"Don't move! Release Captain Rumlow immediately!"
"Hands in the air now, or I'll shoot!"
"Stop! I said stop!"
A group of agents immediately drew their pistols and searched for cover, aiming at Makiya while shouting. At the same time, they contacted the headquarters' control console via radio to request backup.
Makiya didn't stop. His voice, amplified by magic, spread across the square instantly without distortion. Even the agents inside the Triskelion could hear him through the thick bulletproof glass.
"I have some business with Mr. Alexander Pierce. Let me be clear: anyone who attacks me will be treated as an enemy. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Inside the Triskelion, in the director's office, Nick Fury stood by the window, watching Makiya coldly. After a few seconds of silence, he pressed a buzzer on his desk. An agent immediately entered the room.
"Tell Pierce to come see me."
"Yes, Director."
After the agent left, Fury watched the arrogant Makiya. He suddenly thought of the recent explosion in Hell's Kitchen. The famous philanthropist and crime lord Wilson Fisk had vanished, presumed dead. Compared to that event, the three arson cases seemed insignificant.
However, as a Level 10 agent, Fury possessed a sharp instinct for such cases. SHIELD's newly launched Project Insight could collect data from every camera, including phone cameras. Through comparisons, Fury found that Makiya's movements on the day of the incident were highly suspicious.
His intuition told him that Makiya was connected to the arson cases and Fisk's disappearance. Various signs from the investigation also indirectly proved his guess. The only reason he hadn't summoned Makiya was that Fury didn't want to deal with the mess involving Fisk and the gangs. The military and the capitalists were more anxious than he was; SHIELD was busy saving the world and couldn't be bothered with trivial matters.
But now, Makiya was openly challenging him. Even the most patient man has his limits. Fury intended to use force to take Makiya down, showing this arrogant thug exactly what happens when you cross him.
The man was holding Captain Rumlow and shouting for Pierce. It was obvious that there was some conflict between him and Fury's old mentor. Fury planned to take Makiya down first and then hear his excuses in the interrogation room.
The current SHIELD was not what it used to be. Since bringing back that group of succubus-like vampires, the organization's combat limit had been repeatedly broken. Fury felt very confident in his actions.
"Hawkeye, take a team and intercept him. Don't let him walk into headquarters so easily."
Fury ordered through the radio.
Natasha was on a mission in South America. Currently, his most reliable and capable agent was Hawkeye, whose combat value was top-tier among the agents.
"Understood," came Hawkeye's steady voice over the radio, sounding as reliable as ever.
Thinking it over, Fury still felt it wasn't safe enough. The way the opponent appeared clearly indicated some kind of special ability. He pressed the radio again, switching to another channel: "Night Watch Special Ops, stand by. Await my orders."
"Understood, Director," a seductive voice responded from the other side.
After these modified vampires arrived at SHIELD, they quickly integrated with the agents at headquarters, often engaging in various friendly 'activities' in the dorms at night. After bringing them into the organizational structure, Fury named them the Night Watch, which was a bit of a dark joke.
On the square, Makiya approached the main entrance of the Triskelion step by step. A group of agents held their guns, watching him get closer, their hands trembling.
Finally, someone in the crowd couldn't help but pull the trigger. In an instant, every agent on alert fired, and a rain of bullets enveloped Makiya.
A scene that left everyone stunned followed. Without Makiya making any visible movement, the high-speed bullets hung silently in front of him, as if they had hit an invisible barrier, unable to advance an inch.
A golden flying sword appeared in Makiya's hand. Following his will, it danced through the air, its blade glowing brightly. It turned into a golden stream of light and charged into the crowd.
"What is that?"
"Help!"
"Shoot! Shoot!"
The golden flying sword was incredibly fast. Wherever it went, flesh and blood flew. The agents stared in horror, unable to react before they were ruthlessly pierced by the blade.
The crowd fell like wheat being harvested. Some agents tried to fire back, but their movements were slow and powerless against the speed of the sword. The blade pierced through an agent's forehead, leaving a charred hole. The air was filled with the pungent smell of blood and the aura of death.
By the time Makiya stepped into the shadow cast by the main entrance of the Triskelion, the last agent attacking him on the square had just been pierced. The agent's hands went limp, and his pistol hit the ground with a crisp clang.
Suddenly, two helicopters appeared in the sky. Makiya glanced at them and felt a wave of speechless shock. These two helicopters didn't belong to SHIELD, the military, or the police—they belonged to the news media!
Were American journalists really this dedicated... or just that fearless?
The news outlets that could rush here at this time were all heavyweights with complex networks. They knew something about SHIELD, so they were extremely excited, certain their ratings were about to explode.
Inside a helicopter, the pilot screamed at the top of his lungs, "We've received a warning! we have to leave now!"
"This is huge news! We can't leave!" a sexy female reporter shouted back, holding a microphone. "Steady the helicopter! Don't listen to them! Those soldiers wouldn't dare do anything to us!"
