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If Nick Fury hadn't repeatedly emphasized to Captain America and Hawkeye before the battle that they absolutely must not harm the Symbiote on Adrian Toomes, Hawkeye's last attack would never have used that'sonic arrow.' Instead, he would have directly used a 'high-explosive arrow' with greater destructive power.
Even if it couldn't be a one-shot kill, it would definitely incapacitate Adrian Toomes and the Symbiote instantly.
But...
Who told him he had a strong and unyielding boss, the Egghead?
What else could Hawkeye do?
Of course, he had to obediently follow orders!
Otherwise, he would be endlessly criticized by his superior from now on.
So, even the 'incendiary arrow' Hawkeye was currently using was configured with half its power!
Sigh, I'm so tired...
"Whoosh—"
The 'incendiary arrow' accurately hit a Symbiote giant fist, transformed from a wing, on Adrian Toomes' back, and flames immediately shot up into the sky.
"Ugh ahhh…"
Adrian Toomes and the Symbiote simultaneously let out a shrill scream from the burning flames, then actively transformed the spear-like arm into a sharp greatsword, turning around and cutting off the burning Symbiote giant fist on his back.
The ruthlessness of it made Hawkeye gasp in surprise.
"You're looking for death!!"
Adrian Toomes suddenly looked in Hawkeye's direction, then another pair of dark wings materialized on his back, though noticeably smaller than before. He then flapped his wings violently, and his entire body shot towards the roof where Hawkeye was hiding, like an arrow released from a bowstring.
"Bang—"
However, he had only flown about ten meters when he crashed head-on into an invisible force field barrier.
Needless to say, the person who made the move was Invisible Woman.
But this time, Adrian Toomes did not give up after 'hitting the wall.' His body shot straight up towards the night sky.
Through the previous battle, he had roughly figured out Invisible Woman's abilities.
Although she possessed the superpower to release force field barriers, she obviously couldn't cover a large area. Otherwise, if she could directly create a bowl-shaped 'isolation chamber,' wouldn't she be able to trap him inside instantly?
And the facts were just as Adrian Toomes had speculated.
After he had ascended a few meters, he successfully bypassed the invisible force field barrier without any obstruction. Then, his arm transformed into a sharp greatsword nearly ten meters long, and he directly slashed down towards the roof where Hawkeye was perched.
"Oh, shit?!"
Seeing this, Hawkeye quickly shot an arrow with a rope attached to its tail towards a large tree opposite, then leaped out just before the approaching giant blade fell, narrowly dodging the fatal blow.
However, Adrian Toomes, who was thoroughly enraged, had no intention of letting him go, and continued to swing his greatsword, chasing and hacking at Hawkeye.
If Black Widow in the sky hadn't used the quinjet's bottom-mounted machine gun to harass him from a distance, creating ample time for Thing to arrive as support, Hawkeye probably would have been taken out on the spot!
"Bang bang bang—"
"Boom boom boom—"
On one side was Adrian Toomes, going all out, and on the other were the Avengers, hesitant due to Nick Fury's orders. The difficulty of the battle was imaginable.
However, while everyone was fighting fiercely outside, an uninvited guest quietly appeared at Adrian Toomes' home and forcibly took away his daughter.
Let's rewind a few minutes.
"Hello, I presume you two are Vulture's family members?"
Francis Barrison had appeared behind Adrian Toomes' wife and daughter, who were nervously watching the street battle from the window, at some point. She grinned, looking at the horrified young girl opposite, "Tsk tsk tsk, I really found it, the… shiny bait that can hook Vulture!"
"You… who are you, and why are you in my house?"
Qirui pulled her frightened daughter behind her, her voice trembling as she threatened, "Madam, if you don't leave here immediately, I'm calling the police!"
"I'm sorry, wrong answer."
Francis Barrison's face showed a sickly smile as she pointed at the young girl protected behind the other party and said, "My target is that little beauty…"
With that, she grabbed Qirui and threw her against a wall, then raised her hand to knock out the screaming young girl, hoisted her onto her shoulder, and said to Qirui, who had fallen to the ground but was temporarily unable to get up:
"Help me tell Vulture that Cletus and I will be holding our wedding at Grace Chapel. If he wants his daughter back… I mean, the living kind, then he'd best come there alone."
