Pierce recognized the spectral figure drifting toward him. It was the same alien entity that had flash-froze an entire SHIELD facility not long ago.
As Ben's ethereal footsteps approached, a delicate lattice of frost spread across every instrument on the bridge, covering surfaces in a crystalline, deadly moss.
"That fool Fury… actually colluding with aliens like you," Pierce snarled, his breath pluming in the rapidly cooling air. "Sooner or later, he'll bring destruction to all of humanity!"
As a Hydra operative, Pierce was undeniably evil. But as a human, his xenophobia was genuine; he despised any non-human species that dared to interfere in the affairs of Earth.
"First," Ben replied calmly, his voice an otherworldly echo, "I am not entirely an alien. Second, the alien Nick Fury is working with is someone else entirely. And third…"
Ben extended a translucent, moth-like hand, its grace belying its lethal intent as it passed through Pierce's face.
"There won't be much of Nick Fury left on this Earth from now on."
The moment Ben's intangible form made contact, Pierce's body was encased in ice, transforming him into a flawless, life-sized sculpture. Unlike Captain America, who could survive being frozen for decades, the instantaneous and absolute loss of body temperature extinguished all of Pierce's vital signs in a fraction of a second.
Ben gave the statue a gentle push with one finger. It toppled over, and the moment it struck the deck plating, both the ice and the man within shattered into a million glittering fragments.
"Collect all the villain fragments to summon Hydra Supreme," Ben quipped with dark humor. He stepped over the debris and approached the main console. His watch flashed green, and in an instant, the ghostly form of Big Chill was replaced by the liquid-metal physique of Upgrade.
Simultaneously, the technological virus Ben had planted throughout the Helicarrier network activated. In a blink, the other two carriers fell completely under his control.
"The fleet is mine."
To be honest, the Helicarriers held limited practical value for Ben personally. But if Norman established his new global defense agency as planned, they would serve as a powerful deterrent and a mobile headquarters. Better yet, they wouldn't even have to pay for the upkeep—the World Security Council would be more than happy to allocate the necessary funds. In fact, the Council would feel uneasy if they weren't allowed to spend money on such high-profile projects.
Down below, the heroes and Hydra agents were still braced for Pierce's promised nuclear assault. The expected scene of atomic fire consuming the city never materialized. After climbing high into the sky, the three Helicarriers simply vanished into the cloud cover.
A moment of tense silence fell over Times Square before the Hydra operatives, with a collective roar, launched another desperate offensive.
Peter leaped and swung through the air, dodging a storm of concentrated fire. "Pierce was planning to destroy you along with us, and you're still fighting for him?" he called out.
"They are necessary sacrifices!" a Hydra commander shouted back, his fanaticism burning brighter than ever. Even knowing their leader was gone and their cause was lost, they continued their assault. "For the new world order! Hail Hydra!"
The sight of thousands of soldiers charging forward in perfect, suicidal synchronization was genuinely terrifying. When it came down to raw numbers, the heroes were hopelessly outmatched.
By now, Fury and his team were showing clear signs of exhaustion. Dr. Connors's transformation was becoming increasingly unstable; the scales covering his body were beginning to flake off, and his overall size was noticeably shrinking. To combat the antibodies in his system, he'd injected four doses of the volatile serum at once, but the duration of the change remained frustratingly brief.
Sam Wilson, the Falcon, was only human. And now, facing such overwhelming opposition, he could barely maintain altitude, his wings struggling against the endless barrage of enemy fire.
Tony Stark still had plenty of power reserves—his suit's arc reactor would outlast his own stamina by hours. But he couldn't eliminate so many hostiles single-handedly unless he was prepared to kill them all. When facing terrorists in the Middle East, he could act with detached mercy, eliminating threats from a distance without seeing the carnage up close. This wasn't dozens or hundreds of lives; it was tens of thousands.
The heroes were forced into a defensive circle, standing back-to-back as enemies closed in from all sides, each one shouting "Hail Hydra!" before throwing themselves into the meat grinder.
"Does anyone have an alternative suggestion?" Natasha asked, panting heavily. "We'll die of exhaustion if this keeps up!"
"Reinforcements are coming!" Steve shouted over the din. "We just need to hold on a little longer. I believe we're not the only ones willing to fight!"
