Hawkeye’s swift dispatch of an attacker by piercing through the energy shield with a single arrow didn’t leave Daredevil astonished for long. He had sensed a familiar power emanating from Hawkeye’s recent shot.
“It seems that Dr. Banner and those mad scientists in the research department have made some progress after all. Hawkeye’s arrows must be infused with the power of the Magic Cube,” Daredevil silently mused as he watched the fallen attacker, whose heart had been pierced by Hawkeye’s arrow.
While these mysterious attackers appeared to be a ragtag group, their weaponry had a distinct feel of cutting-edge technology. They could easily overwhelm SHIELD’s special ops team and even stymied Daredevil, a powerful newcomer to the Avengers.
However, Hawkeye had eliminated one of them with a single arrow, thanks to the hidden technology and secrets in his arrows.
Though the Magic Cube had been used by Lin Rui as a portable energy portal, SHIELD had spent considerable time researching it. Since Hydra had managed to create devices that could extract spatial energy from the Magic Cube, SHIELD had absorbed their technology after Hydra’s defeat.
Extracting some spatial energy from the cube for use as a controlled, rule-based weaponry was a normal development.
However, converting this spatial energy into usable power was not so straightforward. Besides opening spatial teleportation gates, SHIELD’s research department could only store a limited amount of spatial energy in specific containers, using it as a type of controlled burst weapon, similar to the arrow Hawkeye had just shot.
With the boost from spatial energy, it was nearly impossible to defend against such attacks unless the opponent also possessed spatial energy-based defenses.
Swish!
After striking several bewildered attackers and forcing them to step back with his staff, Daredevil swiftly withdrew from the battlefield. Since his attacks couldn’t break through the attackers’ energy shields, he decided to let Hawkeye, the master archer, take the lead.
There were only a dozen or so attackers here, and with Hawkeye’s speed, he could shoot a dozen arrows in seconds.
However, as Daredevil rapidly exited the enemy’s ranks, Hawkeye had only fired his second arrow. Like the first, this arrow effortlessly penetrated the energy shield and entered an enemy’s chest, disposing of another attacker.
However, just as chaos began to reign among the attackers due to these two arrows, Hawkeye’s third arrow remained poised on his bow, not yet released.
“Hawkeye? What’s going on? Why aren’t you continuing to fire arrows?” Daredevil, somewhat puzzled by Hawkeye’s two-arrow limit, inquired through the Avengers’ communication system.
Daredevil had now retreated to the front of the special ops team, encircling the attackers along with them. He provided cover for Hawkeye, ensuring the archer had the best possible shooting environment.
“Only those first two arrows can break through their defenses. The others, while powerful, likely can’t breach that energy shield,” came Hawkeye’s quick reply, heard through Daredevil’s earpiece.
Daredevil: “…”
Indeed, while SHIELD’s research into the spatial energy from the Magic Cube had progressed, it still involved a unique cosmic rule.
Providing Hawkeye with a couple of spatial energy-infused magical arrows capable of penetrating any defense was already quite impressive. It wasn’t feasible to equip him with over a dozen of these specialized arrows at once.
Hawkeye continued to keep his bow drawn, more as a psychological tactic to unsettle the attackers and make them panic amid the chaos. Rogers had informed them that these attackers had a special motive for assaulting SHIELD and that someone else was coming to help resolve the situation. And now, that helper had arrived.
“Take cover!” Daredevil, realizing Hawkeye’s intentions, shouted to his team as the attackers began a frenzied barrage of energy fire. With the special ops team and the two Avengers dodging from one cover to another, Hawkeye no longer maintained his archer’s stance, instead opting to take cover.
Suppressing the special ops team and the two Avengers with overwhelming firepower, the group of attackers left behind their two fallen comrades and continued their charge toward the location where N’Jadaka was being held.
Anything standing in their way was obliterated with their firepower. Not even the special ops team and Avengers could halt them.
Swish, Swish, Swish!
However, just as the attackers were about to advance a few meters, over a dozen metallic cylinders suddenly flew in through the shattered windows from the outside. These cylinders encircled the attackers and then plunged into the damaged concrete floor of the building.
Buzz, Buzz, Buzz!
Before the attackers could react to the sudden appearance of these metallic cylinders, a powerful surge of energy emanated from them, quickly connecting and forming an energy barrier in the central area of the floor, enclosing the attackers.
“What is this… an energy shield?!” Hawkeye couldn’t help but mutter in amazement as he observed the attackers trapped within the energy barrier, from his hiding spot behind cover.
From the perspective of Hawkeye and the special ops team, the energy barrier emerging from these metallic cylinders and the energy shields surrounding the attackers appeared virtually identical.
“Could it be… a new weapon developed by Stark’s team?” Shocked but speculative, Hawkeye considered the origin of these devices.
However, the appearance of the person who entered the battlefield next dispelled Hawkeye’s theory. As the energy barrier entrapped the attackers, a squad of armed individuals, entirely composed of bald women, burst through the windows.
While a squad of armed women wasn’t a surprise to Hawkeye, the truly unusual aspect was that all these female warriors were bald—something Hawkeye had never seen before.
“Could this squad of bald female warriors be the reinforcements Captain mentioned?”
…
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