Chapter 188: Horror Film
The gamma bomb research facility occupied a New Mexico desert location.
Tonight the moon shone bright and stars were sparse. The facility's perimeter remained as quiet as usual—except tonight's silence felt excessive. Not even conversation crackled through the communications channels.
Cassius was one of the soldiers assigned to night perimeter duty after the facility's reactivation. He thought General Ross had established absurdly excessive guard density.
Soldiers positioned every six feet. Each equipped with rifle, sidearm, compact submachine gun, and combat knife.
Cassius considered this completely unnecessary, but Hydra's rigid hierarchy demanded absolute obedience from base-level soldiers. No questioning permitted.
Cool wind brushed his face. Cassius shivered involuntarily while simultaneously feeling nature's call building.
"Dillon, Luke, cover my position. I need to take a leak." Cassius addressed the companions stationed six feet to his left and right.
The soldier named Dillon didn't turn, standing motionless as a statue. He simply nodded with minimal movement.
Cassius relaxed, shifting his rifle from ready position to cradle it against his chest, then unzipped where he stood.
The steady sound of relief filled the silence. Suddenly something occurred to Cassius. He turned toward Luke, who hadn't acknowledged him:
"Hey, Luke, why aren't you responding?"
Luke slowly turned his head toward Cassius. One hand lifted stiffly, placing a finger against his lips in a shushing gesture.
Dread exploded up Cassius's spine. Instinct screamed that something was profoundly wrong. Luke's movement hadn't been human—more like the jerky animation of movie zombies.
"Luke? Dillon?"
Cassius hastily fastened his pants and looked toward Dillon, who'd nodded earlier. The figure remained absolutely motionless, showing no reaction even to Cassius's urgent call.
"Luke?"
When Dillon ignored him completely, Cassius gathered courage and slowly approached Luke's position. He reached out, tapping his companion's shoulder:
"What's wrong with you?"
Luke's expression remained blank, eyes tightly closed. But his head tilted slightly.
As though looking at Cassius.
The sight of his companion startled Cassius badly. He jerked his hand back—discovering his palm felt sticky and viscous from touching Luke's shoulder, like he'd run his hand across a glue trap.
"What is this stuff?"
Confusion churned through Cassius's mind. He forced himself to lean closer toward Luke again. His heart suddenly dropped.
Moonlight illuminated everything clearly. Something had ensnared Luke's body. Black, viscous strands bound Luke into his guard stance.
But Luke wasn't actually standing. A single strand suspended him, positioning his feet to touch the ground.
All his movements—the slight head tilt, the shushing gesture, looking toward Cassius—had been performed under the black webbing's manipulation.
This time Cassius was genuinely terrified. He yanked out his communicator and shouted:
"Commander! Commander! Contact! Contact!"
The communications system remained absolutely silent. Nobody responded.
Only then did Cassius recognize tonight's silence had been unnaturally wrong from the start.
Even more disturbing—despite his shouting and abandoning his guard position for nearly thirty seconds, Dillon on his other side showed absolutely no reaction.
Cassius realized a horrifying possibility. His body trembling, he left Luke's position and approached Dillon.
Dillon was similarly bound by black webbing, suspended in place. Though maintaining guard posture, his actual condition was unknown—possibly already dead.
Cassius retreated several steps, backing away dozens of feet from his original post.
Cold moonlight poured down. Cassius stared at his companions manning the facility perimeter. He suddenly felt suffocating pressure, desperately clutching his throat before collapsing.
Cassius saw that except for himself, every single guard had been suspended by black webbing—maintaining their "standing" positions in silent, rigid stillness.
Soldiers positioned every six feet. Dozens and dozens of them hung beneath the facility walls by equally dense webbing networks, appearing unspeakably eerie under pale moonlight.
Cassius didn't know what had happened. Then his vision went black. A strand of pitch-black webbing descended from above, wrapping his arms and head with precise control before suspending him at his original guard position.
"Dad, why didn't we just grab him when he was peeing?" Venom whispered curiously from the moon shadow's darkness.
"I was waiting for him to finish and pull his pants up." Batman said.
Without looking back, he stalked toward the facility's opposite side, methodically disabling the guards' weapons before having Venom extend tendrils to render them unconscious, then suspending each with webbing to maintain their guard appearances.
Batman intended to infiltrate the facility secretly and extract Norman Osborn just as covertly.
But according to worst-case scenarios, creatures almost certainly waited inside. Extracting Norman would likely trigger confrontation—potentially violent combat.
Under those circumstances, Batman couldn't allow soldiers interfering.
Soldiers represented the defense system's most unpredictable variable. They might fire wildly from panic. Might trigger unexpected alarms. Might even detonate critical equipment attempting to stop Batman.
Batman's true opponents were gamma monsters. During combat with those supernatural forces, ordinary Hydra soldiers would needlessly drain his focus and energy.
Batman wouldn't assume authority to execute them, but he equally wouldn't let them become chains restricting his movements against actual threats.
Ten minutes later, every soldier manning the gamma bomb research facility's perimeter had been rendered unconscious and secured.
Inside the facility, Batman's pre-programmed electronic warfare virus had completely paralyzed internal systems.
Time for the next phase.
---
"I won't violate my own statements. Don't even think about weapons upgrades."
Tony Stark, still wearing the Mark III armor, addressed Nick Fury:
"But I can provide assistance in other areas. For instance, upgrading this carrier's propulsion systems."
"Agent Hill, escort this gentleman in fancy armor to the engineering deck." Nick Fury seemed completely unsurprised by Tony's response.
Agent Hill looked up at Tony, the Mark III adding considerable height to his frame:
"Follow me."
Nick Fury remained stationary, watching Tony disappear into the Helicarrier's interior. He pressed his earpiece:
"Natasha, starting tomorrow you're joining Stark Industries. Investigate everyone with connections to Tony Stark."
Black Widow Natasha had never appeared before Tony during his entire visit. Only after Tony left Fury's presence did she emerge from concealment, studying Fury:
"Batman could infiltrate your safe house. Tony's friend built a firewall that blocks Tony himself. You suspect Batman is one of Tony Stark's associates?"
"Exactly." Nick Fury confirmed.