Black American Comics: Start with a Snap

Chapter 85 Causes of the Explosion
Matt could finally breathe.

Ever since the Thanos crisis began, Matt has been in a state of nervousness. One by one his friends disappeared at the snap of Thanos' fingers, and even he found it difficult to accept this reality for a while.

Every time he tried to rest, Matt would dream about the day when the flash happened. In a trance, he could hear Fergie calling his name one second, and the next moment, his heartbeat disappeared from his ears.

Perhaps no one in the world could empathize with Matt's experience. That inexplicable disappearance, without any warning, and the situation where his relatives and friends around him died one by one, almost drove Matt crazy.

Matt took a long, deep breath, and his legs twitched violently. At the same time, his eyes widened at this moment, but his pupils lacked any light or consciousness.

Matt's panicked mood finally calmed down as he felt the soft touch of the sofa clearly on his palms.

"Having a nightmare again?"

Noticing Matt's movements, Claire's voice rang out.

There was no light on, and in the dark room the only thing that could be seen was the outline of a well-built woman.

"I'm sorry to have made a fool of myself." Matt let out a long sigh and stretched out his hand tremblingly, trying to find the cup of water on the table next to the sofa.

"It's not a joke. So many things have happened, I think it's hard for all of us to calm down." Claire stood up and walked to Matt and put the cup in his hand.

"Do you have nightmares too?" Matt propped himself up and sat up. The pain in his body reminded him of his current bad situation. After drinking a sip of water, he continued. "I mean when you first joined SHIELD."

"of course."

Lieutenant Claire checked the bandage on Matt's body and replied slowly.

"I was just a rookie at the time. They all said I was talented, but only I knew how much blood and sweat I had put in private. I wanted to dedicate everything I had to S.H.I.E.L.D. because I felt it was the right thing to do, until the Trident incident happened."

"I heard about the Hydra invasion on TV." Matt said with some concern. "It's not your fault. No one could have imagined that Hydra would revive decades later."

"I know, but I killed many of 'my friends' in that war. It was not an easy thing. Since then, I have not made any friends, even in the Avengers base."

Claire poured herself a glass of wine and spoke with a very natural expression, but Matt could tell that the heartbeat of the woman in front of him was not as calm as it seemed.

After pondering for a moment, Claire shifted her gaze to Matt. In the dim light coming in from the window, she looked at the man in front of her who looked no different from a normal person, and admiration appeared in her eyes.

"Tell me about yourself, Matt. I still subconsciously ignore the fact that you are blind. How did you end up on this path?"

".It's hard to explain."

Matt shook his head. Sometimes even he himself wondered how he ended up on this path.

"My father is a boxer, a fairly famous one. I have lived with him since I was a child. Many of my ways of dealing with people are influenced by him. It can be said that my father has had a great influence on me. He taught me perseverance and what true justice is."

"Did your father also teach you fighting skills?" Claire asked again.

"No, that's another story." Matt's voice was slightly hoarse. He took another sip of water and sighed. "Fists are just for self-protection. I prefer to use the law to uphold justice. In this regard, our goals are the same."

"Ok."

Seeing that Matt was unwilling to elaborate, Claire did not ask any more questions. After all, she knew that everyone had a past that they were unwilling to talk about, so she naturally changed the subject. "You know, what I actually want to ask is, as a blind person, do you also have nightmares?"

"Haha." Matt laughed and sighed. "I'm not born with a visual defect. I was able to see when I was a kid, so yes, I also see images when I have nightmares, but they are blurry, usually all kinds of screaming and noises."

Having said that, Matt lowered his head again, and continued speaking as if he was thinking of something.

"It's just that these nightmares are different. Everything is quiet. It's so quiet that it's as if everyone in the world has left me and I'm the only one left."

Claire listened quietly, she didn't know how to comfort the other person.

In fact, ever since Claire was treating Matt and discovered that he was blind, she regretted dragging him into this disaster.

