Chapter 126: Schemes
Hawk stared at the missing warhead route marked in red on the tactical map for a long time, and finally picked up the encrypted line to call McCullen.
The phone rang three times before it was answered, and the voice on the other end was enthusiastic just right, carrying a bit of a businessman's characteristic smoothness: "General Hawk? What a rare visitor. Did something go wrong with the escorted warheads? I just received the news and was about to call you."
"Save it." Hawk didn't buy it, getting straight to the point, "Two of the four warheads were hijacked, and the remaining two are at my Base. Send your technical team over to re-inspect the entire process, including the safety mechanism and signal shielding layer. I want to make sure the rest won't go wrong or be tampered with remotely."
"Rightly so, rightly so. Safety first." McCullen agreed readily, his tone full of cooperation, "I will immediately have the chief engineer lead a team over, taking off within three hours, and guarantee to check it out clearly for you. Rest assured, MARS Group's product quality control is definitely top-notch, and we will fully cooperate in investigating this hijacking case to find the stolen warheads."
The words were watertight, and Hawk snorted and hung up the phone.
It wasn't that he completely trusted McCullen, but for now, guarding the two in his hands was the most important thing.
And in the top-floor office of MARS Group, McCullen put down the phone, and the polite smile on his face instantly vanished completely.
Twirling the gold-plated pen in his hand, he said in a low voice to the figure on the other side of the terminal: "Did you hear that? Hawk has grown suspicious. Activate the positioning as planned, and let them trace the signal. Once they are overwhelmed, our next step will be easy to handle."
The figure on the screen only revealed half a face, and the voice, modified by an electronic voice changer, was as cold as ice: "You don't need to teach me. Paris is already prepared, and Anna and Storm Shadow are in place. Once the Eiffel Tower collapses, the World will know the power of Nanomites."
McCullen chuckled, leaning back into the leather seat: "Then I wish our good show a smooth opening."
Three days later in Paris, the Champs-Élysées was as lively as usual.
No one noticed two inconspicuous box trucks parked at the alley entrance near the Eiffel Tower. Baroness Anna pulled off her leather gloves, her fingers brushing past the Nanomite warhead in the safe, her gaze icy.
Storm Shadow stood by her side, a katana slung diagonally across his back. His gaze swept over the patrolling police force on the street, and he shook his head slightly: "There are more police forces than expected. Hawk's people should have already arrived."
"Just in time." Anna's lips curved slightly, and she pressed the warhead's startup warm-up button, "Just in time to let Duke see with his own eyes how fragile the things he protects are."
As soon as her voice fell, the roar of engines came from the end of the street.
Two tactical vehicles equipped with exoskeleton systems slammed on the brakes at the alley entrance. Duke and Ripcord jumped out of the car wearing heavy combat armor, their helmet visors springing open. The moment Duke saw Anna, his entire body stiffened for half a second.
"Anna?" His voice was tight, and he could hardly believe his eyes.
The fiancée whom he thought had long since perished in the accident was actually standing here as a terrorist leader.
In that half-second of stupefaction, Storm Shadow had already drawn his sword and rushed up.
The blade light was so fast that only afterimages remained. Ripcord raised his arm to block, and his armored forearm was slashed with a deep mark, sending sparks flying everywhere.
"Duke! What are you daydreaming about!"
Duke snapped back to his senses, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and raised his gun to aim at Anna, his voice hoarse: "What on earth are you doing? Nanomite warheads are prohibited weapons. Do you know how many people will die if they are detonated?"
"How many people die, does it have anything to do with you?" Anna raised an eyebrow, her tone carrying a hint of mockery, "You're a member of G.I. JOE now, how impressive. Unfortunately, you can't stop me today."
The two sides exchanged fire instantly.
Blessed by the power of the exoskeletons, Duke and Ripcord were not weak in strength, but Storm Shadow's sword technique was too tricky, and Anna's marksmanship was accurate and ruthless, forcing the two back step by step.
Duke tried several times to ask about what happened back then, but Anna blocked him back with bullets, making it clear that she didn't want to reminisce with him.
"Stop talking nonsense! The warhead is about to activate!" Ripcord caught a glimpse of the warhead indicator light jumping into a dazzling red, and his heart sank.
He wanted to rush over to grab it, but was forced back by a slash from Storm Shadow. The armor on his shoulder was slashed open, and electric current coursed through half his body, making it numb.
Anna chuckled, finally pressed the confirmation button, and then turned with Storm Shadow to jump onto a pre-prepared motorcycle. "Duke, I'll send you a welcome gift."
She turned her head and shouted, the motorcycle engine roaring, instantly merging into the traffic and disappearing.
Duke's heart skipped a beat, and he turned to look at the warhead.
He saw the outer shell cracking with fine gaps, and the silver-gray Nanomites surged out like a tide, rushing towards the Base of the tower along the ground.
The moment the metal came into contact with the swarm, it was like snow meeting boiling water, dissolving and collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Fall back! Quickly evacuate the crowd!" Duke gritted his teeth and gave the order, but it was already too late.
The steel frame of the Eiffel Tower began to melt from the bottom, as if its bones had been extracted. The huge tower body tilted and broke, crashing down with debris filling the sky.
Smoke and dust soared into the sky, screams and sirens mixed together, and the entire downtown of Paris was in complete chaos.
When the news was transmitted back to the G.I. JOE Base, Hawk slammed his fist heavily onto the tabletop.
"The two of you couldn't even stop them! And you let the warhead explode in Paris!" His chest heaved, his face livid with anger, but he also knew he couldn't entirely blame Duke.
Who could have guessed that the hijacker leader was his ex-fiancée? Anyone would be stunned in that position.
Before he could finish pondering how to deal with the aftermath, the encrypted dedicated line rang.
The caller ID showed S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury.
Hawk frowned and answered, saying impatiently: "Director Fury? You're certainly well-informed."
"Paris has been blown up like that, it's hard for me to play deaf even if I want to." Fury's voice was very steady, with no discernible emotion, "Nanomite warheads, MARS Group, Cobra organization. Your Military can't chew through these, and relying solely on G.I. JOE makes it even harder to trace them to the root. Let's cooperate. S.H.I.E.L.D. provides intelligence and manpower, you provide ground combat troops, share resources, and wipe out Cobra's lair together."
