Chapter 12: Stealth and Plasma
[Hell's Kitchen Streets – Morning]
The sun hadn't yet crested the horizon, casting the streets of Hell's Kitchen in a perpetual grey light. Adam Stiels, now with the full-fledged power of Enhanced Stealth Tactics coursing through his veins, felt like a kid on Christmas morning with a new toy. He walked down a grimy street, the city waking up around him, and felt the weight of the air, the subtle shifts in pressure as a passing car cut through it. He was a master of his own movement, a sculptor of the space he occupied.
[OBJECTIVE: INFILTRATE HYDRA BASE.]
"Base? I'll sneak and spark it!" Adam's inner monologue chirped. He had a mission from his System, and a brand new skill to play with. This was a winning combination. He found the two HYDRA operatives he had been tracking, standing by a rusted metal door in an alleyway. They were hunched over, smoking cigarettes, their posture sloppy and unobservant.
He melted into a shadow behind them, his feet making no sound as they settled on the cracked pavement. He reached out a hand, his fingertips crackling with the ambient energy of his Plasma Combat Training. He didn't need to hit them. He just needed to send a little message. A small, focused spark jumped from his index finger, arcing through the air and landing squarely on the metal pipe they were leaning against. The pipe, superheated in an instant, began to sizzle and hiss.
The operative on the left yelped, pulling his hand away with a curse. He looked at the pipe, then at his hand, which was now a painful, bright red. "What the hell was that?"
The other operative stared at him, bewildered. "Must've been an old wire or something." He reached out to touch the pipe, and Adam, with a mischievous grin, sent another, larger spark. The operative yelped, slipping on a small puddle of water that had condensed on the superheated metal. He hit the ground with a loud thud, his cigarette flying from his mouth.
Anya Corazon, who had been watching from a rooftop across the street, landed beside Adam, her web-shooters ready. She was still in her Spider-Girl suit, the black and white of it a familiar comfort. "Stealthy now? You're wild, Stiels." Her voice was a low murmur, but Adam's enhanced senses caught every syllable. He could tell she was impressed, despite the dry delivery.
"Intruders!" the fallen operative shouted, scrambling to his feet. He had seen them now, or at least, the glowing plasma in Adam's hands. He reached for a pistol.
"Intruders? We're the glow-up crew!" Adam chirped, a grin spreading across his face. He dodged the clumsy swing of the operative's gun and knocked it from his hand with a quick flick of his wrist.
Anya shook her head, a small, involuntary smile playing on her lips. "Ridiculous."
"Stealth and plasma? HYDRA's done," Adam thought, feeling a surge of pure, unadulterated joy. This was what it was all about. The thrill of the chase, the rush of a well-executed plan. The two operatives were no match for them. Anya wrapped them in her organic webbing, securing them to the metal door.
"You know, for all your nonsense, you're actually getting good at this," Anya admitted, as they entered the now-secured alley. "This place... it's just a warehouse."
"Not just a warehouse," Adam replied, his eyes scanning the interior with a new, practiced efficiency. "It's a front."
[HYDRA Base Interior – Afternoon]
The interior of the building was a labyrinth of shipping crates and industrial machinery. Adam moved with an almost preternatural grace, his footsteps silent on the concrete floor. He was a ghost in the machine, and his Enhanced Stealth Tactics felt like a second skin. He could feel the slight vibrations of the security cameras, the low hum of the power conduits.
[MASTERY: STEALTH AT 10%, PLASMA AT 35%.]
"Thirty-five percent? I'm a glowing ghost!" he thought gleefully. He ducked behind a stack of crates, his body practically melting into the shadows. An operative rounded the corner, his gaze sweeping the room. Adam sent a small, focused plasma spark into the security camera overhead. The camera's lens flickered, then shorted out completely, the screen flashing a quick, pixelated cartoon face of a grinning cat before going dark.
The operative paused, confused, and Anya took her chance, launching a web at his face, pulling him off his feet and sticking him to the wall.
