With the conclusion of a nuclear bombardment that had lasted for over half an hour, the original site of Hydra Mountain was nothing but a wasteland of ruins.
Kraken had several strategic reasons for nuking Hydra Mountain. First, if the Avengers chose to withstand it head-on, they would be forced to expend massive amounts of physical energy and endurance even if they survived, making the severely weakened heroes much easier to handle afterward.
And if the Avengers retreated back to New York, that was even better. The Norn Stones could not withstand a nuclear blast; destroying the path for the Avengers to return would grant Hydra more time to evacuate. Even if the heroes took the Norn Stones with them, it wouldn't matter—they didn't know how to use them, and even if they did, preparation took time. If they dared to return, there would be fresh nukes waiting for them. It was a win-win situation.
Furthermore, there was another practical benefit: maintaining nuclear warheads cost money. It was better to expend them now rather than deal with future maintenance or decommissioning costs.
"Now that is a blast far better than 9/11."
Kraken stroked his chin as he looked at the now-leveled Hydra Mountain in the distance. "I wonder what state the Avengers are in right now."
The answer was: the Avengers were perfectly fine.
"So much fresh meat! So much fresh meat! I want to eat!"
The Zombie Head was losing its mind at the scent of raw flesh. Tens of seconds before the nukes had made impact, Peter had immediately pulled Kitty and the others together, leading everyone and the Norn Stones directly into the Mirror Dimension.
In other words, for those dozens of minutes, Hydra had been bombarding absolutely nothing.
"These guys have gone too far, actually using nukes on us. Classic Hydra."
Excluding Thor, who was occupied, and Black Panther, who was on his usual "AFK" status, the Avengers had arrived in full force. Joined by Kitty Pryde, Deadpool, and Ka-Zar, the team was not afraid of Hydra's army—nuclear weapons aside.
Wasp only said this because she was getting a bit bored staying inside the Mirror Dimension. Meanwhile, Tony and Pym were examining the insatiable, shouting Zombie Head, trying to figure out exactly what this thing was.
"According to Peter, this thing was sent from another universe by a being within the Beyond-Realm. We'll provisionally call this being the 'Beyonder'."
Pym felt perplexed as he studied the Zombie Head from a distance. "You believe this is a message, but the problem is we haven't found any valuable clues on this zombie's head, other than the fact that he comes from an Earth that has theoretically been destroyed."
"Let me take a bite! Let me take a bite! Let me take one bite and you'll know everything!"
The Zombie Head continued its tireless pleading. Tony, conducting his research through his armor, shook his head helplessly. "I have to say, this guy doesn't even have a stomach. Even if he ate someone, how would he digest them? Eating is literally meaningless for this thing!"
Hearing this, the Zombie Head became agitated and began hurling a barrage of insults at Tony. Naturally, Tony couldn't be bothered to argue with a severed head; he even went as far as teasing the thing with a fountain pen.
However, Tony would eventually get around to disposing of the head, provided they could confirm it was actually killable. Until then, to prevent the head from respawning elsewhere, it might ironically be necessary to keep it protected.
"The nukes outside seem to have stopped."
Peter sensed the movement outside and determined that the bombardment had ceased. However, Captain America stopped Peter from opening the Mirror Dimension immediately, telling him to wait a little longer.
"The enemy is definitely waiting for us to act. We shouldn't rush out immediately; otherwise, we'll be playing right into their hands. Let them hesitate for a few minutes and think we're gone. That's when we can catch them by surprise."
Peter nodded. After waiting a short while, he deactivated the Mirror Dimension. Almost seamlessly, Peter summoned the Winds of Watoomb, blowing away all the lingering radiation.
As for why there was radiation... one would have to ask Hydra why the nukes they used to bomb Hydra Mountain were so highly polluting.
Regardless, the immediate crisis was over. With a roar from the Captain, the Avengers charged out in full force, ready to settle the score with the enemy.
On the other side, Kraken had initially felt a sense of relief when his instruments suggested that both the Norn Stones and the Avengers were gone. He was just about to send Power Armor soldiers into the radiation zone to confirm the situation; once it was verified that the Avengers had fled, it would be time to begin the evacuation of various branches.
He wasn't sure how many people could be transferred to Hydra Island; the place wasn't large enough to accommodate everyone.
But at that moment, an "evil wind" (from Hydra's perspective) swept through the epicenter of the explosion. All the radioactive dust was swept away in an instant, and the Avengers, along with their allies, refreshed into existence right before his eyes. Kraken's eyes went wide.
"Avengers! Attack!"
"Hydra, cover fire! Everyone, move in!"
Having confirmed that the nukes were ineffective against them, Kraken spoke through gritted teeth. On one hand, he was calculating how many men he would have to sacrifice to better facilitate the evacuation of resources to Hydra Island; on the other, he desperately hoped that a few Avengers might actually die here.
A massive number of Hydra Power Armor units took to the sky to chase Iron Man, who was raining missiles down and turning the Hydra base into a field of fire. Hydra's giant robots aimed their weapons at the others, but Hulk plummeted from the sky, smashing straight through one of them.
Next came a giant-sized Ant-Man. After throwing something at one Hydra robot, he turned to pummel another.
What did he throw? It was Shadowcat. Kitty phased through a dozens-of-meters-tall Hydra machine, emerging with a handful of ripped cables. The entire robot promptly lost power and collapsed to the ground.
At that moment, countless tiny insects appeared around Kitty. She instinctively activated her phasing ability, letting the bugs pass through her body. In the distance, the man who had released the insects appeared—a man whose head somewhat resembled the Hydra logo, with a skull-like cranium and multiple tentacles hanging from his jaw.
"I heard you can phase through objects. I'm curious to see how long you can hold it."
"Hive" spoke as he blanketed the space around Kitty with a massive swarm of parasites. Kitty tried to escape, but soon, a sky-blotting swarm of small insects spread over, beginning to tear into Hive's parasites.
Hive couldn't help but stare in shock.
"Alright, leave this guy to me. Go do your thing, kid."
Wasp flew over to help Kitty out of the predicament and laughed.
"Look at how ugly this guy is. I'm going to give him a good thrashing."
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