Hawk fell silent for a few seconds.
He knew Fury was right. Cobra was hidden too deep, committing transnational crimes. Relying solely on their single special operations unit to track them down was too slow. But cooperation between the Military and S.H.I.E.L.D.made dividing powers and responsibilities very troublesome.
"Who are you sending?" he asked.
"Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye." Fury reported three names, "Heavy enough, right? The three of them will go to your Egypt Base to cooperate in the operation. Command belongs to you, and intelligence is shared. Once the lair is wiped out, the credit goes to you; I only want Cobra's technical data and the list of remaining personnel."
Hawk calculated in his mind.
These three were all core combat powers of the Avengers, with loud enough reputations and solid enough strength. Their arrival would indeed be strong reinforcements.
He wasn't coy either, immediately making a decision: "Alright. I'll have the Base make preparations for reception. But ugly words first: once they arrive, they must follow my rules. Don't play those S.H.I.E.L.D. games."
"Rest assured, the three of them know their limits."
Hanging up the phone, Hawk rubbed the space between his eyebrows.
This business in Paris had already stirred up a hornet's nest, and the Security Council was pushing hard. With the Avengers helping, they could at least clean up the mess faster.
Two days later, Steve, Natasha, and Barton arrived at the G.I. JOE underground Base deep in the Egypt desert.
The Base entrance was hidden beneath a sand dune. As the heavy alloy door slowly opened, Hawk was already waiting inside with Snake Eyes and Scarlett.
Steve, wearing a combat uniform and carrying a shield in his hand, stepped forward and extended his hand: "General Hawk, Steve Rogers. Awaiting orders."
"You're too polite." Hawk shook hands with him, his gaze sweeping over Natasha and Barton beside him, nodding inwardly.
They were all people who had seen big scenes; their aura was different.
As soon as the few walked into the operational command room and before they could finish looking at the intelligence, the Base's red alarm suddenly sounded shrilly.
"Report! The west entrance is under attack! The opponent has enhanced warriors with no sense of pain and very fierce firepower!" The communicator's voice carried urgency, "The opponent is heading straight for the warhead warehouse!"
Hawk's face sank: "They came really fast. Snake Eyes, Scarlett, take a team to intercept them on the west side. Duke, Ripcord, guard the warhead warehouse well."
"We're going too." Steve picked up his shield, Natasha had already pulled out her stun pistol, and Barton had nocked an arrow.
When the group rushed to the west passage, the battle had already reached a white-hot stage.
More than a dozen enhanced warriors wearing black combat uniforms charged forward desperately, acting as if nothing was wrong even when hit by bullets, only caring about rushing forward.
Anna and Storm Shadow stood at the corner of the passage, obviously leading the team.
"It's them again." Duke gritted his teeth and wanted to rush up, but Steve had already stepped forward quickly, holding his shield horizontally to block the pulse bullet flying towards him.
The shield absorbed the Impact, and he took advantage of the momentum to push forward, knocking the front two enhanced warriors flying.
"Barton, high-ground suppression. Natasha, flank around to cut off their retreat." Steve spoke at a very fast pace with clear instructions.
Barton nodded, flipping a few times onto the steel beams at the top of the passage, drawing his bowstring fully. The explosive arrow shot accurately into the crowd, and the resulting shockwave overturned a patch of enhanced warriors.
Natasha moved quickly against the wall, like a shadow wrapping around to the flank, her stun pistol hitting the enemy's joints to precisely strip away their mobility.
Her movements were neat and crisp, specifically targeting the nerve nodes of the enhanced warriors, which was much more efficient than a head-on fight.
With the three of them joining, the G.I. JOE members who had originally been suppressed instantly stabilized their footing.
Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow faced off, their blade lights colliding with sparks flying everywhere.
Scarlett sniped from the flank, targeting the enemy's weapon interfaces specifically.
Anna frowned.
She hadn't expected S.H.I.E.L.D.'s people to be here; the plan should have only included G.I. JOE's people. With three more Avengers, the chances of winning the surprise attack were directly gone.
"Fall back." She decisively pressed her portable smoke grenade.
White smoke instantly filled the entire passage. When the smoke dissipated, Anna and Storm Shadow were already gone. The remaining enhanced warriors were either killed or captured alive, and not a single one escaped.
The battle ended faster than expected. When Hawk rushed over, he saw Steve slinging his shield back onto his back, and Barton jumping down from the steel beam, patting the dust off his hands.
"Thanks." Hawk wasn't squeamish either, directly expressing his gratitude. He squatted down to check the captured enhanced warrior; the opponent's muscles were stiff and pupils dilated, truly an enhanced warrior with no sense of pain who had been modified.
"It seems there is a mole inside the Base, or the warheads have tracking. Otherwise, they couldn't have precisely felt their way to the west entrance."
Steve nodded: "First check the warheads and internal communications. The opponent suffered a loss, so they shouldn't come again in a short time, but they are definitely still eyeing the remaining two warheads."
Natasha squatted beside the enemy's equipment, rummaged through it, and looked up to say: "The weapon formats are very mixed, not from Military channels, but like a patchwork from the black market, but the core technology is very uniform. There should be a complete R&D system behind them, not just a ragtag group."
As the few were analyzing, Logan, far away on a private island, also received the news.
He looked at the data on the tablet, pondering in his heart.
Jessica was very handy at checking civilian and black market news, but for such a transnational secret organization, relying solely on private detectives was too slow.
Cobra could produce Nanomites, enhanced warriors, and had a global intelligence network. Taking them over to work for him would save much more trouble than building a team piece by piece himself.
Moreover, he also knew where the opponent's Base was.
He stood up and shouted to Tony not far away: "I'm taking a trip to the North Pole and will be back in a few days."
Tony didn't even stop the welding torch in his hand, shouting back without turning his head: "What are you going to the North Pole for? Digging ice to make shaved ice? Remember to bring back some permafrost samples so I can test for prehistoric viruses."
"Finding a den." Logan didn't elaborate, walking to the seaside and letting out a whistle.
