Hydra Mobilizes

"Damn it, what is Pierce doing? Why did he suddenly dump a pile of documents on me?"

At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Acting Director Hill was irritably handling paperwork. The secretary beside her glanced at her phone, then suddenly pulled out a gun and aimed it at her. Hill was shocked, but had no time to dodge.

Just then, a book flew in from the side and knocked the female secretary’s gun away. Immediately afterward, a female agent rushed over and knocked the secretary to the ground with a few swift blows.

Hill let out a sigh of relief, then looked at the female agent in confusion. Those fighting moves just now looked so familiar.

The female agent kicked the fallen secretary unconscious, then turned and shouted at Hill, "Hill, get out of here now. Hydra has launched its operation."

"You’re… Natasha?"

Hill recognized her voice and froze. She hurriedly asked, "Wait, didn’t you go to Asgard? And what’s this about Hydra? Didn’t we already destroy Hydra?"

"Unfortunately, not only were they not destroyed, they became even stronger."

The female agent—Natasha, who had been undercover in S.H.I.E.L.D.—said this just as a group of assault team members burst in from outside. Seeing that Hill was still alive, they immediately raised their guns and fired at her and Natasha.

Natasha and Hill immediately ducked behind a desk. Hill shouted, "I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re not alone, right?"

"Of course not."

Natasha spoke, and the next moment, a team of agents rushed in from outside and opened fire on the assault team. But after being shot, the assault team members did not die. Instead, they turned into Lizardmen.

"Kill them! Kill Hill!"

Assault team vice-captain Jack Rollins roared and led the Lizardmen charging at Hill and the agents.

"What a pity. We learned about your intelligence yesterday."

The leader of the agent team was Carter’s niece, Sharon Carter. She sneered and took a green grenade from her waist, hurling it at the Lizardmen.

With a bang, the green grenade exploded in midair, filling the area with green medicinal mist. The moment Rollins and the others came into contact with it, they painfully reverted to their original forms.

"Kill them."

Natasha immediately rose and fired her gun without mercy. Sharon and the others did the same.

Hill frowned and shouted, "What are you doing? They’re S.H.I.E.L.D. agents too!"

"No, they are Hydra agents. Acting Director Steve Rogers of S.W.O.R.D. has ordered that none be spared."

Natasha said coldly, "We already made this mistake once. We cannot make it a second time."

"S.W.O.R.D.? What is that supposed to mean?"

Hill was starting to lose it. Hydra, S.W.O.R.D.—was this even her S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore? "Explain it to me later."

As Natasha controlled the hidden Iron Man Armor nearby and summoned it over, she said, "The priority is stopping Hydra from launching the Helicarriers. They are planning to shoot every opponent and unify the world."

"What?"

Hill felt as though her entire worldview had been shattered. She nearly broke down as she shouted, "I knew I shouldn’t have taken over as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.! What kind of bullshit is this? Worrying about money every day was bad enough, and now Hydra has popped up too?"

"I completely agree with that."

Natasha entered the Black Widow and said, "Hill, we’ll take you to the broadcasting room. You’ll command the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents against the Hydra agents."

"Fine. That S.W.O.R.D. of yours doesn’t sound like a group of good people either, but Hydra is obviously worse."

Hill took a deep breath and nodded. Just then, the Winter Soldier led a group of Hydra agents inside and sprayed gunfire at them.

Sharon and the others hurried behind cover and returned fire. Natasha raised her hand, launching a missile at the Winter Soldier leading them.

The Winter Soldier immediately transformed into a white Lizardman, then raised his hand and blasted out a massive wave of icy air. The missile froze solid and fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Sharon immediately threw another antidote grenade, but this time, the antidote failed.

One Hydra agent sneered. "Sorry, our captain is an elite Lizardman."

The Winter Soldier had no time for chatter. He charged straight at Natasha and slammed down an iron fist. Natasha hurriedly dodged, only to be sent flying by the Winter Soldier’s tail. With a bang, she crashed into the wall.

"This guy is much stronger than Captain said."

Natasha cursed, grabbed the charging Winter Soldier, and flew outside with him. At the same time, she shouted to Sharon, "Sharon, get Hill out of here."

"Fine. Thanks to my rich aunt."

Sharon immediately used her wristwatch to control a Glider over to the window, then activated its machine guns and swept the Hydra agents with frenzied fire. The Hydra agents suffered heavy casualties, while the survivors hurried into hiding, not daring to show themselves.

"Hill, let’s go."

Sharon immediately led Hill onto the Glider and flew straight toward the broadcasting room. The other agents stayed behind to deal with the surviving Hydra members.

