Constantine, bewildered by the sudden interruption of the portal's power, decisively contacted Robert because he knew the pale blue energy was not simple. "Trouble? Is it Mephisto showing up?" Robert raised an eyebrow, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. Despite knowing Mephisto could be powerful, Robert was unafraid; only under great pressure could he grow stronger. If Earth were too peaceful, his abilities would stagnate.
"It's not Mephisto. It's about Claire's family. I had located Jocelyn using tracking magic, and the Guardian had opened a portal, but it was severed by a pale blue energy!" Constantine's voice carried a serious tone. The power to disrupt a portal was no trivial matter.
"Someone can disrupt a portal? I see. Wait for me, I'll contact you soon. Use the portal to bring me over..." Robert grasped Constantine's urgency. It seemed this was a quest triggered by Claire, not much involving Constantine himself.
Considering this, Robert somewhat doubted Constantine, as previous quests were also triggered by Claire, with Constantine merely guiding. Could it be that Claire was the actual quest-giver NPC?
However, Robert didn't dwell on these thoughts. A mysterious and powerful being warranted investigation, and anyone capable of severing a portal certainly wasn't weak.
"Kara, take a break. Let Peter Parker and the others stop fighting for now. I need to step out, and I don't want them getting hurt while I'm gone," Robert quickly regained his focus, addressing Kara gently.
"What's happening?" Kara looked at Robert, slightly puzzled.
"Constantine mentioned that someone disrupted a portal; it seems to be a powerful entity. I'm going to check it out..." Robert explained briefly, to avoid Kara thinking he was going off to meet Diana.
"Disrupted a portal? Be careful then, and if anything happens, remember to contact Clark. He's not on Savage Island right now..." Kara nodded, her concern evident.
"Don't worry, I'll be safe," Robert reassured her with a smile, then vanished from the spot.
"Connect me, I'm at..." Soon, Robert contacted Constantine and the Guardian, and morphed back into Goku's appearance.
Previously, because of Tony Stark, Robert had to abandon using Goku's guise, but much time had passed since that bounty, and with the bounty long revoked, he felt it safe to reemploy the Goku alias.
Of course, the main reason was that the Kryptonian battle suit was ready, and Robert felt that Vegeta's look was too odd in the Turtle School's colored martial arts uniform. Such colors suited the Son family better...
"Huh? Why have you changed your appearance again?" Soon after, Robert appeared at the magic base, causing Constantine to pause and then mutter about Robert's strange attire, "That outfit looks odd..."
"Is this your real appearance?" Claire, standing nearby, hesitated before asking.
"No, so what exactly happened? Your mother was taken again?" Robert shook his head, somewhat perplexed, and turned the question back on Claire.
Robert seriously began to suspect that Claire was the true quest-giver NPC. Otherwise, even if Jocelyn was an extraordinary person, it made no sense for her to be abducted again so soon. Hadn't it been just a short while since the last incident? Did they think Jocelyn was like Tang Sanzang?
"It might be Nick Fury, the one I called last time. I'm just suspecting, he just called me, but I didn't answer..." Claire's brows furrowed slightly as she spoke in a low voice.
"Nick Fury? Again?" A flicker of surprise crossed Robert's eyes, and he recalled Carol's situation, finding it hard to believe Nick Fury could disrupt a portal. If Fury really had such power, Carol would have mentioned it.
"Why don't you call him back?" Though skeptical, Robert encouraged Claire, as this clue came from her, an NPC.
"Alright." Claire took a deep breath and dialed Nick Fury's number.
Rewinding a bit, within one of Nick Fury's secret bases, he watched his sister Jocelyn faint, and even with his stoic nature, his gaze flickered with confusion.
If Melinda had led the operation alone, Fury might have expected such an outcome with Jocelyn fainting upon return, but the operation was led by his trusted aide Coulson, with the steady Hawkeye Barton at his side. How had things turned out this way?
Fury had not intended to capture Jocelyn; he planned to use her to connect with other extraordinary individuals to strengthen his team. Now with Jocelyn knocked out and brought back, how could he achieve his goal of buying a horse with a thousand gold coins? It felt more like buying horse dung!
"What happened?" Fury asked, his demeanor as stern as
ever, though only his eyes betrayed any change; his face remained as impassive as always.
"It's my fault." Melinda promptly stepped forward to admit her mistake. "Coulson was making good progress, and Jocelyn was about to come back with us, but then a werewolf suddenly appeared..."
"A werewolf? Where is he?" Fury's eyes lit up; he was short on manpower, and a werewolf was like a godsend.
"He escaped, heavily wounded. We were worried about delaying the mission, so we didn't pursue..." Coulson spoke for Melinda.