Hearing the sound, Poseidon immediately swam back from the deep sea, its dark silver armored dorsal fin breaking the surface of the water, and it obediently stopped at the shore.
Logan leaped onto its back and patted its dorsal fin: "Head north, under the ice cap. Drive slowly, don't smash the floating ice."
Poseidon let out a low growl, flicked its tail fin, and carried him swimming towards the deep sea.
A straight wave mark was carved across the surface of the sea, which then vanished.
After welding an armor plate, Tony straightened his waist and looked towards the seaside, only seeing a vague retreating figure.
He scratched his head, muttered "mysterious," and turned back to argue with Ironhide about the thickness of Hades' tail armor.
Meanwhile on the sea surface, Logan stood on Poseidon's back, facing the cold wind blowing from the North Pole, and brought up the known data of the Cobra organization.
He was familiar with subduing things like this.
Psychic illusions couldn't deal with those whose wills were too firm, but they were more than enough to deal with a bunch of desperate criminals bound together by interests and fear.
By then, he would first overturn their defenses, and then brainwash the leaders. With the whole set done, a ready-made intelligence network and R&D team would be in his hands.
Chapter 127: Wolf Pack
The seawater beneath the Arctic ice sheet was as cold as if it had been quenched in ice, and Poseidon glided steadily through the deep sea clad in dark silver nano-armor, its dorsal fin slicing through the undercurrents without bringing up even a shred of extra splashing sound.
Logan stood upon its back, his gaze piercing through the thick ice layer to fall upon the depths below.
The contours of a metallic structure loomed faintly within the deep blue seawater; it was precisely the underwater Base that the Cobra organization had hidden beneath the ice sheet.
He patted Poseidon's dorsal fin, signaling it to maintain vigilance in the surrounding waters and prevent any patrol boats from approaching.
Poseidon let out a low rumble, gave its caudal fin a gentle flick, and turned to cruise around the ice sheet.
Logan did not dally long; with a flash of his figure, he directly teleported into the interior of the Base.
The spot where he landed was the main corridor; two guards had just heard the subtle spatial fluctuation and raised their guns without even having time to pull the bolt, their movements freezing in unison.
Logan did not touch them, his psychic power spreading out along the corridor like a tide, silently seeping into every cabin and every control room.
There were no piercing alarms, no fierce firefights, and the entire Base was quiet for a mere three seconds.
Three seconds later, the guards naturally retracted their weapons and stood back in their original positions, the vigilance in their eyes replaced by a habitual reverence.
The technician in the control room paused for a fraction of a second before continuing to tap at the keyboard without stopping, merely casually updating the list of system administrator privileges.
The researcher in the laboratory frowned for a fleeting moment of trance, then lowered their head to continue debugging the parameters of the Nanomites, a new directive added to their mind: "Synchronize and back up all core data to the Supreme Leader."
Memories were not erased, and emotions were not stripped away; it was simply that the most fundamental premise was implanted into everyone's cognition: Loganwas the founder and supreme controller of the organization, and their group had always operated in the shadows to handle anomalous events in the global gray zones, not some terrorist organization.
Past ambitions, schemes, and grievances remained, but the ultimate object of allegiance had silently changed hands.
After all, what he wanted was a group of people capable of working, not a bunch of brainless puppets.
If he truly turned everyone stupid, he might as well investigate intelligence himself.
Half an hour later, the door to the Base's core cabin opened automatically.
Rex walked at the very front, a mask concealing the greater part of his face, his posture remaining upright, and though the sinister gleam in his eyes had not dissipated, it now carried an extra layer of heartfelt respect.
Anna followed by his side, her leather combat suit accentuating her streamlined figure, her expression maintaining its customary coldness, save for the lack of its former sharpness in her gaze towards Logan.
Storm Shadow walked at the very rear, his katana holstered in its scabbard, his footsteps as light as if they didn't touch the ground, his eyes slightly lowered in the default posture of a samurai towards a superior.
The three of them walked up to Logan and came to a halt, without exaggerated kowtows, simply nodding slightly.
Rex spoke first, his voice filtered through the mask, carrying a metallic-textured lowness: "Boss."
Logan leaned against the edge of the main console, glanced over the three of them, and didn't beat around the bush: "There is an old debt to settle first."
As his voice fell, two guards escorted someone in.
That person's hands and feet were bound, and a cloth gag was stuffed in his mouth; it was precisely Zartan.
His face was full of bewilderment, clearly still failing to understand why colleagues he interacted with day and night had suddenly tied him up, struggling and making muffled cries, his eyes filled with utter astonishment.
Storm Shadow's figure tightened instantly.
His feud with Zartan had been brewing for more than a day or two; counting the accounts of the other party killing his master and throwing his sect into chaos, it could fill half a ledger.
He raised his eyes to look at Logan, a trace of imperceptible surprise carried within his gaze.
He had never mentioned these details to anyone, yet the other party actually knew.
"Your business, handle it yourself." Logan lifted his chin, his tone flat and as casual as if he were talking about throwing out trash.
Storm Shadow did not speak, merely nodding slightly and stepping forward.
The blade's light flashed just once, so fast that its trajectory was barely visible.
Zartan's struggle instantly halted, and his body went limp. The entire process was neat and decisive, without even a shred of extra sound.
Storm Shadow sheathed his blade, and when he looked back at Logan, the alienation in his eyes had faded significantly, replaced by a down-to-earth submission.
A samurai's grievances were always straightforward; the feud was avenged, and once acknowledged, it was acknowledged.
Having resolved Zartan, Logan's gaze fell upon Rex.
"Take it off," he said. "A brother and sister standing together, yet still hiding and covering up, what kind of look is that?"
Rex's body visibly stiffened for a moment.
His relationship with Anna was the secret he had hidden the longest; even Anna herself did not know.
He fell silent for a few seconds, then raised his hand to remove the mask. His disfigured half-face was exposed under the lights, with hideous scars extending from his forehead to his jaw, the mark left behind by that year's laboratory accident.
Anna abruptly turned her head to look at him, her pupils contracting sharply.
Her lips moved, unable to utter a word for a long while.
Over the years, she hadn't lacked suspicions about her younger brother's whereabouts, but she had never imagined that the person she had searched for so long had actually been standing right beside her all along, and was even the behind-the-scenes leader of the organization.