"Natasha was actually at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters? It seems Steve and the others had already noticed Hydra’s existence. Too bad they have too few people."

After receiving the report, Pierce could not help sneering. Hydra had already seized the control room, and the remaining two Helicarriers would soon take off. When that happened, the world would belong to Hydra.

At the same time, good news arrived one after another from all over the world. Large numbers of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had been eliminated by Hydra agents, and the blue dots representing S.H.I.E.L.D. bases on the map were turning red one by one.

On the transport plane, Clairvoyant Garrett was instructing his adopted son Grant Ward. "The Blood God specifically named that stone. No matter what, we have to capture S.H.I.E.L.D.’s carrier and get that stone."

Ward asked, "What do we do if we encounter S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?"

Garrett said coldly, "Order them to help us. Anyone unwilling to help will be treated as Hydra."

Ward nodded. "Understood."

"Good. We’re going down."

Garrett nodded in satisfaction and directed the transport plane to land on the carrier below.

Let us turn back time a little. Seeing so many Lizardmen emerge, everyone was stunned. Just then, the Helicarrier came crashing down with a thunderous boom. The entire port shook, and countless clouds of dust billowed into the sky.

"Looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. has a serious problem."

General Ross was deep in thought when a missile suddenly flew out of the mist covering the port.

After the missile flew out, it split apart in midair, turning into countless smaller missiles that fell toward different parts of the military camp. Iron Man stared in shock. "Jericho Cluster Missile?"

While shooting down the smaller missiles, War Machine shouted in displeasure, "Tony, did Stark Industries sell weapons to Terrorists again?"

"Stark Industries shut down its Weapons Department a long time ago."

Tony said irritably, "I only produced two Jericho Missiles. One was used to demonstrate it to the military, and the other was purchased by them. Jarvis, track the Jericho Missile."

"Damn it, Drone Armor, take off immediately and intercept them."

General Ross hurriedly ordered the Drone Armor into the air to intercept the missiles, while the Super Heroes also sprang into action. Bang, bang, bang… every Jericho Missile was intercepted.

But that was only the beginning. A huge number of missiles flew out from the mist again. Every one of them was premium hardware previously produced by Stark Industries, raining down on the military camp like meteors.

The Drone Armor and Super Heroes intercepted them desperately, but there were simply too many missiles. Quite a few landed in the camp and exploded with thunderous booms.

For a time, American soldiers suffered devastating casualties.

"Damn it! Roll out our missile trucks and bombard them back! Also, notify the air force base and send bombers to bomb the port."

General Ross shouted furiously. Just then, another massive barrage of missiles flew out from the mist, as if their missiles cost nothing.

Under the Mandarin’s terrifying firepower, General Ross and his forces suffered grievous losses and had no choice but to order a retreat, leaving only the Drone Armor and Super Heroes to continue fighting.

"Damn Terrorists!"

General Ross gritted his teeth in fury. Unwilling to accept defeat, he picked up the phone and shouted, "Bring the Sinister Strike Force here. I want those bastards dead."

The person on the other end hesitated. "General, the Sinister Strike Force has not been fully developed yet…"

General Ross roared, "I said bring them here immediately."

In the sky, War Machine angrily said to Tony, "Tony, all these missiles were made by your Stark Industries. What the hell are you doing?"

Tony ignored War Machine, because Jarvis had already tracked down the Jericho Missile’s history.

"The Jericho Missile was first purchased by the American military, then sold by the military at a markup to a wealthy country in the Middle East."

"Those filthy rich Middle Eastern bastards?"

Tony froze, then understood everything. The ones fighting him were not just Terrorists, but also those oil tycoons from the Middle East.

Those Middle Eastern oil tycoons were unwilling to be cast aside by the times, so they supported the Terrorists in eliminating him, the representative of new energy. Simply put, this was traditional energy’s desperate counterattack.

"No wonder the Terrorists attacked me first. No wonder the Mandarin’s operations in America went so smoothly. No wonder the Mandarin has so many weapons. Those filthy rich bastards were backing him."

Tony gritted his teeth in hatred. He was not a greedy man. To develop new energy, he had once extended an olive branch to those tycoons and invited them to develop it together.

Yet those bastards had not only refused, but intended to eliminate him and end new energy altogether.

"After this is over, I won’t let you off."

Tony gritted his teeth and shouted over the comm channel, "Stop waiting. We’re going into the mist and launching an all-out battle against the Mandarin."

"Fine."

