Marvel Cybernetic Girl

'Boom—!'

A violent surge of energy burst forth from within Kagura Hitomi, instantly blasting Ghost away as she tried to close in for the kill.

In that instant, the world turned black and white, flooded with overwhelming light.

Ghost was slammed to the ground, struggling to breathe against the raging storm pinning her down.

"What... what is this?!"

Countless thoughts raced through Ghost's mind at once.

What just happened?

Wait... she—she grew up?!

She wasn't at her weakest moment after all?

She wasn't actually hurt?

What the hell is going on?

Why did that frail little little girl suddenly become... bigger?!

Silver hair. Golden eyes. That outfit. That presence...

No way.

She... she's that "Flashblade"?!

"...Well now... Miss Ghost—or should I say, Miss Ava?"

As the brilliance slowly faded, Kagura Hitomi, fully restored to her original form and size, walked forward with calm, measured steps.

"It seems you thought you caught me at my weakest, hoping to finish me off while I was vulnerable. Too bad... it looks like you made the wrong call."

Long silver hair. Flawless, porcelain skin. A breathtakingly beautiful face. A near-perfect figure. An enviable, generous bust...

Kagura, returned to her true appearance, gazed down at the stunned Ghost who had collapsed onto the ground.

"Unfortunately for you, as you can see, you don't stand a chance against me. If you surrender now, perhaps we can still talk. I might even be able to help you... cure your quantum instability."

"W-What? Cure... my quantum state?"

Ava's expression shifted to shock. "How... how do you know about that?"

"Information. Sweet, sweet information!"

Kagura smiled and flashed a playful 'V' sign against her cheek.

"I'm backed by the most powerful intelligence network in the world. There's nothing I can't find out with a little digging!"

She stepped forward again, her golden eyes never leaving Ava. "Your real name is Ava Starr, right?"

Ghost's surprised gaze said everything Kagura needed.

"An accident during a quantum experiment gave you the unique ability to manipulate quantum states in the macro world," Kagura continued softly.

"But this power is both a gift... and a curse. You suffer endlessly because of it. At any moment, your body could collapse entirely into quantum fragments and vanish forever..."

Ava Starr's quantum abilities always came at a price.

The gift from the quantum realm was laced with unbearable pain.

Unlike Vulture and the others who relied on temporary suits with minimal side effects.

Ava's entire body—every single cell—was perpetually trapped between the quantum state and normal matter.

The pain was unimaginable, as if her whole body was being torn apart at every moment.

Even the specially designed suit she wore couldn't fully suppress the symptoms.

Only within a carefully constructed containment field could she maintain stability, suppressing the quantum flux and finding brief, fragile moments of peace.

And yet, that wasn't the worst of it.

Ava's condition was unstable, uncontrollable.

Any moment of fluctuation could trigger a catastrophic collapse—turning her entirely into subatomic particles, scattered and forever erased from existence.

True death.

The kind where not even a soul was left behind.

"Hmph. You sure know a lot."

Ava let out a bitter laugh. "But so what? If you know my suffering, why stop me from curing myself?"

"The answer is simple," Hitomi replied coolly. "To heal yourself... you've hurt too many others in the process."

Kagura Hitomi answered without hesitation.

"Your desperate attempts to save yourself have disrupted the safety and stability of society."

"According to my investigation, you provided Vulture and his arms dealers with quantum abilities, allowed them to scavenge stolen high-tech components, and reassemble them into weapons for sale."

"You only kept the parts you needed to build a device to access the Quantum Realm. From my perspective... you're nothing more than an illegal arms trafficker."

"That was just a deal between me and Vulture's crew! They're the ones selling weapons—not me!" Ava snapped back.

"I only want to save myself! You so-called superheroes are the ones killing me slowly! So stop pretending to be righteous, will you?!"

Sigh... "It really is hard to communicate when our values are so different..."

Kagura let out a soft sigh.

"Ava... I don't intend to harm you. If I wanted to kill you, you would've died a dozen times already—don't you think?"

She took a slow step forward.

"I just want you to stop hurting others for your own sake. Besides, Vulture and his crew have already been captured. What now? Are you going to find another criminal syndicate to work with?"

She paused for a moment, her gaze softening as she looked at the masked figure before her. A faint trace of sympathy flickered in her golden eyes.

Slowly, she reached out her hand.

"Ava... come with me. Trust me. I can heal you."

'She... can heal me?'

Ava Starr hesitated.

Since becoming "Ghost," no one had ever spoken to her with such kindness.

She had been trained as a ghost—an assassin working for S.H.I.E.L.D., carrying out kill orders without question.

Right and wrong? Good and evil? Such things meant nothing to her.

Ever since that fateful quantum experiment years ago, when she lost her family and S.H.I.E.L.D. took her away, Ava had been shaped into a living weapon, a machine designed to fight and kill.

To someone like her... the end always justified the means.

So what if she cooperated with arms dealers?

So what if the gear she didn't need ended up as weapons on the black market?

So what if people got hurt? What did that have to do with her?

Even killing didn't matter.

If someone could help her, she'd work with them.

If someone stood in her way, she'd kill them.

That was how assassins survived.

Twisted, direct, reckless... but undeniably honest in her madness.

Her logic made no sense—and yet... there was something pitiful about it.

But now...

This silver-haired, golden-eyed girl standing before her—there was something strange about the warmth in her gaze.

It felt... familiar. A distant memory from long ago.

A warmth she hadn't felt since the day she lost everything in that quantum accident.

Was this... what it felt like to be cared for?

"Tch! I don't need your pity!" Ava gritted her teeth, snapping back. "My life is my problem! I don't need you fake heroes pretending to help me!"

'Fake... they're all fake!'

The last people who had promised to help her—to heal her—had been S.H.I.E.L.D.

They claimed they could fix her... make her normal again.

And what did they do?

They turned her into a tool. A weapon.

For years she risked her life, killed without question, cleaned up their messes.

But in the end... no one ever wanted to cure her.

No one even cared.

"I won't believe you! You're just like the rest—trying to use me for your own gain! You're all liars, every last one of you! Save your false kindness!"

With that, Ava Starr activated her quantum phasing and vanished into the wall, slipping away into the shadows.

"...Sigh..." Kagura watched her disappear and quietly sighed. "What a sad person..."

"Master, we've tracked her position. The quantum suppression equipment is ready,"

Cortana emerged from the shadows behind Kagura, her voice calm. "Shall I dispatch the YoRHa Legion to capture her immediately?"

"No... let her go." Hitomi shook her head gently. "There are things she needs to realize on her own."

"List Ava Starr as a monitored individual in the Global Defense System. Keep a quiet watch on her—and offer her help from the shadows. I believe she won't harm others again. She'll find a better way to heal herself."

"Ava deserves the right to act and think independently. We can't force her to do what we think is best."

"If we did, how would we be any different from S.H.I.E.L.D.—the ones who broke her in the first place?"

"If she insists on going her own way... so be it. Her cure is now her journey to make."

The silver-haired girl turned her gaze toward the sky.

"When she's ready... we'll meet again."

"But for now... let's go clean up Vulture's mess."

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