaged—but thanks to the nanotech, it can repair itself instantaneously," T'Challa quickly understood.
At this, his respect for Bant's intelligence and scientific ability deepened even further.
Before today, the smartest person T'Challa had ever met in his life was his sister. Now, he suspected even Shuri might not dare claim she was smarter than Bant.
Wakanda needed brilliant scientists, and T'Challa couldn't help thinking how great it would be if Bant could join Wakanda.
'Even better if he married Shuri.'
Bant: ???
Hard pass, thanks!
Stay far away!
Fortunately, a glance at the beautiful Black Cat clinging to Bant's side made T'Challa realize such a thing was simply impossible.
He was proud of his black skin, but he knew perfectly well: good-looking was good-looking, and the opposite was the opposite.
After distributing the new suits, Bant went over the mission specifics in greater detail.
"According to intel from Celestial Guild headquarters, the whereabouts of the Orb have been confirmed: it's inside a temple on the abandoned planet Morag."
"The planet has vast oceans. You could even say the entire planet is covered by water. The temple holding the Orb is only exposed once every three hundred years, during the receding tide. The next low-tide window is four years from now."
"Are we seriously supposed to wait four years to move?" Peter's eyes went wide.
Bant shook his head. "No. We're diving into the deep sea."
"Once I get back from Asgard, we head out immediately!"
/-\
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