In order to avoid alerting Karl, Nick Fury ordered all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to remain on standby.
No one was to approach Karl or his family without explicit authorization.
Karl himself was completely unaware of this.
He continued spending his days quietly at the manor with May, Raven, and Helen Cho.
However—
Another organization had already begun moving in the shadows.
Hydra.
One afternoon, May left the manor in a Rolls-Royce.
The car slowly drove through the wealthy districts of Manhattan.
But hidden among the surrounding vehicles, several Hydra operatives had already begun tracking her movements.
Their plan was simple.
Kidnap Karl's family.
Then force Karl to hand over the Tesseract and Loki's scepter.
BOOM—!
Without warning, a modified black vehicle rammed violently into the Rolls-Royce.
The impact sent the luxury car spinning through the air.
Karl had deliberately refused to allow Speed to modify the Rolls-Royce with additional defenses.
Every member of the household already wore vibranium bracelets, so additional vehicle upgrades were considered unnecessary.
Because of this, the Rolls-Royce itself had almost no defensive capability.
The collision instantly flipped the vehicle.
At the moment the car was launched into the air—
The vibranium bracelets worn by May and Yelena activated automatically.
Nanotech vibranium armor instantly spread across their bodies.
By the time the Rolls-Royce crashed onto the pavement, both of them were fully protected.
The violent collision only caused minor shock.
Neither of them was injured.
Swish—!
As the overturned vehicle slid to a stop—
Nearly two hundred Shadow Ninjas suddenly emerged from the shadows of May and Yelena.
The ninjas appeared in multiple combat forms.
Without hesitation, they surrounded the crash site.
Several Shadow Ninjas immediately pulled May and Yelena out of the wrecked Rolls-Royce.
The Hydra operatives were visibly shocked.
They had expected bodyguards.
They had not expected shadow soldiers emerging directly from the victims' shadows.
Still—
They opened fire immediately.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire erupted across the street.
But the Shadow Ninjas melted into the surrounding darkness.
They moved like living shadows, reappearing behind Hydra agents one after another.
Soon—
The Hydra operatives began falling.
Some were silently dragged into the darkness.
Others were beheaded before they could even turn around.
May stood nearby in her vibranium armor.
She watched the scene in stunned silence.
This was the first time she had experienced a direct assassination attempt.
Yelena stood firmly in front of her.
A pistol was already in her hand.
"Take May back immediately!"
Yelena wasn't sure if the Shadow Ninjas could understand her.
But one ninja immediately appeared behind May.
Without a word, it grabbed her arm and disappeared into the shadows.
Another ninja appeared behind Yelena.
Clearly intending to evacuate her as well.
But Yelena refused.
She was not the kind of person who ran away after being attacked.
She reached into the destroyed Rolls-Royce and pulled out a rifle.
Then she began firing.
However—
She quickly realized something was wrong.
Several Hydra agents were carrying rocket launchers.
BOOM—!
A rocket slammed into the remains of the Rolls-Royce.
The explosion tore the vehicle apart.
The shockwave blasted toward Yelena.
Fortunately, the vibranium armor absorbed the entire impact.
Yelena remained completely unharmed.
Meanwhile—
The Shadow Bat and Shadow Claw ninjas had already finished eliminating the remaining Hydra agents.
Within minutes, every attacker was dead.
The explosion had attracted attention from nearby civilians.
Police sirens could already be heard in the distance.
Yelena quickly checked the battlefield.
There were no survivors.
Satisfied, she gave the signal.
The Shadow Ninjas immediately escorted her back.
Two ninjas appeared behind Yelena.
They pulled her into the Shadow World.
Moments later, they re-emerged from the shadows inside the manor.
Second floor — living room.
Karl sat silently on the sofa.
His expression was dark.
Raven was sitting beside May, comforting her.
Although May was physically unharmed, the sudden attack had clearly frightened her.
Almost everyone was present.
Peter.
Wanda.
Pietro.
Juggernaut.
Raven.
Helen Cho.
Gwen.
May.
Karl.
Even Speed had created a small holographic projection of itself on the table.
The atmosphere in the room was extremely heavy.
Karl was still thinking about who might have orchestrated the attack.
At that moment—
A shadow appeared on the floor.
The Shadow Ninjas returned.
Yelena stepped out of the darkness.
She immediately knelt on one knee.
"Boss."
"All targets have been eliminated."
"We couldn't determine their exact affiliation."
"But their equipment was extremely advanced."
"They were clearly professionally trained."
"They didn't look like terrorists or ordinary kidnappers."
Yelena lowered her head.
"This was our failure in security."
"Mei was frightened because of it."
"I apologize."
Karl looked at her calmly.
"Get up."
Then he continued slowly.
"Everyone should stay inside the manor for the next few days."
"They probably wanted to kidnap May."
"To threaten me."
"Or force me to hand something over."
At that moment—
Karl's phone rang.
Ring—Ring—Ring
He answered.
Tony's voice immediately came through.
"Karl!"
"Are you alright over there?"
"Jarvis just told me that a Rolls-Royce registered to your estate was attacked!"
"And your Shadow Ninjas appeared!"
Tony spoke quickly.
Only thirty minutes had passed since the attack.
Yet Tony had already received the information.
"It's fine."
Karl replied calmly.
"The attackers are already dead."
"We just don't know who they were yet."
"So there's no need to worry for now."
Then Karl added quietly.
"You should be careful too."
"I suspect the attack was aimed at me."
"I don't know who it was."
"But there's one organization that's hard not to suspect."
Tony immediately understood.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
His voice turned cold.
"I'll investigate."
"If this really is their doing…"
"They'll regret it."
Tony hung up.
He was already preparing to check on Pepper.
Soon after, several other calls arrived.
George Stacy called first.
After the attack occurred, he had rushed to the scene personally.
At the crash site, he discovered a familiar license plate number.
It belonged to Karl's estate.
George immediately broke out in a cold sweat and called Karl to confirm whether anyone had been injured.
Then Pepper called.
The moment she heard that May had been attacked, she dropped the documents in her hands.
She immediately asked Happy to drive her to the manor.
Pepper and May had always been close.
Pepper had personally taught May how to manage Karl's financial assets.
The two often went shopping together or had afternoon tea.
Now that May had been attacked, Pepper rushed over without hesitation.
Soon—
Karl's phone rang again.
Ring—Ring—Ring
"Hello?"
Karl answered.
A calm elderly voice spoke.
"Mr. Karl."
"Good evening."
"This is Madam Gao from the Hand."
"The Hand has obtained some clues regarding the attackers from today."
"It is highly likely that the group responsible was the Hydra organization, which was believed to have disappeared."
"However, we cannot confirm this with absolute certainty."
"So we can only provide this information as a reference."
"My apologies."
Karl replied calmly.
"Understood."
"Thank you."
Madam Gao responded politely.
"You're too kind."
"It's nothing."
After hanging up the call, Karl looked slightly surprised.
He hadn't expected the Hand to contact him.
What surprised him even more was how quickly they had found clues.
If Madam Gao's information was correct—
Then Hydra was indeed the most likely suspect.
Nick Fury might distrust Karl.
But Fury would never suddenly attack Karl's family without absolute preparation.
That simply wasn't Fury's style.
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