The pilot clutched his headset, his body shaking. "They said they'll shoot us down if we don't leave!"
"To hell with that! They definitely won't! It's just a threat!" The reporter aggressively pulled at her collar. "Stay right here. If we get through this, I'll spend a week in bed with you."
"Half a month."
"A week, no more."
"Deal."
The cameraman witnessed the entire dirty deal. He felt a wave of bitterness. He was also risking his life with her, so why wasn't he included in the reward? Were pilots really that popular?
However, to support his crush's work, he honestly set up the camera and mouthed to the reporter, "We're live!"
The reporter immediately put on a soft smile, her voice filled with excitement. "Hello, everyone! This is a major breaking news event! The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division is under attack by a mysterious superpowered individual. Agents on the scene are organizing a counterattack..."
"Look! Our brave warriors are firing... Oh my god! The mystery man... this is a massacre! God, someone save our heroes!"
The newsroom immediately coordinated with the theme, changing the live headline to: BREAKING! AN UNSPEAKABLE MURDEROUS DEMON IS RAVAGING AMERICA!
Ratings soared. The TV station manager was overjoyed, praying that both sides would fight even more fiercely.
In front of the Triskelion entrance, Hawkeye finally arrived with several teams. Looking at the corpses of his colleagues on the square, Hawkeye's heart was filled with grief. His eyes burned with hatred as he pulled an explosive arrow from his back and aimed it at Makiya's forehead. "Release Captain Rumlow immediately! Stop your atrocities, you damned terrorist!"
"What did you say?" Makiya took off his headphones and tilted his head, picking at his ear as if the music had been too loud to hear Hawkeye.
Hawkeye's brow furrowed. The other man's fearless attitude was a disgrace to SHIELD and America, especially with two damned media helicopters broadcasting live...
He had to crush the enemy's arrogance.
Hawkeye made his decision and retracted the explosive arrow. The mechanism on his quiver rotated, swapping the arrowhead for a specialized one.
He drew his bow, aiming at the headphone wire on Makiya's body.
Makiya followed Hawkeye's gaze and suddenly looked panicked. He hurriedly took two steps back and cried out, "No! Don't! You'll regret it!"
Seeing Makiya's reaction, Hawkeye became even more certain of his guess. Listening to music was just a cover; perhaps those superpowered massacres required a certain melody to drive them? Or maybe Makiya was receiving instructions from a mastermind? Regardless, whatever the enemy didn't want him to do, he would do!
He pulled the bowstring into a crescent moon, and the arrow flew toward Makiya at lightning speed. Makiya seemed completely unable to react, watching as the arrow struck his headphone wire, wrapping around it and pulling the plug from the phone in his pocket.
Instantly, a loud blast of music echoed through the Triskelion, spreading outward and quickly reaching the entire area. Even on the noisy helicopters, the sound was crystal clear.
"How can you cry? Everything will be fine!"
"Why care about that? Just keep it in your heart!"
"You are the nei-nei-ge-nei-nei, nei-ge-nei-ge-nei-nei, nei-nei-ge-nei-nei, nei-ge-nei-ge-nei-nei..."
"Sunshine rainbow little white horse... di-di-da di-di-da!"
The loud and clear music traveled through the helicopter's cameras into thousands of households. The female reporter's face froze, looking at Makiya and Hawkeye in disbelief.
What are you two doing? If you want to kill people, then kill them. Why involve us in this?
Hawkeye's jaw dropped.
Nick Fury stood frozen.
Alexander Pierce was speechless.
The Hydra agents were stunned.
The masses watching the news were bewildered.
The Black citizens who had just turned on their TVs were confused.
Some rednecks in the heartland immediately cracked open a beer, listening to the music with a smile. They lit a cigarette and took a deep drag, feeling incredibly refreshed.
The TV station manager's forehead was dripping with sweat, but he pushed through the pressure and didn't cut the broadcast.
On camera, Makiya 'clumsily' pulled out his phone and turned off the music.
Standing by the window, Nick Fury's teeth were grinding. His face was so dark with rage it looked like a charred pot, though given his natural skin tone, he looked mostly the same as usual.
He would bet on Natasha's honor that Makiya had done it on purpose. That man had even looked up at him and grinned while turning the music off.
Damned yellow monkey!
Makiya indeed did it on purpose. This was a small bit of revenge for when Fury had ordered Natasha to investigate the blood bank.
"Enough!" Hawkeye roared in fury. Some of the phonetics in the song made him subconsciously want to hum along, which only fueled his rage.
Fury was a leader and superior he respected from the bottom of his heart. He couldn't stand others insulting him like this. His right hand quickly reached for the quiver behind his back, the mechanism spinning to load a multi-split explosive arrow.
He drew his bow, and the arrow flew toward Makiya like a striking serpent. As it approached within ten meters of his body, it suddenly detonated, and four sub-warheads flew accurately toward Makiya's limbs.