Chapter 136 – The Cost of Power
DING! DING!
Debris whistled through the air like shrapnel, slamming into the spectators. Tony's armor ignored the impacts entirely, even as the rocks struck with bullet-like velocity. He stood over Pepper, but she didn't need his protection; she simply shifted the fabric of her special suit, turning it into a hardened steel shell that shattered the stones upon contact.
Frank Castle was even less concerned. His body, now a malleable, swamp-like substance, simply swallowed the debris whole.
SPLAT. PLOP. SPLAT.
"Hulk!" The Green Goliath roared, batting away the rocks in a fit of rage. They couldn't hurt him, but they were annoying. If not for Betty holding his hand, he would have charged into the fray to reclaim his spot as the strongest fighter on the field.
Wolverine's Adamantium skeleton was impenetrable, and Sabretooth stood his ground, letting the rocks bury into his flesh, his regenerative factor knitting the wounds shut as quickly as they were inflicted.
Captain Rogers stepped in front of the others with his shield, attempting to provide cover. "Victor, get back! Don't just stand there and take it!"
"Don't worry, Cap," Logan grunted. "He needs to absorb the kinetic energy. It's part of how he gets stronger."
Rogers paused, a flash of memory flickering behind his eyes—the war, the brothers-in-arms—but the look of confusion on their faces reminded him that they were no longer the men he once knew. They had lost their pasts, and with it, the recognition of their old commander.
Agent Hill stared at the destruction, her voice trembling. "Qin... what are these fruits? The power they're outputting... it's beyond anything in our files."
She had watched the battle in New York on satellite screens, but seeing it raw, uncontained in the wilderness, was a different nightmare entirely. Abomination's Quake-Quake Fruit was turning the desert into a graveyard of craters.
"The Bomb-Bomb Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit," Qin Xiao replied, his voice eerily calm. "Kingpin uses explosives to drive his kinetic movement. Abomination uses tremors to tear the earth apart."
Hill looked at her own team—at Coulson, whose 'Split-Split' fruit was little more than a parlor trick for survival, and Natasha, whose 'Soul-Soul' fruit felt like a parlor trick compared to the cataclysmic displays before her. A horrifying thought crossed her mind: Did he give us the scraps and keep the weapons for himself?
Qin Xiao, sensing her gaze, didn't bother to soften the blow.
"缺陷 (Flaws)?" Qin Xiao scoffed at Natasha, who had voiced her own insecurities about her fruit. "Do you think these two have no flaws? Do you think they don't pay a price?"
He pointed at Abomination. "Every time he shatters the air, the feedback tears at his own muscles and internal organs. Without his monstrous recovery factor and physical durability, the Tremor fruit would have killed him on day one. You think you can handle that power? Your fragile human bodies would explode the moment you tried to channel it."
He turned his piercing gaze toward Natasha. "And your 'flaws'? You complain about lifespans, yet you've never even tried to store the excess you harvest. You treat your power like a burden, not a tool. You're too busy playing it safe, too busy fearing the 'Hell' you think these fruits come from."
The members of S.H.I.E.L.D. stood in stunned silence. Qin Xiao wasn't lecturing them; he was ripping the veil of their cowardice away.
"You look at the power Fisk and Abomination display and you feel jealousy," Qin Xiao continued, his voice hardening. "But how many hours a day do you train? Abomination and Logan spar for twelve hours a day. Kingpin has built secret training bases across the city. You? You treat your gifts like ticking time bombs you're afraid to touch. You've been stagnant because you're terrified of your own potential."
"You're right," Hill whispered, the realization hitting her like a physical blow. "We've been too conservative."
Qin Xiao looked away, watching the two monsters collide once more. The desert trembled under the weight of their ambition, and for the first time, S.H.I.E.L.D. realized the truth: the power wasn't the problem.
The problem was them.