"ROOOAARRRR!!!"
With Hulk's furious roar, the narrow doorway was torn apart in an instant.
The metal wall and metal door were over half a meter thick. Just the tearing sound alone was enough to make the HYDRA agents feel sick to their bones!
Sitwell clutched his ears in pain. Before the Green Goliath fully burst out, he hurried to find somewhere safe to hide.
As for the other HYDRA agents, they formed up one after another and began luring Hulk according to plan.
Hulk finally forced his massive body out of the room, and the next second, a sonic boom grenade slammed right into his head.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had run countless simulated attacks against Hulk. They knew exactly what kinds of weapons produced what kinds of results.
Hulk could basically ignore most damage, but he still reacted to sound.
Physical attacks and elemental attacks were both terrible in terms of effectiveness.
But as long as you used sonic weapons, even if you still could not kill Hulk, you could make him furious and miserable!
Boom!
Bzzzzzzzz!
Chaotic noise exploded beside Hulk's ears. His already bloodshot eyes turned even redder!
"ROAR ROAR ROAR! HULK… VERY ANGRY!!!"
Bang!
His huge body slammed into the corridor wall, and the poor wall shattered on the spot.
He did not follow the route HYDRA had planned at all. Instead, he smashed through wall after wall, charging straight into who-knows-where.
Now that was awkward…
Watching the Green Goliath vent his destruction along the walls, the HYDRA agents thanked God and let out a huge sigh of relief.
They looked at each other.
Finally, someone with a bit of backbone spoke up.
"Uh… let's just leave it like this. The monster's out anyway!"
"Exactly. We don't need to do anything else. Every time Hulk shows up, he wrecks things for at least ten-plus hours!"
"So… we…"
"Let's go send our dear colleagues off. These past years haven't been easy for them, pretending to be S.H.I.E.L.D. agents among us!"
"Yeah, hahaha, let's go!"
Just like that, the HYDRA team responsible for Hulk were practically buzzing with excitement.
They lived.
…
At the same time, inside Tony Stark's lab.
He was developing his armor.
This time, he wanted it to be easy enough to put on, while still guaranteeing the suit's material strength and combat performance.
The discovery of the new element gave him much more energy to work with, so he could increase the suit's weight to a certain extent. That alone gave him a flood of new ideas.
In his mind, his armor needed to do at least this much: automatically fly to him from far away and equip itself onto his body.
Fully automated combat might still take time to crack, but automated flight…
He thought about it, then shook his head.
"Automated flight is a bit hard. I need a line of thought. If I don't require a perfect flight posture at first, could I build the armor in the shape of a missile?"
The moment he thought that, his heart leapt.
Inspiration.
He called up the control console and rapidly rewrote the new suit's parameters.
Once Tony started working, ideas poured out of him like a spring. It felt like every flick of his fingers spawned another concept.
How to fold the armor plates, how to set up infrared, how to calibrate the autonomous flight system, how to extend the armor…
His thoughts stretched endlessly, like a comet streaking across the sky.
Tony had never felt this good in his life.
But he enjoyed it for less than three minutes.
The comet became a meteor and vanished in a blink.
Believe him, it was not because he was too fast.
It was because someone interrupted him.
He heard an explosion.
Boom!
Bang!
Clatter!
The sound was faint, but unmistakable.
Tony immediately called JARVIS and told him to display the bomb's location.
In only moments, Tony did not even have time to wipe the grease off his hands before he rushed into the armor.
In the blink of an eye, Iron Man was here!
The red-and-gold suit cut across the sky. Tony clearly saw flames erupting from the Triskelion.
"What the hell is going on?!"
He could not understand it.
The Triskelion was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most important bases. It got breached just like that?
"Wasn't Cap's team going after the Purple Man tonight? So what now?"
"Purple Man is that insane? He not only didn't lose, he counterattacked S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
As Tony guessed wildly, he flew toward the Triskelion.
Mid-flight, he ordered JARVIS to crack S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal communications.
A moment later, Captain Rogers' voice finally came through Tony's ear.
Like it or not, no matter how sharp Tony's mouth was, the person he respected most was still Captain Rogers.
You could tell from the fact that Rogers was the first person whose comm Tony tapped into.
Through the earpiece, Tony heard chaotic but nonstop gunfire, heard heavy impacts landing again and again, and heard muffled groans from a bunch of men and a few women…
That feeling…
"Ahem. Steve, what happened? Why are there explosions at the Triskelion?"
"F*ck!"
Rogers was startled by the sudden voice, then instantly realized who it was.
"Tony? Damn it, HYDRA is hidden inside S.H.I.E.L.D.! We need support!"
"Huh? Did you just swear? The captain swears now?"
"Now is not the time, Tony!"
Cap sounded exhausted.
As he shouted, he slammed his shield down hard and smashed a HYDRA agent into the floor.
After throwing in two more punches to the face, Cap finally found an opening to yell again.
"You're in the air, you have the vision advantage. How about you support whatever area looks like it needs you most?"
"No problem, but are you sure I don't need to support you first, Captain?"
