Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life

Melina swiftly scooped up Alexei, who had been blown back by the blast, and carried him to a corner. Her face full of heartache, she held Alexei, who was lying on the ground, in her arms.

That's right, it wasn't until this point that Hawkeye and Zhao Weike finally recognized that the guy wearing a tattered red and white uniform, and whose back zipper wasn't even zipped up because he'd gained weight, was Alexei, that goofball!

Watching Alexei and the woman who should be Melina gaze at each other tenderly, the scene, combined with the hail of bullets, even gave off a sense of a doomed couple. Hawkeye and Zhao Weike's mouths twitched non-stop.

The two couldn't understand why Melina would rekindle her feelings for Alexei. After all, although Melina's hair was already gray, her face and well-maintained figure didn't make her look much older than Scarlett Johansson.

In contrast, Alexei, with his big belly, balding head, and unkempt beard, looked every bit the greasy middle-aged man. Yet, it was precisely this appearance that won over a beauty like Melina.

In this environment, the contrast between beauty and beast is so striking that Hawkeye and Zhao Weike don't even know where to begin their吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments).

After holding it in for so long, Hawkeye finally couldn't hold back any longer. He walked past Zhao Weike and looked in Yelena's direction, asking her a question.

"Your parents have always been this mean... um..."

Hawkeye, halfway through his sentence, realized something was amiss and turned to Zhao Weike with a pleading look. Zhao Weike could only think for a moment and then use the two grenades he was holding to make a heart shape before continuing to Yelena.

"So affectionate?"

Listening to their complaints, Yelena rolled her eyes so hard they almost reached the sky. For the first time in her life, Yelena understood what it meant to have parents who were not presentable to her.

Instead of responding to their complaints, he snatched the two grenades from Zhao Weike's hand and threw them at the group of Black Widows outside, before speaking to them in an annoyed tone.

"Instead of wasting your time, you should be thinking about how to deal with the Drekoff Guard outside!"

Chapter 258 The Final Battle 4

Yelena's words revealed the true identities of the Black Widows outside, and also explained why they continued to hunt down the two even after Sherlock released the antidote.

However, just as the two were about to say something, Alexei, who had just been lying in Melina's arms as if he was about to die, suddenly seemed to have been injected with adrenaline. He stood up abruptly, picked up the door panel again, and rushed out once more with the sound of a grenade exploding.

"Hurrah!!!!!"

Compared to the previous time, this time Alexei was like a furious brown bear, and his unstoppable momentum left Hawkeye and Zhao Weike stunned.

Even Yelena was completely bewildered, let alone Hawkeye and Zhao Weike, who were outsiders, and had no idea what had happened.

After Alexei charged out, Melina stood up and followed him like an elegant old cat, charging out behind him like an enraged brown bear.

Even as she passed by Yelena, she winked playfully at her like a mother cat disciplining her kittens before speaking.

"Yelena, a woman's most powerful weapon is always gentle comfort."

After saying that, Melina rushed out in front of the three men, leaving Zhao Weike and Hawkeye looking incredulous, and Yelena looking completely bewildered.

Only when the two figures disappeared around the corner, and the sounds of fighting and Alexei's roars began to drift over from not far away, did Hawkeye and Zhao Weike stiffly focus their gazes on Yelena.

Yelena's face was as red as a monkey's bottom. She rolled her eyes at the two of them in annoyance, and without saying a word, she pushed them aside and rushed out with Melina.

When only Hawkeye and Zhao Weike remained at the scene, the expressions of the two married men became unusually strange. Hawkeye looked at Zhao Weike beside him for a long time before finally speaking to him.

"I don't know why, but I always have a feeling that I've been set up."

Zhao Weike nodded in strong agreement with Hawkeye's criticism before speaking.

"Each each other."

Just as the two were still reeling from the shock of Melina's words, Yelena's roar came from around the corner.

"If you two bastards keep slacking off, I'll let you two experience my 'gentleness'!"

Hearing Yelena's roar instantly pulled Zhao Weike and Hawkeye back to reality from their existential daze. They exchanged a glance and saw a hint of certainty in each other's eyes.

To hell with the gentle embrace of marriage! It's normal to only experience a shrewish wife after marriage!

Without further hesitation, the two rushed out and launched a counterattack against the group of Drekoff's personal guards. Zhao Weike, in particular, was especially fond of the two identical 3516 rifles in his hands.

