Poland.
In the sky above the Hydra base.
With his shield strapped to his back, Steve took a flying leap, diving straight down from the high altitude.
Seeing this, Peter covered his face with both hands in terror and yelled, "Captain, you didn't bring a parachute!"
Then, he immediately jumped down after him.
Crossbones turned his head, glanced at another STRIKE team member beside him, and said blankly, "If I remember correctly, he didn't bring one for himself either, right?"
Everyone shook their heads at the same time.
Crossbones stretched his neck out like a giraffe and looked down, but the clouds obstructed his line of sight.
"Hope they don't fall to their deaths."
Even as he said this, Crossbones was not worried about those two guys at all.
Dealing with Hydra?
It would be better if they died!
Especially Captain America, Hydra's greatest enemy.
Having experienced the incident with the hammer, Crossbones understood better than anyone just how massive a threat the current Captain America posed to Hydra.
Even though he was not wielding the hammer for this operation, he was still a hidden danger.
If Captain America could die here, that would be absolutely perfect.
But he knew very well that this was impossible.
Right now, this Hydra base had absolutely no idea what they were about to face.
They still thought they were completely hidden, having no clue whatsoever that Captain America had already brought the fight right to their doorstep.
Despite also being Hydra, Crossbones showed no reaction to this.
In reality, there were numerous factions within Hydra. Different snake heads had different leaders, and there were also struggles and conflicts between them. Snakes biting other snakes could not be any more common.
Furthermore, even his own superior had not taken any action, so why should he bother worrying about it?
It was not that Alexander Pierce did not want to warn the leader of this Hydra base in advance.
It was that he couldn't.
From the moment the base's location was exposed up until now, under Nick Fury's surveillance, every single network message and acoustic signal had the potential to be intercepted.
If he was not careful, he might fail to contact the base and instead expose himself.
Another thing Pierce still could not figure out to this day was how on earth one of his own Hydra bases had the audacity to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Yes, it was true that S.H.I.E.L.D. was practically on the verge of becoming Hydra's largest base, but the problem was that the current Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was not Hydra!
When you attacked S.H.I.E.L.D., you didn't even tell me. If you had just given me a heads-up beforehand, I could have had those Hydra agents put on an act for Nick Fury.
Now look what happened. Everything was ruined!
Pierce was so angry he could die.
The moment that base was discovered, he had already decided to cut his losses and completely abandon it.
Sacrifices were fine.
Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.
But those enemies hindering Hydra's development had to be eliminated quickly!
He let out a breath, and his gaze grew a bit firmer.
Pierce felt extreme regret right now. The thing he regretted most was passing the position of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director to Nick Fury.
No matter what this black bald egg's personal character was like behind closed doors, at the very least, he stood firmly against Hydra.
If Pierce had known back then that he would become Hydra in the years to come, he absolutely would not have given the position of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director to Fury, no matter what.
That was right. Initially, Alexander Pierce was not Hydra at all.
It was only after he stepped down from his position as Director that he slowly began to transition toward Hydra.
But now, the correct decision he made back then as the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had become his mistake today as a member of Hydra.
A mistake should be corrected!
High in the sky.
Like a hunting bald eagle, Peter tucked his arms in to reduce air resistance.
But this was not going to work. He still could not catch up to Captain America, who had jumped first.
Peter was incredibly anxious. He tried shooting out a web line to grab Captain America, but because their descent speed was too fast and the wind resistance was too strong, the web was whipped behind him the moment it was fired.
Right at that moment, an electronic female voice rang out in his mind:
"Peter, would you like to activate the propulsion system?"
"Eunice?"
"I am not Eunice. You may call me Karen. I am the artificial intelligence Mr. Bant specifically prepared for you."
"Wow, awesome!"
Peter waved his arm excitedly in midair. He truly had not expected Bant to have prepared another artificial intelligence just for him.
"Detecting that you are currently in a rapid descent. Would you like to activate the propulsion system to decelerate your fall?"
"Activate it!"
Peter immediately said, "But don't decelerate just yet, catch up to the Captain first!"
"Understood."
Instantly, two thruster vents bulged from the back of the Iron Spider Armor. The next moment, a sonic wave was released!
Peter shot forward like a missile.
"Energy shield has been activated to block the incoming wind."
In the blink of an eye, Peter crossed a vast distance like a shooting star and grabbed the falling Steve.
It was only at this moment that Peter remembered Steve Rogers's shield seemed capable of absorbing impacts. In that case, it really was fine even if he did not wear a parachute.
"Sorry, Captain. I guess I was being a busybody. Did you not wear a parachute to reduce unnecessary weight as well?"
"I just accidentally forgot."
Steve said with a hint of embarrassment.
The shield in his hand was indeed impressive, but after all, it was not pure Vibranium. Its impact-absorbing effect was not as strong as one might imagine.
During the war in the past, taking a direct hit from a missile would still send him flying.
Furthermore, the shield's surface area was limited, and it could not cover his entire body.