"I can still control things here, but I don't know what the Triskelion looks like overall right now, maybe…"
"Wait. I know where I'm needed most. Damn it, Hulk is out!!!"
Tony cut him off, and the comm immediately went dead.
It was not that Tony could not keep comms during a fight.
It was that he could already imagine getting beaten half to death by the Green Goliath.
He did not want anyone hearing him scream!!!
…
When Cap heard Hulk was out, the panic on his face was indescribable.
He suddenly flung his shield.
The ordinary round shield slammed into one enemy, then ricocheted at high speed and took down three more.
"Barton, Melinda. You two hold here. I'm going downstairs to check."
"And finish the fight as fast as you can. The Triskelion needs support!"
"Don't worry, Captain!" Barton waved as if he understood, then drove an arrow straight through a hostile agent.
Cap still did not feel entirely reassured. He rushed to a window, lifted his shield, then jumped out.
Thud!
He landed easily. Four floors was nothing to him.
But when he saw the disaster outside, he only regretted one thing.
Why did I bring so many people on this operation?
If there weren't over a hundred agents on scene, would they really be stuck fighting this long?
More importantly, he had only been involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. matters for less than a week. A fresh rookie. He could not even tell which side in the firefight was HYDRA.
Thankfully, he quickly spotted Coulson, someone he knew well.
So Cap pushed through the hail of bullets and sprinted to him.
When Coulson, dodging suppressive fire nonstop, saw Captain America…
Cap could have sworn he saw love in Coulson's eyes.
Coulson grabbed his hand.
"Captain Rogers, I'm sorry S.H.I.E.L.D. ended up with a disaster like this."
"Seventy years ago I was fighting HYDRA. I didn't expect I'd still be fighting HYDRA seventy years later."
"What the hell has S.H.I.E.L.D. been doing for seventy years? Where's Nick Fury?"
"Why hasn't any order come down? Is he HYDRA too? Doesn't he understand that we have to gather every force that isn't HYDRA if we want any chance of surviving this disaster?!"
Cap's words hit like a hammer.
But that was exactly what confused Coulson too.
Coulson wiped sweat from his head and forehead, then asked through clenched teeth.
"Yeah. Where is the Director? What is he doing that we're forced to fight on our own like this?!"
…
The Moon, the Skrull refugee camp.
Nick Fury stared at Talos with a face so dark it looked like it could drip ink.
Five minutes ago, that damn old friend had effectively put him under house arrest.
And right now, Talos was still explaining nonstop.
"Nick, I'm sorry your organization has such a terrifying problem. Who could've guessed HYDRA was hidden among you?"
As he spoke, Talos filled Fury's glass.
Nick took it and drained it in one gulp, then said coldly, "Yes, I failed as Director. But I still have a chance to fix it!"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. still has countless agents loyal to their duty. They'll be my greatest support, as long as I can get my orders to them in time!"
With that, Nick slammed a hand onto the unknown-metal table.
"Talos, connect me to the satellite signal. You know I need that!"
"But I really can't, Nick. This is the Moon. No signal reaches here. I'm sorry."
"Then how were you receiving my previous signals? And how are we watching these videos right now from your people's point of view?!!"
"That's another method. It only works with fixed signal receivers. You understand what fixed means, right? Pre-installed. Prepared in advance!"
Hearing Talos dodge like that, Nick was furious, but he did not dare pull a gun and execute the bastard.
He still needed Talos.
After a long moment of forced calm, Nick asked for the bottle again, refilled both his and Talos's glass, then clinked with him.
"We've been friends for over thirty years, Talos. I treasure that friendship."
"I treasure it too, which is why I'm even more worried about your safety than you are." Talos smiled. "Relax, Nick. No one can hurt you on the Moon. Trust me."
"But you know that isn't what I f*cking want!!!"
Nick Fury finally snapped.
The friend he considered his best, one of only two friends he had, betrayed him!
"Talos, for the sake of thirty years, send me back to Earth!"
Nick pleaded with everything he had left.
"Think about Carol. Think about that orange cat, the Flerken. Think about the days we fought together. Talos, think!"
Talos's expression finally turned a little ugly.
Yeah.
Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, the Supreme New Star.
That was a real problem.
So between Captain Marvel and Superman, which did he choose?
Click.
The door opened.
Both of them turned toward it.
A Skrull walked in, escorting Agent Hill, tied up, his face grim.
"Leader, this human tried to steal our spacecraft!"
Talos made his decision instantly.
He waved at his people.
"Separate them. Lock them both in our warehouse."
After giving the order, Talos ignored Fury's terrifying expression and said one last thing to him.
"Nick, we are friends. But they're my people. Humans on Earth won't allow them to return alive, and I will never allow them to die like that."
"So you're throwing away an entire planet's friendship for two of your people, Talos?!!!" Nick roared, loud enough to shake the ceiling.
Talos's expression did not change at all.
He smiled like always and said, "They're the best two among my only one hundred and thirty-three people."
"And besides, you and your broken S.H.I.E.L.D. have no right to represent Earth."
Earlier, an automated check confirmed an earlier translated chapter contained no em dashes.
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