A white whirlwind swept across the battlefield as Ben released the terrifying arctic energy from his transformed body, grabbing Tony by the back of his collar and lifting him like he weighed nothing.
His pale blue wings spread wide, revealing his moth-like appearance in full.
"Let's move, Captain!"
Although Peter had never encountered Big Chill before, he immediately recognized that this was Ben in alien form.
So he instantly fired webbing, secured Captain America, and swung him aboard the Quinjet.
Ben hurled Tony upward as well, while fragments of the disabled armor scattered across the ground like discarded building blocks.
Everyone departed within the blinding white blizzard.
In truth, if Ben had wanted to, the frigid energy within his transformed body could have frozen the entire facility instantly.
But that wouldn't accomplish his objectives.
If destruction of SHIELD was the only goal, he could have simply transformed into Four Arms, or any sufficiently powerful alien form could have achieved that.
Everyone aboard the aircraft felt somewhat dejected by recent events.
Tony, having just escaped his powerless armor, gasped for breath and collapsed against the bulkhead. The claustrophobic experience had left him in terrible condition. At this moment, he appeared more like someone experiencing a panic attack—his face was pale and he couldn't manage to speak.
"What do we do now?" Peter broke the oppressive silence.
He held up his phone, displaying the screen angrily. "All of us are wanted fugitives, and they've even mark us as Hydra operatives!"
At this moment, Hydra's bounty announcements for them had been released.
Everyone present, even Tony, had been falsely labeled as Hydra agents.
"There's no alternative," Hill said from the pilot's seat, shaking her head grimly. "Pierce has assumed control of the Security Council, and SHIELD has been completely reclaimed by him. We're essentially opposing our entire nation. Even worse, the international community now considers us enemies."
Both SHIELD and military forces operated under Security Council authority. Now, even if Tony wanted assistance from Rhodes, it was highly unlikely he can help.
Although Rhodes was the only other person authorized to operate Iron Patriot armor, he was undoubtedly under strict surveillance and wouldn't even have access to the equipment.
"And we..." She turned to survey everyone aboard. "There are only eight of us, including this alien."
"That's rather rude. I told you my name is Big Chill," Ben glared at her with obvious displeasure.
"None of that matters right now, okay?" Tony finally recovered enough to speak, though he was still breathing heavily. "The important thing is: can you turn off the air conditioning? I'm freezing to death here."
"I didn't activate any climate control," Hill replied with confusion.
Then everyone's attention turned to Ben, who was exhaling visible arctic vapor with every breath.
"Big moth, please restrain yourself," Tony muttered.
Tony settled into a seat, rubbing his shoulders for warmth, and said, "I need to construct new armor. The Plumbers should have the necessary materials, right?"
When Tony learned that they were all wanted fugitives, he immediately realized that both Stark Industries and his personal residences might be under surveillance or direct assault.
Since returning there was impossible, he could only seek refuge with the Plumbers to build replacement armor and restart Jarvis.
Actually, he was quite concerned about Pepper's safety, but fortunately, considering the potential dangers of this operation, he'd made preparations in advance.
He just hadn't anticipated his armor being completely disabled.
"I'm definitely installing EMP shielding!" he declared emphatically.
"Something's strange though," Natasha observed, looking at Peter with curiosity. "Why does the wanted notice only target Spider-Man instead of your actual identity?"
Within SHIELD, very few people knew the true identities of Spider-Man and Prime. In fact, only individuals like Nick possessed that information.
But Spider-Man and Prime files were definitely recorded in the system.
After Pierce regained control of SHIELD and obtained Level 10 clearance, he should have been able to access everything.
"Because the Plumbers blocked all documents related to Spider-Man," Ben explained in his alien voice.
It wasn't as if he'd been idle during his time within SHIELD.
All information regarding Spider-Man's identity had been systematically blocked and deleted by him. Even with Pierce's maximum clearance level, it would be useless.
"Why?" Hill asked, clearly confused.
She felt simultaneously terrified that the Plumbers could accomplish such infiltration without SHIELD's knowledge, and puzzled about why they would help Spider-Man conceal his identity.
