Chapter 71: Captain America Returns Through the Timeline
"Big hammer, eighty. Small hammer, forty..."
As the golden lightning subsided, Allen's aura weakened accordingly—his armor's stored power was nearly depleted.
Meanwhile, Ares lay in the deep crater, barely alive, his breath ragged and faint. It seemed unlikely he could rise to fight again.
Finally, with the last hammer strike, the last remnants of power were released, and Allen collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.
"A battle of this intensity is really too much for a mentally ill guy like me."
The crisis brought by the War God was successfully resolved.
After watching for over an hour, Thor and Diana had regained much of their strength. They stepped forward to inspect the situation in the crater.
"My hammer!"
"My divine sword!"
Instead of joy, their faces were filled with distress.
Their divine weapons had fused together, and that was an unbearable agony, worse than death itself.
Thor, especially, treated Mjolnir like a part of himself. Watching Allen wield it earlier had already made his heart ache unbearably.
The God Killer Sword was an Amazonian sacred relic, specially forged by Hephaestus under Zeus' orders for Diana. It held immense significance.
"Who cares about your stuff?"
Allen scoffed and raised the long-handled hammer, silently commanding: Disassemble.
Instantly, lightning and flames separated, restoring both weapons to their original forms.
The artifacts returned to their rightful owners.
At that moment, cracks like spiderwebs spread across Allen's armor.
In the blink of an eye, the entire suit shattered like glass.
The armor had held together the fusion of three mighty forces, but in the end, the Sixth Metal was not strong enough to sustain it. Having completed its mission, the armor disintegrated into dust.
"My battle suit..."
Watching his meticulously crafted armor vanish, Allen grabbed at his hair in frustration.
Slap! Slap!
Overcome with anger, Allen stomped over to Ares and smacked him twice across the face with the loose fabric hanging from his pants.
"I'm taking this prisoner back to the Council of Gods. We'll meet again when I come down to Earth next."
Thor grabbed the barely alive Ares and raised Mjolnir high.
In the next instant, the Bifrost descended, taking both of them away.
With the matter settled, Allen and Diana hurried back to the Allied-controlled area overnight.
After a series of twists and turns, they finally returned to the Strike Team's camp.
Having lost Captain Steve Rogers, the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. held discussions and decided to invite Diana to take on the role of team leader.
Inside the conference room—
All eyes turned to the person in question, waiting for her response.
"I have no objections," Diana said after some thought. She had decided to remain in human society—after all, Themyscira was too isolated and unsuitable for her growth.
"I support this with both hands and feet!"
Allen leaned back in his chair, raising both his hands and legs in exaggerated agreement.
"Nanaue agrees too!"
Nanaue mimicked Allen's gesture.
At this moment, Carter raised a question: "What title should we use for public announcements?"
"How about Pokémon?" Allen suggested, raising his hand.
Absolutely not.
Was he trying to make the Nazis laugh to death?
"I think Wonder Woman is more appropriate," Diana said after some thought.
"Every decision comes with a price, already marked in the shadows," Allen mused, pushing up an imaginary monocle and putting on an air of mystery.
After the meeting—
Allen discreetly approached Diana.
"Something wrong?"
Seeing Allen hesitate, Diana raised an eyebrow, unsure of what he was up to this time.
"Can I ask you a favor?"
Allen shyly turned his head away, making it look like he was about to confess.
"Go ahead." Diana waited patiently.
"Could you look after Nanaue for me when I'm not around? I think he has some... cognitive issues." Allen tapped his temple with a face full of disdain.
"..."
As if you're one to talk.
Diana sighed and agreed, "I can do that, but can I ask why?"
"Don't ask. If you must ask, the answer is love." Allen replied solemnly.
"Forget it. I take my question back."
Trying to have a rational conversation with this lunatic? Diana would rather head to the battlefield.
Suddenly, Allen straightened up, his expression uncharacteristically serious.
Nani!?
Diana furrowed her brows, eyes locking onto him—something felt off.
"Your Highness..."
Allen bowed deeply. "I take my leave."
"This departure is for a lifetime."
"Your humble subject withdraws."
With that, Allen bent at the waist and backed out of the room.
By the time Diana snapped out of her daze and ran after him—
"Are you insane!?"
Her voice echoed down the hallway.
New York City—
At dusk, workers rushed home after a long day's work.
The prospect of returning to a warm meal prepared by their wives and spending time with their children made the exhaustion of the day feel worthwhile. It brought a sense of fulfillment to their hearts.
Brooklyn District—
Inside a small apartment.
At this moment, the door pushed open from the outside.
A tall, muscular man stepped in.
In the dimly lit room, a silhouette sat on a chair, facing away.
"Peggy, I'm back."
The man spoke softly, and the figure trembled slightly.
"I've returned from the future—to fulfill our promise."
As he spoke, Steve Rogers moved behind the figure, gently placing his hands on their shoulders.
Yes, the man was none other than Captain America, recently frozen in the Arctic.
"Shut up and kiss me."
"Allen!"
Steve recoiled in horror, yanking his hands back as if he'd just touched something disgusting.
The figure in the chair turned around—it was Allen, wearing a wig and Peggy Carter's nightgown.
Allen removed the wig and pulled off the nightgown, grinning mischievously. "Gotcha! I just knew you'd come back, so I waited here. Surprise! Excited? Happy?"
"Happy, my ass."
Steve pulled over a chair and sat down. "In the future, every supervillain who sees you wishes they had an extra pair of legs to run faster."
"Oh, stop it—you're making me blush," Allen teased before suddenly widening his eyes.
"Wait a sec—I haven't pissed off any major supervillains in Gotham. Last time we talked, you were video calling and calling Bat-boy a pansy."
Steve nodded in understanding. "Got it. I now know your current time anchor in the timeline."
He had traveled further into the future before coming back to this point. Right now, Allen wasn't at the stage where he could casually toy with supervillains.
To avoid altering history, Steve hadn't contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. yet—he had sought out Carter first.
Having anticipated this, Allen had simply waited at Peggy's place, sure that Steve would show up.
"Let me guess how you time-traveled," Allen said eagerly.
"Pym Particles?"
"No."
"Time Stone?"
"Nope."
"The TVA?"
"Never heard of them."
"Wait, did you join the Time Lords?"
"Not even close."
One wrong guess after another—Allen was stumped.
"It was Richards' time machine," Steve finally revealed smugly.
"Mr. Fantastic!? Damn, I forgot about the smartest man in the universe."
Frustrated, Allen tossed the Tesseract at Steve. "Here, take it. I'm going home."
Before leaving, he couldn't help but ask, "Hey, didn't you play the Human Torch? Do you think you two look alike?"
"...!"
Snap!
With a flick of his fingers, Allen vanished into thin air.
Steve looked down at the Tesseract, shaking his head with a knowing smile.
If Allen had any use for it, he'd have hidden it somewhere ridiculous. Since he didn't, he simply handed it over like it was nothing.
Meow…
A sudden cat's cry caught his attention.
At the window, a calico cat scratched at the glass.
"Goose!?"
Steve opened the window, picked up the cat, and examined it closely.
"You're a Flerken… You should be with Allen. Did you time-travel too?"
Pffft!
Goose opened its mouth, extending tentacle-like appendages—and spat out a mass of inky black liquid.
"Holy crap—a symbiote!?"
Before Steve could react, the symbiote lunged at him, merging with his body in an instant.
Within a second, the black substance enveloped him completely.
(Support me and read ahead on Patreøn: patreøn.com/craxxtranslation. Thanks for your support! Don't forget to send Power Stones—300 Power Stones = +1 bonus chapter!)