"That year's accident was an accident, and the subsequent injuries are not untreatable." Logan interrupted the silence between the two. "Nanotechnology, biomedical science—you already have a foundation in your hands, adjust it slowly later. You can also mobilize resources from StarkBiomedical; just drop my name. Before you're cured, manage this mess well first."
Rex's Adam's apple bobbed as he said in a low voice: "Thank you, Boss."
Having plotted for so many years and desperately tried to climb upward, half of it was for ambition, and the other half was to cure his own face and give his elder sister an explanation.
Now that his ambition had shifted in direction, the hardest matter had unexpectedly found a settlement; he couldn't describe what kind of taste was in his heart, feeling only that the stone pressing down on him for several years had inexplicably loosened a bit.
Anna did not speak, merely clenching the hand hanging by her side before letting it go.
She glanced at Rex, then looked at Logan, and in the end simply nodded slightly, withdrawing all her emotions back.
Someone who had been cold for so many years could not speak any soft words; simply keeping this favor in mind was enough.
"There is one more thing." Logan tapped the edge of the console. "As for McCullen, keeping him is useless."
The surface-level president of MARS Group knew the core details of Cobra and was also inextricably entangled with NATO and the Military.
Keeping him would sooner or later become a flaw. For a businessman of this surface caliber, being dead was the safest option.
"I'll go." Storm Shadow spoke, his voice very low, carrying not a shred of emotion. For such dirty work as silencing someone, he was the most suitable to do it.
Logan nodded: "Keep it clean, make it look like an accident. Don't involve this Base."
Storm Shadow acknowledged it with a hum, turned, and walked right out of the cabin, without even an extra word.
His execution speed was extremely fast, clearly accustomed to taking action immediately upon receiving an order.
Once the person had left, Logan brought up the subsequent arrangements.
"As for the name Cobra, don't use it anymore in the future." He leaned there, his tone as casual as if he were talking about changing a company sign: "It's too flashy; it doesn't sound like good people at first hearing. From now on, just call it 'Wolf Pack'. Conduct surface-level business as usual; arms, nanotechnology, and the intelligence network will all be retained."
Rex frowned: "Then the previous plans..."
"That routine of carrying out terrorist attacks and blowing up towers from before, stop it." Logan interrupted him: "I have no other use for you except for two matters: First, keep an eye on global underground forces—HYDRAremnants, extremist organizations, and all sorts of messy illegal experiments; pass information along promptly when you get it. Second, continue developing nanotechnology and human enhancement projects; don't take crooked paths, don't use civilians for experiments, and prioritize applying the results to medical care and defense."
What he wanted was not a terrorist army that wreaked havoc, but an intelligence network capable of covering the globe, and a covert line team capable of handling dirty work.
In the future, whenever something like HYDRA causing trouble, Extremis spreading, or Decepticon remnants running amok happened, he wouldn't need to run over personally every time; the Wolf Pack could nip the bud right away.
With the time saved, wouldn't it be wonderful to go fishing and walk dogs?
Rex and Anna exchanged glances, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.
They had originally thought this new boss was even more ambitious and wanted to use Nanomites and enhanced warriors to pull off bigger things, but it turned out he was making them transition into underground order maintainers?
Surprise was surprise, but the two of them still acknowledged and accepted it. Working was working anyway; working for anyone was still working.
Following this person, at least they wouldn't have to think about opposing the entire World every day, and they could also cure injuries and obtain better resources; however one calculated it, it wasn't a loss.
"You don't need to report to me routinely." Logancontinued: "Determine routine matters yourselves; summarize major events and have Anna send them to Jessica Jones—that's the private detective in New York. For emergencies, transmit messages directly to the private island on Long Island."
He had no intention of managing these trivial matters every day. If he truly had to handle everything personally, what would be the point of subduing this organization?
Having instructed everything, Logan did not stay long. He said "Guard the home well" to the two of them, and with a flash of his figure, directly teleported back to the sea surface.
Poseidon had long been waiting nearby, and seeing him emerge, it immediately swam over, poking its large head close to his side as if fishing for credit—just now a patrol boat had passed by, and it had deliberately hidden in the deep sea without being discovered.
Logan patted its dorsal fin, jumped up and sat down: "Well done. Head back, catch a big one along the way, and take it back as a souvenir for Ares."
Poseidon let out a low rumble, flicked its caudal fin, and turned its direction to swim southward.
The cold sea breeze blew straight into his face, and Logansat on the shark's back, watching the distant ice sheet slowly disappear from his field of vision, pondering in his heart how to cope with Tony's questioning.
That guy would definitely relentlessly ask what on earth was in the Arctic; by then, casually fishing out a piece of permafrost ice to throw at him and saying he dug up some samples for him to research would probably be enough to fool him past.
As for the matter of the Wolf Pack, there was no need to let anyone know. Having one more trump card was never a bad thing.
Tony, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the X-Men were all surface-level allies; the Wolf Pack hidden in the shadows could be considered his own private foundation.
When real trouble was encountered in the future, moving both the surface and covert lines together would be steadier than anything else.
Logan blew in the sea breeze, his mood quite good.
This trip to the Arctic was not made in vain.
The intelligence network was here, the research team was here, and even the manpower to handle dirty work was complete.
From now on, he finally wouldn't have to run back and forth for everything himself, and he could finally lie flat in peace for a few days.
As for McCullen? At this moment, he was probably still waiting in his office for the Paris incident to ferment, waiting to watch G.I. JOE and S.H.I.E.L.D. in a flustered and exasperated state.
He probably would never imagine that he wouldn't wait for news of victory, but instead would wait for a silent blade.
After all, people who knew too many secrets never lived long.
Chapter 128 Trivial Daily Life
Late at night, a fire broke out in the top-floor office of the MARS Group headquarters; the fire wasn't big, just enough to burn through the CEO's office area.
By the time the fire department broke the door down, McCullen was slumped over his desk, an unfinished glass of whiskey beside his hand, and he had already breathed his last.
The coroner made a preliminary assessment that it was an accident caused by aging wiring, with the deceased dying of asphyxiation from inhaling dense smoke, and not a single trace of human tampering was found at the scene.
