Inside the three helicarriers, countless corpses lay scattered—S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents who had been purged by Hydra.
According to Hydra's original plan, they would eliminate all non-Hydra personnel after takeoff.
But because Fury and the others attacked earlier than expected, Hydra had to start the cleanup in advance, force the lift-off sequence, and deal with the threat at the same time.
Helicarrier A.
As soon as the hatch opened, Black Widow and Captain America were met with a storm of gunfire.
Bullets rained down like a torrential shower, tearing up the entrance.
Natasha had no choice but to hang outside the hatch, her body pressed against the wall, using every ounce of strength not to get blown away.
The strong wind from the still-spinning engine whistled past. If she lost her footing, she would be sucked into the fan blades instantly.
Even if Captain and Natasha's bodies were enhanced, they could never withstand that kind of mechanical shredding.
In Avengers 1, when Tony was repairing the helicarrier engine, he was caught in the fan blades and nearly killed—even in full armor!
One could imagine the power needed to keep something this massive airborne.
Fortunately, Captain grabbed the brake lever and held it down, slowing the wind slightly.
"Steve!" Natasha shouted over the roar, "Lend me your shield!"
Captain America hesitated, shouting back, "What are you going to do?"
"Throw me inside!"
She crouched low, curling her body into the smallest shape possible, tucking herself completely behind the shield.
Steve understood at once. He gritted his teeth, planted his feet, and hurled the shield forward with all his strength.
"Ding—ding—ding—ding!"
The sound of ricocheting bullets echoed as the shield deflected every round in its path, smashing through the gunfire and crashing into the interior.
Hydra soldiers inside were confused. Why throw the shield inside?
This wasn't Captain's usual spinning throw technique—it didn't bounce back.
Normally, Captain's shield would fly, strike, and return to his hand like a boomerang, perfectly controlled.
Just as Hydra moved to investigate, a black muzzle poked out from behind the shield.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Twelve shots. Twelve Hydras went down.
Steve charged inside like a beast off its leash.
Hydra lines broke instantly—Natasha and Steve together were unstoppable.
The surviving soldiers scattered, fleeing deeper into the ship.
But the helicarrier was far too big. There was no time to chase them all down.
Priority one: reach the control room and stop the takeoff.
Hydra stragglers could be dealt with later, once the ship was grounded.
Soon, good news came in from the other teams.
Fury and Hill had secured Helicarrier B.
Falcon and Kate had secured Helicarrier C.
But before anyone could celebrate—
Wooo—Wooo—Wooo!
All three helicarriers blared alarms at once.
On the control panels, red warning screens lit up: multiple missiles were inbound.
Countdown: 30… 29… 28…
Fury cursed over comms: "Damn it—I forgot about Tony!"
"Everyone, activate the energy shields—NOW!"
By now, the helicarriers had already risen several hundred meters above the lake.
Any higher and they'd vanish into the clouds, making the situation worse.
Up in the sky, Iron Man clearly thought Fury's mission had failed and had already launched his payload.
Helicarrier B responded first.
Under Fury and Hill's rapid input, a shimmering yellow energy field expanded outward, encasing the entire carrier in a layer five or six meters thick.
This was the Asgardian-based shield technology Lock had brought back earlier—primitive by cosmic standards, but far beyond Earth's usual defenses.
Normally, a helicarrier relied on close-in weapon systems—tens of thousands of tungsten-core rounds per minute—to try to shred incoming missiles.
But that solution was expensive, heavy, and not foolproof.
Energy shielding was far more efficient.
Scaled-down versions could even be worn as vests—like Fury's own gear—blocking bullets more effectively than any armor.
Scaled up, they could protect an entire ship.
Even Ronan's mothership once withstood a direct strike from Lock's Infinity Divine Fist thanks to a far superior version of this same tech.
The only problem: the higher the shield strength, the greater the energy requirement.
Even the Nova Empire couldn't mass-produce shields of that caliber—Thanos' source for such tech was still a mystery.
But for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s carriers, this basic model was enough to stop conventional missiles.
Captain and Natasha quickly followed Fury's guidance and activated Helicarrier A's shield in time.
But on Helicarrier C, Falcon and Kate froze.
The control panels were covered in dozens of buttons, touchscreens flashing in warning mode.
Kate was a field agent, not a tech, and Falcon had never even been on a helicarrier before.
And the clock was ticking.
5… 4… 3…
Falcon cursed, grabbed Kate by the waist, and leapt out of the hatch.
"BOOM—!"
"BOOM—!"
"BOOM—!"
Three detonations rocked the sky.
Helicarriers A and B shuddered violently but held firm—their shields absorbed the hits.
But Helicarrier C… took the missile head-on.
The explosion consumed the entire ship.
The massive hull tore apart section by section, secondary explosions ripping through the ammo bays until the entire carrier became a falling fireball.
Falcon's heart nearly stopped.
A ship that big crashing down would crush him and Kate, no matter what kind of gear they wore.
He tucked his wings, dove toward the lake, and barely managed to outpace the falling wreckage.
Only after skimming the surface did he pull up and speed across the water.
Behind him, the fireball struck the lake.
BOOM!!!
A blinding flash lit up the night sky.
The resulting shockwave sent a wall of water and dust rolling for miles.
Even the ground shook violently within a ten-mile radius.
The rumble echoed for dozens of kilometers.
But the danger wasn't over.
More missiles appeared on the radar.
Fury opened comms with Tony, shouting: "Stark! Abort launch—we've secured the ships!"
Tony's voice crackled through, casual as ever: "Finally. I just wasted half my payload."
"You blew up one of my carriers!" Fury roared.
"You're the one who was late. And now I've got to explain to the Pentagon why I launched without authorization. You'd better cover me politically later."
Fury growled: "Fine. Just stop shooting!"
The remaining missiles in midair suddenly changed trajectory, curving away toward the ocean and detonating harmlessly.
For now, the immediate crisis was over.
But Fury knew this wasn't done.
If Lock didn't return soon to back them up, the political fallout from this operation might be worse than Hydra itself.
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