Pietro's legs blurred as he rushed forward, throwing a jab that the mystery assailant took with ease. Continuing with another jab to his chest, he avoided the attempt at a grab and swept around, lashing out with a low kick at the man's knees.
They didn't even buckle and Pietro felt all momentum bleeding away from his attack, but he quickly pulled his leg back and moved away from the kick that nearly tore through his chest.
An arrow whistled through the air and impacted the large man's body with a loud explosion, but all that did was shatter the arrow as he stepped out of the smoke with nothing to show for the attack.
"Man, do I miss the days where I could actually do shit," Hawkeye murmured as he leapt over the railing to his porch, clicking his tongue when Vision picked up a large log and chucked it at the attacker. "Oi! I still need that for firewood!"
"He helped you out, then!" Wanda called out with a smirk as she raised her hands and thrust them forward, small pebbles covered in her scarlet energy whistling forward.
They left miniature sonic booms in their wake before they impacted the man and Wanda smirked as the man finally showed a reaction.
Unfortunately, it was not one they were looking for as he glanced down at the impact points, looking back at Wanda with an empty stare.
"Wanda Maximoff. Designation: Secondary target. Order: Eliminate."
"Forgot about me, buddy," Pietro whispered from behind the man as he swung, chi coursing through his fist as it cracked against his back.
The air detonated and a shockwave rippled outwards from the impact, but Pietro stepped back with hurried steps when he saw nothing but a scuff mark where his fist had landed.
It seemed to catch their attacker's attention though as he turned his head back to the speedster, who winked right as Vision's beam came down from above.
The ground cratered beneath his feet as the beam deflected off his head, Pietro frowning when the man just looked directly into the light before his body glowed.
"Vis, stop!" Pietro shouted up as they watched the attacker's body beginning to grow, only stopping its growth in size when Vision ceased his beam attack.
Now, their attacker was a towering behemoth, nearly the same height as Hawkeye's house with the strength to match his build as he stomped on the ground and unleashed a shockwave.
Pietro vibrated his body and let the attack pass through him, ceasing his vibrations when the attacker began to charge at him. Cracking his neck, he hopped from foot to foot and vanished, rushing forward at full speed.
Running around the attacker, his fist cracked against the behemoth's ankle and he rushed back around. His hands blurred as blow after blow landed on the behemoth's body, Pietro coming to a stop next to Wanda as the hundreds of blows impacted the behemoth's body at the same time.
All that did was make the man's body grow more in size, but it was enough for Pietro and Vision who looked at each other before nodding.
"All physical impact is nullified at the moment of impact."
"One would think it could be shock nullification, but given how the energy from the blows are carried over to making his size and strength grow in proportion to the blow itself..."
"-means that it's most likely a form of kinetic energy absorption and distribution," he finished and Pietro grinned, cracking his neck as they watched Wanda's energy lifting a series of wood blocks to attack the man from all angles.
"Wanda's attacks however don't cause any changes," Pietro murmured, cracking his neck as Vision narrowed his eyes.
"Perhaps her unique energy cannot be quantified as a viable source of kinetic energy that he can absorb."
"Probably. In any case, vibrating through his body and then tearing him apart from the inside is a good plan, then," Pietro spoke, to which Vision nodded as he rose into the air.
"Draw his attention away and I will dismantle him from the inside."
"Got it. Oi, bigfoot! Right here!" With a lunge, Pietro ran circles around the behemoth, who swung and kicked at the speedster in an attempt to grab him.
At the same time, Vision floated behind the behemoth until he bent down to try and slam both fists onto Pietro, who just backstepped as the synthetic being flew forward.
His body was coated in a yellow glow as he dove fists first into the giant's back, but his eyes widened as he felt a hand grab onto his leg at the last moment.
To everyone's surprise, the behemoth visibly grabbed onto Vision and pulled him out, spinning before chucking the flying synthetic being into the distance.
"Visionnnn!" Wanda shouted, but her words distorted as a sparking gold-blue blur raced through the skies, catching Vision midair before rushing back towards the ground.
