The corridor was chaos — sirens screaming and red warning lights flashing in rapid intervals, and distant footsteps echoing through the steel halls.
'They'll blow this place up if I take too long,' Liam thought grimly. HYDRA doesn't clean up messes — they erase them. Every base has a self-destruct system built into the ground. If there is a breach or their secrets are at risk, they don't fight to recover — they just destroy everything. Soldiers, data, even their own leaders.
Karl's memories confirmed it. One base in Belarus had vanished after a single experiment went wrong. HYDRA hadn't sent help — they'd detonated it, burying everyone inside.
'If they see me as a threat,' Liam thought, jaw tight, 'they'll do the same here.'
And judging by the alarms and chaos around him, that moment wasn't far away.
He had to get out. No time for mistakes.
The corridor split into three paths — one leading deeper underground, one to what looked like storage, and one slanting upward. He didn't know where any of them went. Karl's memories were no help; this wasn't a base he had ever been in.
'Up,' Liam decided. 'Always up means air. And air means a way out.'
He sprinted toward the upward path — and sighed when he heard shouting and the heavy rhythm of boots.
"Visual confirmed — Steiner's alive!"
"Command says non-lethal only!"
'Non-lethal?' Liam smiled. 'They still think they can take me alive.'
Five soldiers appeared ahead, armored and armed with crackling stun batons and energy shields. They didn't open fire. They wanted to capture him.
Bad idea.
The first hit came fast — a baton across his ribs. The electricity flashed, but Liam barely felt it. He spun, hardened his arm, and smashed his elbow into the man's face. Bone cracked. The soldier dropped.
The others attacked together, disciplined and fast. Liam took a few hits — one to the jaw, another to his side — but the hardened layer across his body absorbed everything. When he struck back, it was like getting hit by a wrecking ball.
Within seconds, four were down. The fifth backed up, fumbling for his comm. "Command, he's—"
Liam grabbed him by the vest and lifted him off the ground. "Where's the exit?"
The soldier just smiled — a strange, fanatic grin. "You'll never make it out."
Then Liam heard a click.
A grenade pin.
The blast was deafening. Heat and fire filled the hallway. The soldier was gone instantly. Liam was thrown back, slamming into the wall hard enough to bend the metal.
He looked down at himself — his chest blackened, skin torn — but no pain came. He watched as his flesh knit itself back together, new skin forming under the burns. Within seconds, he was whole again.
'Pain immunity. Regeneration. Hardening,' he thought. 'What a good combo!'
He didn't stop and continued ahead. Just as he turned a corner, he nearly ran into a storm of bullets. Dozens of HYDRA soldiers lined the hallway, rifles aimed. Muzzle flashes lit the air. Bullets pinged off his hardened body, sparks flying. He pushed through the rain of bullets, grabbed one man by the collar, and threw him into two others. The rest fired wildly, panic setting in.
More soldiers poured in from the other end, shouting commands. But this time, they weren't holding rifles.
Two of them carried long, heavy weapons humming with a faint blue light.
Liam's eyes narrowed. Plasma rifles.
The first bolt streaked toward him, a white-hot beam of energy. He dove aside, the shot barely missing and slamming into the wall behind him. The steel melted instantly, glowing red before collapsing.
The second bolt came faster — caught his side mid-roll. Heat seared through him like liquid fire. Flesh and muscle burned away in an instant.
Liam hissed — not from pain, but the damage they caused even in his hardening form. That definitely would've killed anyone else.
No time to risk another. He activated the Red Riot: Unbreakable form of his quirk. His entire body grew even more jagged than before, every muscle solidifying like living stone. He could feel raw power coursing through him — fierce, unstoppable, and ready to be unleashed on these insane bastards.
The next plasma shot hit him dead in the chest.
The light burst across his armor like body, scattering in all directions. The beam flickered, then died. The only mark it left behind was a faint scorch on his chest.
The soldiers froze, staring. "What— what the hell—"
Liam didn't let them finish. He rushed forward, faster than they could react. His first punch sent one plasma gunner flying across the hallway. He grabbed the second by his weapon and punched him hard in the stomach. The hit folded the man in half and slammed him into the wall with a heavy thud. The soldier collapsed right away, not moving again.
That was when he heard it — a mechanical voice coming through the intercom:
"Containment breach confirmed. Security protocol Omega initiated."
Liam stopped in his tracks. That was HYDRA's code for self-destruction. Of course, they wouldn't announce "we're blowing up the base" for their enemies to hear — but unfortunately for them, as a former agent, he knew exactly what it meant.
He ran.
The sprinklers burst overhead, showering water through the smoke. Metal doors groaned and popped under pressure. Every door he passed was locked. No time to think — he smashed through the ones he needed.
He turned into a stairwell and found another squad waiting — armored, flamethrowers in hand. The moment they saw him, they opened fire.
Fire roared across the hall.
The flames rolled over Liam, burning everything around him. But he just walked through it, his body glowing red-hot, healing as fast as it burned. When he reached them, they didn't even have time to scream.
After he was finished with them, he took the stairs three at a time, climbing toward the next level. He burst through the door at the top and found himself in what looked like a laboratory — glass walls, metal tables, and tanks filled with glowing blue liquid.
'Research wing,' he thought. 'There has to be an emergency exit.'
But before he could move, something slammed into him. The shockwave threw him across the room and straight through one of the glass tanks. Blue liquid splashed everywhere.
When he looked up, he saw a tall man in a black HYDRA uniform. Half his face was scarred; his right arm was mechanical.
The man's mechanical arm shifted, plates unfolding into a cannon which he fired without any hesitation.
The first blast hit Liam in the chest and embedded him deeper into the wall. His entire torso burned red-hot, steam rising off his skin. But he just stood back up, bones cracking into place, the hole in his chest closing.
"You're wasting my time," he said, his voice flat.
He charged.
The man fired again, but Liam pushed through the blast, his Unbreakable form activating again and taking the hit without slowing him down. His fist slammed into the agent's jaw with a sickening sound.
The helmet cracked apart, and the blow twisted the man's neck sharply. For a moment, he stayed on his feet — then his head snapped back, blood hit the wall, and he collapsed, dead before he hit the floor.
Just then another rumble shook the ground. The red lights flickered, and the explosions sounded closer — maybe only two minutes left before the whole place blew.
Liam looked around through the smoke and saw a sign barely hanging from the ceiling: Surface Access – Maintenance Tunnel.
He ran towards it.
The maintenance door was locked. He hit it once and it broke open, revealing a narrow shaft leading upward.
He started climbing, his hardened fingers digging into the metal rungs. Below him, the world was falling apart — explosions, heat, the screech of tearing steel.
Halfway up, a blast rocked the tunnel. A section of the ladder broke off. He fell, caught a pipe, and swung himself back, his body already healing from the burns.
"Move," he growled through clenched teeth, forcing himself up.
He climbed faster. Smoke filled the shaft, fire glowed below, and the air turned hot enough to melt steel. But he didn't stop until his hands hit the final hatch.
Light. Faint, but real.
He pushed it open and dragged himself onto the surface.
A second later, the ground behind him erupted.
The explosion was massive.
The blast threw him forward, slamming him into the dirt. The sound was deafening — a thunderous roar that seemed to tear the air apart.
Chunks of steel and rock rained down around him. One piece of burning debris smashed beside his leg, close enough to make him flinch.
He rolled onto his back, gasping for air, the faint red glow fading from his hardened skin.
He let out a shaky breath. "Holy shit…"
He'd made it.
Liam didn't move and just sat there for a few seconds looking at the beautiful sky and then he sighed.
"Guess we made it, Karl," he murmured. "You're finally free."