Zed had been following his plan meticulously for the eight years since he arrived in the Marvel universe. Even after being beaten to a pulp by his Second Uncle every night, he would still continue training the next night.
The reason for pushing himself so hard wasn't some grand ideal like world peace; it was simply because he didn't want to die.
Having died once, Zed clearly remembered what death felt like — nothingness, emptiness, void.
Although he vaguely remembered from Avengers: Endgame that Iron Man Tony had saved the world five years after Thanos snapped his fingers, Zed didn't want to gamble on which half he was in, nor did he want to return to that place called "death" for five years.
For this, he needed power. The Old Demon King had given him the seed of power, but the final bloom would depend on himself.
Zed's attention returned to Winter Soldier Bucky. His martial arts were overkill against gangsters and terrorists. But Winter Soldier Bucky, who had been injected with Howard Stark's restored Super Soldier Serum, should be able to give him a good fight.
Zed slowly opened his hand, palm up, and beckoned, "Come at me!"
Although Bucky could sense the change in his opponent, the Winter Soldier, programmed to complete his mission, still charged forward.
Zed took a step back and to the left to dodge Bucky's straight punch, then immediately spun around, preemptively avoiding Bucky's right fist turning into an elbow strike. While turning, he backhanded Bucky, and with the power of the Genm armor, even a backhand was incredibly powerful.
Bucky stumbled to a halt. Suddenly, a massive sense of danger made the hairs on Bucky's body stand on end. He immediately rolled to the right to avoid a powerful kick from behind.
After missing his kick, Zed didn't retract his right leg, which was still in the air, maintaining a sideways stance with his back to Bucky.
How could Bucky, a veteran of countless battles, miss such a good opportunity?
Like a ferocious wolf, Bucky's eyes gleamed as he charged towards Zed's spine. Just one punch! As long as he landed a punch on the target's spine! With his metal arm, he would definitely be able to take down the opponent and complete the mission.
Zed sensed the movement behind him and scoffed, "Hmph~".
His left foot, which was supporting his body, stomped down, providing more grip and stability. Simultaneously, his waist muscles engaged, rotating his left leg half a circle. Then, his right leg, which was suspended in the air, swung like a whip, executing a nearly three-hundred-and-sixty-degree spin that slammed directly into Bucky's face.
The power of the spinning kick, inherited from Second Uncle, went without saying. Back then, when Second Uncle used the Kabuto (Kamen Rider) armor to teach him a lesson, he got beaten up so badly.
It really did live up to that famous saying: "Your head will find my arrow~ Oh! No! It's foot."
But Bucky was, after all, Bucky, the man who could go toe-to-toe with Captain America, the famous Marvel character. At the last moment, Bucky forcibly retracted his metal arm, which had already been swung.
Zed used the back of his hand to protect his head.
Even so, the immense force transmitted through the metal arm still sent Bucky spinning and flying a long distance. He finally stopped after crashing into a car and embedding himself deeply inside.
Asking for a beating!
"This move is called the Face-Changing Whirlwind Kick, how does it taste?"
Although he knew Bucky, the Winter Soldier, wouldn't respond, Zed couldn't help but taunt:
"Don't play dead! I didn't even charge up a finishing move! Is that all the Winter Soldier's got?"
As he spoke, he swaggered towards Bucky with a cocky walk.
At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Nick Fury stared intently at the live broadcast, his other eye never blinking. Another computer screen was connected to Natasha's channel.
Without turning his head, Nick Fury directly asked: "Natasha! Is that guy with the metal mechanical arm the one you met in Siberia?"
"That's right! It's him! I'll never forget the guy who made the bikini disappear from my life!" Natasha said through gritted teeth.
Ignoring Natasha's latter half of the sentence, Nick Fury continued, "This black and purple guy suddenly changed like he was a different person. Is it a dual personality? Or is this armored guy remotely controlled, and he just switched operators because he couldn't beat the opponent?"
"Although the style is a bit… hmm cartoonish, his chest armor, belt, shoulder pads, and so on all conform to the human body structure. The possibility of remote control isn't high!" Natasha replied.
"Damn it! How could this happen? The Winter Soldier was about to capture this guy, how could he suddenly change like that!" Pierce muttered darkly.
Feeling the somber atmosphere in the office, Sitwell braced himself and asked, "Sir, is the plan still going ahead?"
Pierce's gaze flickered back and forth, and finally, he sighed, saying slowly, "Have the Winter Soldier cover the others' retreat. As for those who can't escape… they know what to do!"
"Yes!"
Bucky struggled to pull himself out of the deformed car, kneeling on the ground and shaking his head. It seemed that even through the metal arm, Bucky had been knocked into a concussion.
However, the command chip in Bucky's head was still intact. After Pierce's order came, the Winter Soldier returned to normal.