"Let go of my daughter." Qirui reached out with a pained expression, trying to grab the other party's pant leg. This was the only Thing she could do at the moment. "Please… please, don't do this, or my husband will kill you!!"
"Do you know?"
Francis Barrison suddenly stopped, then looked at the other party with an arrogant expression and said, "Many people have tried to kill Cletus and me before… but in the end, without exception, all of them died!"
With that, she kicked Qirui unconscious with a 'bang,' and then, carrying the Pirate girl, quietly disappeared into the dark night.
When Qirui woke up a few minutes later, she found that Francis Barrison and her daughter, Lizz, had already disappeared.
So she struggled out of the house and shouted to Adrian Toomes, who was locked in a fierce battle with Captain America and the other Avengers on the other side of the street:
"Adrian… they took Lizz!!!"
"What?"
Adrian Toomes, who had been entangled with Captain America and the others, and was subtly gaining the upper hand, immediately gave up his attack upon hearing this. He flapped his wings violently and instantly flew in front of his wife, anxiously asking:
"What happened? Who took Lizz?!"
"It was a woman. She said she and a man named Cletus would be holding their wedding at Grace Chapel, and that you should go there alone to get Lizz back… Hurry, go and rescue Lizz!"
"Damn it, is it that bastard Cletus Kasady?"
Although Adrian Toomes had no prior dealings with Cletus Kasady, after both of them were given Loyalist Symbiotes by Eddie Brock, they had a few brief encounters.
However, he deeply disliked that pervert who only enjoyed killing!
That's right, Adrian Toomes' assessment of Cletus Kasady was… a complete pervert!
"Calm down, my dear. Don't worry, I will definitely bring our daughter back safe and sound."
With that, Adrian Toomes completely ignored Captain America and the others rushing towards him from behind. He flapped his wings violently, and his entire body shot into the sky like an arrow released from a bowstring, disappearing into the dark night in the blink of an eye.
"Captain, target lost…"
Black Widow's voice immediately rang out in the communicator, "He's too fast. The quinjet can't keep up at all."
Captain America walked with a grave expression to Qirui, who was already unsteady on her feet, and asked in a deep voice, "Madam, can you tell me what you just said to Adrian Toomes?"
"I'm sorry, Captain, it concerns my daughter's safety, so I have nothing to say."
Although Qirui usually greatly admired'selfless' heroes like Captain America, when it came to her own daughter, she dared not take any risks.
Captain America frowned slightly upon hearing this and was about to persuade her when he heard Nick Fury's emotionless yet forceful voice suddenly sound from behind him.
"Madam, if you refuse to cooperate, I can immediately send you to prison for 'endangering public safety' and 'harboring a criminal'… At that time, you will never see your daughter again!"
Actually, Nick Fury hadn't intended to show up. In his opinion, wouldn't it be easy for the New Avengers Alliance to deal with a mere Vulture?
Who would have thought that his 'excessive' demands before the battle would directly lead to the entire capture mission being very unsuccessful.
But the real reason he had to appear in person was that the person who had just been captured was not Adrian Toomes' daughter, but one of his most secret 'trump cards'—a Skrulls disguised as her!
And the real Adrian Toomes' daughter was already imprisoned in a S.H.I.E.L.D. secret safe house.
After learning that the locator placed on the Skrulls girl had suddenly lost its signal, Nick Fury instinctively sensed that something was wrong, so he personally came to check the situation.
In fact, what Nick Fury was truly worried about was not whether the Skrulls girl would have an accident… but that once she died, her disguise ability would be removed.
At that time, this 'trump card' in his hand would inevitably become known to the World. Not to mention whether he and S.H.I.E.L.D. would be suspected and ostracized by the Security Council high-ups, it was certain that various forces, upon learning this news, would begin to research various methods to guard against the Skrulls.
In this way, the difficulty for Nick Fury to use the Skrulls' disguise ability to obtain various intelligence in the future would increase sharply. Such a result was an absolutely unbearable major loss for him!!
