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"Are we clear?"

Steve asked, staring at each of them with a serious expression.

"Yes, sir."

Everyone answered in unison, demonstrating that they had understood Steve's message.

After unanimous confirmation from the team members, Steve nodded briefly, satisfied with the response.

"You're all dismissed."

After being released by Steve, the group headed for the elevator. However, before he could enter, Vision interrupted them, causing them to stop walking and turn to him.

"You can go ahead..."

Vision said with a tone of indifference in his voice, but he couldn't finish speaking because Sam interrupted him before he could.

"And you, what are you going to do?"

Sam asked, his curious expression revealing his interest in knowing what Vision would do.

"I'll stay down here and scan the perimeter. That way, we'll be prepared for any eventuality and won't be caught off guard by a surprise attack."

Vision explained calmly, still maintaining his indifferent tone as he stared at Sam.

After hearing Vision's explanation, Sam nodded in agreement with his friend's decision.

"Right, good idea. See you then."

Said Sam, turning to follow the group towards the elevator.

Rhode approached Vision as the group headed for the elevator, touching him lightly on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Vision, before I forget, couldn't you take care of my armor?"

Rhode asked, still in his armor, before continuing.

"I could take it upstairs with me, but I'd rather leave it down here for accessibility reasons."

Rhode added, looking into Vision's eyes with confidence.

Vision nodded understandingly to Rhode, demonstrating his willingness to take care of the armor.

"Of course, you can leave it with me. I'll look after it while you're away."

replied Vision, nodding positively.

After Vision's affirmation, Rhode gets out of the armor and leaves it against a wall. Shortly afterwards, he began to walk with the rest of the group towards the elevator.

As they walked past each other, Pietro, wasting no time, began to tease Rhode.

"I don't want to brag or anything, but I just know I did pretty well, didn't I, old man?"

Rhode smiled slightly at Pietro, who was used to his jokes.

"As usual, you don't know the concept of humility."

Rhode retorted with a smile on his face, not taking Pietro's joke personally, but still maintaining his relaxed tone of voice.

"But now, seriously, are you connected? If my armor hadn't failed me at that moment, I would have beaten you. You know that, right?"

Rhode teased, with a tone of mockery in his voice as he taunted Pietro, to see how far the young man could go if he got angry.

"Oh, stop it, man. That's just an excuse losers give when they lose."

Rebutted Pietro, not at all willing to accept that his victory could have been down to pure luck.

Rhode let out an amused laugh at Pietro's response, appreciating the young man's confident and relaxed style.

Pietro crossed his arms and maintained his air of defiance as Rhode teased him.

"You might think it was pure luck, old man. But no, it was just skill."

Pietro retorted, looking at Rhode with a confident smile on his face.

Rhode laughed softly, enjoying Pietro's competitive energy.

"Tell you what: let's agree to disagree, shall we? The truth is, the fight was pretty even."

Rhode asked, trying to ease the tension between him and Pietro as they continued walking towards the elevator.

Sam, seeing that everyone was talking about their fights, decided to do the same in a friendly way.

"Our fight was pretty even, Parker. But you know I came up short against you, right?"

However, Peter answered him in a serious tone, with a little arrogance in his voice.

"But you still fell short, so do better next time."

Peter retorted with a serious expression, leaving everyone there confused, because what he had said didn't sound like something the usual calm and gentle Peter would say.

Wanda, noticing the tense atmosphere that had spread in the group after Peter's comment, decided to intervene to calm things down.

"I think everyone did very well, including you, Sam."

Said Wanda, praising Sam and the others' performance in a somewhat clumsy but sincere way.

"Thank you."

Sam replied, a little awkwardly, after hearing what Peter had said.

Wanda glanced at Peter, noticing something strange about him. He didn't seem like the lively, silly boy he always was; he was more serious than usual, leaving Wanda puzzled by the change in his demeanor.

"You did very well too, Peter."

Wanda said, complimenting him, but he didn't look back at her and simply answered her harshly, without taking much notice of what she had said.

"It doesn't matter to me."

Peter said, showing his indifferent attitude towards compliments.

Wanda, not understanding the reason for Peter's sudden change of heart, wondered as the group made their way to the elevator. She felt that something was out of place, but she couldn't identify exactly what it was.

Once the group had entered the elevator, no one dared to say a word. As a result, there was an awkward silence in the room.

The elevator rose slowly, accompanied only by the echoing thoughts of everyone present. What had once been a light and relaxed atmosphere had now turned into something heavy, full of tension and incomprehension.

While the silence persisted in the small room, Peter stared at the floor of the elevator, lost in his own thoughts. His serious and distinguished expression was the only thing he showed.

(What could have happened to make him so angry?)

thought Wanda, as she stared at Peter from afar, without him noticing.

As she stared at Peter, Wanda realized that at no time had he even smiled, and this made her even more curious for some reason. After all, at that moment, when everyone was completely silent, he would be the first to break the silence by talking so much that he could annoy someone.

Wanda decided to wait for the right moment to broach the subject with Peter, because something told her that there was something deeper behind the boy's closed-off behavior.

Attention: I apologize for any inconvenience, everyone. But I can't stand this story any longer, so I want to make it clear that it can be canceled at any time. I'm feeling overwhelmed by it all. I sincerely apologize.

 

RECOGNITION TO MEMBERS:

Gkiller⛩️ - THANK YOU FOR ACTIVATING THE DOMAIN EXPANSION "MALEVOLENT SANCTUARY".

Julio Posas⛩️ - THANK YOU FOR ACTIVATING THE DOMAIN EXPANSION "MALEVOLENT SANCTUARY".