Zed, approaching Bucky, saw his transformation and couldn't help but complain, "If you were woken up by me like this, how great would that be! You'd be free! I'd probably get the watch too! You just have to have your good buddy Captain America wake you up, huh?"
However, the Winter Soldier couldn't care less. Completing the mission was his only directive. He pulled out the tactical knife strapped to his waist and charged towards Zed.
Zed had intended to repeat his previous tactic, using minimal movements to inflict maximum damage. But who would have thought that the Winter Soldier would dodge Zed's attack and then throw the knife directly at Zed's head? Although the knife couldn't penetrate Genm's faceplate, Zed instinctively dodged to avoid it.
The Winter Soldier Bucky seized this fleeting opportunity, ran past Zed, and headed towards the surrounding corpses. He didn't care whether they were Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, he grabbed the firearms and opened fire on Zed.
He fired while retreating diagonally.
Guerilla tactics!
As a super soldier, Bucky's forte wasn't face-to-face combat like Zed's, nor was it crushing others with self-made equipment like Dan Kuroto's. Anything on the battlefield could become Bucky's weapon.
Facing the slippery Bucky, Zed obviously didn't have any effective means to target him. Although Bucky's attacks couldn't harm him, the timing of the bullets, grenades, and flashbangs was always perfect, constantly interrupting Zed's pursuit.
Somewhat annoyed, Zed switched his Gamer Driver to gun mode and shot directly, standing still. The huge explosion caused by the fire and smoke completely obscured Zed's vision.
Damn! A miscalculation!
Seeing Bucky disappear into the fire and smoke, Zed immediately realized his mistake and quickly scanned the entire scene, assessing the situation.
Jessica hadn't returned from finding the sniper yet. Hydra was either dead or fleeing. S.H.I.E.L.D. was dealing with the last of the resisting Hydra members and would soon be free to deal with him.
He had to retreat tactically immediately.
Coulson on the opposite side also noticed Zed's assessment. Their eyes met, and after staring at each other for a few seconds, Zed suddenly reached behind him, clenching his right hand into a fist, and threw it towards S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Grenade!~ Get down!~"
Coulson immediately shouted when he saw what was happening, and a large number of agents hit the ground. However, nothing happened after three or four seconds.
After Coulson got up, he asked May, who hadn't been fooled, in embarrassment: "Uh, where's the target?"
"He ran! He turned around and ran into the smoke!" Agent May gave Coulson a look of annoyance. "I finally understand why the Director asked you to call me back to the field team!"
In the underground laboratory of the California coastal villa, Tony Stark was experimenting with the Mark II's flight system.
Tony put on the latest leg armor and held the joystick:
"Let's play it safe first! Let's see how the 10% axial load bearing capacity is! Start, three, two, one!"
Bang! The huge energy from the leg thrusters pushed Tony up backwards, directly hitting the roof.
"Oh~ my handsome face!"
"Day eleven, experiment thirty-seven, configuration version 2.0. Let's keep it simple this time, starting from 1%. And! If I catch fire, Jarvis, you put it out. If I don't catch fire, and you spray me anyway, I'm donating you to a university. Alright! Whew~ Let the experiment begin!"
The components on his legs and arms spewed bright yellow flames, suspending Tony in the air.
"Oh~ Whoa~ Whoa~ Easy~ Easy~ Steady! My car!" Tony hovered awkwardly and clumsily, but as time passed, his body gradually stabilized. "Jarvis, increase the load to 2.5%! Oh~ This feels amazing!"
At this moment, though only his limbs were equipped with the Iron Man suit components, Tony, suspended in mid-air, had already achieved the standard aerial stance of Iron Man.
After landing smoothly, Tony said excitedly to Jarvis, "Jarvis! Did you record everything?"
"All recorded, sir."
"Uh~ Delete the part where I screamed. Also, start optimizing the Iron Man suit deployment system. I wanted to do this back in Afghanistan!"
Tony walked over to the workbench, and Jarvis controlled piece after piece of silvery-white metal components to assemble onto Tony.
The circular nut fasteners on the elbows, the bends of the knees, and the hips rotated and locked onto the inner suit. The chest plate, shoulder armor, and faceplate followed closely behind. The components of the back armor were arranged and adjusted one by one.
Finally, the goggles over the eyes and the Arc Reactor lamp on the chest lit up. The all-silver Mark II was complete.
"Jarvis, enter the suit operating system."
"Entering now, loading your behavioral habits, sir. Beginning to calibrate the simulated environment."
"Check the weather and air traffic control for today, and start monitoring ground control information."
"Sir, there are still many calculations to be done before actual flight, and many simulation experiments have not yet begun."
"Jarvis! My father always said, just do it! Ready? Three, two, one!"
------------------------
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(End of Chapter)