Fortunately, Peter had caught him in time. Otherwise, Captain America estimated that if he had landed from this altitude, his balls would probably have been shattered to mush from the impact.
After grabbing Steve, the propulsion system on the back of Peter's armor retracted. Instead, the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet became hover engines, releasing sonic waves to begin decelerating.
Whoosh!!
The two landed in a dense mountain forest.
"Activating camouflage mode."
Karen's voice instantly rang in Peter's ear. The next moment, the red and blue Spider-Suit turned dark green, allowing Peter to blend seamlessly into the forest.
So cool!
Peter hid behind a tree, feeling immensely satisfied with the suit he was wearing.
Aside from slightly restricting his movement at the joints, it practically had no flaws!
Peter shot out a web line and leaped onto a tree in one bound. Looking at the Hydra base integrated into the mountain from afar, he asked:
"Captain, what do we do now?"
"Infiltrate."
Captain America said without thinking twice.
Just as Peter was about to ask how they were going to infiltrate, he saw Steve strap the shield from his back onto his left wrist and charge straight out!
Peter: ???
You call this infiltrating?
Peter was just about to swing after him using his webs, but before he could even launch himself, the tree branch snapped under the combined weight of the armor and his body, causing Peter to take a massive tumble.
"Okay, I guess there is another flaw."
He shook his head.
"Looks like I can only be a jumping spider today."
Peter chased after Steve by running.
Then he yelled, "Captain, do you have a slight misunderstanding of the word 'infiltrate'?"
He figured that back in Steve Rogers's era, education wasn't very widespread. Since Steve went to the battlefield at a young age, it was quite normal for his educational level to be a bit low.
But this was not infiltration!
"I will teach you an important lesson, Peter," Steve said while sprinting madly. The scenery of the mountain forest flashed past his eyes, and the Hydra base was right in front of them.
The two guards standing at the base entrance had not yet realized the enemy was approaching, standing as motionless as stone statues.
"What is it?"
Peter asked loudly. But before he could hear the answer, he saw Steve pounce forward.
The two guards had absolutely no time to react as a blue and black shadow lunged into their field of vision.
In a split second, Steve had already landed a punch on the head of one of the guards, sending the man spinning in the air like a windmill blade for two full rotations before hitting the ground.
Just as the other guard raised his gun to shoot Steve, smack, the shield smashed squarely into his face, knocking him flat on the ground.
After finishing all this, Captain America leisurely retrieved his shield and turned back to look at Peter.
"As long as you eliminate all the enemies who discover you, it counts as a successful infiltration!"
Peter looked down at the two half-dead Hydra soldiers and nodded stiffly:
"Okay, you are right."
"Then let's break through the front door!"
Since things had already reached this point, Peter couldn't be bothered to overthink it anymore. He raised both his arms, clenched his hands into fists, and aimed them squarely at the Hydra base's massive iron doors.
"Stand back, Captain."
"You aren't planning to blow the door off with your webs, are you?" Captain America asked.
"No, I am planning to use sonic waves."
As Peter spoke, the web-shooters on his wrists suddenly expanded, assembling into a vibration device similar to Shocker's gauntlets.
"Karen said little Bant reinforced the power of the sonic waves, so it should be able to blow this massive iron door wide open..."
Boom!!!
In an instant, it was as if a missile had detonated right on the spot!
The vibrating sonic waves distorted the very air itself. The thick, heavy steel was blown apart in a split second. Even Peter himself was sent flying backward several meters by the immense recoil.
Just watching this left Captain America completely dumbfounded.
He felt as though his ears had gone deaf, ringing constantly, while the ground beneath his feet shook non-stop like an earthquake.
And in this exact moment, the entire Hydra base felt as if it had been subjected to a bombing run. The mountain trembled, and the internal facilities suffered malfunctions.
Inside the base.
"Bzzzt—"
The sound of electrical currents constantly crackling could be heard. The power supply system of the entire base experienced anomalies, with the lights flickering non-stop for several seconds before finally restabilizing.
All the Hydra soldiers fell to the ground. From the ceiling of the mountain cavern above, fine sand and dust poured down...
"What the hell is going on?"
A Hydra officer stood up.
"An earthquake?"
Even now, the leader of this Hydra base had absolutely no idea that disaster had struck from out of nowhere. Completely out of the blue, Steve had brought Peter to slaughter their way right up to his front door.
He still thought it was an earthquake.
This was hardly surprising. After all, in his eyes, they had been lying dormant here for years without ever encountering any accidents. They rarely even communicated with the outside world, so no one could possibly find this place.
"I don't know. The network system seems to have malfunctioned..."
A Hydra soldier scratched his head and said.
"It probably happened during the tremors just now."
He shouted, "Contact the guards immediately and ask for the situation."
"I can't, the signal is cut off."
Hearing this, the leader frowned and asked angrily, "The network is down, communications are down, and the surveillance feeds are down. What systems are actually still working?!"
"The air conditioning system is functioning normally."
/-\
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