As if summoned by his words, the distant wail of sirens echoed through the streets. Captain George Stacy arrived, leading the entire force of the New York Police Department. From another direction, several heavy-duty trucks roared onto the scene—the gangs of Hell's Kitchen, or more precisely, the criminal organization under the command of Wilson Fisk. The Kingpin understood perfectly that if Hydra won, his own shadow empire would be the next to fall. He hadn't hesitated to commit his forces. Ironically, the firepower possessed by these criminal organizations far exceeded that of the NYPD.
"Spider-Man, I'm here to help!" Daredevil called out from above, using his billy clubs to swing between the skyscrapers before dropping into the fray.
The tide of battle finally began to turn. Sensing the perfect moment, Ben activated the Helicarrier's communication system, broadcasting his voice to everyone below.
"Can you hear me? This is Ben Parker. Mr. Osborn, I've secured control of the Helicarrier fleet. Hold your positions—the Iron Legion will be on the battlefield momentarily."
Nick Fury immediately sensed something was wrong. While the others cheered, he found himself cursing under his breath. Now the credit for turning the tide would belong entirely to Osborn Industries. The rest of them were just expendable workers. He was at a loss for words to express his frustration.
But soon, a strange sense of relief washed over him. Although the Hydra infiltration wasn't his fault, it had happened on his watch. When the dust settled and accountability was demanded, he couldn't escape the blame. Someone had to be the scapegoat. Blaming the deceased Howard Stark would be difficult.
By even the most conservative estimates, Fury was facing a forced resignation, and if things went poorly, possibly even prison. SHIELD would be disbanded. Rather than worry about those bureaucratic headaches, he might as well focus on other possibilities—like finding a Skrull to serve his prison sentence while he went exploring the galaxy.
With that thought, Nick Fury's marksmanship became noticeably less precise.
At that moment, dozens of Iron Legion drones descended from the sky, instantly surrounding Times Square.
"Aren't these the same robots from the Stark Expo? The ones Vanko hijacked?" Steve asked, recognizing the design.
"Why didn't he deploy these earlier?" Hawkeye grumbled. As veteran operatives, they immediately detected the political machinations at play. But like Fury, they couldn't be bothered to care. Workers shouldn't concern themselves with the boss's schemes, Natasha thought, feeling no sympathy whatsoever.
With the aid of the allied forces, all remaining Hydra soldiers surrendered within the hour. Of course, these were only the operatives within SHIELD. Countless more remained hidden in other institutions, but they would require the "Project Insight" algorithm to systematically identify and root them out.
For now, the war was essentially over.
Ben sat on his impromptu frozen throne on the bridge, crossing his legs as he contemplated the major event he had personally orchestrated. Setting aside the spoils of victory, he was more interested in reviewing his plan's execution. Although the results matched his expectations, there had been several unexpected complications.
The biggest surprise had been the Hulk. He genuinely couldn't have predicted that Pierce would recruit Banner. If Ben hadn't possessed the power to defeat him, the entire operation could have become genuinely dangerous. Another surprise was Steve's crisis of faith over Bucky, which had rendered him unable to lift Mjolnir.
Fortunately, no critical errors had occurred. But the experience taught Ben an important lesson. Sometimes, no matter how meticulously you plan, reality can deviate dramatically.
"There's no such thing as a perfect plan," Ben mused, "only power."
As long as one's strength was sufficient, any situation could be resolved. If it couldn't, that simply meant one wasn't strong enough yet.
Which brought him to Alien X. He couldn't access that transformation at all. Ben leaned back, propping his feet up on the console. Although Alien X was a cheat code made manifest, it possessed a fatal flaw. If its two distinct consciousnesses couldn't achieve unity, it couldn't act. This was why the supposedly invincible Alien X was also known as the "AFK Superman"—powerful enough to reshape reality, but perpetually paralyzed by internal debate.
When facing truly unsolvable crises, Alien X was the ultimate trump card. But for anything less, transforming into it posed the greatest danger of all.
The two aspects of consciousness within the Omnitrix's sample were characterized by perpetual disagreement. Bellicus and Serena had been debating whether to save the dinosaurs for literally billions of years without reaching a conclusion. Bellicus seemed to exist solely to oppose Serena. In the series the one time Ben had made Serena cry, Bellicus had become so enraged he had immediately ejected Ben from their shared consciousness space.
"If I can't resolve the dual consciousness problem, that transformation is useless," he said to the empty room. "The Alien X problem still needs to be solved."
Sometimes, using cheat codes could diminish the fun of a game. But you could always choose not to use them. You just couldn't afford to live without them.