Chapter 251 The Avengers Misfortune!

[Constantine fan value: 18.23 million]

Although the movie had just been released, Anton could already gauge the audience reception of Hellblazer through the system panel fan value stats.

In just two short hours, the fan value had increased by nearly 300,000.

At this rate, in just a few days, he would have enough points to unlock a new DC hero.

This made Anton quite satisfied.

Meanwhile.

Jim, still busy at the office handling the movie release and coordinating future promotional efforts with the distributor, remained in a state of shock.

He was, yet again, questioning reality.

Anton had done it. Again!

This wasn't just about the movie release it was about Anton confidence in its quality.

To take a movie like Hellblazer and bring it to this point in just one week—it sounded utterly absurd.

If someone else had told Jim this, he would've dismissed them without hesitation, possibly tuning them out after their second word.

When Jim finally saw the finished product, he began to wonder if Anton had secretly shot Hellblazer months ago.

From the quality of the final cut, there was no room for criticism. There wasn't even a hint of rushed production.

"Genius!"

In the end, Jim could only attribute it to Anton sheer talent. "Truly, a creative genius."

With this confidence in the movie, Jim doubled down on the promotional budget.

Even though this film was technically a rushed project, who could dare call it sloppy based on its quality? After all, the multi-million-dollar investment wasn't just for show.

With Jim expertise, he was certain Hellblazer would achieve the success it deserved.

Of course, Anton wasn't as optimistic.

He had knowledge of something else: in less than a month, the Battle of New York would take place—a catastrophic event that would leave lasting scars on the U.S. and the world, requiring significant time to heal.

Wait. A week had already passed. The event was now less than a month away.

Beep beep beep!

Anton phone rang.

"Hello, Harry?"

Anton narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Let hope it good news," he said.

"I really don't want you calling me now to say something gone wrong on your end."

"I hope so too."

Harry sighed on the other end, his tone heavy. "Anton, as you predicted, Project Pegasus has failed. The Tesseract has been taken by Victor Von Doom."

"I knew it…"

Anton paused mid-sentence.

"Wait, who?"

"Victor Von Doom."

Harry repeated, his tone laced with regret. "You warned me about him before, but I didn't take it seriously. I take full responsibility for this."

"Victor Von Doom…"

Anton held his phone, his expression subtly shifting to one of intrigue.

"So, I guessed right after all!"

He murmured to himself before speaking aloud. "Alright, tell me everything. From the beginning. I've got plenty of time."

Rewind to roughly ten minutes ago.

Secret Base.

The remaining Avengers gathered.

Excluding Victor Von Doom, who had defected with the Tesseract, seven superheroes remained: Harry, Iron Man, Captain America, Sandman, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Doctor Octopus.

Meanwhile, Coulson and Nick Fury, both severely injured by Doom lightning attack, had been taken to the medical bay by on-site medics for immediate treatment.

The base itself, after the brief confrontation between the Avengers and the traitor Doom, now showed signs of structural damage.

Thankfully, it was only superficial.

A quick inspection of the walls and framework revealed that while there was significant damage, it wasn't enough to cause a total collapse.

After all, this base had been constructed with untold amounts of funding—it wouldn't fall apart so easily.

"Victor Von Doom has escaped!"

Captain America, Steve Rogers, scanned the room and spoke in a low, resolute voice.

"We still don't know his true goal, but from what we've gathered, it clear he has ambitions of world domination."

"He a serious threat," Tony Stark added. "And besides that, the sudden behavior changes we saw in the agents earlier strongly suggest Doom might have an accomplice."

"Couldn't it just be Doom hiding another superpower?" Doctor Octopus chimed in.

"No."

Harry shook his head firmly.

"Doom doesn't have mind-control abilities. Don't forget why we initially gathered here—it was because the base agents went rogue. The timelines don't match up."

"But Doom used to work here for a time. Could he have planted subliminal suggestions in the agents during that period?" Black Widow questioned.

"The agents have gone through rotations," Hawkeye countered.

"After the incident, I investigated them. None of those agents had any direct interactions with any of us or appeared in the same place as Doom. He never had the opportunity to influence them."

"Then he must have an accomplice," Sandman, ever straightforward, concluded.

"In any case, we need to locate Doom and recover the Tesseract from him. We must stop whatever plans he has,"

Captain America declared with a determined tone before turning to Tony Stark. "Tony, can you track him down?"

"I can try."

Tony nodded, then glanced at Doctor Octopus. "Otto, I'll need your help."

"I'm on it," Otto replied without hesitation.

"I'll mobilize all of Oscorp resources to track Doom movements," Harry added, knowing this was the only way he could contribute.

"Stark Industries will go all in as well," Tony affirmed immediately.

"Hawkeye and I will handle things on S.H.I.E.L.D. side," Natasha said, stepping forward to take responsibility.

As for Sandman and Captain America, neither of them had the resources or influence to contribute directly to the search. Sandman, in particular, shrugged helplessly and said,

"Sorry, not much I can do in this area."

After the brief discussion, Harry left the base. After some thought, he pulled out his phone and called Anton.

"So that how it is."

After hearing Harry explanation, Anton seemed lost in thought.

He now fully understood the sequence of events.

Doom accomplice was, without a doubt, the trickster god Loki.

In the original timeline, Loki had hypnotized Erik Selvig, compelling the scientist to build him a portal generator.

But now, it seemed Loki had set his sights higher—not on Erik Selvig, but on Victor Von Doom.

From Loki perspective, this was undoubtedly the smarter choice.

Victor Von Doom, the infamous Doctor Doom, was far more capable and valuable than Erik Selvig could ever be.

A portal generator?

For someone like Doom, such technology likely wouldn't even pose much of a challenge.

"Doctor Doom teaming up with Loki… The difficulty of the upcoming Battle of New York just skyrocketed.

And in the current situation, all the pressure is squarely on the Avengers,"

Anton mused, his brow lifting slightly, a hint of schadenfreude in his expression.

The Avengers weren't his allies, after all. On the contrary, they were intense competitors.

And there was nothing more satisfying than watching your rivals suffer.

Well, maybe one thing:

Watching your rivals suffer and dragging S.H.I.E.L.D. down with them.

Actually, now that he thought about it, that part was already a done deal.

So, no—there truly wasn't anything more delightful than this.