By the time Steve and Natasha arrived, the scene had already been mostly cleaned up.
Barton squatted by the window sill, looked around, jumped down, and shook his head: "No climbing traces, the surveillance cameras are all burned away, and the server room is also burned to a crisp, leaving no data behind."
Hawk's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot, and he punched the corridor wall. "It must be silencing him! As soon as McCullen had an accident, all the core information disappeared along with it; how could there be such a coincidence!"
His chest heaved with anger; he had finally managed to trace the MARS line and was just preparing to dig further up for Cobra's lair, but as a result, the key figure died directly, breaking the clues completely clean.
After flipping through the remaining document fragments at the scene, Natasha clapped her hands and stood up: "It was done too cleanly, not like the work of an ordinary terrorist organization. The opponent had been prepared long ago; McCullen was a discarded pawn from the very beginning."
Steve frowned and nodded.
Paris blew up the Eiffel Tower, and the Egypt Base was attacked; he had thought that following McCullen could lead them to Cobra's core, but now that the person was dead, all the clues had formed a dead knot.
He looked at Hawk: "Let's return to the Base first, and have the intelligence department slowly investigate from the periphery. The Nanomites technology cannot just disappear out of thin air; there will always be traces."
Hawk gritted his teeth and had no choice but to accept it.
This breath couldn't be swallowed, but no clues meant no clues; they couldn't possibly interrogate a corpse to get anything out of it.
The group evacuated Paris that very day, and after Steveand the other two bade farewell to Hawk, they also returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. to report back.
The matter of wiping out Cobra was temporarily shelved.
Meanwhile, in the office of the Men in Black New Yorkbranch, Z was getting a headache over the expansion report.
The number of alien immigrants was growing fast, regulatory tasks had tripled, and the personnel in the bureau running continuously around the clock could barely hold on anymore.
He tossed aside his pen and looked up, just in time to see K push open the door and walk in, holding a thin file in his hand.
"Found a suitable one." K threw the file on the desk. On the photo was a young black man with a lazy smile, "Edwards, a Police officer from the New York Police Department..."
Z raised an eyebrow, picked up the file and flipped through two pages: "Police? Are you sure? We are recruiting interstellar regulators, not security guards."
"This kid is very suitable." K pulled a chair and sat down, his tone still as plain as usual: "Last month, an alien immigrant in Queens smuggled contraband spores. We searched three circles and couldn't find them. When he was investigating a case, he knocked on the door and directly asked, 'Where did you buy this potted plant? It doesn't look like Earth goods,' and recognized it at a glance. Also, last time, there was an interstellar smuggler disguised as a hot dog stand. As he walked past, he felt the sausage color was wrong, and grabbed the person right on the street—and actually caught him. Moreover, he can chase aliens on foot."
Z listened and was somewhat speechless: "Relying on intuition? Chasing aliens on foot?"
"Intuition is also an ability, and physical fitness is indispensable." K paused and added a sentence, "And... looks a bit familiar. It seems I saw him many years ago, but I can't remember clearly."
Z raised an eyebrow.
The bonds brought by time paradoxes were not new things in the Men in Black system, except that most of them were mysterious and esoteric.
He stared at the young man's flippant face in the photo for a few seconds, and finally nodded: "Alright, call him over and give it a try. If it doesn't work, erase his memory and send him away."
On the day of the interview, Edwards was a full twenty minutes late.
When he pushed the door open and came in, he still had half a sandwich in his mouth. Seeing a room full of people in black suits, he froze for a moment, and asked in a muffled voice: "You guys are... an insurance company team-building? I didn't buy any insurance."
Z almost couldn't keep a straight face.
K, however, kept a straight face and pushed over a uniform: "Put it on and go on an outfield mission with me. If you pass, you stay, and the salary is three times what you make now."
Edwards's eyes lit up, he stopped chewing his sandwich, grabbed the uniform and ran toward the restroom.
While running, he shouted: "Triple salary? Deal! Don't mention selling insurance, I'd even sell arms!"
The first field mission was to investigate an alien creature disguised as a stray cat.
As soon as K took out the detector, Edwards was already squatting at the alley entrance, waving at a calico cat: "Come here, come here, that antenna behind your ear is sticking out."
The cat stiffened all over and wanted to turn and run. Edwards reached out and grabbed the back of its neck, stroking its fur: "Don't run, your disguise is way too perfunctory; whose cat grows metal ears?"
K stood behind and silently put the detector away.
On the way back, Edwards chattered all the way, complaining that the uniform was too stuffy one moment, and asking if there was paid leave in the bureau the next, acting just like a chatterbox.
K wasn't annoyed either, occasionally responding with a couple of words.
He always felt that this kid's tone of speaking and way of doing things had an inexplicable sense of familiarity, like being separated by a layer of fog, unclear yet truly existing.
After listening to the field report, Z didn't say much else and directly made the final decision to hire him.
With manpower lacking to this extent, as long as his intuition was accurate and he could work, talking a lot wasn't a flaw.
Meanwhile, on the private harbor, the days were a hundred times more leisurely than at headquarters.
Tony and Ironhide tossed about for a full week and finally finished modifying Hades's full set of armor.
The two sides of the shoulder armor hid retractable pulse cannons, an energy shield generator was installed at the tailbone, and anti-collision alloy was added to the limb joints.
On the day of the test, Hades lashed its tail against a reef, shattering half of the reef directly into dregs, and when the pulse cannon blasted out, it blew a two-meter-deep crater on the beach.
Tony stroked his chin in great satisfaction, and Ironhidenodded along. The two of them argued for half an hour over whose design contribution was greater, which ultimately ended with Tony making off with three boxes of top-grade Wagyu beef.
Supposedly to take back as inspiration replenishment for Dr. Q.
Logan didn't stop them either, letting the two of them move the things away; anyway, this bit of meat wasn't even enough to fill the gap between Poseidon's teeth.
After the two of them left, the island became completely peaceful and quiet.
Logan simply moved in to live permanently, fishing every morning, sunbathing on the terrace in the afternoon, Aresdozing at his feet, Hades wandering in the woods, and Poseidon occasionally popping its head out of the sea. Life was more comfortable than that of a retired elderly person.
