268 You Sure You Wanna Race Me?

"Hmm, that wasn't too hard either."

With a bit of clever maneuvering, Kagura managed to take Wanda down before the Scarlet Witch could go all-out.

When facing someone that dangerous, ending the fight quickly was the smartest move.

The longer it dragged on, the higher the chance Wanda would unleash something terrifying.

After all, her powers were fueled by sheer will, and the more unstable her emotions got, the more unpredictable her abilities became.

If she suddenly decided to rewrite reality and erase Kagura from existence, that would be... unfortunate.

Sure, Wanda hadn't done anything like that in the MCU timeline, but in other branches of the Marvel multiverse?

Yeah, she'd done it plenty. She was basically a walking, and talking glitch in the system.

"Cortana, locate the network hub up ahead. Get ready to hack in."

While she spoke, Kagura glanced at her core energy reserves at 34.8%.

"Ugh, I'm getting a little low… Using concept skills too often really drains the battery fast."

She rerouted power from the internal energy system of her White Moon combat suit back into her body, giving herself about a 20% energy boost just enough to avoid a sudden game-over in the next fight.

"Master, I've found the enemy's network hub. There's an access port inside the castle's main building. I've marked the route—it looks viable for a digital hack."

"Perfect."

Kagura nodded. "Let's wrap this up."

She gave one last glance to the unconscious Wanda on the ground, then headed toward the castle's main structure.

"This is Rogers. Everyone be advised, we've got a superpowered individual on the field!"

Captain America's voice crackled through the comms. "He's moving so fast I can barely see him."

"Oh? Are you sure it's not just your old-man eyes?" Hawkeye replied, totally unfazed.

"If there really is a speedster out there, then we might—"

The transmission abruptly cut off, replaced by a burst of static.

"…Oh, sh*t!"

After a moment, Barton's voice returned, tinged with urgency.

"Confirmed. There is a superhuman on the battlefield—some guy moving like lightning. He even dodged my multi-spectrum tactical goggles."

"Not even Rhode Island Industries' newest recon tech could track him."

"I knew it," Steve said. "Don't engage yet. We still don't know what we're dealing with."

"This is Stark," Tony chimed in. "I've detected high-speed motion headed toward the castle."

Flying above the battlefield gave Iron Man a good vantage point to track fast-moving targets on the ground but even with the advanced sensors in his Mark 43 suit, he could only catch the faintest blur of this speedster's movements.

"Hitomi," Tony added, "heads-up. Someone's coming your way, and I'm pretty sure he's with Hydra. Be careful—he's not just fast figuratively, he's fast literally!"

"Copy that," Kagura replied. "I'll be careful."

The blur zipping around the battlefield, disrupting the Avengers' formation, was none other than Wanda's brother, Pietro Maximoff.

Just like Wanda was known as the Scarlet Witch, Pietro had his own codename: Quicksilver.

Both of their powers came from the Mind Stone.

But unlike Wanda's chaotic, near-omnipotent magic, Pietro's ability was simple and brutal—he was fast. Ridiculously fast.

He could manipulate his metabolism and body temperature, pushing his body to speeds regular humans couldn't even comprehend.

Bullets? He could outrun those without breaking a sweat (zoom).

And unlike the wildly unpredictable chaos magic Wanda used, Pietro's straightforward ability made it much easier for him to master.

In fact, he was already using it with deadly precision.

"When you wake up," Kagura muttered, looking back at Wanda, "make sure to tell your brother you started it. Don't go blaming me like I just attacked you out of nowhere, alright?"

She approached the castle's network hub, prepping to launch her digital infiltration skill.

'Boom!'

Suddenly, a flicker of pale blue light zipped past her eyes—too fast to see—and slammed into her with a sharp impact.

The sheer speed translated into tremendous force.

Thanks to her White Moon combat suit, Kagura didn't take any real damage, but the surprise attack sent her stumbling backward a few steps.

When she regained her balance, she noticed something: Wanda was no longer lying where she had been.

A quick scan revealed her propped up neatly under the castle wall, sitting on a cushion that who knows where it came from.

No need to guess who did it: Pietro Maximoff. Quicksilver.

"Hey! Bet you didn't even see what just happened, did you?"

A cocky, smug voice reached her ears clearly male and full of that "punch-me-in-the-face" kind of arrogance followed by another burst of light-speed movement.

Kagura narrowed her eyes and twisted to the side, raising her arm to block.

'Bang!'

His speed was outrageous, but Kagura's ultra-sensitive reflexes, plus the instant response time of her automaton-like body, let her deflect the impact in time.

"Oho! Not bad," Pietro said, still grinning. "Maybe Wanda didn't totally embarrass herself after all."

"But let's be real, you didn't actually see what just happened, right? Come on, let's play. You hurt my sister, and I'm going to make sure you die a very painful death!"

With that, Pietro vanished again, a blur of pure speed hurtling straight toward her.

"Listen, your sister did attack me first… but eh, whatever."

Kagura sighed. "Still, if you think speed alone makes you unbeatable, then you've got another thing coming."

[Charged Omni-Directional Mobility: Activated]

'VMMM—!'

This time, when the blur flashed past her, Pietro didn't make contact.

"…Huh?!"

He skidded to a stop, turning around in shock.

"What the hell just happened?!"

"You didn't see it, did you?"

Kagura smirked, throwing his own words right back at him with a sharp grin.

"That's not possible, you just got lucky!" Pietro snapped, clearly refusing to believe this petite silver-haired girl had actually tracked his movements.

With a scoff, he spun and launched into another blitz attack—charging Kagura again at full speed.

[Charged Omni-Directional Maneuver: Activated]

In the infinitely slowed-down perception of time, Pietro finally managed to barely see what was happening.

Just as he launched his high-speed assault toward Kagura—

In that instant, the silver-haired girl suddenly moved with a speed that matched his own.

While the world around them seemed frozen, Kagura precisely dodged Pietro's punch—

Then, as if that wasn't enough, she casually grabbed his arm mid-move.

"What the hell?! That's impossible!"

Pietro blurted out, completely unable to believe what had just happened.

Most people couldn't even see him when he moved at full speed, let alone touch him.

But this silver-haired girl—who had just defeated the Scarlet Witch—

Had not only matched his speed, she'd caught him mid-sprint, and then—

'SLAM!'

"Aghhh!"

With a fierce over-the-shoulder throw, she smashed him into the ground.

The stone pavement cracked in a web of fractures beneath him, dust billowing into the air.

"Hey, little bro… Are you sure you wanna challenge me to a speed contest?"

In his blurry vision, Pietro saw her face leaning in teasing and beautiful, her silky silver hair falling toward his cheek.

"Because if you are… you're about to lose really hard."