Placing the man next to his sister, Pietro came to a stop in front of the behemoth, gold-blue arcs of energy coursing across his skin as his eyes locked onto him.
Wanda herself was stunned as she physically felt the chaos energy exuding from Pietro's body, its potency nearly on par with that of her own.
Yet, she could not miss how unnatural his energy felt, almost as though it was not supposed to exist. She then felt it grown even more disturbing, watching as her brother crouched down into a runner's stance and let out a shallow breath.
'I was hoping Vision was enough to take you out, but I guess I should handle this,' With a lunge, time came to a slow halt as Pietro rushed forward, leaping and grabbing onto the head of the behemoth.
His chi and chaos energy boosted his strength more than enough to lift up his body, the speedster rising high into the air and throwing the large attacker with a growl.
It flew up high before Pietro's eyes narrowed as its eyes began moving. It wasn't fast, but it was still much faster than most, making the speedster frown as his body vibrated.
With a step off the air, space itself distorted as he rocketed forward, sinking into the behemoth's body. His eyes focused on the inner structure of his attacker, scanning every single aspect of it before he smirked.
Clapping his hands together, chaos energy gathered around his hands before he punched the air, delivering a shockwave that also unleashed a burst of chaos energy into its core.
Pulling his fist back, he swung his other fist forward, delivering another burst right before his fists began to blur as he delivered hundreds of blows within the span of the second that he was inside of the behemoth.
With a roar, he swung the final punch and burst of chaos energy, dropping down and ceasing his speed as the world caught up. The speedster had a wide smile on his face as he plummeted towards the ground, staring up at the sky where the attacker's body was trembling.
Chaos energy poured from his every pore before his entire body dropped like a puppet without strings, the speedster kicking off the air and activating his speed once more.
Sparks danced along his body as he rocketed after the behemoth, slowing down time again as the attacker crashed into the ground only for Pietro to then crash fists first into it.
Leaping from its body, he ran around the body and created a localized whirlwind whilst slowing down, grimacing as he felt the shockwave cracking against his body.
Still, his tornado was enough to diminish most of the shockwave's force, leaving only a soft breeze that washed over the others as Pietro came to a stop next to his sister.
"Whew, that was a bit of work."
"...I kind of see now how strong you are compared to the one we knew," he heard Hawkeye murmur, but Pietro just gave a thumbs-up as he focused on their attacker.
He was unmoving and shrunken down to nearly a fifth of the height he had before he began growing, making the speedster frown.
"Wanda, can you lift him?" Wanda frowned as a crimson aura coated her hands, but Pietro's eyes widened as he saw the symbol on their unknown attacker's body lighting on and off.
The ticking sound didn't help and thus, he activated his speed once again, grabbing on the attacker's leg and racing off at a brisk pace.
Stopping and tossing its body away at a few hundred miles out in the middle of nowhere, he spun around and took off as its body lit up and it imploded.
The sheer pressure from the implosion made Pietro grimace as he sped up, coming to a stop next to the others while they watched a mushroom cloud of hot smoke and fire rise high into the sky.
"Think that's strong enough to reach us?" Pietro asked as he looked to Vision, whose gaze was focused on the cloud. Thankfully, the synthetic being then looked to him and shook his head, making the speedster groan as he sat back down.
"Good. Then, I'm just gonna rest here and Clint, if you have any excess food you're gonna throw out, mind bringing it for me, please?"
"You got the same metabolism thing he had. Right, you're a speedster," Clint spoke with a knowing smile as he collapsed his bow once more, Wanda herself kneeling beside Pietro and brushing the hair from his forehead.
"You know, you don't have to check up on me every time. I'm here, sister," Pietro spoke softly with a smile as he held her hand, making Wanda smile as he kissed the back of it.
"I know, but as your sister, it's my duty to worry."
"Sure, but I'm telling you now. Once you and Vis get married, it's just going to be more stress on your plate."
"I-I beg your pardon?" Vision stuttered for a brief moment while Wanda blushed, the two not daring to look at each other as Pietro chuckled.
