When Captain America's figure appeared outside the base, everyone was stunned. Nightingale was the first to react, he cried out in surprise, "Captain America?! You are... are you Captain America?!!"
"Oh my God!!" Fungi Man's voice trembled a little, he said, "You're the alive Captain America! They said you didn't die, said you came back, but I've never seen... God, am I hallucinating??!!"
Speedball's mouth was wide open, unable to close for a long while. He stood by the cabinet which held his figurines, most of which were Captain America collectibles that he'd spent a pretty penny on.
The rest of the team had envied his collection many times over, and now, Captain America himself appeared before him.
"Captain America!! You... you... I mean, why would you come here? Before, we were considering applying to the Avengers, but they said they weren't recruiting. I've always dreamed of meeting you, could you give me an autograph?!"
Speedball started excitedly rummaging for paper and pen in the drawer beneath the cabinet, then quickly made his way through the crowd towards Captain America, hoping to get his autograph.
Yet at this moment, Steve didn't look as robust, brave, and full of vigor as the figurines on the cabinet. On the contrary, he seemed very exhausted.
Even through the mask, Speedball could see that the entirety of him suddenly seemed older. Beneath his youthful appearance, a soul seemed to exude a weary quality.
"We'll talk about autographs later." He spoke, his voice no longer as clear, but rather a little hoarse, he said: "I came to ask you some questions, concerning Spider Man's death."
The warm atmosphere inside the base came to a halt, but Speedball, as if suddenly bursting, tossed his notebook on the floor, and said, "Spider-Man! Spider-Man! The whole world is focusing on Spider-Man!! Why isn't anyone paying attention to us?!!!"
"We are heroes fighting crime too! We were injured during the explosion too!!!" Speedball's voice sounded like sharp metal scraping across wall. When he spoke, the veins on his neck were clearly visible and his eyes bulged out, clearly he was exceedingly angry.
"Everyone is attacking us! Everyone is sympathizing with Spider-Man! Is it because he died?! Why can't those people think clearly?! We are also superheroes! We also want to do good, why is it that he is the only good guy and we are all villains?!!"
"Calm down." Steve spoke up: "I came here not to discuss this, I just want to know, at the time of the explosion, did you see any suspicious persons?"
Speedball slammed the pen in his hand onto the table, trembling as he said: "Suspicious person!! You mean to say, we are the suspicious people?!! You also want to say, we killed Spider-Man!!"
Fungi Man stepped forward, pulling at Speedball's arm he said: "Calm down, the captain is just here to investigate, he won't misunderstand us…"
But Speedball had already broken down. He violently shook off his teammate's hand, with one hand leaning on the table he swayed a bit, and in a crying voice said, "I just wanted to be a superhero, I never meant to hurt anyone! I only wanted to catch those criminals, I didn't mean to cause an explosion, I didn't intend to kill Spider-Man..."
"We all know that." Nightingale stepped forward, patting him on the shoulder, "You should take a rest."
After saying that, he signaled to a teammate. Squirrel Girl led Speedball away to the adjacent lounge to be by himself for a bit.
Nightingale was more composed than Speedball, he walked up to the captain and said, "I apologize, we genuinely only intended to apprehend those criminals. However, we didn't seriously investigate these criminals' abilities, leading to the tragedy."
"If possible, on behalf of New Warriors Team, I would provide humanitarian compensation to his family."
"As for suspicious people…" Nightingale furrowed his brows slightly and said: "I'm not sure what's going on, but at that time, we saw more than one Spider Man, yes, there were many Spider Men..."
"Their costumes were not all the same, even their genders were different, but they all had the same compound eyes of a spider, and they could all shoot spider silk. I don't know if they would count as suspicious people..."
"Oh, right, there seemed to be two more people in the distance... I'm not sure if they were also Spider Men..."
"I hope, you could send someone with me to the chemical plant to describe the situation at the time. I suspect, Spider Man's death is not as simple as it seems, someone is manipulating everything from behind the scenes."
Steve puckered his lips, his shield-clenching hand trembling slightly, he said, "You might think that you're living in a peaceful era, but truthfully, the shadow has never left us..."
"Fungi Man, you go with the captain." Nightingale said to Fungi Man, Fungi Man nodded, just as he was about to leave with Steve, Speedball rushed out from the room saying, "I'm going too!"
"I will prove to you that we aren't murderers! It was just an accident!" Speedball yelled.
The others felt somewhat troubled, Nightingale can only step forward, quietly saying to Steve, "Sorry, a lot of people online are attacking us, Speedball is rather temperamental, his mental state isn't very stable right now..."
"It's okay. If he wants to come along, he can." Steve didn't seem to want to say more, shaking his head, he turned and walked out.
