Peter, completely defenseless, was about to lose his life to a single bullet. The boy who would one day become Spider-Man, capable of catching bullets with his bare hands, was on the verge of being erased in such a careless way.
But there was no way Reid would allow that. Peter was someone he had been watching closely. There was no chance he would die so easily.
The bullet never reached him. Before it could, another shot struck it midair, knocking it off course.
"Who?" The Hydra squad leader froze, only after the round was deflected did he realize someone was attacking them.
"Could it be one of New York's heroes?"
The subordinate beside him shook his head at the words. "Impossible. The people on the perimeter gave no signal. Those flashy superheroes who like to fight up close couldn't sneak in without a sound."
"Unless…" the leader muttered, finally piecing it together, "it isn't them."
Combining this with the warning Faustus had given, he already knew what was about to happen. He immediately raised his weapon and aimed at Peter again.
But just as he was about to pull the trigger, the one thing he dreaded most happened.
A shield painted with a red-and-blue star flew in from the distance, slamming into him with bone-crushing force and knocking him several meters back.
It didn't stop there.
As if following a carefully planned path, the shield ricocheted around the area, striking every Hydra agent surrounding Peter and Harry. After knocking them all down, it rebound smoothly into the hands of a man in plain clothes not far away.
"As expected," the man said quietly, "Richard's intel wasn't false."
The one dressed as an ordinary person was none other than Captain America, Steve Rogers.
Since he wasn't registered with the Hero Association, he technically wasn't a "hero." That meant no flashy uniform, and more importantly, it allowed him to slip past Hydra's surveillance and arrive in the park unnoticed.
The earlier shot that had knocked the squad leader's bullet aside came from his best friend, Bucky, who had fired from a kilometer away.
He might not know much about Hydra's current operations, but years of service as their top assassin had forged him into one of the deadliest soldiers alive.
"Captain America!"
That title didn't hold much recognition in society today, but Hydra had never forgotten the terror it inspired.
They knew the world was filled with heroes now, but most of them just protected their own patch of land. Only the man before them, only this madman, would chase Hydra to the ends of the earth without rest.
Fear crept into their hearts, and the thought of retreat came instantly. For regular agents, the instinct to flee when encountering Captain America was ingrained.
But under the leader's barked orders, their fear hardened into grim resolve. They understood full well that after launching an attack on Peter and Harry, there was no chance of leaving New York unharmed. Their only path left was to fight.
They tossed aside their guns. Green flames erupted in their hands as they lunged at Steve, who was already bracing for them.
The outcome of the battle, however, was not what the Hydra operatives had expected.
The man they had thought unbeatable was struggling. Against green magical flames and bodies strengthened by dark magic, Steve found himself on the defensive.
The fire could bypass the elasticity of his transformed body, threatening real harm. Enhanced strength and speed let the Hydra agents overpower even the advantage of his vibranium shield.
Four against one, he could not hold out for long. One agent landed a heavy punch to his chest, sending him flying backward.
"We can do this! Before we die, we'll take Captain America with us!"
The sudden shift in momentum filled them with a savage joy. To kill their greatest enemy here, even at the cost of their lives, would be a victory worth everything.
As they rushed him again, Steve steadied his breath, blocking strike after strike. He did not panic, because he trusted that Bucky, watching from afar, would act at the right moment to turn the tide.
And he did. Right as Steve was forced back once more, with another enemy lunging forward, a supersonic round tore through the air. It struck the Hydra agent's skull, splattering blood as the man dropped lifeless to the ground.
Steve did not hesitate. He surged forward, his arms stretching unnaturally, coiling around a Hydra soldier. In a single motion, he compressed, turning elasticity into crushing force. Bones, armor, and organs shattered all at once in a sickening crunch.
Clearly, in Steve's hands, the same power that Reed had wielded as a scientist took on a deadlier form. Where the latter had used elasticity for wisdom and invention, the former used it as a weapon, mastering its raw destructive potential.
But the fight was far from over.
The deaths of two men did not shake the surviving agents' determination. Even with their numbers reduced, they pressed on, still suppressing Steve with their empowered bodies.
Meanwhile, Bucky could also no longer provide cover. Though the time between his two shots was brief, Hydra's outer guards had already located his position. Ordinary soldiers, without magical reinforcement, now encircled him in numbers too great to ignore. He had to deal with his own threat.
The situation had reached a deadlock.
Surrounded by numerous Hydra troops, even Bucky could not cut them all down quickly. Steve, trapped with two magically infused agents, could not break through either.
For the two veterans, though, a stalemate was enough. They knew the longer the fight dragged on, the better their chances.
This was New York, not Hydra's stronghold.
Even if LexCorp chose to ignore the conflict and let those opposed to the organization fight while they reaped the benefits, that was just Luthor's will. In a city filled with heroes, it was only a matter of time before others appeared, each with their own reasons, to join the battle and crush Hydra.
That had been Steve and Bucky's plan from the start. They could not guarantee victory on their own, so the safest option was to stall.
But the first reinforcements weren't the city's familiar heroes.
Instead, two figures stepped through a portal of sparks, their bodies hidden beneath long cloaks.
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