J'onn J'onzz didn't understand.
Why did this young agent named Dante not only know his name, but also know that he was the last Martian?
Compared to that, the fact that Dante identified him through fire wasn't even the weird part.
After arriving on Earth, J'onn J'onzz had been constantly changing identities.
He'd passed through multiple countries and eventually decided to settle in Washington.
On his very first night in D.C., he happened to stumble upon Sitwell—who had just been murdered.
Although J'onn J'onzz used his telepathic abilities to copy part of Sitwell's memories in the moment he took his final breath, it wasn't complete.
He only got fragments—memories from the past few decades, nothing more.
After weighing his options, J'onn J'onzz still chose to assume Sitwell's identity.
He then boarded the Lemurian Star to carry out the last mission stored in Sitwell's memory.
What he didn't expect was that not only would he be seen through as a fake Sitwell, but his true identity would be completely exposed.
Absolutely absurd!
And this agent—Dante—who saw through him? He was strong. Way too strong.
It was the first time J'onn J'onzz had encountered an Earthling with this kind of power.
For context, even in his base form, Martian Manhunter could casually lift a hundred tons.
And if he fully activated his molecular abilities, his strength could go toe-to-toe with your average Kansas Big Guy.
Even so, he'd been slammed into a wall by this Dante guy like it was nothing.
"J'onn J'onzz, as a Martian, how does it feel to be stuck settling on Earth? Doesn't feel so great, huh?"
"No. Earth is a beautiful and vibrant planet," J'onn J'onzz shook his head, clearly not agreeing with Dante's statement. "To me, this place gave me a new life. It's my second home. I will do whatever it takes to protect Earth's safety."
Dante wasn't surprised by that answer.
He was just testing him—to see if this Martian Manhunter had been tampered with or not.
After all, assuming there were no timeline screw-ups, Martian Manhunter's moral compass should still be pointing True North, about on par with the Big Blue Boy Scout.
"Then do you know that the guy whose identity you copied with your shapeshifting powers—not only was he a senior agent in the FBI, he was also a member of HYDRA?"
"HYDRA?"
J'onn J'onzz frowned.
While he'd been traveling across the world, he mostly lived as a civilian. Evil organizations like HYDRA weren't even on his radar.
"That's right. HYDRA. A secretive, evil organization that's been around for thousands of years. The Nazi HYDRA you've heard about from World War II? Just one tiny branch in a long-ass historical river," Dante explained briefly. "Bottom line? Their endgame is world domination. And Sitwell—he was internal affairs. He came to this ship to obtain the Project Insight algorithm that HYDRA needs for its next move."
Of course, that so-called "algorithm" was a complete fake. Dante had Skye cook it up—just convincing enough to bait HYDRA into crawling out of their hole.
"So, do you remember who Sitwell was supposed to report to after getting the algorithm?"
"I do. The name… was Alexander Pierce."
"Tsk tsk. Yep, that old bastard." Dante nodded, then shoved the portable hard drive in his hand into J'onn J'onzz's palm. "If you really consider Earth your second home, then complete this mission. Hand this over to Alexander Pierce."
"Can I trust you?"
"If you don't want to live in a world with no freedom—where everyone's lives are under the crosshairs of flying aircraft carriers—then yeah, you'd better trust me."
...
"DANTE! Do you only know how to act first and report later?!"
Inside Nick Fury's office, Dante was casually cracking sunflower seeds with Professor X, while Fury was already on the verge of blowing a gasket.
Dante pulling the "act first, explain never" routine on other ops? Fine.
But this?
This was on another level.
He was planning to take down HYDRA. Directly. In one clean sweep.
A massive, globe-spanning evil organization.
Couldn't the guy maybe give a little heads-up beforehand?
But the worst part?
Every step so far had gone off without a hitch. So even if Fury wanted to chew him out, he had nowhere to direct his anger.
He was suffocating on it.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
"Can you stop cracking those damn sunflower seeds?! We're in the middle of a serious conversation!"
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch...
"Serious conversation? How about you explain first why you tricked Tony Stark into perfecting those flying aircraft carriers? And then sent a whole squad of hot female agents to distract him? Why didn't you send any to distract me?"
"Ahem, I just thought Stark was a bit idle recently. Gave him something to keep busy."
"Hmph. Yeah, you're just looking for excuses to cause trouble," Dante snorted. "Using an algorithm to launch three fully armed flying aircraft carriers to monitor every human being on the planet?"
"That was the World Security Council's idea. I thought... maybe it had some potential…"
"Oh, now you're playing the victim?" Dante flung his sunflower seeds at Fury. "The Council is just a glorified spy ring created by a bunch of politicians who all want global clout. Alexander Pierce only humored them so he could hijack the entire American General Bureau."
This guy—Nick Fury—you say he trusts people? Then why is he running segmented management with all his elite agents?
You say he doesn't trust people? Then why the hell did he let Alexander Pierce—who was practically flashing neon HYDRA signs in his face—slip past him?
Only now was he starting to feel that something was "off," but still couldn't put his finger on it.
"So, what do you suggest we do?"
Even Fury lost his temper now. Hands up. Let Dante do what he wanted.
"What to do? Just go with the plan!" Dante said irritably. "Before a beast dies, it goes insane. If everything's gone smoothly, that fake algorithm's already been delivered. So the other side will definitely gather their forces and try to pull off a final, decisive move—directly replacing the entire General Bureau."
"Like that FBI rebellion a few years ago?"
"This'll be way bigger than that. That was just a sacrificial pawn, a bait-and-switch. A strategic withdrawal to gain more ground later."
Though Dante always looked down on HYDRA's sketchy pyramid-scheme-style operations, he had to admit—they'd been around for millennia. They were bound to have a few trump cards left.
Which is why he didn't plan to waste time trying to eliminate them one by one around the globe.
Much simpler to lure them all into one big fiery pit—and torch the whole nest.
"So, are the three flying aircraft carriers in the Project Insight hangar fully built?"
"They'll be done in three days. The progress has been synced continuously with Alexander Pierce."
"Perfect. The nest's been stirred, the bait's been set—now get the net ready…"
Dante grinned like a fox who already smelled feathers.
"It's time for the big catch."
(To be continued.)