He even abandoned the strategy of shooting the head once and the body twice, and went straight for one shot to kill one enemy, which Zhao Weike found incredibly satisfying.

What? You don't know what the 3516 is? Johnny Silverhand's sidearm in Cyberpunk 2077 is the 3516! When Sherlock shoved this thing into Zhao Weike's hand, it even felt like a cross-dimensional connection!

Unlike the joyful atmosphere on Zhao Weike and Hawkeye's side, the situation on Captain America's side was undoubtedly much darker, and it all started when Captain America separated from Zhao Weike and Hawkeye.

Unlike Zhao Weike and Hawkeye, who encountered the Red Room's strongest fighters from the moment they entered, Captain America's side never encountered any particularly powerful beings. The few Black Widows that did appear were all knocked unconscious by Captain America with a single blow.

It wasn't until Sherlock began releasing the crimson antidote throughout the floating castle of the Red House that the captain made a slightly bigger move, but it was merely using his Stormbreaker to cleave open the tightly closed doors.

On the one hand, it was to prevent Black Widows from lurking inside these closed doors, making it easy for someone to sneak up on them. On the other hand, it was also to allow the antidote released by Sherlock to spread to as many places as possible.

Under this operational strategy, no closed door could escape the captain's Storm Axe until he cleaved open a door near the top floor of Drekoff's office.

The reason is simple: for so long, the room the captain had broken open had been either a dormitory, a storage room, or even a canteen or a recreation room. This room was the only one that was truly unique.

No, rather than being different, it would be more accurate to say that it is too simple and straightforward.

This room can hardly be called a room; it's more like a confinement-style isolation room. Inside the room is a completely sealed glass room, with independent ventilation, electricity, and even the door.

The room was unusually sparsely furnished, with a blanket that looked almost thin and a television set hanging on the wall. Apart from these two items, the room was completely empty.

In front of the television, a girl in a distinctive uniform was staring intently at the screen. The television was playing a compilation of footage of her, Hawkeye, and Black Widow fighting during the Battle of New York.

It is obvious that these videos were filmed by onlookers. The videos are completely illogical and simply spliced ​​together. They are also only a short video, less than a minute long.

But even with this short, one-minute video playing on a loop, the girl in the isolation room watched it intently, as if she were watching a captivating movie.

Based on what Yelena had said about the Red House, the captain recognized the girl in front of him almost immediately.

Antonia, the girl who was once manipulated by Scarlett Johansson to blow up Drake's office!

Upon seeing Antonia, out of pity for the girl's plight, the captain immediately used his Stormbreaker to cleave open the door to the isolation room and went inside, attempting to comfort Antonia.

“Antonia, is that right? I’m not a bad person. Look, I’m Captain America from TV, Steve Rogers. We’ve come to liberate you. Don’t worry, I have no ill intentions towards you.”

Unfortunately, the only response the captain received was a round shield modeled after his own.

Fortunately, the captain reacted very quickly. The instant the round shield flew over, the captain slammed it with his hammer, knocking it to the ground. Then, instinctively, he stepped on the shield, sending it flying onto his arm.

Looking at the shield fixed to his arm, the captain raised an eyebrow in surprise and spoke casually to Antonia in front of him.

"Wow, that's not how you use a shield. If you'd like, I can teach you how to use one."

The only response the captain received was a silent, explosive arrow fired by Antonia, who was wearing a helmet identical to Sherlock's and mimicking Hawkeye's movements.

Chapter 259 The Final Battle 5

In more popular parlance, Antonia rejected the captain's attempts to communicate and launched an attack on him.

It's clear that Antonia isn't the master imitator she'll become; at the very least, she's nowhere near as good as Hawkeye, the true archery master.

Despite being a powerful explosive arrow, the straight flight path and the slow speed caused by the captain's subpar physical condition gave this seasoned veteran countless ways to deal with it.

Unfortunately, the shield Antonia had just thrown at him was instinctively caught on the captain's arm. The same round shield, the same position, and years of combat experience made the captain almost instinctively raise his hand to try to block the arrow with the round shield in his hand.

However, the captain forgot one thing: the shield in his hand was not his own vibranium shield that could absorb energy; at best, it was just a relatively sturdy shield.

It was precisely because of this oversight that the moment Antonia's explosive arrow struck the shield on the captain's arm, the enormous force of the explosion sent the captain flying almost instantly, and even the round shield on his arm slipped from his grasp due to the immense power of the explosion.

