"So, we're just supposed to stand here and watch them gather?" Iron Man found it hard to accept.
The people in front of them were planning to completely destroy America.
Yet, they could do nothing.
All because that guy might have the ability to control minds.
"No, we'll proceed according to Captain America's plan. As for the mind control issue, I'll handle it." Bruce turned and left.
Iron Man looked at Carol. "He said he can handle it, huh?"
Carol didn't respond; she just rolled her eyes at Iron Man.
Then, she walked to her workstation.
Iron Man, of course, knew why Carol treated him like this.
After all, he had blackmailed her before.
At this moment, Captain America walked up to Iron Man and patted his shoulder.
"The best thing we can do now is trust him."
Iron Man said nothing more. He simply nodded in agreement with Captain America's decision.
Captain America then walked over to Carol. "We should gather every available superhero now."
Carol smiled slightly. "Already done, Cap."
As Carol removed the cover in front of them, Captain America saw the largest assembly of superheroes he had ever witnessed.
Though they weren't moving like a military force, for Captain America, their presence alone was enough.
"Looks like we can take that guy down," Captain America said, smiling at the heroes before him.
"Yes. We've never lost our fighting power," Carol responded. She understood America's situation better than anyone.
From the very beginning, America's greatest strength was never its rebelling soldiers or any other forces.
It was its superheroes.
And now, they were all here.
Time often moves faster than people perceive.
At this moment, Modi had fully mobilized his Hydra army.
The military officer who had spoken with Modi back at the Pegasus Project base now looked at the surrounding forces with utter admiration.
He had never imagined that Hydra could attract so many people to their ranks.
Over a thousand civilians, armed with their own weapons, had joined them, eager to help overthrow the already chaotic America.
Despite his admiration for Modi, the officer couldn't help but be curious about how Modi had achieved all this.
Not to mention that behind Modi stood a well-known member of the Ultimate Team—Thor.
This situation fueled his curiosity to the extreme.
"Since we started marching, over a thousand people have joined, mostly civilians from nearby areas. To be honest, does this have anything to do with what you obtained from the Pegasus Project?" The officer asked with a smile.
"Nonsense. General, they were drawn to our power. They believe in us, and we need their help to resist S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attacks," Modi responded with a mysterious smile.
The officer scoffed.
"Don't worry. By the time they notice, we'll already be deep into Casper. The new recruits we've gathered there will make us unstoppable." The general shifted his gaze to the front—Casper City was their final target.
Once they occupied it, Hydra would be unstoppable.
"Hahaha!" Modi laughed—whether at the general's foolishness or something else was unclear.
"What are you laughing at?" The general was clearly puzzled.
"Don't be naive, General." Modi's smile faded slightly as he wiped the corner of his mouth. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is already here."
At that moment, a blonde woman issued a command into her wrist communicator.
"Attack!"
The moment she spoke, she transformed into a giant.
And she wasn't alone—several other women transformed as well, turning into giantesses and sweeping everything aside.
Even armored vehicles and tanks were nothing more than oversized toys in their hands.
Cassandra Lang, the first to transform, swatted a nearby armored vehicle into the sky with a single slap.
The sudden turn of events left the Hydra general in shock.
He had never imagined such a scenario.
To him, S.H.I.E.L.D. was nothing more than a paper tiger. After all, hadn't some of Hydra's own factions already infiltrated it?
Though those factions had chosen the wrong time to rebel, leading to their complete eradication by the American government, they had still managed to do it.
That was why he had dismissed Modi's warning about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s arrival.
But now, witnessing the reality before him, he realized that S.H.I.E.L.D. was far from weak.
"What should we do now? Tell me, Moditz!" The general had no choice but to pin his hopes on Modi.
But Modi simply smiled at him, showing no sign of concern.
That smile made the general instinctively uneasy.
He wanted to retreat, but it was already too late.
An axe fell behind him.
