Chapter 115: Lessons from the Void

Marcus smiled as he looked at Clint. This man, who was like the secret weapon of the Avengers, was actually just an ordinary person with nothing but his amazing archery skills.

"Everyone else uses guns, but you stick with a bow and arrows. You must be pretty confident in your skills!"

Glancing at Marcus, Clint already knew his identity from Coulson. He nodded while scanning their surroundings.

"This is what puts food on my table."

When it came to his archery, Clint was extremely confident. While he couldn't claim to be the absolute best in the world, he was definitely among the top archers alive.

Plus, he had plenty of combat skills. The bow in his hand wasn't just for distance—it could transform into a melee weapon at any moment when fighting enemies up close.

"Puts food on your table, huh?"

Marcus smiled with a shrug. Even though Clint's arrows were incredibly accurate, he couldn't sustain a fight indefinitely. The number of arrows he carried was his biggest limitation.

And despite Clint's impressive fighting skills, sometimes skill alone wasn't enough to win.

Take that purple potato head from the future, for example. Neither Clint's arrows nor his combat abilities would mean anything against him.

Even with everyone fighting together, Steve had barely held his own against Thanos. If his shield hadn't been strong enough, the tyrant's blade would have killed him right there.

"Don't be so tense," Marcus said with a relaxed smile, raising his eyebrows. "My line of work taught me one thing—staying relaxed is how you handle whatever comes your way."

"Your arrow's ready to fire and you can attack anytime, but you can only strike once, right? Even with your incredible archery, you need to expand your options."

He pointed to a huge boulder not far away.

Picking up a steel bar from a nearby shelf, Marcus casually tossed it. The bar made a sharp whistling sound as it flew through the air before embedding itself firmly into the boulder.

"See? Use everything around you to your advantage."

Marcus's voice seemed to echo in Clint's ears. His pupils narrowed to pinpoints as he stared at the steel bar.

That casual throw Marcus had just made could easily take down planes or tanks, not just pierce rocks. It was completely beyond human capability.

Seeing Clint's reaction, Marcus smiled and shook his head, then turned and jumped down from the platform.

He didn't bother telling Clint that he'd just channeled stored energy from his Vibranium combat suit through the steel bar.

He'd simply wanted to see how Clint would react, and he was quite satisfied with the result. The skeptical look in Clint's eyes made him laugh.

Back with the others, Tony had reached some preliminary conclusions about Thor's hammer.

"The electromagnetic field this hammer generates is fascinating. It creates an incredibly strong electric field. I bet if we study it thoroughly, we might figure out how to lift it."

Setting down his documents, Tony turned to Coulson.

"My equipment will be delivered soon, but the detailed examination will depend on your research team. I'm staying in that small town forty miles east. Call me immediately if anything urgent comes up."

There was nothing worth sticking around for here, so he wasn't about to sleep in a tent. The town wasn't great, but it beat camping.

After finishing, he left with Marcus at his side.

As Marcus was leaving, he pointed out Clint to Coulson—the archer was still standing on the platform, looking like he was questioning his entire existence.

Following Marcus's gesture, Coulson quickly looked over. Clint was standing frozen on the high platform, staring at a distant rock as if in a trance.

"Agent Barton, please respond if you copy!"

Coulson's voice came through the communicator, snapping Clint back to reality.

"What is it, Coulson? I don't see any problems."

"I know everything's fine. What happened to you just now? Why did you suddenly zone out?" Coulson asked.

"It's nothing. The super bodyguard just threw a steel bar."

A steel bar?

What could be so shocking about that? Did he throw it incredibly far?

Coulson was confused. It was just a steel bar—what could possibly be so impressive?

"You'll understand when you come up here."

Seeing that Clint was serious, Coulson couldn't refuse.

He was curious to see what Marcus had done with that steel bar that had shocked Clint so badly.

After climbing up to the platform, Coulson looked around curiously. "Where is it? I don't see anything."

"See that boulder over there?" Clint pointed. "The black hole in the rock is filled with a steel bar."

The black hole in the boulder contained a steel bar? How was that possible?

If true, it would be pretty impressive that a thrown bar landed so perfectly in that hole.

"By the way, that hole was made by the steel bar."

Now Coulson was speechless. Clint's story was getting more unbelievable. How could such a large rock, which would be difficult to penetrate even with a drill bit, be pierced by a casually thrown steel bar?

Based on what he knew about Clint, though, the guy wouldn't make jokes like this during a mission. Could it actually be true?

Looking at the huge boulder in the distance, Coulson decided to have someone break it open for examination. If Clint was right, this would be a serious matter.

A while later, with the help of several engineers, they crushed the boulder to reveal its interior. A steel bar was indeed embedded deep within the stone.

"Director, this is Agent Coulson. We need to upgrade Mr. Marcus's security rating. The steel bar he threw has completely penetrated a boulder."

Hearing Coulson's report, Fury frowned aboard the helicarrier.

As someone who had worked with Marcus before, he understood Marcus's capabilities better than Coulson did. This kind of feat was nothing special for him.

What made Fury frown was that Marcus had chosen to display his strength. Even if few people witnessed it, it was still problematic.

"I understand. Don't worry about his action—I have my own plans for him."

Fury spoke in a measured tone. Now wasn't the time to focus on Marcus's abilities. What they really needed to pay attention to was that strange hammer.

The hammer was most likely an alien weapon. Although he'd seen many alien artifacts with help from the Skrulls, he'd never encountered anything like this hammer before.

As for the locals calling it a "hammer-shaped satellite"—that was just the official cover story.

"A strange hammer appears, and that guy suddenly comes back. I really don't know what the future holds, but..."

Fury narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched everyone working around him.

He still hadn't identified who in their ranks belonged to Hydra. Since the two attacks on Howard, Hydra's activities had become harder and harder to trace.

For years, he'd been hunting Hydra, but Howard kept insisting that Marcus believed Hydra's strongest concentration was within S.H.I.E.L.D. itself.

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