Watching the three gigantic mushroom clouds on the screen intertwine and expand infinitely, the expressions of everyone present turned incredibly ugly.
Moments later, the shockwave from the nuclear blast outside Washington D.C. reached them. Even though they were tens of kilometers away, the entire building trembled continuously.
Outside, the refugees in the temporary shelter, already somewhat numb, panicked again due to this sudden "earthquake."
"Those Hydra bastards!!"
Thor roared, spun Mjolnir, smashed through the roof, and flew out.
A furious Harry Osborn followed closely. He instantly entered full Venom form, leaped out through the hole Thor made, spread his wings, and chased after him.
Even Tony clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging on his forehead, and put on his remote-control glasses again.
Clearly, he was directing the drone suits to rush toward the blast site.
Although the Avengers weren't very close to Carol yet, they were comrades on the same side. Seeing her attacked by "Hydra" enraged everyone.
Uh, this...
Luca, feeling awkward enough to curl his toes, stole a glance at Steve, who was covered in dust from the ceiling, and then at Gwen, who was gritting her teeth beside him, looking ready to "fly" out too.
He quickly swallowed his desire to explain and feigned agreement.
"Bastard Hydra!"
Fortunately, Luca's awkwardness didn't last long.
Moments later, Thor and his group flew back with a somewhat disheveled Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers.
Seeing Carol seemingly unharmed, Steve and Gwen were surprised but relieved.
Luca, however, looked at Carol's tattered suit and slightly singed hair, clicked his tongue internally, and sheepishly looked away.
Carol didn't notice Luca's expression. Whether she was feigning calm or genuinely didn't care, she said seriously and calmly:
"There was nothing at the blast center. No enemies, no buildings, no Hydra base..."
Carol hesitated as she spoke.
Logically, although her performance in cleaning up the otherworld escapees in New York was eye-catching and might have attracted Hydra's attention...
Given her flight speed and the impulsive nature of her trip to check the D.C. blast site, Hydra shouldn't have had time to prepare a nuclear ambush.
Initially, when the nuke knocked her over, she was furious but suspected it might be a hidden Hydra base self-destructing to destroy evidence.
However, after flying back to check, she found nothing. It was as if three nukes had sprouted out of nowhere in an ordinary wasteland.
"Did Hydra master some space transfer ability to teleport nukes instantly?"
"In the battle to destroy the Helicarriers, Hydra seemed to control many superpowered individuals. It's not impossible for a teleporter to exist!"
"Or maybe an Inhuman who can generate nuclear explosions directly? Like those Extremis soldiers before?"
Everyone chimed in, analyzing the possibilities.
But without exception, everyone's faces grew darker.
If Hydra could deliver nuclear explosions anywhere at will, the whole world was under constant threat of death.
"Cough cough... probably not. If Hydra really had that ability, this place would have been bombed long ago... It might just be a coincidence..."
Watching their wild guesses, Luca, his eyelid twitching, forced himself to speak calmly, trying to pull everyone's emotions back.
Unfortunately, they didn't take Luca's "analysis" seriously.
Coincidence? Superheroes seemed to always assume the worst.
Given the situation, they couldn't analyze anything useful and let it drop with worry.
"I will recheck the background of everyone on the Helicarrier. I'll leave things there to you for now."
Nick Fury dropped this line with an ashen face and hung up.
As a veteran spy, he believed in coincidences least of all.
Carol departed from the Helicarrier. If the enemy tracked her route, it was likely there were still Hydra moles on the ship.
Now that the Triskelion was destroyed, SHIELD agent data was safe from leakage, but it also meant Hydra remained hidden.
Although many exposed themselves when Hydra flipped the table, Fury couldn't fully trust the remaining SHIELD agents either.
putting aside the "minor issue" of Captain Marvel being nuked, everyone's attention returned to the current situation.
Treating refugees and quelling riots could be done slowly.
Colonel Rhodes had arrived at the nearest military base to D.C., preparing to forcefully take over and mobilize troops to help Stark Industries with refugee settlement.
Osborn Corp and Aurantius Group also sent personnel to help treat the wounded.
In fact, the mass-produced Baymax robots from New York had become the indispensable main force in disaster relief.
However, what the Avengers needed to care about most, or urgently resolve, was the culprit: Hydra.
No one believed the Hydra leaders would obediently stay in the nuclear blast to die with D.C.
"Luca, I remember you mentioned that Hydra tried to seize your company in Sokovia, right?"
Tony, browsing through data, suddenly looked up at Luca.
"Huh? Uh, yeah, that happened."
"But I only guessed they were Hydra. And those guys just probed and retreated immediately. I don't know where they went now."
This wasn't hard to hide, so Luca didn't hold back much.
Tony looked thoughtful, then spoke to the screen.
"JARVIS..."