Thor stood expressionless, while the Hydra general lay in a pool of blood.
Modi crouched down, staring at the general's lifeless eyes.
"Sometimes, things unfold in the most unexpected ways, don't they?" He muttered, looking into the dull, lifeless eyes. "Just like Asgard never expected to be destroyed one day."
Modi reached out and closed the general's eyes.
"And humans never thought they'd lose their home because of a few fools' stupidity." Modi stood up.
From a distance, he could already see the Ultimate Team advancing toward them.
And not just them.
Susan Storm of the Fantastic Four was also there—though she was no longer Susan Storm. Her name was now Susan Grimm.
Hawkeye, Spider-Man, and Falcon had all joined the battlefield, weapons in hand.
And then there was the man who could never be ignored.
Captain America.
"Look, Father. Everything you once protected is right here." Modi gazed at the Ultimate Team members fighting before him, spreading his arms as if welcoming this grand battle with sheer excitement.
Behind him, Thor remained expressionless, silently watching everything unfold.
It was as if none of this concerned him. He was nothing more than an empty shell.
Within the Ultimate Team's communication channel, Captain America was actively issuing orders.
Raising his shield, he knocked down a Hydra soldier in front of him.
"Ground forces, attack! Spread out their firepower. This is some of the best news we could ask for!" Captain America punched another soldier before kicking a third in the face.
"Most of Hydra's forces are inexperienced, but they have numbers."
"Falcon! Get to the air and locate the signal source. I want it taken out!"
After breaking free from two Hydra soldiers, Falcon immediately soared into the sky to begin his scan.
And he wasn't alone in the air.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier was waiting above.
Iron Man hadn't joined the battle yet. He was working with Bruce to determine how Thor was being controlled.
Controlling a single super soldier was easy. But controlling so many people required a significant energy source.
Yet, Modi had no visible power source for such control.
Still, they had detected a strong energy signature.
"This isn't like anything I've seen before." Iron Man studied the data in his hand. "We can't lock onto it. It's like a hybrid of magic and technology. But its operating frequency matches brain waves, which means it could cause irreversible effects on the civilians who joined Hydra."
Iron Man finished speaking, only to realize that no one was responding. He looked around in confusion.
What he saw, however, was Batman staring intently at his head.
"What's wrong?"
"Don't you think that guy's frequency is actually quite similar to the one emitted by whatever is inside your head?" Bruce's gaze revealed that, to him, Iron Man no longer looked like a normal human.
In Bruce's eyes, Tony was nothing more than a moving skeleton.
And within that skeleton's head, something resembling a gemstone rested quietly.
That was likely the reason why Stark's brain tumor had never healed and had even developed its own consciousness.
If that thing were removed, Iron Man would not survive.
Tony froze for a moment.
Then, his eyes lit up with excitement as he stared at Bruce.
It was the look of someone who had finally found a kindred spirit. No matter how much he had tried to explain before, no one had believed that Anthony truly existed inside his mind.
Yet, this Bat had pointed it out so directly.
But Tony knew now was not the time to dwell on that. Their priority was finding the other energy source.
At this moment, the commander aboard the Helicarrier was no longer Carol but Monica Zhang, the new Black Widow.
After all, the Vice President had a lot of other matters to handle.
"If they enter the city, we'll completely lose control of the situation," Monica said as she stared at the holographic projection beside her. They had already figured out Hydra's final destination.
"We are outmatched in both numbers and weaponry. Our only advantage is that we have enough superheroes," Monica quickly informed Bruce and Iron Man. "The rest of the military is barely holding the United States together. Reinforcements will take several hours to arrive."
"We've been on the brink of civil war for too long. If it breaks out, the entire nation will—"
Monica didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood what she meant.
"We have to do everything in our power to stop them," Iron Man said, picking up the conversation.
Then, he turned directly to Bruce.
"If we fail... does that mean nuclear strikes are on the table?"
