The Golden Explosion
A massive explosion of fire interrupted the heroes who were still fighting against the explosive robots. The blast happened so close that part of the nearby forest was instantly caught in the flames; the fire spread rapidly and began devouring everything in its path.
Right after, they saw a red flash shooting out from a huge hole in the wall; it was obvious that it was Owen.
"We're seriously trying not to destroy the place and he acts like a one-man wrecking ball" Nicolás shouted, staring at the massive hole in the wall. "Luckily it's not our base; it's the neighbors'" he added while looking at Steve, who had a genuinely sad expression, almost regretful that he had allowed these guys to step inside the Avengers' base.
After all, most members of VITAE were multimillionaires, while the Avengers' base had basically been built thanks to donations; though technically, they themselves had contributed to those donations under the general's orders.
There was no time for distractions. The others kept fighting the robots that were trying to bring down the entire base.
…
Meanwhile, Owen moved with great speed, using bursts from his feet thanks to his kinetic power. He descended toward a completely scorched crater, right where Alexei had fallen.
However, Alexei was nowhere to be found.
Owen raised an eyebrow and looked around carefully, until he heard a roar above his head.
"Graaah" Alexei shouted with all his strength as he launched a punch toward Owen from above.
A large amount of fire burst from his fist, creating a sort of giant flaming fist that came crashing down violently.
Owen reacted instantly. He activated his red flash and moved quickly to the side, while his hand came down directly toward Alexei's neck in a fast slash with the dagger he held.
But Alexei, using his other free hand, opened his palm and aimed straight at Owen. A brutal explosion shook the air; Owen was thrown backward unexpectedly, surprised by Alexei's reaction speed.
Alexei himself was flung by the explosion, but he fired several blasts in the air to correct his position and landed on his feet with ease.
Without saying a word, Alexei's feet erupted several times as he propelled himself forward at an incredible speed, copying Owen's exact movements. He used the explosions right as he touched the ground to accelerate violently, even managing small jumps in the air.
In the blink of an eye, Alexei appeared beside Owen. A sideways kick shot toward him, amplified by micro-explosions bursting around his leg. More than ten detonations erupted in an instant; the speed and force of the kick were brutal, far beyond what Owen could normally match.
The soldier ducked quickly, dodging the kick. Immediately afterward, he launched a punch toward the back of Alexei's knee. The impact pulverized the bone instantly, sending flesh and golden blood flying as the leg bent unnaturally. However, Alexei didn't seem to care at all.
His eyes and mouth glowed faintly before he fired a powerful beam at point-blank range.
Owen rolled to the side to dodge it. The beam sliced through several nearby trees, which collapsed to the ground as flames began to erupt from the cut.
Owen countered with a fast punch to Alexei's chest, sending him crashing straight into the ground and creating a crater beneath his body. Without wasting time, Owen appeared above him with a descending kick charged with kinetic energy.
Alexei opened his eyes just before the kick hit and murmured softly, "boom".
A gigantic explosion shook the entire area. The smoke from the burning trees was sucked into the shockwave, intensifying the fire even more. Owen was thrown several meters away, though he managed to land on his feet. Part of his clothing was scorched.
He calmly patted his clothes, extinguishing the small puffs of smoke and the little flames still clinging to the fabric.
It was evident that Alexei had improved a lot, especially in danger perception and counterattacks.
Owen watched as Alexei stood back up without a single visible injury thanks to his regeneration. Owen wasn't injured either, though his clothes had definitely seen better days.
"I told you, I'm very good at learning. I just needed something that could break my preset limits; now that I no longer have them, I can keep growing endlessly. This is my power; I don't know if I'm a mutant or what I am, but this is true adaptation. The copy my father used on you is just that; an imitation" Alexei said with complete arrogance while staring at Owen.
"Your father will be sad if he hears you talking that way about his serum" Owen replied calmly.
"I don't care. That serum was his end; and you, the one who forced him to create it, are the reason he died" Alexei said with a cold look.
"What?" Owen froze, hearing that for the first time.
Alexei didn't give him time to process it. He propelled himself with an explosion on his back and moved again at full speed toward Owen. His fist shot forward straight at the soldier, who met it with his own right fist.
