The ground forces quickly retreated and reorganized, establishing a defensive line behind armored vehicles and sturdier cover. Fire support teams armed with heavy weapons were deployed to high vantage points, their shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles and Gauss rifles emitting dull roars. The target shifted from precision shots to saturation bombing of the Super Soldier-heavy areas.
The remaining Quinjets stopped attempting low-altitude sweeps and quickly climbed to a safer height. Their belly weapon bays opened, and more powerful micro air-to-ground missiles and precisely guided laser-targeted bombs rained down. Explosive fireballs continuously erupted within the Super Soldiers' charging ranks. The shockwaves made their shields violently flicker, even tearing apart some of the perimeter Super Soldiers.
Victoria Hand's voice crackled through the comms at the perfect moment: "Shield frequency analysis complete! Accessing target-lock systems… now!"
The auto-cannons of several Quinjets instantly adjusted their firing modes, discharging energy rounds carrying a specific resonant frequency. When these rounds struck the shields, they no longer simply created ripples; they caused the shields to melt like hot butter. After a few unstable flashes, the shields completely failed.
Against the now-unshielded Super Soldiers, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents deployed specialized magnetic-adhesion nets and high-voltage stun batons to restrict their movement. Potent nerve-paralyzing gas, specifically formulated for biologically enhanced targets, was also carefully dropped into specific zones.
Without the Super Soldiers to draw the main fire, the ninjas, exposed in open ground or under the cover of precision-guided weapons, suffered rapidly escalating casualties under the lock-on of S.H.I.E.L.D. snipers and high-tech reconnaissance gear. Natasha Romanoff moved through the chaos like a deadly phantom; every flash of her movement was followed by a ninja falling.
The shield collapse was the turning point. Without their turtle shells, the modified Super Soldiers became lumbering targets against S.H.I.E.L.D.'s heavy firepower. Missiles and bombs tore their massive bodies to pieces, scattering exploding metal components and grotesque bio-organic fluid everywhere. The exposed elite ninjas could no longer stand against the structured, well-equipped, and highly tactically trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and soldiers.
The din of battle gradually subsided after more than half an hour. Flames crackled in the smoke-filled ruins. Foot Clan corpses lay everywhere; ninjas' black uniforms soaked with blood, and the remnants of the Super Soldiers smoldered, emitting a foul odor of burning and chemicals.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had paid a price, too: a dozen agents killed, over thirty wounded, two Quinjets severely damaged but barely returning to base, and several light armored vehicles destroyed or immobilized.
Fury appeared at the edge of the ruins, his face a thundercloud. He looked at the wreckage and the remains of the fallen agents, his jaw tight.
"Clean up the battlefield! Every fragment, every drop of blood, every body—I want a meticulous examination! I need to know the true origin of these bastards and their exact relationship with The Traveler! Phase One of Operation Iron Curtain is over; transition to 'Evidence Recovery'!"
For the next three hours, the ruins transformed into a giant outdoor lab and morgue. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s forensic teams, clad in protective suits, painstakingly collected every possible piece of information: fragments of ninja weapons with unique forging marks; metal skeletons, biological tissue samples, and residual energy cores from the modified Super Soldiers; shattered communication devices in an attempt to recover data; and spent casings and explosion marks on the buildings to reconstruct the engagement. All bodies were numbered, photographed, and subjected to preliminary autopsy.
Fury personally supervised the scene, his single eye hawkishly sweeping every corner. The air was filled with a nauseating mixture of disinfectant, burnt flesh, and blood. Fatigue began to etch onto the agents' faces, but Fury's orders were absolute.
Finally, a technical agent's voice, tinged with weary excitement, echoed on the encrypted channel: "Sir! Found a damaged recorder embedded in a chunk of rebar-concrete in Sector B7! Preliminary assessment suggests it was a combat logging device on one of the ninjas or Super Soldiers. Impact damage is severe, but the data storage unit might be salvageable!"
Fury immediately rushed to the area. Technicians carefully used a laser cutter to pry the twisted, deformed metal cube from the hardened concrete. After a frantic, salvaging data extraction and repair process, an extremely blurry, static-filled video clip, lasting only a few seconds, was recovered.
The image shook violently, the camera angle very low, suggesting the recorder was experiencing impact or fast movement. The background was the chaotic battlefield, faintly showing the backs of a few… giant turtles, and a single high-speed human figure.
Then, in the final fraction of a second before the footage cut out, the lens captured a frontal shot of the blurry figure, clearly showing two scorching, crimson-gold rays erupting violently from his eyes like enraged dragons, as if they could set the screen alight!
BOOM!!!
The video cut off there, freezing on the powerful moment of the Heat Ray burst, the air violently warping in front of it, and the target's instantaneous destruction.
The entire makeshift command center fell into complete silence. Everyone was stunned by the brief but impactful footage. Fury stared intently at the frozen image of the searing red light. The shock in his single eye was quickly replaced by deeper suspicion.
"Coulson," Fury's voice was frighteningly low, breaking the silence. "Extract the core frequency of that energy waveform and cross-reference it with the energy release data of Scott Summers, 'Cyclops,' at the Xavier School." He paused, his gaze sweeping over Hawk's blurred silhouette on the screen, then added, "Also… cross-reference it with the physiological energy signature database for all recorded extraterrestrial life forms, including Kree, Skrulls, and especially those related to body modification projects."
Fury turned, looking toward the gradually paling pre-dawn sky outside the window, his finger subconsciously tracing an old-fashioned pager clipped to his waist.
"A mutant? Or some kind of even more dangerous alien genetic experiment?" he muttered to himself, his brow tightly furrowed. "Hawk… what are you? Busan, the Foot Clan, and this power… I will uncover your secret."
....
Hawk's Penthouse Apartment, Master Bedroom.
Outside the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, the city's nightlife sparkled like a scattered galaxy. Inside, the main lights were off; only a corner floor lamp cast a soft, intimate glow. The air was scented with expensive champagne and the residual heat of passion. The large, soft bed, deep enough to sink into, was in complete disarray.
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