While Arthur was gripped by inexplicable dread, a spaceship was cutting through the cosmos, tracking Arthur's trail, searching for any sign of him.
"Nova Prime has already responded. She made it clear she'll find a way to cover this up. No online reports or serialized updates about the incident will ever surface."
Inside the spaceship, Tony said, "I have to admit, Xandar's governance and legal system are remarkably strict. Even while advocating freedom, they manage to keep such perfect control. There's definitely something worth learning from them."
"That's the kind of problem politicians need to worry about. Our problem is finding that bastard!"
Those words, unsurprisingly, came from Natasha.
Arthur's latest stunt had truly enraged her.
He had vanished out of nowhere, as if his ass were on fire, and bolted straight into the depths of space.
What the hell is this guy thinking? Didn't he realize such actions only made everyone more worried?
"It shouldn't be much longer…" Tony said. "No matter how fast the old man is, there's a limit. He couldn't possibly outpace a spaceship to such a degree. Besides, his travel signal has already been detected in space. The only problem is that when we tried to lock his coordinates, something unknown interfered."
"That's exactly what makes this so concerning." T'Challa spoke up: "What on earth has he encountered?"
"Or maybe it's simply due to changes in himself," Banner said. "Arthur's secrets are many. His growth in power has remained a mystery from the start. But…"
He paused, scanning the group. "Haven't you noticed? Some of the abilities he's shown, don't they feel familiar? Haven't we seen them before, in other forms?"
"For example?" Natasha's sharp gaze fixed on Banner.
"For instance, in his reports on the Mandarin's powers… some of those very abilities now appear in him. According to him, the Mandarin's power came from his rings. Those rings became his trophies, but none of us have ever seen him use them."
Banner continued, "So, is it possible to assume he's mastered some kind of ability that lets him absorb other powers and make them his own?"
The group exchanged uneasy looks. Natasha furrowed her brows. "And what exactly does that prove?"
"That leads us to two bold possibilities," Tony said. "First, his abilities may have developed some kind of issue. The powers he absorbed could be unbalancing inside him. Or maybe some form of energy leakage is happening, one that might drastically affect the surrounding environment, possibly even endangering our lives. That could explain why he was in such a rush to leave Xandar, to get away from us!"
The group fell silent. That explanation… was plausible.
Of course, all of it depended on whether Banner's theory was correct.
"And the second possibility?" Natasha pressed.
"The second…" Tony glanced around at them. "Have you all forgotten what kind of being we fought before? And that being's core is now inside Arthur. If he tried to absorb that energy and something went wrong, wouldn't that explain his current condition?"
"Ego!!!"
Everyone stiffened in horror.
The terrifying power of an entire planet, erupting from within one person, the fear wasn't about what that energy could destroy, but what it would do to him.
A grenade exploding inside someone's body was enough to rip them apart.
So what about a planet?
If that energy went off inside him… what would he even become?
No one knew. But the very thought struck terror into every heart.
"We have to find him. No matter what, we must track him down!"
The group exchanged looks, then each scrambled to their tasks, searching desperately for solutions.
And then, suddenly, the radar lit up with a warning signal.
"There's a massive, unidentified energy body not far from us. If we keep moving forward, the energy storm might swallow us whole!"
Tony glanced at the readings, and suddenly found himself speechless.
If not for their earlier speculations, this might not have been so alarming. But with those theories in mind… this mysterious energy body that had suddenly appeared, could it really be…?
"Launch a Mark Series drone," Tony ordered. "Long-range imaging. Scan it as thoroughly as possible, identify the true source of that energy!"
Everyone nodded at once. Moments later, a Mark Series drone streaked out from the ship, heading straight for the so-called unidentified energy mass.
Meanwhile, aboard the spaceship, every eye was locked on the monitor, watching the images streaming back from the Mark Series.
From far to near, the camera closed in, and the scene made everyone's breath hitch.
On-screen, they could see it clearly: a massive golden energy sphere, shimmering translucent. And within it, faint and blurred, stood a lone figure at the very center.
The image was extracted, magnified, and processed. After several adjustments, Arthur's face appeared on the display before them all.
"This is his power!"
"Why are his eyes closed?"
"What can we do to help him?"
A storm of questions erupted almost at once. But before anyone could answer, the Mark Series drone that had been approaching was suddenly annihilated in an instant, reduced to nothing but dust!
"No one can enter the boundary of that energy field," someone muttered gravely. "This energy is hyperactive, overwhelmingly destructive. Anyone who steps into it is walking straight into annihilation!"
Tony stared at the sight, a bitter smile tugging at his lips. "Not only do we have no way to help him, we can't even get close."
Silence fell over the cabin.
When Arthur needed them most, was all they could do to sit here in the spaceship, helplessly watching from afar?
Natasha's eyes were locked on Arthur's face, her thoughts a turmoil she could not voice, when suddenly, young Spider-Man spoke up:
"Uh… guys? Don't you think that energy sphere also… kinda has a face?"
By then, a second Mark Series had reached the scene. Tony immediately switched the imaging mode, expanding the capture to show the entire sphere on the display.
Everyone's eyes went wide in shock.
"Ego!"
Etched across the surface of that energy field was indeed a face, Ego's face.
Their earlier suspicions had been confirmed. Arthur, in trying to absorb Ego's power, must have suffered some kind of backlash, resulting in the crisis unfolding before their eyes…
(End of Chapter)
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