All the Super Heroes nodded, but General Ross suddenly shouted, "Wait. Air force fighters will be here soon. Let them bomb the place first."

Tony said, "I don’t think it will work. Tell them to retreat so they don’t die for nothing."

"Whether it works or not is not for you to decide."

General Ross snorted. Not long after, accompanied by thunderous engine noise, five fighter jets flew in from the distance, preparing to carry out the bombing plan.

Just then, a missile flew out from the mist and exploded in midair. A powerful pulse microwave beam swept across the area, disabling all five fighter jets and sending them plummeting downward.

"EMP again."

Tony curled his lip in annoyance and said, "I told you it wouldn’t work."

"Damn it."

General Ross gritted his teeth. What the hell was this? Even the Terrorists had better equipment than their military? Just then, the mist blanketing the port suddenly dispersed, revealing the true situation inside. Everyone looked closely and froze.

The president of America was tied spread-eagled between two tall towers, while the Mandarin stood high atop one of them.

At the same time, America’s television signals were hijacked again. Seeing President Ellis tied up in the air, viewers could not help crying out. Was the Mandarin really planning to publicly execute the president? Two spotlights shone on the actor playing the Mandarin and "President Ellis." The actor playing the Mandarin shouted, "I taught you two lessons. The first was that Super Heroes cannot protect you. The second was that the president of America cannot protect you."

"Now, I am going to give you the final lesson ahead of schedule. That is, even God cannot protect you!"

"God?"

The viewers were stunned, then realized that the Mandarin must mean the Dragon God! This Mandarin actually wanted to slaughter a god?

Wang Bert clicked his tongue in amazement. "So he’s coming for me? Mandarin, you really have given me a surprise."

President Ellis looked at the double tied up in the air on television and could not help feeling fortunate that it was not him. He asked Wang Bert, "Blood God, when do you plan to make your move?"

Wang Bert said calmly, "No rush. Let them fight a little longer."

At the port, General Ross shouted, "Everyone, move out! Rescue the president and eliminate the Mandarin."

"Let’s go. We have no choice."

Iron Man took a deep breath and led everyone charging forward. "To put it in Eastern terms, you are trying to stop a chariot with a mantis’s arm."

The actor Mandarin sneered disdainfully and waved his hand. Hundreds of High-Temperature Dragonwing People flew out of the surrounding cargo ships, beating their wings as they charged at the Super Heroes.

"Launch missiles."

Tony immediately gave the order, but only a few Drone Armor actually fired missiles. It was not because they disobeyed Tony’s command, but because they had already used up their missiles intercepting the enemy’s barrage.

Without missiles, ordinary bullets could not stop the High-Temperature People. They soon rushed in and engaged the Super Heroes in fierce combat.

Due to their numerical disadvantage, the Super Heroes fell into a disadvantage the moment the battle began. Several Drone Armor were destroyed.

Fortunately, Ghost Rider, Electro, War Abomination, and the others were fairly capable and barely managed to hold the line.

"Let’s go."

Seeing the military begin fighting the Mandarin, Rumlow immediately planned to lead the Hydra members away. Just then, Pierce’s projection suddenly appeared before Rumlow and ordered, "Eliminate the Super Heroes."

After saying that, Pierce’s projection vanished.

Rumlow was stunned. Why had Pierce’s projection suddenly appeared here? There was no holographic projection equipment here. And why was he ordering Rumlow to join the melee?

Though the situation was full of doubts, Rumlow thought it over and still led Hydra back into the battlefield. Hydra’s rules were strict, and besides, he had long disliked those people.

On a cargo ship, the Mandarin touched the Mind Ring on the ring finger of his left hand and sneered disdainfully. Hydra was truly easy to fool.

"A bunch of idiots."

Seeing Hydra join the battle, Tony sneered and hurled antidote grenades down one after another. As green medicinal mist spread, the Lizardmen quickly turned back into ordinary people.

"Damn it."

Rumlow cursed loudly and piloted the Peacemaker, preparing to attack Iron Man. Just then, his armor suddenly lost control and carried him toward Manhattan.

"What is going on?"

Rumlow panicked. Tony’s disdainful voice came through the comm channel. "Sorry, I tampered with your armor a long time ago. You’ll be locked up and become a witness against Hydra."

"No!"

Rumlow roared, but there was nothing he could do. This armor had become his prison.

Seeing Hydra collapse in an instant, the Mandarin’s expression darkened slightly. What a waste of his time. Just then, more than a dozen military trucks drove over, followed by a large number of burly men in prison uniforms with vacant expressions climbing out of the vehicles.