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Due to Fury's insane actions, and most of the combat power being tied up on the Helicarrier at the time, there were no available personnel to assist.
With no other choice, Pierce had to dispatch HYDRA's ace enforcer to provide support.
Of course, the identity of HYDRA's ace enforcer could not be exposed, so Pierce had Winter Soldier disguise himself as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.
Winter Soldier's combat power was indeed formidable, like a highly efficient fighting machine. He single-handedly wiped out the entire squad around Fury, even leaving Fury, who was under Loki's mind control, stunned.
How did I not know I had such a fierce general under me before?
After eliminating the miscellaneous soldiers, Winter Soldier turned his gaze to Fury, about to make his move.
"Hold your hand!"
Seeing this, Darian immediately lunged forward, delivering a flying kick in mid-air, swiftly kicking Fury, who was next to Winter Soldier!
Winter Soldier: "???"
You told me to hold my hand, but then you kicked him away yourself?
Darian rescued Fury from Winter Soldier, looking at him and saying, "This is my mission objective; I can't give him to you."
Fury was his mission objective. Regardless of whether Winter Soldier was an ally or not, he couldn't hand Fury over to him.
Hearing this, Winter Soldier's cold eyes locked onto Darian.
His orders were also to capture Fury, and anyone who obstructed him had to be eliminated, no matter who they were.
Without another word, Winter Soldier charged forward, his left arm, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound, clenched into a fist and slammed directly towards Darian's face!
Facing Winter Soldier's fist, Darian didn't dodge, raising his hand to meet the punch head-on.
Bang!
A muffled thud echoed.
A tremendous force immediately followed, Darian's arm muscles instantly bulged, yet he still firmly caught Winter Soldier's fist.
He noticed an unusually hard sensation in his hand and glanced down, discovering it was a bionic arm glowing with a metallic sheen.
Darian exclaimed, "You have a metal arm, cool, cyberpunk!"
Seeing Darian block his metal arm, even the brainwashed Winter Soldier's mind briefly froze.
His invincible metal arm was actually caught?
However, Winter Soldier was currently in a 'blackened' state, at his strongest. He quickly reacted, immediately pulling out a dagger with his right hand and thrusting it into Darian's abdomen, forcing him to release and retreat, launching a fierce offensive against Darian!
In the midst of their fierce confrontation, Fury had struggled to his feet and quietly retreated to the main control panel, rapidly inputting commands, attempting to activate the strategic weapon protocol with maximum authority!
Unfortunately, it was morning, and the sunlight outside the window was intense, preventing Fury's stealth ability from being effective. Darian quickly noticed his small movements.
Crash!
Just as Darian was about to intervene, the giant floor-to-ceiling window of the command center suddenly shattered.
A shield wrapped in tattered cloth flew in from outside, precisely hitting Fury and knocking him to the ground again!
Immediately after, a Quinjet hovered outside the building. Steve leaped from the aircraft's hatch, directly passing through the shattered window and jumping into the command center, casually catching the shield that seemed to have a built-in tracking function.
"What's the situation now?"
Steve quickly scanned the scene, only to find Darian fighting a masked man who appeared to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.
For some reason, he always felt an indescribable sense of familiarity from this masked man.
Darian sidestepped a heavy punch from Winter Soldier, and in the interim, turned his head and shouted, "Steve, perfect timing! This guy is also an accomplice controlled by Loki, quickly help me stop him!"
Although Steve still had doubts, the situation was urgent, leaving no room for much thought.
He immediately stepped forward with his shield, blocking another heavy blow from Winter Soldier that was aimed at Darian.
Clang!!
The metal arm and the shield collided heavily, a sharp clang reverberating.
Darian took the opportunity to break free and rushed towards Fury, who had once again gotten to his feet.
Seeing Darian approaching menacingly, Fury hastily raised his voice and shouted, "Wait, Agent Darian! I have a mission to entrust to you!"
Although under mind control, Fury's memory and thought patterns remained unchanged. He knew Darian had an unusual dedication to missions.
As expected, Darian, hearing this, retracted the foot he was about to kick out and asked.