"Well..." Peter hesitated, uncertain how much to reveal.
Tony took over the explanation casually. "It's obvious—because Spider-Man is a Plumbers member."
He shrugged. Since Ben was affiliated with the Plumbers, it wasn't surprising that Peter, as Ben's cousin, would also be part of the organization.
"I always assumed it was an alien-only organization," Coulson remarked.
"Not quite," Ben said thoughtfully. "Both humans and aliens are citizens of space."
"Then let's proceed to Primus. There's someone there you'd never expect to see," Ben continued.
"We're just going to abandon Prime at SHIELD headquarters? He's also Spider-Man's ally, and his power should be comparable to Peter's. Although he has numerous inventions, if they deploy another EMP bomb, won't he be in equal danger?"
Steve genuinely couldn't accept abandoning teammates.
This reminded him of the scene when Bucky had fallen from the train.
Another comrade left behind.
What if Prime is in mortal peril?
"How do you know no one else went to rescue him, Captain?" Ben asked pointedly.
"You mean other Plumbers members conducted the extraction?" Captain America breathed with obvious relief.
"You'll understand when we arrive."
Ben didn't elaborate further, but simply rendered his body intangible and departed the aircraft.
High in the atmosphere, Big Chill rushed into the cloud cover. The next moment, a green flash illuminated the clouds, followed by a red creature diving downward at tremendous speed.
Jetray was an Aerophibian from the planet Aeropela. This transformation featured a sleek red body with prominent yellow horns extending from the nose area, yellow wing membranes stretching beneath the arms, and black lightning-like patterns across both shoulders.
Because of its resemblance to a stingray, the alien was nicknamed Jetray.
With extraordinary flight capabilities, Jetray could reach speeds faster than light—Ben had once used it to cross vast interstellar distances in mere moments.
In addition to its speed, Jetray could fire laser beams from both its eyes and tail.
Aside from Alien X, Jetray was the fastest among all of Ben's transformations, even outpacing XLR8 in terms of raw speed.
However, Jetray's reflexes weren't as sharp as XLR8's.
When transformed into Jetray, Ben could easily leave a Quinjet in the dust.
Eventually, the aircraft landed outside New York City, and the group altered their appearances and quietly returned to Primus Tower under Peter's guidance.
When they arrived, they discovered that Ben was already standing at the company entrance, waiting for them.
"How did he get here before us?" Steve asked with genuine surprise.
"I already told you—worry about ourselves instead of him," Tony replied, removing his sunglasses as he walked past Steve.
The group hurried into Primus Tower.
Ben pressed the button for the basement level.
But Coulson remained confused: "Aren't we going to Plumbers headquarters? Why are we here at Primus?"
At that moment, the elevator opened and Nick Fury emerged alongside Harry.
"Because Primus Tower serves as Plumbers headquarters," Fury announced.
Everyone exclaimed in shock.
Only Nick Fury regarded Ben with knowing intensity. "You concealed this very well, Ben Parker. I never suspected you were the Plumbers' Earth chiff commander!"
"It's only serving as a temporary facility," Ben replied dismissively.
He had no intention of fully converting Primus into permanent Plumbers headquarters.
After all, Primus remained a commercial enterprise, and it would inevitably attract considerable attention and scrutiny in the future. As an organization, the Plumbers required a truly secret base.
He thought Mount Rushmore would be excellent—he wanted to hollow it out for headquarters use.
Seeing that Nick Fury had survived provided Hill and the others with considerable hope.
After all, this veteran operative was their leader and possessed numerous legendary accomplishments. Although he'd lost his position as SHIELD director, knowing he was safe felt like receiving vital reassurance.
At least Coulson appeared more relaxed.
He surveyed Primus with obvious curiosity. "I expected to see numerous aliens here."
"Don't worry about the alien—let's focus on our current situation," Nick Fury said pragmatically.
In his assessment, their circumstances were extremely dire.
When Harry had rescued him, he hadn't taken Nick back to Osborn Industries but had secretly brought him to Primus instead.
Now everyone knew that Harry was the new Green Goblin or Neo Green Goblin.
