The middle-aged man at the front puffed out his chest proudly as he declared the name of their organization.
"Hydra."
But the reporters standing before him looked utterly bewildered.
Hydra?
What kind of organization was that?
They had never even heard of such a name before.
『Reporter』: "Um... excuse me, what exactly does your organization do?"
『Reporter』: "Is it some kind of charity foundation?"
『Middle-aged Man』: "Of course not!"
He frowned, looking slightly offended. 『Middle-aged Man』: "Our purpose is to rule the world!''
『Reporter』: "Uh... right."
The reporter's expression froze. He didn't know whether to laugh or take it seriously.
He figured this man was either joking... or just plain insane.
It wasn't his fault—he truly had no idea what any of this was about.
In fact, it wasn't just him.
None of the reporters present had the faintest clue what Hydra was.
Even most of the students and parents gathered around the Stark Tower entrance were equally confused.
But Carl, of course, knew perfectly well.
Hydra—wasn't that a villain organization?
And not just any villain group—it was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s greatest nemesis.
After its defeat, many of its members had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. itself.
Including the former director—Alexander Pierce—who turned out to be Hydra's highest-ranking infiltrator within the agency.
Carl remembered well how formidable Hydra could be; at one point, it even overthrew S.H.I.E.L.D. from within.
Through his telepathy, Carl had already learned that many among the crowd besieging Stark Tower were Hydra operatives.
They'd been sent here under orders from their higher-ups—to create chaos and blockade Superman.
As for the reason behind this operation, these low-level members didn't know.
Even after probing their minds, Carl couldn't extract a clear objective.
Apparently, their rank was too low—the top brass hadn't bothered to explain the purpose of the mission.
Still, knowing who they were was enough.
Hydra, to Carl, was hardly worth mentioning.
And since the name "Hydra" had come up, one thing was certain—Alexander Pierce must be aware of this operation.
After all, he was the highest-ranking Hydra figure still hidden inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
Carl decided he'd pay Pierce a visit later.
Not because he took Hydra seriously—but since they'd chosen to come knocking, he might as well return the courtesy.
But first things first.
Carl needed to clear these people out of the way.
They were blocking Stark Tower's main entrance, after all.
And Carl, as one of Stark Industries' major shareholders, naturally didn't want the company to suffer any damage.
『Carl』: "Since everything's been said, let's move this somewhere else."
With that, he activated his spatial powers
and in an instant, every troublemaker on-site vanished into thin air.
Reporters, photographers, and agitators alike—gone.
The front gate of Stark Tower was suddenly, utterly empty.
The security guards exchanged dumbfounded looks, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
Inside his office, Nick Fury sat before his computer.
On the screen was a live broadcast of Stark Tower.
Superman, as a high-priority surveillance target of S.H.I.E.L.D., had always been closely monitored by assigned agents.
A few hours earlier, when news broke online about Superman's incident with Midtown High students, the agency had taken immediate notice and reported it.
Soon after, as numerous news stations began broadcasting live from Stark Tower, S.H.I.E.L.D. continued to monitor the situation
including Nick Fury himself.
At first, Fury was just watching like any other onlooker.
In fact, he was rather amused.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had already investigated the truth:
It was those students who had started the bullying, and Carl had merely retaliated.
Even then, Carl hadn't gone too far—just a few slaps for the bystanders and a broken leg or two for those who had physically attacked.
From S.H.I.E.L.D.'s standpoint, that was hardly excessive.
Yes, breaking a leg might seem harsh for a few high schoolers...
But given the gravity of their bullying, it wasn't entirely undeserved.
In America, tens of thousands of students take their own lives each year.
And among the leading causes?
Peer conflict—and family problems.
So what Eugene and his gang had done was, in fact, quite serious.
Carl's actions, while forceful, weren't beyond reason.
And even if they were—what could anyone do?
He was Superman.
Few on Earth understood Carl's power better than S.H.I.E.L.D. did.
So Nick Fury knew: Carl wasn't in the wrong.
As for the swarm of reporters, students, and parents gathering at Stark Tower
Most were probably just there hoping to cash in on some kind of settlement money.
After all, Superman wasn't just a hero—he was also an absurdly wealthy man.
Who wouldn't want a piece of that fortune?
Still, when Fury saw just how many people were crowding the tower... even he was startled.
There were far more people than the number of students involved in the original incident.
Even the number of reporters was suspiciously high—
TV, print, online media—dozens upon dozens.
No normal person could mobilize that many journalists so quickly.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s data indicated something else:
Someone was engineering this spectacle.
But Fury didn't feel alarmed.
If anything, he was quietly pleased.
After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Superman were hardly friends.
Superman had killed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents before.
They simply couldn't retaliate yet.
So when Fury sensed someone plotting against Superman...
He was delighted.
『Nick Fury』: "Hmph. Let's see how you like it when the shoe's on the other foot."
He continued watching the live broadcast, smirking.
Sure, whoever was behind this probably couldn't harm Superman—S.H.I.E.L.D. itself couldn't, after all.
But even if they couldn't hurt him, they could still make things unpleasant for him.
And that was satisfaction enough.
Nick Fury thought this was turning into a fine bit of entertainment.
Until, suddenly
A certain name was spoken on the broadcast.
The moment the words "Hydra" hit his ears, Nick Fury froze.
His smirk vanished.
End of chapter...
WORLDWIDE SUPERMAN STRENGTH
🔹 Dimension Walker – 15 chapters ahead
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