"What mission?"
Fury inwardly rejoiced and immediately followed up, "Help me destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters and assist Loki in conquering Earth!"
He knew Darian's style of doing things too well.
Every time he issued a mission, Darian would carry it out to the end, not caring about the content of the mission or whether it was reasonable.
Simply put, his moral bottom line was quite flexible.
Moreover, Darian's strength was also very formidable. If he could get his help, no one in the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters would be able to stop him, not even the Steve in front of him and the mysterious masked man.
Originally, Fury's plan was to lure Darian to Loki's side and have Loki directly mind control him, but unfortunately, Darian was out of contact at the time, completely unreachable, which forced him to turn his attention to Steve.
Now that the opportunity presented itself again, Fury naturally wouldn't let it go easily, attempting to pull Darian into his camp.
Darian raised an eyebrow: "Are you sure this is the mission you want to issue?"
Hearing this, Fury thought his strategy had succeeded.
He nodded without hesitation: "Of course! As long as you complete this mission, the rewards afterward will definitely not be lacking for you!"
Unexpectedly, Darian's face suddenly darkened. He straightened his back and righteously declared, "Nonsense! Do you think a mere reward can buy me off? I, Darian, am irreconcilable with evil!"
Fury: "???"
When did you develop such high ideological awareness?
Before Fury could speak again, Darian's size 42 foot kicked up, sending all his words back into his stomach.
Darian continued to kick and scold, "There isn't even a mission prompt, and you still have the nerve to talk about rewards?"
He had actually been a little expectant that Fury might issue a system mission. If the rewards were generous, he might have just accepted it casually.
But after waiting for a long time, he didn't hear the familiar system notification sound at all.
It was purely a waste of emotion!
The more Darian thought about it, the angrier he got. He grabbed Fury and gave him a beating.
This time he was smarter, carefully holding back his strength to avoid knocking him out accidentally, like he did with Steve before.
And the effect was very significant. Darian punched him dozens of times before Fury finally couldn't hold on and fainted.
Afterward, he tied Fury up with ropes, not in any particular pose, just like a mummy, with only his head exposed.
[Mission 'Long Live S.H.I.E.L.D.' Settlement Complete]
[Acquired Rewards: 1500 EXP, 30 S.H.I.E.L.D. Reputation, Item'Star of Africa', Item 'RX-78 Chaser']
[Item: Star of Africa (A very valuable diamond. Although its name is Star of Africa, Africans have never seen it)]
[Item: RX-78 Chaser (A robot that automatically tracks enemies. It will immediately self-destruct upon contact with the target)]
After successfully capturing this evil Bald Egg, Darian turned his gaze to the battle on the other side of the command center.
At this moment, Steve and Winter Soldier's battle had entered a white-hot stage.
Both possessed superhuman physical abilities and exquisite combat skills, and their equipment was top-tier.
One had an extremely powerful metal arm, the other a shield capable of absorbing kinetic energy. One offense, one defense, clashing fiercely, making it difficult to determine a winner in a short time.
And for some reason, Steve always felt a strange sense of familiarity from the other party, as if this person was someone very important to him.
However, every time he wanted to remove the opponent's mask to check, he would be fiercely stopped by the opponent.
Besides the order to capture Fury, Pierce had specifically instructed Winter Soldier never to expose his identity. Now, Winter Soldier valued his mask more than his own life.
The battle can be lost, but the mask cannot fall!
As the battle continued, both of them accumulated some injuries.
Winter Soldier's left sleeve was torn, revealing a whole silver metal arm, and the red five-pointed star on his shoulder was particularly glaring.
Meanwhile, the tattered cloth covering Steve's shield also fell off during the fight, revealing the distinct HYDRA logo in the center.
Darian: "....."
On one side was Winter Soldier, protecting S.H.I.E.L.D., and on the other was Hydra Captain, coming to obstruct him.
This scene is so strange!
No, I need to look again!
Not just Darian, but even Steve and Winter Soldier themselves were stunned.
Both of them, in unison, took half a step back, subconsciously covering the logos on their equipment.
