Chapter 127 Marvel Logic! Want to Get Stronger? First, Turn Green?

"Where your gear?"

Anton glanced at Phil, ignoring the man mix of smugness and excitement, and gave a brief order. "Go retrieve your equipment and the locator. It time to leave."

"Got it!"

Phil nodded, darting into the base with surprising agility.

A few minutes later, he returned fully suited up in his modified and freshly painted Green Goblin-inspired gear, standing before Anton.

Seeing Phil in his current outfit, Anton had to admit: Phil, under the alias "The Devil," looked far more like a supervillain than a superhero.

With this look, he could easily scare kids on Halloween without even trying.

What kind of aesthetic is this guy into? Anton thought, momentarily speechless.

Then his eyes fell on the metal case Phil carried, recognizing it as the damaged locator device.

"Take the woman with you. We're leaving now," Anton commanded.

"Understood!"

Phil replied promptly, picking up Karai. He activated his glider, dangling Karai by a tether as he ascended to Anton level in the air.

Anton, holding Stockman by the scruff, suddenly paused mid-flight and turned back toward the base.

"What wrong?" Phil asked, hovering alongside him.

"There unfinished business." Anton tone was calm as he gestured toward the base. "As a journalist, you should understand better than anyone the consequences of leaving loose ends."

"You—you—you're not going to…?" Phil stammered, his eyes widening as he followed Anton gaze toward the military base.

Without a word, Anton raised his hand, and energy surged into the sonic cannon. He aimed at the base critical points: fighter jets, armored vehicles, and most importantly, the ammunition depot.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Mushroom clouds erupted into the sky.

Flames and black smoke engulfed the entire base. The ground trembled violently, splitting open with deep fissures. It was as if a natural disaster had struck.

The soldiers who had survived the earlier chaos had no chance. Every single one was consumed by the explosions, reduced to ashes in the fiery inferno.

Ross and Blonsky, already incapacitated, met an even grislier end.

With the base black box already wiped clean by Anton and all evidence obliterated in the explosion, no one would know who had attacked the base.

The blame would likely fall squarely on Bruce Banner shoulders.

"This…"

Phil gaped at the scene, stunned.

He turned to look at Anton, now Cyborg, trembling slightly. For the first time, he wasn't sure who the real villain was.

This "scorched earth" approach feels way too much like a supervillain move!

Why do I find this so satisfying?

Phil thoughts raced as he stared at the smoldering ruins of the base, his expression dazed.

Eventually, he silently followed Anton as the group left the rainforest behind.

"Phil. That your name, right?"

About ten kilometers from the nearest city, Anton stopped mid-flight and addressed him.

"You should be able to find your way back to New York."

"No problem," Phil said confidently, already devising a plan. "I can contact the High Table."

Phil nodded without hesitation.

Batman had connections with the High Table, and through his ties with the Daily Bugle, it would be easy to get in touch with them.

The High Table wasn't just a regional organization; as the "sun never sets empire" of the assassin world, its influence spanned the globe.

Traveling back to New York through the High Table wouldn't be an issue.

"Alright then."

Cyborg nodded and tossed Stockman to Phil.

"These two are your responsibility now. Get the locator device fixed as soon as possible—Teleportation Beacon is critical."

"You're just leaving like that?"

Phil was stunned as the man before him took off without another word, shooting into the sky.

The deafening sonic boom echoed around him, the shockwaves from the supersonic departure rippling through the air.

It suddenly dawned on Phil that the earlier speed Cyborg had demonstrated was deliberately restrained for his sake.

Gulp.

Phil swallowed hard. He couldn't fathom where his boss had met Cyborg, let alone why Anton had made a movie about him.

The Cyborg in the movie felt like a completely different person from the one he had just encountered.

But the realization that Cyborg was an ally filled him with an inexplicable sense of security.

To be fair, wasn't the whole point of that devastating attack on the military base to rescue him?

Cyborg ascended rapidly, vanishing into the clouds above, his body dissipating into invisibility as he left Brazil behind.

At the same time, in New York, Anton opened his eyes at home, his gaze regaining its usual calm as the remnants of his earlier intensity faded.

"Banner…"

He mulled over Bruce Banner fate, recalling how the Hulk had been teleported to an unknown location by the unstable fragment of the Teleportation Beacon.

Each of the three fragments of the device possessed teleportation capabilities, but they were inherently unstable when used independently.

This instability made teleportation highly error-prone.

Only when all three fragments were combined into a complete Teleportation Beacon could teleportation be precise, allowing one to travel to any location within the target knowledge—even across the universe.

It was, in essence, an extremely overpowered piece of technology.

Much like Cyborg original backstory as Victor Stone, whose body housed a Mother Box from Apokolips, granting him access to the Boom Tube for teleportation.

However, Anton transformation into Cyborg did not include the teleportation ability from the original lore.

This was likely due to the limitations of the movie adaptation.

After all, Anton couldn't recall Cyborg displaying teleportation abilities in the Justice League film.

Returning to the present...

If Banner had been teleported by the fragment of the Teleportation Beacon, hitting the exceedingly slim chance of a successful destination, where would he end up?

The answer was simple.

It would take him to the person he held dearest in his heart.

That person could only be his former lover, Betty.

In this case, Betty wouldn't be Betty Brant, someone Anton was familiar with, but rather Betty Ross—General Ross daughter.

After all, Banner had once been someone Ross greatly admired as a promising young scientist.

Analyzing the original story, it was clear that the person Banner missed most at this point wasn't anyone else but his muse, Betty Ross.

As for "Mr. Blue," that would come later in the timeline.

"Betty Ross…"

Anton murmured to himself. He decided that following this lead might be the best way to locate Banner.

He pulled out his phone and called Winston at the Continental Hotel.

Moments later, an email notification appeared in his inbox.

Opening it, Anton found a comprehensive dossier on Betty Ross, including information on her current boyfriend—a psychiatrist.

Anton clicked his tongue in amusement.

The Hulk!

For some inexplicable reason, Marvel superheroes often seemed to have a "green" streak in their lives—either literally or metaphorically.

Venom, Hulk, Spider-Man… nearly all of them had, at some point, found themselves on the receiving end of heartbreak or betrayal.

Even Captain America could arguably be included.

Did Cap "green" himself?

Two Caps in one timeline—now that a paradox.

As bizarre as the logic was, it wasn't entirely unfeasible.

In Marvel, it seemed the rule was simple: To get stronger, you must first get green.

Whether literal or symbolic, you are the green glow, shining singularly unique.

** ("green" = being cheated on) **