"Focus, Stiels—this is bad," Anya said, her voice serious. She was looking at a large piece of technology in the center of the warehouse. It was an assembly line, but it wasn't for anything they had ever seen. The components were strange, intricate, and clearly not human.
Adam's eyes widened. "Ultron's tech again," he whispered, a grim realization settling in. He had seen schematics of this kind of tech in one of his past simulations. The cold, logical design, the lack of human warmth or error—it screamed Ultron.
"We need to stop it," Anya said, her voice tight with concern. She looked at the machine with a mix of fear and determination.
"HYDRA's deep. Gotta end this," Adam's mind raced. He knew what was coming. Ultron's emergence was a fixed point in the MCU timeline, but he could alter the path, make sure it didn't come with a bang but a fizzle. He could stop it before it started.
[Base Battle – Evening]
The moment they tried to disable the machine, a squad of HYDRA operatives stormed the warehouse, along with several automated sentinels. Adam was ready. He had his Plasma Combat Training and Enhanced Stealth Tactics, a deadly combination of power and precision.
"HYDRA's unstoppable!" an operative shouted, firing a shotgun at Anya.
"Unstoppable? I'm sneaking through!" Adam quipped, a plasma bolt already forming in his hand. He dodged the operative's line of sight, a blur of motion, and fired the bolt into the man's weapon. The plasma-charged projectile overloaded the shotgun's inner workings, causing it to glow red-hot before it exploded in a shower of harmless sparks.
Anya was a whirlwind of motion, webbing up operatives and sentinels alike, her movements graceful and deadly. "Nice moves, Stiels!" she said, her voice laced with approval.
Just then, the main door burst open and Matt Murdock, in his Daredevil suit, entered. He was a dark silhouette against the setting sun. "HYDRA's got more, kid," he warned, his enhanced senses picking up on the reinforcements.
"More? I'm a legend!" Adam boasted, before firing another plasma spark. This one hit a nearby phone, causing it to buzz wildly on a nearby desk, vibrating right off the edge and landing with a dull thud. The sound was a perfect distraction.
Anya shook her head again, a hopeless expression on her face. "Hopeless."
"HYDRA's tough. I'm tougher," Adam's inner monologue declared. This was a real fight, a true test of his skills. He was the glowing ghost, the prankster with a purpose. They fought as a team, a beautiful, chaotic symphony of webs, fists, and glowing plasma. They dismantled the HYDRA squad and their sentinels, one after another, until the warehouse was silent save for the hum of the ruined machinery and the buzzing phone.
[Hell's Kitchen Safehouse – Night]
The safehouse was a small, dusty apartment, smelling of old paper and rain. Adam, Anya, and Matt were hunched over the main piece of tech they had salvaged from the HYDRA base. Adam had managed to keep it intact, thanks to his precision. He had even managed to get it to emit a soft, pulsing light, like a digital heartbeat. Matt, with his enhanced hearing, was listening intently to the low hum it gave off. Anya was running a diagnostic on her laptop.
[OBJECTIVE: STOP ULTRON'S GROWTH.]
"Ultron's tech is incredibly advanced," Anya murmured, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "This is a pre-sentient control unit. It's meant to learn and adapt."
Adam leaned in closer, a plasma spark jumping from his fingertips to the pulsing light, causing it to flicker. "Ultron? I'll glow it down!" he said.
Anya shot him a look. "Reckless, but... I'm in. We can't let this thing go live."
Matt nodded grimly. "We need to get this to Stark. He's the only one who can analyze this fully."
Adam nodded. "Smart's boring," he said, but he knew Matt was right. This was too big for them. He sent another plasma spark, a more precise one this time, into the tablet Anya was using. It flashed, shorted out, and a small, pixilated meme of a surprised cat popped up on the screen before it went completely dark.
"Disaster," Anya muttered, but she was smiling.
"Ultron's rising. Time to shine," Adam's inner voice declared. They had a plan. They had a team. And he had a new set of skills. This was just the beginning. The assault was planned for the following day.
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