Therefore, he had to find a way to reasonably rescue the Skrulls girl before anything happened to her.
And what Nick Fury had to do first now was to make this woman in front of him talk!
Seeing that the other party was already wavering under his forceful pressure, Nick Fury coldly pressed again:
"If you don't want to watch your daughter be adopted by another family, you'd best answer my question while I still have patience… What did you say to Adrian Toomes?"
Qirui was just an ordinary housewife, and had never met a ruthless character like Nick Fury. Her body immediately staggered, her mental defenses completely collapsed, and she said with a pale face:
"A woman just broke into my house, kidnapped my daughter, and told me to tell Adrian that she would take our daughter to a place called Grace Chapel…"
A short sentence seemed to have completely drained all of Qirui's strength. Her body trembled as she collapsed to the ground, looking at Nick Fury with a pleading expression and saying:
"Officer, please, you must save my daughter, she is innocent!"
Nick Fury ignored the other party's plea, and instead, with a cold face, righteously said to Captain America and the others:
"Go to Grace Chapel immediately. At all costs, you must successfully recover the Symbiote on Adrian Toomes… and ensure the safety of that girl!!"
After saying that, as if noticing the strange looks cast at him, Nick Fury deliberately added, "I absolutely cannot allow innocent children to be harmed under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nose!"
Σ(⊙▽⊙"a???
WTF???
What's that?
Is this Black man really the same black-hearted Egghead we knew, who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals?
He couldn't have been possessed, could he?
Captain America and the others all had strange expressions, looking at each other!
After all, they hadn't known Nick Fury for the first time. They were more than familiar with his usual disposition.
When did this guy ever care about the safety of ordinary people?
Moreover, they had never seen Nick Fury act so actively when it came to matters concerning ordinary people!
Something's not right, something's not right, there's definitely something fishy going on here!
What?
You said that during the Battle of New York in 2012, Nick Fury strongly opposed the Security Council's order to drop a nuclear bomb on New York?
Even going so far as to use a Rocket launcher to blow up a fighter jet?
Because he is good…
He is the true hero (gag)!
Please, think about it again. Was he really concerned about the New York City citizens then?
You don't even look at where the fighter jet carrying the nuclear bomb took off from?
It took off directly from his Sky Carrier!
If New York were really 'nuked' because of that, do you think the World would believe it was Nick Fury's order, or the Security Council's order?
Also, who can say for sure whether Nick Fury would be pushed out by Alexander Pierce and the Security Council afterwards to take the blame for 'New York being nuked' and thus quell the anger in the hearts of people worldwide?
How could someone as calculating as Nick Fury not understand such simple stakes?
Therefore, at that time, he meticulously staged a top-tier flashy maneuver of shooting a fighter jet with a Rocket launcher in front of everyone, and by doing so, completely absolved himself of responsibility!
In this way, even if New York was nuked, it would have nothing to do with Nick Fury!
Why say that?
Because, if the fighter jet hit by Nick Fury really carried a nuclear bomb, wouldn't he and the entire Sky Mother Ship be gone with one RPG shot?
If he didn't have absolute certainty, how could a guy as extremely selfish as Nick Fury casually joke with his precious life?
So, does anyone still think he was genuinely concerned about the safety of the people of New York when he stopped the nuclear bomb launch back then?
Answer me!
Look in my eyes!
What's more, how many civilian deaths and property losses have S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers indirectly caused over the years? Have you ever seen him mention it once, or compensate for it once?
If he really cared about civilians that much, how could he agree to an anti-human massacre plan like the Insight Project?
That's why Captain America and the others had those strange expressions when they heard Nick Fury's hypocritical words.
Even Thing and Invisible Woman, who joined later, were already starting to suspect the girl's true identity, wondering if she might be Nick Fury's illegitimate daughter with this Pirate woman in front of them?
Nick Fury naturally couldn't guess everyone's true thoughts, but even if he did, he wouldn't bother to explain, because right now he only cared about whether he could rescue the Skrulls girl alive.