Budapest, a city of ancient history. In the past, Buda and Pest were two entirely distinct cities on opposite banks of the Danube. With the continuous expansion of the urban landscape, they eventually merged into Budapest.
Many things have transpired here. For instance, when the Soviet army liberated the city, they confiscated a vast amount of Hydra equipment and took custody of numerous Hydra members.
Then there was the "Budapest Incident" a few years ago. S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered the "Red Room" here, one of the weapon expansion programs. On the surface, it trained "Sparrows" for Russia—female agents of exceptional beauty. In reality, it was manufacturing a chemical agent used for absolute obedience. Through physical modification in the Red Room followed by the administration of this drug, the subjects would become soldiers of absolute compliance.
It was here that Hawkeye, Clint Barton, accidentally discovered the existence of the Red Room and rescued one of its members: Natasha Romanoff. The two fought side-by-side and ultimately dismantled the evil Red Room organization.
At least, in the eyes of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Red Room was likely—perhaps—destroyed.
"So, this place had Nazi remnants from the very beginning. I thought that was a situation unique to the Western bloc." The Captain looked at the report and let out a helpless sigh, reminiscing about his own glory days.
"I don't have many memories of the Soviets, but in my impression, they possessed a firm conviction—even a fanatical faith. They were like Crusaders, but they didn't believe in God or Heaven; they believed in their own country, their own ideals. They believed their struggles and sacrifices would bring about a better world."
However, the Soviet Union collapsed faster than the Captain had anticipated. When the giant began to rot from within, it fell far more rapidly than the "backward capitalism" it spoke of. Once it lost its faith, the speed at which it was infiltrated by Hydra far exceeded that of its seemingly weaker and more easily influenced rivals.
A nation founded on faith, forged by faith, collapsed with a thunderous crash once that faith vanished, becoming a breeding ground for the parasitic Hydra.
The Captain sighed over this, while Logan felt nothing toward these non-existent memories. The two had been in Budapest for several days, and they could feel that their investigation was not going smoothly. In fact, they could sense the malice the entire city held toward them.
Hydra was trying every possible means to monitor them from every angle. This entire city had already been permeated by Hydra. The fall of the Red Room years ago had changed nothing.
And the Captain and his companion planned to change things.
Their intelligence had come from Kraven the Hunter, who was currently in New York preparing to return to his home country. This super-soldier from the Ministry of Internal Affairs had found Hydra-related outposts in Budapest gathered by the KGB years ago. There was no other way—it wasn't the Americans who liberated Budapest back then, so S.H.I.E.L.D. had no intelligence in their hands.
Furthermore, the Captain clearly lacked any affection for the U.S. military. Considering they were capable of sending Jim Hammond to burn Hitler to death just so the "U.S. Army could occupy Berlin first"—which led to Jim being captured and modified by Hydra—the Captain wished he could personally smash the officer who issued that order.
The credibility of their own intelligence was even more of a question mark.
As the Captain lamented, he examined the past Hydra-related locations specified in the intelligence. There were three or four research bases alone.
"The Hydra outposts in Budapest aren't quite right."
With his extensive experience fighting Hydra, the Captain saw at a glance that there was a problem with the outposts Hydra had set up in Budapest during World War II.
"The layout of these places is very strange. No one would choose to place firepower here, unless..."
The Captain trailed off and marked a spot on the map. "Unless this isn't a distribution map of outposts, but a garrison map. They are protecting somewhere not marked on the map."
Very quickly, the Captain marked this location and then asked the question Nick Fury was most concerned about.
"When do we move?"
The Captain was getting a bit impatient. On one hand, as Hydra's strictest "father," he really wanted to give these Hydra goons a few heavy slaps. On the other hand, he wanted to rescue Bucky as quickly as possible.
But Nick Fury was in no hurry.
"We need the help of Spider-Man and Black Cat. We can't act rashly for the time being."
With a few light words, Fury told the Captain not to engage in a passionate confrontation with Hydra just yet, waiting for the moment to align with his own timing.
As for Spider-Man's side, Fury had actually arranged for him to act autonomously. Where Spider-Man investigated and what he looked into was entirely up to Spider-Man himself.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Budapest.
The Wild Pack was conducting another day of combat training. These soldiers had only entered Hungary in the last two days. They didn't know who they were going to face; they only knew they were preparing to deal with an unprecedented enemy.
"You haven't heard? They say the 'Little Mustache' was resurrected by an evil sorcerer, and we're going to take him down again!"
Within the Wild Pack, many bizarre rumors began to circulate like this, but Silver Sable offered no explanation or restraint. She simply waited quietly for the rumors to ferment naturally.
Aside from this, Peter and Silver Sable did nothing else.
Soon, the person Peter was waiting for appeared in the Wild Pack's training base. A mercenary from the Wild Pack stealthily chose to sneak into the armory after training ended and began to sabotage the equipment to a certain degree.
Peter saw it all. He didn't move to capture the mole, but instead began to wait quietly. Peter hoped this mole would lead him to the secret base where Hydra had been hiding.
"The target cut off the tracking signal on the Pack's uniform, but I can confirm we haven't been exposed yet."
Silver Sable confirmed the location where the target's signal last appeared and then looked at Spider-Man. Peter had already changed into his pure black stealth suit; the spider emblem and eyepieces of the suit emitted a red glow.
"Copy that. I've confirmed the radio bands and signals; should be no problem."
After Peter confirmed, he entered a state of invisibility. This time, his cloaking was not just visual; it was effective against infrared detection as well.
"Now then, let's see exactly what Hydra has been hiding."