"Right, too soon?"
"Way too soon, thank you very much. Vis and I both agreed that it will be done at a later time."
"As long as I get to be best man, I'm cool with waiting," was the speedster's reply, his eyes lighting up with joy as Laura peeked out from the front door with a large platter of sandwiches in hand.
"Huh, that's new. Anyway, Clint said you might need food and I didn't know how much you eat so I made about thirty turkey sandwiches."
"Firstly, you didn't have to make so many, but thank you so much. Secondly, how did you make so many?"
"I'm a mom. Being fast is kind of our thing."
"...Touché," Pietro nodded as he ate another sandwich, already up to his twelfth as Wanda sighed.
"Yep, still the same."
"I never change, sister. Now, who wants a sandwich?"
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Tony let out a soft sigh as he stood in the middle of his laboratory, arms crossed while he stared at the floating holograms of his latest suit.
It was a work-in-progress, quite literally given that the main aspect of the suit was still a beta product of what he wanted to use. He had given full support to the group of students at MIT that wanted to build the product and had even gone so far as to patent it for them.
He had ran the simulations and the numbers, all of which turned out perfect. All he needed to do now was wait for them to get the finished product before the suit's production could begin.
"Boss, you have a message from Clint Barton aka Hawkeye," F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice came through his personal intercom and he raised an eyebrow as he turned to stare at the A.I.'s interface on the sidewall.
"Clint? Really? Didn't expect him to be the first to contact me. What does the message say?"
"The grave is empty and the other twin is running again."
Graveyard is empty? Did he finally lose it out on that farm? I told him that he's going to grow old from sitting around and hunting all day," Tony muttered with a smirk, turning back in his chair. "Just give me satellite footage of what's happening there, F.R.I.D.A.Y."
"Will do, boss," the A.I. responded and Tony hummed as the holograms of his suit were pushed to the side. In its stead was a rectangular holographic screen that was real-time footage of the world, courtesy of his own private and unmanned space station orbiting the planet.
Its camera zoomed in on the Barton family that was off-grid, Tony narrowing his eyes as he noticed the scorched blot of land and smoke about a few hundred miles to the east of Barton's house.
"What's that right there, F.R.I.D.A.Y?"
"That appears to be the aftermath of a compact implosion. The residue left behind at the centre of the blast radius however does not match any element nor energy residue in our system, though."
"How many do we have in our system?"
"All of them," was F.R.I.D.A.Y's swift response and Tony nodded as he watched the image zoom back in towards the Barton house.
The man in question was not there, but the people who were there surprised Tony slightly as he saw Vision and Wanda sitting in the field in front of the house.
However, it was the third that made his eyes widen, something that was very surprising given that not much could surprise Tony.
" F.R.I.D.A.Y, has our cameras been tampered with?"
"No, boss."
"Is this perhaps a pre-recording being used to trick me?"
"No, boss," F.R.I.D.A.Y responded, leaving Tony perplexed as he stared at the very alive form of Pietro Maximoff lying on the grass in front of his sister.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y, make a call to Pepper and ready the Mark XLVII. I think it's time we all had a reunion."
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Scarlet Centurion sat atop his futuristic throne with a frown, Immortus and Rama-Tut themselves analysing the footage of their Growing Man getting destroyed by Pietro.
"You sent in a prototype?"
"One of many, yes. I deemed it enough to take care of the speedster, but I did not expect him to still be able to use his chaos energy."
"Why would you not? Nothing ever suggested that his energy is tied to his primary universe. Idiot," Immortus scoffed, making Centurion roll his eyes as Rama-Tut hummed.
"Still, it is quite intriguing how he delivered bursts of chaos energy to intertwine with the natural vibrations made by the Growing Man's machinery. This requires further study."
"Agreed. For now, we shall leave him be, but in time, we may be able to acquire his body for further research," Immortus murmured, eyeing Pietro with the gaze of a madman that wanted answers.
"Agreed/ Agreed."
A/N: And the story continues as Tony goes over to meet Pietro.
Next chapter: You look... older
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!!