New York, a New Life Furnace Plan

Huff… huff!

Tony Stark watched the two of them barely make it onto the plane. Wanda panted heavily. The beautiful woman looked utterly disheveled, her clothes covered in mud and her expression guarded.

Tony Stark set the plane to autopilot and donned his armor, leaving only his face exposed.

"Relax, Wanda. That guy sent me…"

He walked over to Vision. This powerful hero, who in a sense had quite a few ties to him, lay on the floor in an extremely weakened state. His Vibranium body had been pierced straight through by something.

Wanda understood Tony’s implication. Her guard lowered somewhat, but did not disappear completely. Over the past year or so, she had experienced things far beyond what the other Avengers could imagine.

Those people who appeared and vanished so mysteriously seemed to desperately covet the Mind Stone embedded in Vision’s forehead. There was simply no predicting what form they would take or what identities they would assume when they struck.

"Who was the enemy? Hydra?"

Tony asked. The so-called trio led by Mercenary Tao had told him that the group attacking New York consisted of Hydra members. He judged that the people who had attacked Wanda and Vision were most likely part of the same group.

Wanda was not sure either. As she used magic to stabilize Vision’s condition, she searched through her memories.

"Maybe. Or maybe not. Those people… were strange…"

Wanda walked to the plane window and looked down at the dark earth below. Every now and then, flashes from explosions could still be seen.

The group that had appeared last was not the same one that had attacked them earlier. They were fighting each other as well.

She was already having trouble figuring out where all these people had come from.

Tony Stark secretly brought Wanda and Vision back into the United States overnight. At this point, he had no mind left to care about any treaty.

He had once agreed that heroes needed supervision and restraints, but as the Avengers nearly fell apart and even greater danger descended, he began to understand Steve’s way of thinking.

The next morning, more Avengers gathered in Tony’s tower.

They had worked together many times before. Even though the atmosphere was still somewhat awkward and stiff, they had no choice but to focus on the thorny matter before them.

Tony Stark pointed at the image on the screen, where Blonde Youth was holding up an enormous fireball nearly a kilometer across with one hand and hurling it toward somewhere in New York.

"According to the intelligence I received, this guy’s codename is Jin. He’s a… mage."

As he said this, he instinctively glanced at Wanda, but quickly looked away.

"Also, the closer it gets to noon, the stronger his abilities become. The opposite is true as well. I’m currently searching all of New York, but I haven’t found him yet. Besides…"

Tony was about to continue when Captain America keenly detected a trace of unusual emotion in his words.

"Your intelligence came from exactly…?"

Tony Stark was interrupted, and hesitation was evident on his face. The origins of those three were mysterious, and they were also connected to Thor’s father’s death. It really was…

"Mr. Tony’s intelligence was naturally provided by us traitors."

A clear voice rang out, followed only then by footsteps approaching from the elevator.

Looking at the tightly sealed conference room door and the completely sealed doors and windows, Tony’s gaze beneath his brown sunglasses grew grim.

The three had changed their appearances slightly. The leader was tall and slender, handsome and refined, dressed in a crisp black trench coat with an extraordinary bearing. Only, his long hair had become short hair.

To his right stood a petite woman with light golden hair, dressed in a black suit and wearing a cold expression. She was likely the Black Armored Knight from that day.

The pale-skinned man on the left wore a white suit, with the distinctive black cross marking on his forehead.

They were the three who had given him intelligence that New York would be attacked, then used his information-gathering capabilities to assassinate Odin in Norway and cause massive casualties.

For a moment, Tony Stark even had the urge to rise up immediately and work with the Captain and the others to capture all three.

But when the three arrived outside the conference room, the one called Mercenary Tao smiled and knocked on the door. In the end, Tony suppressed that impulse, opened the door, and let them in.

Bai Cangshu looked at the Avengers in the room: Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, Hulk Banner, Wanda…

Hawkeye, Vision, Black Panther, and the others were absent. Clearly, the Avengers had assembled in a rush, and their preparations were far from complete.

His smile was warm. Both Captain America and Wanda frowned at that moment, discovering that they instinctively found the man before them rather friendly.

The feeling was so counterintuitive that it struck them as strange.

"The people who attacked Miss Wanda and New York once belonged to the same organization as us. Of course, we all joined Hydra as well…"

Bai Cangshu calmly spun his lies. Whether it was brainwaves, heartbeat, pulse, or anything else, there was not the slightest flaw.

"What is your organization called?"

Captain America cut in with a question. Interrupting someone abruptly like this could sometimes produce an unexpected reaction.

Yet Bai Cangshu’s smile remained unchanged. He nodded to Captain America.

"The Far East Magic Society, Captain Steve. That is the name of our organization. Perhaps you have never heard of it, but it has some reputation in the East…"

The Avengers exchanged glances. Even Black Widow, who had seen the most, was unfamiliar with the East.

Bai Cangshu continued.

"I know their plan was to use large-scale attacks on New York to draw all forces, including the Avengers, into the city."

"Then their main force would launch a direct assault on Miss Wanda and Mr. Vision, who had secluded themselves in Scotland. Their objective was the Mind Stone in Mr. Vision’s forehead."

The moment those words came out, Wanda believed him seventy or eighty percent, because it closely matched the group’s actions all along.

As Bai Cangshu moved, he had already arrived beside Tony. Pointing at Jin on the screen, he said,

"But our organization recently fell apart due to ideological differences. As you can see, the few of us betrayed the organization…"

"And this guy is an utterly anti-human idiot. His goal is probably to completely destroy special places like the New York Sanctum, then search for power and treasures."

"He doesn’t care how many people he kills in the process."

Bai Cangshu had mixed truth and falsehood into his information. Without any other intelligence channels, there was no way to verify it.

But after the Avengers exchanged looks, they had already made their decision.

"Can you find those people?"

"You said before that you would fight for humanity, didn’t you?"

Captain America and Iron Man spoke at the same time. Bai Cangshu’s smile grew brighter as he nodded at them both.

"Of course. That is precisely why we came."

Bai Cangshu leaned against the window as sunlight fell across the side of his face, giving him a genuinely ethereal air.

Tree Herder stepped forward at this moment. Iron Man had FRIDAY bring up a map of New York, and Tree Herder quickly pointed to a district.

"Those three are hiding in this area right now. I’ll locate their exact position soon."

Bai Cangshu pointed at Artoria.

"She will help you kill those people. It will be easy… kill them."

He stood atop Stark Tower, looking down over all of New York.

This world-class metropolis was incomparably prosperous and full of life.

It really was… an excellent furnace.