The first to come as guests were Ororo and Jean.
They drove over from New York, bringing a letter written personally by Charles, saying that Xaviers School had newly opened an advanced ability control class, and they wanted to invite Logan to occasionally give a couple of classes and share his experience with Magnetic Field Manipulation.
"The Professor really thinks of me for everything." Loganopened the letter, glanced through it twice, casually set it aside, and led the two of them toward the seaside: "My little bit of stuff won't even last two classes before it's finished."
"Capable people just have to work harder." Jean said with a smile, her gaze falling on the sea surface.
Poseidon happened to pop its head out, its dark silver dorsal fin shimmering in the sunlight. She curiously took two steps forward, gently touching its consciousness with telekinesis.
Poseidon shook its head, leaned over and rubbed against the reef on the shore, with a very good temper.
Ororo stood to the side and smiled: "Only you could raise a prehistoric giant shark to be so docile. The kids at the school asked last time if they could come to the island for a field visit, saying they wanted to see Poseidon and Hades."
"Come if you want, just give word in advance." Loganleaned against the railing: "Just make sure Hades doesn't scare the kids."
Just as they were speaking, movement came from the woods, and Hades walked out slowly, with half a coconut tree still clenched in its mouth.
Seeing that strangers had come, it stopped in its steps, tilted its head, and didn't crowd forward.
Jean's eyes lit up as she watched: "It's quite sensible."
"Sensible my foot, it just demolished three coconut trees." Logan shook his head helplessly.
The three of them had lunch on the terrace, chatted about the recent situation of the school, and said that after the Battle of New York, the enrollment rate of Mutants had increased quite a bit, and parents weren't as resistant as before.
When Ororo talked about these, her tone carried genuine relief.
In the afternoon, the two of them took their leave, and before leaving, Jean smiled and said that next time they brought the students over, not to find it noisy.
Not two days later, Michaela brought Emma and Harrietover.
The three little girls took a speedboat onto the island, and as soon as they landed, they swarmed around Ares, stroking its back fur, feeding it beef jerky, and playing with joyous abandon.
The only thing they didn't dare approach was Hades, standing far away to watch, their eyes filled with both curiosity and fear.
"Don't be afraid, it doesn't bite." Logan raised his chin toward Hades, and Hades obediently lay down, resting its large head on its paws, its tail gently sweeping the ground, as well-behaved as an oversized lizard.
The three little girls exchanged glances and cautiously edged closer.
Harriet had the biggest courage; she reached out and touched its scales. The cold and hard tactile sensation made her eyes widen in a round circle: "So hard! Just like a stone!"
Emma also dared to reach out and touch it, whispering: "Its eyes are so gentle, not fierce at all."
Michaela was the wildest, sitting directly on Hades's back and waving at the two of them: "Come on up! Its back is so wide!"
Logan watched and shook his head, reminding them to sit tight so they wouldn't fall off.
Hades didn't move either, just lying there and letting the three little girls toss it about, its temper ridiculously good.
In the afternoon, going to the seaside to feed Poseidon, Emma was timid and stood far away to throw fish meat, while Harriet dared to stand by the pool edge and reach out to touch its dorsal fin, the cold and slick tactile sensation making her let out an exclamation.
Michaela was even more exaggerated; wanting to climb onto Poseidon's back, her foot slipped and she almost tumbled into the water, but she was fished back by Logan's outstretched hand.
"How old are you, and you're still so clumsy." Logan set her down steadily and said without a good temper.
Michaela stuck out her tongue, not scared at all, and turned around to chatter excitedly with the other two sisters about how thrilling it was.
The three girls played until evening before leaving, and right before leaving, Michaela leaned over the railing and shouted: "When we graduate, we'll come work for you! Just provide meals will do!"
Logan smiled and waved his hand, watching the speedboat disappear on the horizon.
Afterwards, Emma also came once to discuss the logistics cooperation for the Astral Mall.
Her logistics company now undertook most of the cross-border orders of the Astral realm, and her business was growing larger and larger, wanting to add two more intercontinental routes.
The two of them discussed and finalized the plan in the study in less than half an hour. When coming out, Emmaleaned against the terrace railing, looking at Poseidonpopping its head out in the pool, and smiled teasingly: "Your days are much more comfortable than mine. I get headaches facing reports every day, but look at you, idling around every day."
"Money can never be earned completely." Logan handed her an iced drink, "That's enough, don't wear yourself out."
Emma raised an eyebrow to look at him: "Those words sounding from your mouth are truly rare. Who was it back then that casually invested in a research institute without blinking an eye?"
Logan smiled and didn't take up the conversation. The two chatted a bit more about the recent situation of the Mutantbusiness circle, and Emma took her leave.
Before leaving, she stroked Ares a couple of times, saying with a smile, "This dog is raised really well, sleek and glossy."
Maggie came the quietest.
She brought freshly roasted coffee beans and cookies made by her brother Matt.
Not saying much, she put down the things and helped tidy up the flowers and plants on the terrace, trimming withered leaves and wiping tables and chairs.
Logan sat nearby fishing, occasionally chatting a couple of words about the coffee shop's business and talking about recent customers.
Hades dozed in the shade not far away, Ares curled up at Logan's feet, and Poseidon occasionally flicked its tail, splashing up a burst of water sounds.
There were not many superfluous words between the two, yet it was exceptionally comfortable.
Before leaving, Maggie sorted and bagged the coffee beans, instructing him how to brew them for the best taste.
Logan nodded in acknowledgment and escorted her to the dock.
Watching the speedboat drive far away, he then turned around and walked back.
In the evening, Jessica sent a message saying that Killian's Extremis experiment had made new progress, the Wolf Pack side had also synchronized intelligence, and the number of people entering and leaving the Florida laboratory had increased recently.
Logan leaned on the lounge chair, casually replied with "Just keep an eye on them, talk if there's any unusual movement", and then tossed his phone aside.
Chapter 129: Bug
Maya Hansen has been very conflicted lately because her research results were taken by her partner, Aldrich Killian, to conduct human experiments under the guise of restoring normal lives for retired disabled veterans.
As a research scholar, she longed for her achievements to be seen and recognized by the World, and hoped to bring contributions to this World.
