Cyclone was dead. This outcome was far beyond Peter's expectations. He could be certain of one thing: Madame Hydra was behind this. He had seen this magic, characterized by lingering green mists, used by Madame Hydra less than an hour ago during Molten Man's prison break.
In just one hour, two members of the Elementals had died completely. But why? Why had Hydra begun killing these people?
Was it simply because he had the ability to capture them? That didn't make sense.
Peter scratched his head, perplexed. Black Knight, who had been slacking off during the battle, walked over. As a member of a noble house dating back to the era of King Arthur, although he knew no magic himself, he possessed a wealth of theoretical knowledge. Observing the scene, he looked at Spider-Man with a serious expression. "This is dark magic. We've seen this before while fighting demons and Morgan le Fay."
"Morgan le Fay?" Peter recalled the name. "You mean King Arthur's half-sister, the dark sorceress?"
"Yes. Excalibur's greatest enemy is Morgan le Fay, along with her wicked son Mordred and the demons associated with them." Captain Britain walked over, using the briefest language possible to introduce the biggest difference between British superheroes and the Avengers. Old London was a place heavy with magical atmosphere, to the point where the supervillains they fought daily were mostly magic-based.
However, a thought occurred to Peter.
"Doesn't the British Sanctum come to help you?"
"The sorcerers of Kamar-Taj provide us with support, but we rely more on Merlyn. Furthermore, the Sorcerer Supreme and Merlyn seem to have an agreement; he doesn't interfere too much in the affairs of London's magical community." Captain Britain offered a brief explanation of the situation, then looked toward the spot where Cyclone's spiritual form had existed moments before. "His spirit was planted with a curse. Judging by the timing of the curse, it hasn't been there long—it might have been set just recently."
Set just recently... but why?
Peter was still scratching his head when he suddenly received a text from Cindy. She said a guest had arrived on the Wild Pack's freighter.
"Gentlemen, Nick Fury is here and wants to see everyone. Are you interested?"
Minutes later, aboard the Wild Pack's battleship docked at the port of Naples, which was currently undergoing repairs for multiple leaks.
Nick Fury stood before a cage. Not long ago, Molten Man had been imprisoned here; now, it was empty. While the Serpent Society thugs were also enhanced humans, Fury clearly had no interest in them.
"I heard Molten Man died, so I rushed over. Coincidentally, I just saw that Cyclone is dead too." Fury sighed helplessly and looked at Peter, then at the members of the British organization Excalibur behind him. "I heard these people were killed by magic. I don't know much about magic; do you experts have any insights?"
"A temporary curse. To execute such a curse, the caster pays a significant price. In other words, the opponent was willing to pay a heavy cost just to completely eliminate Cyclone," Black Knight explained. "This is illogical. It requires a thorough investigation."
Nick Fury remained silent. He actually knew exactly why this was happening, but he had no intention of telling the members of Excalibur. Instead, he changed his tone. "My apologies, everyone. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not yet clear on these matters; leave them to us for the time being. I need you all to help me investigate how to prevent and break this kind of curse. After all, I don't have magic experts on my side, and I can't always just shoot the enemies—I need intelligence."
"Then the Elementals..."
"We will temporarily stop them rather than attempting to arrest them. Of course, the enemy might go into hiding because of this." Fury indicated that this matter no longer concerned them; they had been invited by the Wild Pack anyway. The members of Excalibur glanced at each other and nodded.
"Once we return to Britain, we will immediately launch a relevant investigation and provide a solution as quickly as possible. I fear a very evil conspiracy lurks behind the Elementals. We will do our part for this cause."
Fury nodded. After watching them leave, he sighed helplessly. Neither Silver Sable, Black Cat, nor even Silk was present; for the moment, it was just him and Peter.
He pulled back his trench coat, hands on his hips, and stared at the cage, lowering his voice to explain why this was happening. "You should know that you were just a distraction. In reality, I sent others to investigate Hydra, right?"
"Right. What about it?"
"The people I sent went to Taranto."
Peter looked at Fury in great surprise. "I've been to Taranto. There was no intelligence regarding Hydra there."
"That is the strangest part. If there was no Hydra intelligence there, why would Hydra send the most terrifying assassin I know and the most skilled mercenary I've ever met to silence the mercenaries I sent out? I can only confirm the Winter Soldier's appearance twice: once when he blinded my eye, and once when your parents had their accident. He was at the scene."
Peter understood immediately. The helpers Fury found had gone to Taranto and were intercepted by the Winter Soldier. Undoubtedly, other things had happened as well, which made Fury realize that things had taken a turn for the worse. Disaster had likely struck.
Peter suddenly realized two things. He asked the first: "Wait, who did you send?"
"Steve Rogers and Logan. They were in disguise, but the ones sent to assassinate them were the Winter Soldier and Taskmaster. They had no choice but to reveal their identities to fight them."
Peter understood why Hydra had begun assassinating the captured members of the Elementals. Captain America had discovered that the Winter Soldier was James Barnes. Since the Winter Soldier was nominally a Soviet-enhanced human, it would inevitably trigger an investigation by both the US and Russia into the incident. At that point, it would be inevitable for Hydra to surface.
To prevent Hydra's intelligence from leaking, Hydra would undoubtedly carry out a massive contraction and a "house cleaning."
"We've startled the snake. This proves your line of reasoning was correct—our line of reasoning was correct. But it also shows just how cautious those bastards are. Dammit, I can already guess how many people are going to die in 'accidents.' These guys will all be purged by Hydra; they are going to go back into hibernation."
Peter looked at Nick Fury and asked the second question: "You have a second team, don't you? Cap and Logan were your second distraction, and you arranged a second investigation team—the real investigation team—to look into all of this."
Nick Fury smiled with satisfaction.
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