The Winter Soldiers were more or less like this—capable of thought, not stiff automatons, but no one should expect any deep emotional fluctuation from them either.
"Alright then. Let's invite our champion to come collect his prize."
Zod spoke with a pleasant smile. Honestly, if S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent Hawkeye Barton to participate, he wouldn't have minded. But it seemed the Serpent Shield Bureau was playing it unusually calm… or maybe Nick Fury was tied up with something else. Otherwise, with a hundred sets of War Machines up for grabs, that man would've flown in headfirst—you couldn't hold him back.
Watching Bucky being escorted away, the HYDRA agents felt something was off, but all they could do was wait outside for him to return.
Meanwhile, Blonsky slipped through the crowd with several Beast-Soldiers and quietly snatched up the targets Zod had marked beforehand. Zod wasn't exaggerating—being a Kryptonian with psionic ability meant he could read the emotional fluctuations of everyone in the room. It was like having mass mind-reading switched on. Among the crowd, the minds of those HYDRA agents were the most restless and active. Of course Zod noticed them.
"Let me go! Who the hell are you people?!"
"Do you know who I am? You dare grab me?!"
The HYDRA agents were shoved into a Chevrolet SUV and quickly silenced. Blonsky stepped out and signaled the surrounding Beast-Soldiers to take positions and keep watch in case anything unexpected happened.
After his enhancement into a Super Beast-Soldier, Blonsky found that even without transforming, his base form already possessed overwhelming physical strength—far beyond even his peak Abomination days. That only fueled his desire for the ultimate Beast-Soldier and the Beast God General formulas Zod had mentioned.
Besides, the World-Serpent organization clearly had a brighter future. With Zod—a literal super-genius—leading them, plus the War Machines and Beast-Soldiers, they were decades ahead of the world.
Bucky was brought into the lab. The moment he stepped in, Zod took control of his mind with psionic force. Several pre-selected subjects for Super Beast-Soldier enhancement were already lying unconscious in their cultivation tanks.
"Boss, how do you want him adjusted?"After fastening Bucky in place, Connors lifted his head to ask.
"Hmm… make him the strongest."
Zod had high expectations for Bucky. Come on—he was Captain America Steve Rogers' best friend. He had to be strong.
The strongest variant of Super Beast-Soldier possessed a triple-layer skeletal structure: the subject's natural bones plus two layers of reinforced exoskeleton. Their exterior shell was made of an exceptionally durable material. Zod had even named its formula after a mythic beetle—Asura Rhinoceros Beetle.
The unfortunate HYDRA agents captured earlier were also transformed into Beast-Soldiers and turned into Zod's lower-rank operatives. Through them, Zod planned to reel in the next tier of HYDRA superiors. Once caught, he would control them as well—an endless cycle. At this rate, he could eventually fold HYDRA entirely into his own power.
But HYDRA had many heads. Baron Strucker—who focused on Inhumans—was one matter. Lady Viper in Japan was another, and not someone to underestimate. With the movies and comics diverging so much, Zod wasn't willing to take unnecessary risks.
I'll wait until I grow stronger.That was his conclusion.
…
Serpent Shield Bureau — Director's Office, Nick Fury.
In forty-degree heat, the "boiled egg" still wore that overly heavy black trench coat. The indoor AC was freezing, so he could handle the heat. And besides—the coat itself had built-in cooling. No need to worry about overheating.
Third, the coat hid who-knows-how many secret weapons and gadgets.
Fourth—the bulletproofing wasn't bad either.
"Underground no-rules fighting… what exactly is this Zod Heath planning?"
A super-genius like Zod Heath was, naturally, on the Serpent Shield Bureau's radar. But Nick Fury hadn't found anything suspicious in Zod's identity. After creating the Black Queen, Zod had her erase all traces of the Midnight Hotel and revise his entire background. Everything looked squeaky clean.
Originally, Fury had placed his hopes on Tony Stark—watching him closely and protecting him.
He never expected an even more outrageous super-genius to pop out of nowhere. Younger than Stark. More capable than Stark.
Whether it was inferior Kryptonian serum, War Machine units, or miniaturized arc reactors—any one of these was enough to brand him the Einstein or Tesla of the century. Unfortunately, the Serpent Shield Bureau was only a "global protection agency" jointly formed by five major powers on paper. They couldn't possess weapons like War Machines. If they could, Fury would've hoarded a couple hundred sets on the spot with his discretionary budget.
Fury wanted Zod Heath to work with the agency, but that couldn't be forced. The best he could do was offer assistance, then negotiate when the opportunity arose.
Yet right at that moment—news came in that Zod had contacted the crime lord Kingpin and arranged an underground cage-fight event together.
Fury's first thought: What kind of circus joke is this?
Kingpin? Seriously? If it weren't for the relative stability he maintained—and the chaos that would erupt across America's underground if he were removed—Fury could crush him with a single order. Kingpin's list of crimes was longer than a pharmacy receipt.
And Zod chose him?For underground cage-fighting?
Then Fury's most trusted agent reported something else—Zod Heath had made a groundbreaking invention in the field of biology, and this underground fight was connected to it.
Fury immediately took it seriously.
What the hell? It hasn't even been that long, and he has another world-shifting invention? What's his brain made of? We're not even in the same species.
He had originally planned to send Black Widow or Barton to intervene, but an unexpected situation forced him to hand over all one hundred War Machine units instead.
Now Fury knew he couldn't sit still. With Zod shocking the world again and again, countless malicious eyes were surely watching him. If his new invention fell into criminal hands…
No. Fury had to act.
To protect this new, era-defining invention, he decided to send Black Widow to infiltrate BladeTech Industries and help Zod safeguard it.
"Zod, Mr. Obadiah Stane from Stark Industries would like to speak with you."
Urd clicked across the floor in heels, passed Zod's voice and oral-recognition lock, and stepped into the lab—only to see Zod, upper body bare, muscles taut and flawless, working intently on some device.
Her heart skipped a beat. That perfect collarbone and defined abs drew her gaze irresistibly.
"Obadiah?" Zod asked absently, still focused on his work.
/-\
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