But definitely not to be used as weapons by others!
However, Aldrich said, "Now we are accomplices. Do you really hope that what we have done gets exposed?"
This single sentence made Maya dismiss the idea in her heart of trying to expose this matter.
Because she valued her reputation very much, she was now one of the most respected scientists in the well-known biotechnology field, holding three Dr. degrees.
Once this matter was exposed, her fate could be imagined.
Awaiting her would either be being captured by some extreme organizations to use her for biological modification and virus research.
Or being thrown into prison to spend the second half of her life behind iron bars.
She did not want to choose either ending.
Therefore, she could only walk down this dark path to the end, even if the road ahead was full of thorns.
"Dr. Hansen, is there still no progress with the research?"
Killian's voice came from behind, pulling the wandering Maya back to reality. "Progress? It's currently hard to further improve the virus compatibility; we can only suppress it through stabilizers."
"Aren't there any other methods?"
Dressed in a well-fitted suit with his blonde hair meticulously combed, Killian frowned slightly.
Maya thought for a moment, and a person's name suddenly popped into her mind.
"It's not entirely impossible. Perhaps Tony Stark can solve this kind of problem."
Hearing this name, a flash of deep malice crossed Killian's eyes, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously raised a sneer. "Do you think the famous Iron Man will help us do this kind of shady experiment?"
"How would we know without trying?" Flashes of that night in 1999 crossed Maya's mind, and a meaningful smile appeared on her face.
Meanwhile, above the skyline of a suburban farm in Kansas, a flash of fire cut through the quiet night and fell straight outside a barn.
Farmer Edgar was awakened by the commotion. Ignoring his wife's inquiry beside him, he grabbed the shotgun hanging in the room and walked out of the house.
Seeing a crater not far away that looked like it was left by a meteorite, the irritable farmer cursed softly, and then approached step by step with the shotgun.
When he reached the edge of the crater and looked down, before he could see clearly what had caused all this, he felt his vision go black, and his whole body seemed to be grabbed by something and shoved into a mouth, until he completely lost consciousness.
Before long, after a rustling commotion, Edgar—in other words, some creature wearing Edgar's skin—crawled out of the crater step by step with an awkward posture.
The next day, Men in Black received reports layer by layer regarding the abnormal event at the suburban farm in Kansas.
Z dispatched agents K and J to investigate the actual situation.
J, which was the newly recruited Edwards, was full of anticipation for his first official task after joining the job.
Feeling nervous, he kept asking K how his condition was, and occasionally fussed with his hairstyle and clothing.
K, who already had a sufficient understanding of this guy because of a previous informal mission, didn't take it to heart and just brushed him off with a few words.
Arriving at the reported farm, they first looked at the uncovered crater, and then K took out a soil detector to detect the alien residual substances in it.
Before long, the indicator light emitted from the detector made the originally expressionless K reveal an ugly look.
J, noticing this, asked hesitantly, "What does this represent?"
"It represents trouble, and big trouble at that!"
Putting away the detector, K took J to question the hostess. After confirming that her husband was abnormal and extremely fond of sweets, he finally confirmed his guess.
The news was immediately reported to headquarters, and K looked solemn as he read the report.
Bug? How dare these alien bugs run to Earth? Weren't the lessons of the Chitauri enough to wake them up? These damn guys!
He picked up the phone and dialed K,
"Find out what this guy is doing on Earth. Execute him directly if necessary, regardless of any alien immigration laws; this guy has already killed someone."
After hanging up the phone, K brought J to the well-informed alien Frank.
Frank was an alien, but his appearance was that of a Shar Pei dog.
When initially questioned by K, he didn't plan to talk, until he was shaken wildly by K until he was almost about to faint, before spilling the information he knew.
It turned out that the Bug and the Arquilians were currently fighting a protracted war.
To change the situation, the Bug sent an assassin to Earthto find the vacationing Arquilian prince and seize the miniaturized energy core weapon placed on him — the Milky Way Galaxy!
This Milky Way Galaxy was not only a weapon, but also the energy source upon which the Arquilians depended for survival.
Once snatched away, the Arquilians would not only lose the war, but even be exterminated.
Hearing this, K immediately realized that this matter was very tricky, and the top priority now was to find the Arquilian prince to ensure that the Milky Way Galaxywould not fall into the hands of the Bug.
Just as the Bug Assassin and Men in Black were both searching for the Arquilian prince, Logan's side had already received intelligence transmitted by the Wolf Pack.
Ever since he knew about the organization Men in Black, how could he possibly not pay attention to this line?
After confirming that J had recently joined the job, he had people monitor the Arquilian prince's jewelry store to prevent any accidents.
Although he couldn't manage interstellar matters, in the original trajectory, the matter of the Arquilian warships hovering in near orbit issuing death threats was ultimately a hidden danger.
He certainly didn't want trouble to drop from the sky while sitting at home. Although he could step in and solve it, there was no need to make a deadly enemy for no reason.
Therefore, to prevent this matter from happening, he decided to wait for that Bug Assassin to show up and take the opportunity to deal with him.
Honestly speaking, he quite hated cockroaches.
It was a disgust not only physically, but also psychologically.
Just as he was thinking this, the Bug Assassin had already found the place where the Arquilian prince was dining.
He quietly sneaked into the back kitchen, killed a waiter, put on the other person's clothes that completely didn't fit him, and walked step by step toward the target carrying two plates of food.
Right at this moment, an electromagnetic bullet hit his body, causing him to emit a painful roar.
Hearing this familiar voice engraved in their DNA, the Arquilian prince and his captain of the guard instantly changed their expressions and hurriedly ran out.
The Bug Assassin chased closely behind the two, and his two hands had already transformed into sharp forelimbs.
Just as he was about to catch up to them, two figures appearing at the end of the street blocked his path.
"This road is blocked, Mr. Pest."
Chapter 130 Wolf Pack Deployed
"You are, Men in Black?"
The Bug Assassin twisted its mouth, looking both comical and terrifying.
"Please put your hands on your head." Holding the Noisy Cricket energy gun, J put on a feigned expression of seriousness, gripping the disproportionately large gun in his hand so tightly that his palms were almost sweating.
