"But if you want to play games of strategy with me, Alexander… you're still too green."
Nick Fury removed his eyepatch.
He opened the eye that had long since gone blind.
The clouded eyeball had turned milky white. A vicious scar carved across the socket, even cutting into the eye itself.
He leaned toward the scanner and let it read the damaged eye. At the same time, Natasha forced Alexander Pierce's head forward so his retina could be scanned as well.
"Scan complete."
The electronic voice echoed through the room.
Fury calmly replaced his eyepatch, looking utterly composed.
"Skye, begin the backup. Copy everything from file number ten onward. The rest isn't important."
Fury knew S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database by heart. The first ten files contained routine materials and agent records. The truly critical intelligence—highly classified and restricted—began after number ten.
The transfer began.
Fury's side received the data simultaneously. At the current rate, the full backup would be finished in about five minutes.
Pierce was tied to a chair. Outside the windows, gunfire crackled and explosions thundered as Helicarriers fell from the sky.
"See that?" Natasha said coolly, glancing outside. "Everything you were so proud of is collapsing. What you called invincible is nothing more than scrap metal to him."
In the sky, Karl and Tony streaked between Helicarriers, destroying them one by one.
"You're right," Pierce admitted, watching the red-cloaked figure in the air. "Karl Norman could have been one of us. If he weren't so arrogant—if he'd agreed to join us—our plan would've succeeded long ago."
He even felt regret. Karl had killed the Winter Soldier, yet Pierce had never blamed him.
"He doesn't even think highly of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Natasha replied with a faint smile. "Let alone parasites like HYDRA."
Bang!
The door burst open under a tremendous impact. A tactical operative was hurled inside, slamming to the floor unconscious.
Steve strode in, followed by Gwen in her black-and-white Ghost-Spider suit, and a disheveled Sharon Carter.
"There are only a handful of us left who aren't HYDRA," Steve said urgently. "The rest of the building is theirs. They'll be here any second—we need to move."
His helmet was gone. Sharon's uniform was streaked with dust and scorch marks.
Gwen, however, looked comparatively unbothered. Her agility far surpassed Steve and Sharon's—and her vibranium suit rendered bullets meaningless. She could charge straight through gunfire if needed.
"Two minutes," Skye said, glancing at the screen. The transfer was over seventy percent complete.
"That might be tight," Gwen replied. "We'll have to hold them."
Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor.
Gunfire erupted through the doorway—rounds tearing into the room. Steve immediately pulled Sharon behind him, raising his shield to block the incoming barrage.
Gwen stepped in front of Natasha, her vibranium suit absorbing the rounds without a scratch.
After several seconds, the shooting stopped.
The shattered doorway was kicked fully open. A squad of black-clad tactical troops poured inside, weapons trained on Steve and the others.
"Release Director Alexander Pierce immediately," the squad leader barked, "or we open fire!"
Pierce relaxed in his chair.
He didn't believe this handful of people could defeat an entire tactical unit.
Skye subtly flashed a hand signal to Gwen. Gwen nodded and discreetly tapped Natasha's arm in response.
Natasha gave a slight nod.
Skye typed rapidly, fingers gliding across the keyboard.
Far below, an invisible Quinjet lifted off silently—the very one Skye had piloted here. With its advanced cloaking and the chaos of battle masking any noise, no one noticed.
She guided it into position outside the top-floor office.
Quietly, she shifted her chair closer to the window and pressed her palm against the glass.
She didn't know if it was bulletproof.
But bulletproof or not, it was still glass.
And glass meant nothing against seismic waves.
She exchanged one last look with Gwen and Natasha.
Then she unleashed her power.
Crash!
The windows behind them shattered instantly.
Everyone froze in shock—
"Down!" Skye shouted.
Steve reacted instantly, shielding Sharon and ducking low.
Ratatatatatat!
A deafening storm of heavy-caliber gunfire roared in from outside.
Invisible moments before, the Quinjet's weapons now tore through the room. Within seconds, every HYDRA operative was shredded—some obliterated outright by the sheer force of the rounds.
Three seconds.
That was all it took.
Every HYDRA agent lay dead.
Alexander Pierce was riddled with bullets, his body reduced to a bloodied ruin.
At the same moment—
"Transfer complete."
Skye snapped the laptop shut.
"We're done. Move!"
The Quinjet decloaked, its hatch opening as it hovered outside.
"Go! Now!"
Skye boarded first, sliding into the pilot's seat and taking full control.
Steve and the others leapt aboard. The hatch sealed, and the jet shot upward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
"Karl, we're clear," Skye reported.
"Good," Karl replied, spotting the departing Quinjet at a glance. "Now I can finally cut loose."
"Tony. Sam. Pull back."
"Copy," both answered immediately.
Sam had already guessed what was coming.
Tony didn't need to guess.
He'd seen it before.
A piercing cry split the sky.
Flames erupted upward in a towering inferno. The surrounding temperature surged to terrifying levels—moisture evaporated instantly, the air turning dry and suffocating, like the heart of a desert.
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