The impact was received directly by the vibranium, which redirected all the energy from Alexei's explosive punch. A vibration ran through Owen's arm; the tiny scales of the glove shifted for an instant like a microscopic wave before sliding under the soldier's skin and moving toward his other arm, passing across his back.
With his free hand, Owen aimed at Alexei's chest. Alexei looked at him with a slight smile, as if he knew exactly what Owen was about to try.
When the soldier's fist struck Alexei's chest, it went through with ease; but instead of meeting a solid body, Owen's arm was thrown backward through the enemy's torso, destroying everything in its path. Owen's kinetic energy had combined with Alexei's fiery explosion; the result was a monstrous detonation that swept the smoke off the battlefield and surged forward like a gigantic explosive blaze toward the Avengers' base, stopping only dangerously close.
The explosion grazed one of the base's walls and destroyed it completely.
"Once you get the hang of it, it's easy" Alexei said mockingly while Owen realized his arm had become trapped inside the enemy's body, which began glowing in golden and red tones. The soldier knew exactly what was coming.
He tried to pull his hand back, but Alexei simply let himself be moved like a puppet, clinging to Owen's arm with both hands to stop him from escaping.
Then…
Boom.
An explosion larger than any Alexei had produced so far erupted in the sky, generating a massive wave of fire that even pushed the clouds away abruptly. The heroes fighting at the base were forced to sprint toward any available cover to protect themselves from such a colossal blast, which also collided with the bomb-robots, causing an even bigger chain reaction.
This time, they couldn't protect the base; several structures began to collapse.
Tony Stark, inside the laboratory, was forced to fly up to the ceiling to hold it with his own arms before it fell directly onto the Cradle of Life.
Meanwhile, Helen and Banner were beginning to wake up.
"Well, hello, sleeping beauty. Could you give me a hand, or better yet, could you get the man who can give me a hand?" Tony said to Banner while still supporting the entire weight of the structure.
Banner opened his eyes and realized he had almost been crushed while sleeping. Of course, if he had truly been put in mortal danger, Hulk would've come out by instinct; though who knows if that would've been enough. Even so, he didn't hesitate to listen to Tony and began to transform.
Outside the lab, everything had been devastated by the explosion. The heroes emerged from their hiding spots to see the enormous crater where a forest once stood.
"Mmm, too bad. I failed. But at least now I know I can face you. I wonder how even we'll be next time" Alexei said calmly, accepting that he had failed in his mission to steal the Ark or kidnap Helen. However, he seemed satisfied to have gauged Owen's power; he finally felt reachable, a massive difference compared to the beating he'd received in the past.
With several consecutive explosions, Alexei launched himself into the air and escaped quickly.
No one went after him; the base was destroyed, and both aircraft and cars were buried under the rubble.
"Wait… my car!" Nicolás shouted as he ran toward the completely ruined garage. Sparks shot from electrical cables; a golden car could be seen buried under a ton of concrete. "Nooo!" Nicolás yelled at the sky, lamenting dramatically.
The other heroes just sighed at the sight.
"What's wrong with him?" Steve asked, not understanding the magnitude of the man's suffering.
Pietro approached with a smile to explain. "After he messed up by bringing girls to the VITAE base, the general ordered all of Nicolás's cars to be auctioned for charity. That was the only car he managed to hide before his father took the rest. But now, well, you can see how that turned out" Pietro said, blatantly delighted by someone else's misfortune.
Wanda looked around searching for Owen, but she didn't see him; then a hand suddenly burst out of the ground, startling everyone.
"Zombie attack?" Nicolás shouted, pointing his weapons at it.
"Idiot, look at the glove; it's Owen" Wanda said while rolling her eyes. The ground opened, and Owen emerged completely covered in dirt and soot from the trees that had been incinerated in an instant by Alexei's explosion.
"Well… looks like I let my guard down way too much" Owen said while brushing the dust off his clothes. His face was completely black with soot, which made several people want to laugh, forgetting for a moment that the base had been practically destroyed.
"What?" Owen asked when he noticed everyone staring at him. Wanda moved her hand and created a magical mirror that reflected the state of his face.
"Childish" Owen muttered while wiping his face with his own clothes. Then, as if nothing had happened, he pulled his phone out of his pocket; it now showed a moving dot speeding across a map.
Owen formed a slight mocking smile and said, "The false sense of victory makes anyone arrogant."