In the end, Nightingale, Fungi Man and Speedball all sat in the car heading towards the chemical plant.
The journey was silent, Steve didn't seem to wish to talk at all, and the others also noticed that the Captain America they admired in their hearts could also be tired and sad.
In the back seat, Speedball tightly clenched his fists, when he looked out at the passing views he couldn't help but grit his teeth and start sobbing quietly. Fungi Man patted his back, quietly comforting him.
Nightingale, sitting in the passenger seat, looked awful. These past few days, they'd borne immense pressure.
Everyone expected them to apologize, but all Nightingale could do was apologize privately to Captain America and express a willingness to make amends. He couldn't confess his mistakes to the public. If he did, the team would fall apart.
Amongst them, Speedball had the worst mental strength. But that doesn't mean the others were much better. They were just a bunch of young people, sensitive, lost, and confused like all young people.
Under tremendous pressure, everyone was holding their breath. If one person broke down, the others would surely follow. Nightingale was unwilling to give up the team he had poured so much effort into creating.
The sobbing from Speedball in the backseat made Nightingale close his eyes in agony, gripping the weapon tightly in his hand.
He had to admit, even though they could firmly deny any wrongdoing, the gruesome death of Spider-Man still filled everyone with uncontrollable guilt.
It was the same as them, a young and vibrant life, which ended in such a brutal manner. All they felt was guilt, along with a deep-seated fear.
Just as the members of the New Warriors Team were all lost in their thoughts, the screech of brakes sounded, and the car spun out of control. Before the car hit the electric pole on the side of the road, they all jumped out.
While Captain America held on to Nightingale, Fungi Man led the dazed Speedball away. The New Warriors Team members scrambled frantically out of the car. The next second, the car exploded.
Chaos filled their hearts, but battle-hardened Steve gripped his shield and gazed vigilantly at two figures appearing at the end of the road.
A boy and a girl, twins, very much alike, their blond hair billowing in the wind. However, as they activated their powers, their eyes glowed brightly in the dark, like approaching wolves.
"Captain America Steve, Baron Strucker sends his regards." The twin sister spoke first, and then the brother coldly said, "Impediments had better move aside quickly. It's their lives we want, those behind you. They've seen things they shouldn't have."
"So it's you, Hydra!" Stephen gritted his teeth, clutching his shield tightly, and said, "Did you kill Spider-Man?!"
Two voices sneered and several bright streaks flashed by. Stephen immediately threw his shield, blocked a shockwave with a bang, while another shockwave brushed along the edge of the road.
"Speedball, run!!" Nightingale shouted, but in the next second, he fell into a daze. He shook his head forcefully, his chest heaving violently.
The glow in the eyes of the twin brother flashed, revealing a cold smirk. At this time, Steve had to use his shield to defend against the sister's air cannon.
He stared at the approaching enemies. Turning slightly, he told the three members of the New Warriors Team, "Go! They're out to kill you. Leave now. I'll hold them off!"
"Captain, let me help you!" Fungi Man, the most stable among the team, joined the fight.
However, like other mutants, Fungi Man has strong powers but without much education. He could communicate with bacteria but his ability was limited to making others experience nausea and vomiting, or contract bacterial infections.
Although these powers could be devastating over a long period, they were not ideal for short-term battle. With his addition, Steve had to divide his attention to protect him. The situation worsened when Nightingale joined the fight.
This interlude of young superheroes in the New Warriors Team had tremendous powers but lacked strategic thinking. They did not consider how to coordinate with the most experienced Captain America, but battled their own way, expecting others to adapt to them.
With the mighty Fenris twins to deal with, Steve was already struggling, occasionally disrupted by his own teammates. Soon he was overextended, forced to retreat step by step.
At that moment, he saw Speedball, who was at the end of the line, collapsed to the ground, convulsing and holding his own throat.
The eyes of the Fenris twin brother grew brighter. In the midst of the battle, Steve avoided a shot of an air cannon, rolled to the side, and threw his shield at the enemy.
But at that moment he heard a savage roar behind him, followed by the sound of something tearing through the air. Nightingale shouted:
"Speedball is under control!!! They have psychic abilities!!!!!"
In that split second, the rapidly accelerating Speedball smashed into Captain America's shield from behind.
The extreme speed and power, along with control over force fields, made his fists devastatingly destructive.
With a 'bang,' his fist went right through his chest. Steve's eyes widened, seeing his blood spewing from the chest.
His expression of agony flickered, his vitality fading.
The strong arm holding the shield dropped weakly, he slowly knelt to the ground, the blood-soaked shield rolled a distance away along the road, and slowly landed at the feet of the Fenris twins.