Seeing that Darian had successfully captured Fury, and with his identity on the verge of exposure, Winter Soldier didn't hesitate, turning and retreating rapidly towards the exit.
Steve watched the swiftly receding figure of his opponent, hesitated for a moment, and ultimately chose not to pursue.
He turned to Darian and asked seriously, "Darian, do you know who that person is?"
Darian's expression remained unchanged, and he immediately shook his head in denial: "Completely unclear. Probably a homeless man Loki picked up from somewhere. Why are you suddenly asking this?"
What kind of homeless man could be so skilled?
Steve inwardly complained, but his brows furrowed even tighter: "He feels very familiar to me, but I really can't remember who he is."
Bro, the guy is covered head to toe, with only a few strands of hair showing. And you still find him familiar?
Darian was also speechless and casually said, "It's probably just your illusion, it's very normal. Just like you always think girls like you, but it's all just an illusion of life, don't mind it too much."
Steve: "....."
Don't talk nonsense, I never thought that.
Seeing that Winter Soldier had already left, Steve had no choice but to turn his attention back to the present.
He walked over to Fury, who was tied up with ropes, and said, "Let's wake him up first. Maybe he knows Loki's next plan."
Upon hearing this, Darian immediately volunteered, "I'll do it, I'm a professional!"
After saying that, he rushed forward and slapped Fury a dozen times loudly.
However, Fury remained unresponsive, showing no signs of waking up.
Darian was surprised: "Can he sleep that soundly?"
Steve: "....."
Actually, from the first slap, he saw Fury open his eyes for a moment, but then he was knocked out again by Darian's subsequent dozen slaps.
Perhaps a strong survival instinct kicked in, and Fury endured Darian's continuous slaps, forcing himself to wake up.
With half his face swollen, he hurriedly shouted, "Stop! Stop it! I'm already clear-headed!"
"Director, you're finally awake!" Darian pretended to be happy as he withdrew his hand.
Fury: (灬●)
If I didn't wake up now, I might never wake up again. Look at how swollen my face is.
Fury didn't have time to dwell on his swollen face and went straight to the point: "Loki's true purpose is to open a large portal to bring his alien army to Earth."
"What kind of army?" Steve immediately asked.
"Loki didn't reveal the details, but I suspect it's an extremely vast alien army. He acts extremely confident, as if once that legion successfully arrives, all military forces on Earth will be vulnerable."
Fury's face was incredibly grim.
Many years ago, he had seen a real alien army, and Earth was absolutely incapable of resisting it.
Loki's alien army might be similar. If it was the scale of the alien army from back then, unless he summoned a certain square-faced woman, Earth's strength would be no match for it.
Hearing Fury's words, Steve's heart also sank. Although he had never seen aliens, he understood the danger of the situation.
He asked, "Where is Loki now?"
"Unclear. Loki's whereabouts are kept secret from everyone; only Loki himself knows the detailed plan."
Fury shook his head and said seriously, "Before I set out, Loki only took the Tesseract and Dr. Selvig, and I was responsible for being a decoy and stalling for time."
"Now Loki has likely already begun setting up a teleportation device somewhere, using iridium as a stabilizer for the portal. Once the portal is formed, he can summon an army without limit."
Upon hearing this, Steve immediately opened his communicator and relayed the intelligence to the other members of the 'Kick the Bald Egg Alliance'.
Almost simultaneously, Tony's voice came through the earpiece.
"Your intel sure is timely. Bruce and I have already locked onto the Tesseract's signal. That bastard Loki is currently standing on top of my newly built Stark Tower, activating the portal!"
Darian naturally heard everything clearly through the communicator.
And at that very moment, the system's notification sound rang in his mind.
[Player, please note, the large-scale event 'Battle of New York' has officially begun!]
[Objective: Annihilate the Chitauri legion invading Earth]
[Rewards: Real-time ranking will be based on everyone's kill count. The more enemies killed, the higher the ranking. Rewards will ultimately be distributed according to the player's ranking position!]
Large-scale event!?
Darian's eyes immediately flashed with excitement.
If you're talking about that, then I'm definitely interested!