Monica answered Iron Man's question. "If the U.S. still has nuclear weapons."
On the battlefield below, Modi watched as his forces clashed evenly with the Ultimate Squad. A slow smile spread across his face.
He raised his arms, and a staff appeared in his hands.
"Let them taste the power of their own weapons!"
The moment he finished speaking, Falcon was the first to see the weapon Modi was referring to.
"War Machine units incoming!!!"
"Roger that!" Hawkeye immediately responded.
Meanwhile, the Invisible Woman, Susan, had already deployed her energy shield, but she could only protect a handful of people around her.
The War Machine units' firepower was widespread and relentless.
They didn't care if their enemies were mixed in with their own allies.
Their only objective was total annihilation.
"Commander, this is the ground unit. We're under heavy fire!" Hawkeye reported to Captain America.
Cap didn't need to be told twice. Shield raised, he deflected every incoming shot he could.
"Regroup with She-Hulk's squad!" Cap ordered as he began moving in that direction.
"I'm going to kick Tony Stark's ass! This is all because of his damn inventions!" Hawkeye grumbled.
But at that moment, Falcon witnessed something completely unexpected.
"What the hell is that?!" He pointed toward a black figure descending rapidly from the sky.
As the best marksman, Hawkeye recognized the figure instantly.
"Damn it! Who the hell let the President come down here?!"
When his report reached the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Monica and the others finally realized that Batman had disappeared without anyone noticing.
For Modi, however, this was nothing short of thrilling.
"The President? Open fire on him!"
The War Machine units immediately turned their guns toward Bruce and began their assault.
But before the bullets could reach him, Bruce's black armor underwent a drastic transformation.
"Oh, my God."
"What is that?"
"What kind of technology is this?"
"Should I be asking him for patent fees?" Stark muttered, his sharp eyes catching sight of an Arc Reactor embedded within Bruce's transforming suit.
In an instant, Bruce was gone—replaced by a massive, metallic figure.
A sleek, jet-black mech stood tall in the air, a large white bat emblem glowing on its chest.
Everything about it made one thing clear: Batman had arrived.
With a single flap of its dark wings, the Bat-mech shot forward, charging straight into the War Machine army.
Against the War Machine units, Bruce's mech was unstoppable. A single punch was enough to disable them completely.
"I'm definitely building one of those for myself," Iron Man said, watching Bruce's Bat-mech in admiration.
He preferred his own form-fitting suits, but having a colossal mech like that might be fun once in a while.
What intrigued him more, though, was how Bruce had built such a massive suit without anyone noticing.
It definitely wasn't made from nanotech—Tony hadn't even perfected that himself in this world, let alone anyone else.
The sudden turn of events surprised Modi.
None of his intelligence reports had indicated that the U.S. President possessed any kind of superpowers.
But what Bruce had just displayed clearly wasn't ordinary.
Still, this wasn't a problem for Modi.
As long as he held the staff in his hands, everything could be resolved.
But he wasn't going to sit back and watch his War Machine army get obliterated.
He turned to his father. "Father, it's time for you to serve New Asgard."
"As you command, my son."
Thor lifted his lifeless eyes, locking onto the mech that was pummeling the War Machine units.
Then, he summoned lightning and charged forward.
"Thor, watch out!!!"
From the Helicarrier, Monica broadcast a warning to Bruce as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, Modi frowned at the airborne warship above and raised his staff high.
A brilliant light erupted from it.
At that moment, Cassandra Lang was reporting her situation to the Helicarrier.
But suddenly, an excruciating pain filled her mind.
A voice commanded her to grab the nearby cannon and fire at the Helicarrier.
However, just as quickly as it had appeared, the voice vanished.
"Everyone, be on alert! Possible mind control detected!!"
Meanwhile, Bruce and Thor finally clashed.
The mech's massive fist collided with Thor's hammer.
A blinding explosion of light erupted. Thunder crackled and spread across the battlefield.
(End of Chapter)
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