Hydra would definitely target Osborn Industries to eliminate Nick Fury.
On the surface, they still represented SHIELD, so they wouldn't take action against Norman before locating Fury. The same protection applied to Pepper Potts.
The group settled around a circular conference table, with Nick Fury looking deeply troubled.
"Currently they're just hunting us, but once the Helicarriersare completed, no one will be able to stop Hydra."
"The Helicarrierswe upgraded are actually helping them?" Peter's eyes widened with dismay.
Tony shook his head reassuringly. "Don't worry. Actually, Prime and I already sabotaged the Helicarriers. When the time comes, we just need to replace their targeting program and everything will be resolved."
"When did this happen?" Nick Fury stood up furiously.
His remaining eye shifted between Ben and Tony with expressions of shock and betrayal, as if he'd been personally deceived. He shouted: "You didn't trust me?!"
"The result of trusting you is that you've ended up like this," Tony replied, crossing his arms with a smirk.
"You developed Project Insight and listed me as the primary threat. You prepared electromagnetic pulse weapons to neutralize me and were ready to eliminate me at any moment. How could I possibly trust you?"
"That wasn't my fault," Nick Fury replied, spreading his hands defensively. "Project Insight was actually formulated by Pierce, and even I was on the assassination list."
He stopped dwelling on the matter and asked more practically: "You modified the targeting algorithms?"
"Correct." Tony nodded confirmation.
Ben also nodded and explained, "I previously investigated and discovered that Project Insight's algorithms originated from Hydra's Dr. Zola. I located his base, destroyed it, and replaced the underlying code."
"When the Helicarriersactivate..." Tony continued Ben's explanation, "they'll discover that they themselves are the targets."
Nick Fury nodded understanding, then asked a crucial question: "What if they bypass the algorithms entirely and use manual operations to attack us or threaten civilian populations?"
This was something Tony hadn't anticipated.
After all, from the beginning, he'd never expected the Helicarrier would fall into Hydra's hands.
In his original assessment, they should have waited until completing the upgrades, then immediately launched the Helicarrier to implement their counter-Insight plan and eliminate Hydra in one decisive strike.
Who could have predicted that Hydra would act before the Helicarrier were fully operational?
But he quickly conceived a solution.
"Then we seize the Helicarrier!"
Tony Stark stood up with determination.
"Just the few of us?" Natasha seemed to have heard the most ridiculous joke imaginable.
Those were Helicarrier, not simple Quinjets.
No one knew how many weapons systems were installed aboard the carriers—they might even be equipped with nuclear warheads. When three Helicarrierswere hovering over New York, it would take only a single command to completely destroy the city.
With their insignificant numbers and resources, how could they possibly reclaim the carriers?
But at this moment, Ben stood up confidently.
"I can accomplish it alone."
"I was responsible for upgrading the carriers' propulsion systems. I'm also intimately familiar with their other systems. I can regain control."
In reality, control of the Helicarrier was already in Ben's hands.
If he chose, the Hydra operatives wouldn't even be qualified to board the carriers.
But he had no intention of revealing this.
The carriers currently represented Hydra's most powerful weapons. Once they were lost, Hydra would be like losing their fangs, and the threat would be dramatically reduced.
That wouldn't serve his purposes.
How could heroes exist without sufficiently powerful villains to oppose them?
If there hadn't been the threat of Helicarrier approaching New York, how could Norman have stood up heroically and fought against evil so magnificently?
Not only Norman, but even Ben's image became more impressive in Nick Fury's perception.
He clapped his hands and turned to Natasha with a grin.
"See, Agent Romanoff? That's called professionalism. Instead of giving up and declaring all hope lost, you get creative and adapt!"
Natasha rolled her eyes.
"You're absolutely right," she said dryly. "Next time you come up with one of your brilliant plans, I'll strip you bare and come up with a solution before you even finish making a mess."
Nick Fury: ???
"Et tu, Romanoff?"
"I'm not betraying anyone," she replied coolly. "I just think SHIELD's pretty much toast. Odds are, you'll be behind bars soon—so it's not like you'll be my boss for much longer."