Aside from Dick, who had infiltrated early, the other three members of the Fantastic Four were also engaged in battles across different sections of the Helicarrier.
But unlike Dick, who relied on stealth to take out his targets, their fights were far from simple.
"Woohoo! That's some weird energy attack!"
On the deck of the carrier, Johnny, the Human Torch, was locked in combat with a large group of Hydra agents. This was the perfect battlefield for him. After all, indoor spaces were never ideal for flames to burn freely.
Even with the open sky above him, what he witnessed still left him shocked. These Hydra agents weren't what they used to be.
They had ditched their old laser rifles. Instead, with a wave of their hands, they launched orbs of dark green energy. Just getting close to those orbs made Johnny feel a strong sense of discomfort.
When his fireballs clashed with those energy blasts, the resulting explosion confirmed his suspicion.
The green glow wasn't the only thing that came with it. A bone-chilling cold spread through the air, cutting straight into his bones. The icy sensation was so strong that it nearly snuffed out the flames covering his body.
"Can't keep dragging this out."
More Hydra reinforcements poured onto the deck, and the attacks against him grew more concentrated. Johnny knew he couldn't mess around any longer. If their numbers kept increasing, even he wouldn't be able to handle them.
Unless… unless he unleashed his maximum heat, vaporizing the entire helicarrier and the clouds above Los Angeles in the process.
That thought pushed him to act. He dove down sharply, slamming several Hydra operatives and sending them sprawling across the metal floor.
Then he soared up again. Behind him, fire rained down like a storm, turning the entire deck into an inferno.
"Ahhh! Fire! We're on fire!"
The agents were well-trained, no doubt about that. But when flames licked their bodies and life began to slip away, even the toughest men couldn't stop themselves from screaming in fear.
Johnny didn't hold back. He pushed his flames to the limit, using his flight to transform the deck into a blazing hell.
* * *
Meanwhile, inside the Helicarrier, Ben and Susan fought side by side rather than splitting up. Together, they faced Hydra agents rushing in from every direction.
The dark green energy spheres were dangerous. They carried a strange power, strong enough to overpower even Johnny's fire on a physical level. But Susan's force fields were no ordinary energy either. They were just the thing to counter those attacks.
The energy balls exploded against her barriers, scattering fragments of green light. The leftover energy clung to the walls, slowly corroding the alloy. This was some of the strongest metal technology on Earth, second only to vibranium. The sight alone revealed how deadly this energy truly was.
"What is this energy?" Susan muttered under her breath. She didn't dare lower her guard. Anything that could melt metal like this could kill her and Ben just as easily.
Ben seized the chance when one of the blasts hit Susan's shield. He charged forward, bursting through the barrier, and landed a crushing punch that sent a Hydra agent flying straight into the men behind him, knocking them all down like dominoes.
"As long as we're careful, we'll be fine. And by the look of things, Johnny's keeping most of Hydra's forces busy outside," Ben said with a grunt.
"Yeah…" Susan nodded and moved behind him once more, throwing up a shield that covered them both.
Her brother might worry her often, but in moments like this, he never let her down. That was why she never tried to force him to change who he was. Because deep down, she trusted him. He might be impulsive, but he wasn't a fool.
"Then we better pick up the pace. Dick's trying to stop this thing from bombing Los Angeles. We can't let Hydra get anywhere near him."
* * *
The three teammates fought fiercely, keeping Hydra's agents completely tied down. They were giving their captain the best possible chance.
At this time, Dick heard someone approaching and quickly hid.
Not long after, Pierce appeared from the direction of the footsteps.
His looked tense, but not panicked. Taking the carrier and making it Hydra's property was only the ideal outcome if everything went perfectly. In truth, they never saw ownership of the Helicarrier as the main goal of this operation.
What they truly wanted was the cosmic energy inside Reed, and the Pym Particle technology.
"Damn that Captain America. If it weren't for him, both the cosmic energy and the Pym Particles would already be in our hands."
Hydra might look powerful on the surface, but this operation had brought them no real gain. Naturally, Pierce wasn't pleased.
Now, his only plan was to take control of the Helicarrier and use its weapons to turn Los Angeles into ruins. Destroying an entire city would throw America into chaos. That chaos would force LexCorp to shift its focus, giving Hydra the time they needed to lay the final groundwork for their plan.
This was their last resort.
With that in mind, Pierce reached the control room. Pulling out his clearance card, he stepped toward the security door. It was the sole card capable of opening this room now. Even Fury's card had been revoked.
He swiped it. The door slid open. Without wasting a second, he stepped inside. The door sealed shut behind him.
Dick moved out from his hiding spot, his expression dark.
"Damn it."
He'd miscalculated. Pierce might be older now, but he had once been a trained agent. A man like that wasn't someone Dick could guarantee taking down in a clean ambush.
And there was another problem, he didn't know if the man still had that green energy in him. So he'd planned to follow him inside after the door opened. But clearly, the door had been preset. It only stayed open long enough for one person.
By the time Dick moved, the doors had sealed him out.
"Looks like I'll have to bring Johnny here and melt the door down."
Time was slipping away. Pierce was inside, and finding another clearance card wasn't an option. That card didn't exist anywhere else.
His only shot was to call Johnny and have him use his heat.
Just as he was about to reach out through the comms, an unknown signal broke into their private channel with a loud, brazen voice.
"Hello, hello! Can you hear me? This is the great Tony Stark. If you're still alive, respond!"
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