"Put hands on head..." The Bug Assassin slowly placed its hands on its head, pinching its scalp, "Like this?"
J smiled, and just as he was about to praise the other for being so cooperative, its subsequent action froze his smile.
The Bug Assassin tore off its human skin, revealing a giant insect body standing a full three meters tall and a ferocious face.
"Hey~ Hey~ Hey! This isn't what we agreed on!"
J was still thinking of retorting when K had already fired an energy bullet, blasting the Bug Assassin away.
"Newbie, remember, when you encounter a guy like this, you have to greet him with bullets!"
J looked at the Noisy Cricket in his hand and tentatively fired a shot, resulting in his whole body being thrown away by the huge recoil, heavily crashing into the truck cargo bed behind him.
He couldn't care about the pain and looked at the weapon in his hand with astonishment, never expecting that this small weapon could possess such great power.
However, while he was dazed, K had already chased after the Bug Assassin, and the voice came intermittently from afar.
"Stop daydreaming, hurry over here!"
J started running, using his ability to chase aliens on foot.
Men in Black chasing aliens in broad daylight? So exciting? New York? Then it's fine!
This was the most intuitive reaction of most people who received the news, and even passersby looked around curiously, unfazed.
If this were before 2012, the Men in Black organization would specifically use a neuralyzer to make you think you were still at home playing mahjong with others.
Nowadays, aliens are no longer a secret, and secret departments are no longer secrets either.
Such a situation has both pros and cons.
No need for the organization to silence people, no need to worry about how to write reports.
The downside is that when secret organizations are no longer secrets, do they still have any secrets to speak of?
Just like S.H.I.E.L.D., B.P.R.D., Sector Seven, Men in Black, and the recently exposed special forces.
Now they are placed out in the open, which also gives many villains hiding in the dark plenty of opportunities to exploit.
Because once you dispatch, as long as there are enough intelligence sources to grasp your movements, your plans will face doubled obstacles.
Of course, except for S.H.I.E.L.D., which is a sieve inside and out, only they themselves don't know it.
These five departments have already started preparing to establish covert operation teams for the convenience of future actions.
As for who the members are, only their respective heads know best.
Returning to K and J, after chasing for three streets, the two ultimately lost him.
Taking advantage of the two's inattention, the Bug Assassin drilled into the sewer, and New York's underground pipe network extends in all directions, even leading to the open sea. Wanting to find the target in a short time can simply be described as harder than ascending to heaven.
Helplessly, K could only take J back to headquarters to request support from relevant departments.
After learning of this, Z immediately arranged for people to watch the sea outlet to prevent the Bug Assassin from escaping, and then transferred other agents executing secondary tasks to follow K and J to capture the Bug Assassin.
This arrangement could not be described as anything less than detailed.
However, despite all calculations, he ultimately missed one point.
This guy could change into human skin.
Even though the Men in Black organization laid out an inescapable net, the Bug Assassin still put on a plumber's skin and leisurely left the underground pipe.
Having had the experience once, apart from being expressionless, its movements were very natural, and ordinary people really couldn't tell the difference.
Just as the Bug Assassin left the encirclement, secretly pondering about going to find the Arquillian prince to get the Milky Way Galaxy, it didn't realize that it had unconsciously fallen into yet another encirclement.
"The target is 500 meters away, should we take action?"
With a sword on his back and holding binoculars, Storm Shadow stared closely at the Bug Assassin, asking the other end of the communicator.
This was his first time dealing with aliens; previously he thought he only had to deal with humans, and now it has started crossing species.
"Don't rush, wait until the others are closer. The leader has already instructed that live capture is not needed."
On the other side, Anna was also staring at the Bug Assassin with a trace of disgust in her eyes. She had browsed across this guy's true form on the Astral Plane; it was simply a magnified version of a mutated cockroach.
Finally, after the modified warriors had completely formed a blockade, she immediately gave the order: "Action!"
The next moment, the modified warriors distributed around pulled out the electromagnetic weapons in their hands, aimed at the Bug Assassin, and fired bullets in unison.
In an instant, the blue light wove into an airtight net, piercing the Bug Assassin from all directions, and green slime splashed everywhere.
However, before it completely breathed its last, the second attack followed closely, tearing it completely to pieces.
Seeing that the target was thoroughly dead, Anna finally breathed a sigh of relief, "All right, pack up and withdraw."
"It's this simple?" Storm Shadow's tone was disappointed, making him look forward to it for nothing, thinking he could exchange blows with an alien creature.
"Otherwise? Must you get all sticky and slimy to be happy?" Anna rolled her eyes and said impatiently, "All right, hurry up and go, I'm going back to take a bath. Just thinking about that guy makes me sick with goosebumps."
"What do you know." Storm Shadow muttered and sighed uninterestingly.
With the successive evacuation of the Wolf Pack members, when the Men in Black sneaked near, they had already disappeared without a trace.
When K brought J to the pile of sticky liquid that the Bug Assassin had turned into, his expression was peculiar, "Traces of electromagnetic weapons, which organization made a move in the end?"
J said indifferently, "No matter who did it, it's a good thing after all, isn't it?"
K glanced at him. Although this guy was a bit single-celled, sometimes what he said made a lot of sense.
"You're right, the matter is resolved anyway. As for the rest of the time, leave it to Z to worry about."
Meanwhile, Logan's private harbor.
He put down the encrypted phone in his hand, smiled and threw half a side of beef into the breeding pool, watched Poseidon swallow it in one gulp, and then said to Fox, who was wearing a bikini sunbathing, "How is it, have you ever thought about coming back to help me?"
"Forget it, following you is always dangerous missions." With closed eyes, Fox didn't even lift her eyelids and said lazily, "I'm doing pretty well following Pepper now, and there aren't many dangerous things. Even if there are, it's not like they can't be resolved."
Hearing this, Logan didn't force it, but asked another question, "Do you still remember Cross, who betrayed your organization?"
"It was the former organization!" Fox said with annoyance, then asked quizzically, "What are you asking about him for?"
Logan bit on his cigar and grinned, "He's a talent after all, we can't just leave him to waste his talent, right?"
"Do me a favor and act like a human being, will you? The man is already retired."