Although the other party is also a senior superhero to some extent, Claire always subconsciously regards him as a disabled person. On the other side, Matt continued to talk. "You know, I missed the last time the aliens came to New York. At that time, I didn't want to be a street hero. This time the aliens came to New York again, and I missed it again.

I am different from Spider-Man from Queens. He is younger and more agile. Before I can even reach the battlefield, the battle is already over. "

"Are you talking about Spider-Man? I heard that he and Tony Stark went to outer space, but they were never able to come back." Claire held the wine glass in both hands.

"They are real heroes." Matt said seriously, and then he raised his head solemnly. "And now, the aliens are making a comeback, taking advantage of the fact that the earth has no guardians to invade. This time, I will not miss it again."

Hearing this, Claire nodded silently. She looked at Matt and said, "Don't worry, we are not fighting alone. There must be heroes among the Avengers who have not been replaced."

"I know, but the situation is much more serious than you think." Matt shook his head grimly and said in a deep voice, "You want to know the details of the explosion, right? I can tell you very clearly that the aliens are kidnapping humans."

"Kidnapping humans?" Claire became serious.

"Yes, they are not only eliminating those who stand in their way, but in order to better infiltrate society, they will also imprison the original person being replaced and send him to a secret base after the replacement."

Matt paused for a moment, then said seriously, "I suspect their purpose is to better interrogate the person being replaced to find out some intelligence, such as behavioral habits or coded intelligence."

"You mean, those replaced humans are still alive?" Claire was a little excited. She had already made preparations for the worst, for example, Minister Kalina had already died.

Matt nodded heavily. "How do you think the explosion happened? I was investigating Fisk's secret human trafficking business, and just as I was about to take action, Fisk's men and the aliens came into conflict."

When Adjutant Claire heard this information, she nodded thoughtfully. Now she finally understood the details of the matter.

Before coming here, Claire always thought that the bombing was the work of Daredevil. It was this street hero who had been active in Hell's Kitchen who discovered the secret of the Skrulls and suddenly attacked them by surprise.

Unexpectedly, the real situation was that the aliens and the evil organizations on Earth were robbing each other because of a misunderstanding.

"After the Flash Crisis, Fisk lost a lot of capable men, which caused loopholes in his rule over Hell's Kitchen. Many gangs were ready to take this opportunity to break away from Kingpin's control, and Fisk also needed to make an example of them."

"So," Claire continued, following Matt's words. "When the aliens kidnapped humans and were preparing to transport them away, Fisk mistook it for a human trade, and that's why the two sides started fighting?"

"That's how things developed. No matter what the reason was, this incident exposed the existence of those aliens." Matt nodded. "If we can find where those kidnapped people are being held, maybe we can rescue them."

Claire also nodded repeatedly. If all the kidnapped people were rescued, then the identities replaced by the aliens would be useless.

But at the same time, Claire also understood that this was something that could not be accomplished by the two of them alone. Those aliens must have some unknown power to have been able to stay on Earth secretly for so long. And the most critical problem was that they didn't know who to trust now.

And another point is that if they want to complete this plan, they must first know where the kidnapped people are being held.

"Maybe Fisk can reveal something. His business is not only in Hell's Kitchen. With his methods, he might know something we don't know." Matt guessed.

"But are you sure Fisk is still Fisk now? He hindered those aliens and even destroyed their plans, putting them at risk of being exposed. If I were those guys, I would not have allowed Fisk to live until now."

Claire suggested another possibility. "And even if Fisk wasn't replaced, how can you guarantee that he would help us?"

"Do you have any contact information for anyone you can trust?" Matt asked.

"There really is one." Claire solemnly took out an old-fashioned phone from her arms. It was a communicator similar to a PHS. "And I can guarantee that the other party has definitely not been replaced."

"Who?"

Listen to Matt's confusion.

Claire answered seriously.

"Mr. President"

(End of this chapter)