By the time the captain stood up, Antonia had already followed his example, stepping on the edge of the shield and letting it fly steadily onto her arm.

Seeing Antonia's movements, which were exactly the same as his own, the captain was filled with emotion. He summoned back his Stormbreaker and prepared for battle.

"I could fight you like this all day long!"

Faced with the captain's threat, Antonia merely tilted her head in slight confusion before charging at him once more. The blinding electric light on the Widow's Dagger in her hand made the captain vaguely see the shadow of Black Widow.

The captain already felt immense sympathy for Antonia's background, coupled with the guilt that Black Widow had expressed towards Antonia to him.

Due to a combination of factors, the captain, who had originally planned to have a good fight with Antonia, realized that it was impossible for him to be serious about this girl who was already in such a tragic situation.

"fxxk!"

Faced with Antonia's charge, the captain could only use his Stormbreaker to 'lightly' knock Antonia away before turning and running towards the corridor without hesitation.

Clearly, the captain intended to use the antidote released by Sherlock in the corridor to break Drekoff's control over the girl in front of him.

Although Drekoff is the girl's biological father, the captain doesn't think she would be a loyal follower of Drekoff, considering the series of 'training' he has given her.

Although things unfolded exactly as the captain had predicted, after Antonia was knocked away, the first thing she did after getting up was to chase after him into the corridor full of antidotes.

However, it was clear that Antonia's helmet, a replica of Sherlock's from the Battle of New York, had good filtering capabilities, so Antonia had no intention of letting the captain off the hook.

Antonia uses arrows from a distance, but once close, her shield and widow's spikes are her best weapons.

On the contrary, the captain was constrained by the length of the Stormbreaker in the corridor environment and also by his own sympathy.

After taking two solid punches from Antonia, the captain finally realized he couldn't let things continue like this.

When facing a serious captain, Antonia is no match for her either.

Despite wanting to prevent his Stormbreaker from harming the girl in front of him, the captain slammed the Stormbreaker against the wall and fought Antonia with his bare hands.

Even so, with the captain's absolute physical advantage, Antonia, no matter how strong her mimicry ability was, could only end up being pinned to the ground by the captain.

When the captain violently ripped off Antonia's helmet, allowing her to come into contact with the antidote released by Sherlock, he almost clearly saw the disfigured girl's eyes go from blank to confused, and then overwhelmed by boundless hatred.

However, Antonia quickly concealed these emotions, simply looking at the captain pressing down on her with a calm gaze, her voice incredibly hoarse as if she were speaking for the first time.

“Mr. Steve Rogers, could you please get off me?”

Upon hearing Antonia's words, the captain could only sigh helplessly after thinking for a moment, silently getting off Antonia and giving her her freedom again.

“Antonia, you don’t have to do this, your life…”

The captain wanted to say something to Antonia, but it was clear that Antonia had no intention of listening. Instead, she silently put on her helmet, glanced at the captain, and ran towards Drekoff's office.

Seeing Antonia leave, the captain wanted to speak but couldn't say anything. He could only draw his Stormbreaker and follow in Antonia's footsteps.

He didn't know what Antonia was thinking right now—whether she resented Drekeff more or Black Widow for ruining her life—but whatever it was, the captain couldn't bear to see this extremely talented child sink into a sea of ​​hatred.

The good news is that Antonia didn't immediately go looking for trouble with Black Widow or Drake. Instead, she went to what looked like a laboratory, took a scalpel from the table, cut open the back of her neck, and pulled out something that looked like a nerve.

After quickly stopping his bleeding, he threw away the helmet and ran towards Drekoff's office.

The captain followed Antonia and saw the whole process of her pulling out the thing. Although the captain didn't know what it was, he still picked it up in a plastic bag, put it in his pocket, and ran with Antonia toward Drekoff's office.

The good news is that the captain didn't see Black Widow or his friends along the way.

The bad news was that when the captain arrived at Drekoff's office, the once-powerful figure who controlled the Red Room had already been chopped into pieces by his 'tools,' and was no longer recognizable as human.

When Antonia arrived, she saw Drekoff's tragic end but felt no sadness. Instead, she spat a thick wad of phlegm at Drekoff's corpse with great pleasure.

However, after spitting, Antonia, like the Black Widows present who had vented their anger, stood there in a daze.

They were once Drekoff's 'tools', and although they had no freedom, they had 'goals' guided by Drekoff's will.