"Escaped? Heavily wounded? A werewolf?" Fury scanned his three subordinates. Coulson showed no signs of having fought, Hawkeye Barton's clothes were slightly torn as if he had been injured, and Melinda's arm moved uncomfortably, but such minor injuries had taken down a werewolf? That seemed too easy.
Werewolves, as well-known dark creatures in the Western world, rivaling vampires, were mythical beings Fury knew existed, potentially tracing back to Cain and Abel in mythology.
Even if Fury didn't believe in gods, he was aware this indicated a long history for these dark creatures. But now, it seemed, werewolves weren't as formidable as he had thought...
"That werewolf was quite strong, stronger than a super soldier in terms of both strength and speed..." Melinda caught Fury's implication and explained softly, "But his danger perception wasn't great. After Barton hit him with an explosive arrow, he was severely injured, then I shot him, and his defensive capabilities didn't reach bulletproof levels."
"That's still impressive!" Fury's eyes sparkled, and he quickly instructed, "Leave and find the werewolf's trail, and collect his blood. Although it's rare to turn into a werewolf from a bite, what if their blood contains some special power?"
"Yes! I'll find people to do that right away!" Coulson responded promptly.
"How long until she wakes?" Fury turned his attention back to the unconscious Jocelyn.
Fury had invited Jocelyn as a guest to forge a connection, so it wouldn't do to wake her harshly, especially after a misunderstanding. Treating her like a prisoner would surely spoil any chances of a good relationship...
"She might need a bit more time. She attacked Barton during his fight with the werewolf, and it looked pretty scary, so I increased the output power a bit..." Coulson admitted somewhat sheepishly.
"Never mind, then contact her daughter for now. According to her, Claire has awakened similar powers..." Fury waved it off, giving up on waking Jocelyn immediately, and turned to contact Claire, unaware that the energy shield device derived from the Tesseract in his base had directly severed the Guardian's portal.
Fury's call naturally went unanswered, but before he could make other plans, his phone rang. It was Claire, encouraged by Robert, calling him.
"Claire, it's been a while. Missed your uncle?" Fury answered with a smile and warmth, as if he were very familiar with Claire.
"Do you have something to discuss?" Claire didn't immediately inquire about Jocelyn, her voice tinged with hesitation.
"I heard from your mom that you've awakened to your powers and entered the extraordinary world. I'm a bit concerned about your situation; after all, the dangers of the extraordinary world might be more severe than you think..." Fury said with some emotion.
"Thanks for your concern. I'll be careful..." Claire's expression remained unchanged, her voice steady yet somewhat detached.
"We're family, and it's only right for your uncle to care about you. Besides, your mom is here visiting. Why don't you come over? I have a good job here, no need for you to live in constant fear in the extraordinary world..." Fury spoke with apparent goodwill.
Claire's eyes flashed with anger, but her voice remained unchanged, "Is my mom there too? Then can you give me an address, and I'll come over now?"
"Shall I send someone to pick you up?" Fury looked at Coulson while smiling, "Where are you?"
"No need, I have some things to handle here first. I'll come find you afterward. Where are you?" Claire showed no intention of revealing her location, instead asking again.
Fury paused, glanced at Jocelyn and then around the base, before smiling and saying, "Alright, I'm at @&#, come find me after you're done!"
"Alright, see you soon!" Claire quickly ended the call, her eyes suddenly brightening.
"He's your uncle, so he's your mom's brother. Why would he want to capture her and injure Luke?" After hanging up, Robert expressed his confusion over Fury's actions, unaware that these results were due to mission protocols and mishaps. He felt Fury's current behavior, like placing a listening device in Carol's phone, was problematic.
One was family, the other a
friend. Couldn't he be a bit nicer? Where was the basic trust between people?
"Our family isn't very close with Nick Fury. From what he said, it seems he wants us to do something for him, which is why he contacted us..." Claire slowly shook her head, her face serious as she spoke, then turned to the Guardian, "He's given an address, at @&#. Can we use a portal to get there?"
"Let me try again..." The Guardian nodded and attempted to open a portal once more. This time, Robert watched clearly as a pale blue energy severed the portal's power as soon as it appeared. It wasn't that the portal was malfunctioning, but rather, the location Fury was in truly had a powerful force!
"Interesting! Such strong, pure energy!" Robert's eyes lit up. Initially, he hadn't believed Fury was responsible for kidnapping Jocelyn because he didn't think much of Fury's capabilities. But now, it seemed Fury was hiding significant power.
"We can't get through..." The Guardian hesitated, looking to Claire.
"Can't you open the portal nearby? If the nearby area is blocked, just open the portal a bit further away, right?" Robert shrugged, realizing the obvious solution that the Guardian and others hadn't considered due to never facing such a situation.
"Yes, of course!" Enlightened, the Guardian promptly opened another portal, this time without interference from the pale blue energy.
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